Category: Musings

Something a little new that I want to try and this is partly inspired by another blog that I’ve recently come across a month or so ago. Now you’re most likely aware of the concept of the angry video game reviewer; a guy who takes an old game or whatnot and swear constantly while “reviewing” the game. It’s a concept that was popularized by James Rolfe a.k.a. the Angry Nintendo Nerd, now known as the Angry Video Game Nerd.

Now, as with any popular fad, many others would jump on the bandwagon and do the same thing the Nerd did. Some did well and made their own name, while others didn’t. Of all of these Me-Too reviews, one of these have earned a certain amount of infamy for his content and that person is the subject of today’s initial project.

Chris Bores. Also known as the Irate Gamer.

Now I’m not going to dwell on the whole plagiarism deal. Most people have already made up their minds and I’m not going to throw my two cents in there. It’s beating a dead horse and that horse is really starting to stink up the joint. Putting aside the alleged copying, when you get right down to it, Irate Gamer episodes tend to be inaccurate in regards to certain details. The most evident of this would be his recent “History of Video Games” in which a great deal of his information is flat out wrong.

Now this is not going to be one of those Anti-Irate Gamer summaries (there’s already a good blog serving that role) and it isn’t going to be an overview for the most part. This is just some thoughts I’ve had while watching his videos, along with any additional information I can provide, either through my own personal experiences or from other notable sites with significant information on a particular subject matter.

So without further delay, today’s dissociative post will be concerning IG’s “review” of Super Mario Bros. 2 for NES. SMB2 was originally released in Japan as a very different game called Doki Doki Panic for the Famicom Disk System, featuring different characters and a couple other elements. Japan did get a real SMB2, which was essentially Super Mario Bros. with a couple minor additions and rock-hard difficulty. When it came time to bring SMB2 over to North America, a decision was then made to convert that Doki Doki game into the SMB2 we all know and love… or loathe in some cases.

Now I’m going to go on a record and say that SMB2 isn’t exactly a favorite of mine. In fact, there was a time when I absolutely hated this game… or at least, that’s what I kept telling myself and anyone else who would listen. I don’t know why I did because when I first played the game, I liked it just fine. Was it outside influence perhaps or pressure to get in with the cool kids because they all hated that game due to its dubious origins? I don’t know, but there was a period where I didn’t really like this game. However, playing it recently, most of that hate or intense dislike seemed to have been forgotten, and I consider this to be a great game considering its unique history.

One thing is certain: my brief hatred for this game had nothing to do with the Irate Gamer’s video, which was just wrong on a number of levels. So without further adue, here’re my thoughts when watching the Irate episode.

Continue reading “Running Thoughts On… The Irate Gamer’s Super Mario Bros. 2 episode”