Running Thoughts On… The Irate Gamer’s Super Mario Bros. 2 episode

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.

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COMIC REVIEW – Ultimatum (2009 Mini-Series)

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Ultimatum is one of the worst comics I’ve read in the history of comics.

A paradigm shifting five-issue mini-series that serves as a transition between the old era of Ultimate Marvel and the new era that saw new series debut, Ultimatum can be best summed up as destruction porn for the sake of destruction porn topped with a shitload of primary, secondary, tertiary, and ancillary characters getting killed, maimed, crippled, or any combination of the above. It’s low-brow schlock that tries to pass itself off as cutting edge and compelling storytelling, but fails miserably. The whole thing comes across as depressing, creatively bankrupt, and puts even the most gruesome “gore porn” to shame.

The only highlight is the art, which is always top notch and far too good for the shitpile that is Ultimatum. Of course, when it comes to the ladies, their… physical attributes gain some notable attention to detail at the expense of everything else. Sadly, that seems to be on par with the rest of this schlock. David Finch deserved better than to be associated with this crap.

I’m embarrassed to have read this crap. Embarrassed because Jeph Loeb usually churns out quality work and part of me assumes that this whole deal was the result of someone at Marvel daring Loeb to produce the absolute worst comic book to exist. Well, brother, you accomplished that in spades. I’m hard-pressed to tell if this is better or worse than Frank Miller’s new Batman book.

Actually, that’s easy. I’d go back and re-read Miller’s book than this shit. At least, there’s a perverse humor to such drivel. Here, not so much.

This is garbage that an eleven-year-old would whip in his attempt to be edgy and mature, written by people who thought that this is what actual grown adults would consider edgy and mature, except it’s the most juvenile pile of crap ever conceived. I may not be a regular visitor of Marvel’s Ultimate line of comics, but a bunch of other people did and I don’t think they’d appreciate having a bunch of characters that they followed for years get killed off in a blink of an eye all for the sake of a petty, shallow crossover event that’s going to be forgotten about in a couple weeks once we begin the next major crossover event.

Ultimate is trash to the nth degree. Fuck this comic book and fuck this company.

GameFAQs Review – Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (Wii)

Alas, poor Midway. From being a modest developer of classic arcade games to becoming the Mortal Kombat empire to becoming bankrupt and bought in pieces by Time Warner. Such a tragic tale for such a former powerhouse and gaming legend. It’s going to be a shame that Midway is gone and that the Mortal Kombat saga is in the hands of Time Warner. One has to imagine how they’re going to handle the saga now.

But enough about the depressing side: let’s talk about Mortal Kombat: Armageddon for the Nintendo Wii!

So for those who don’t know, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is the seventh fighting game in the Mortal Kombat series and is considered to be the closure point of that particular chapter in the MK story. Having gather just about every fighter that has been in a MK fighter (and a couple extra guys), it was a fitting and satisfying final hurrah for the PS2 and Xbox consoles before Midway unleashed their Mortal magic on the next-gen systems… in the form of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe… what bitter irony. Guess we know who won that battle, heh heh… Ahem.

But what about the Wii?

Obviously, the Wii isn’t as powerful as the PS3 and Xbox 360 and couldn’t handle MKvsDC. So to remedy this, Midway decided to bring over Armageddon to Nintendo’s white box of wonder, but with a couple extra features – including a new character, new motion controls, and a couple other additions.

Now I’ve already reviewed the Xbox version of the game and since this is pretty much the same game, I’ve taken the liberty of “recycling” a couple blurbs here and there. This isn’t a straight copy – there are minor notes and quibbles I’d like to point out in regards to the Wii version.

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Hogan draws low quarter-ratings, Vince’s reaction: OUCH!

For the first time anyone can remember, TNA’s television ratings were discussed at WWE TV this past week. Michael Hayes reportedly noted the lowest-rated quarter hour of last week’s episode of iMPACT being the one where Hulk Hogan appeared.

In response, Vince McMahon said, “Ouch.”

Oh, by the way, for those wondering, here’s the ratings breakdown of the amazing IMPACT episode featuring the Hulk Hogan announcement that aired on November 5th (source: rajah.com)

Q1: 1.21 – Desmond Wolfe/Angle promo; AJ Styles/Samoa Joe promo
Q2: 1.27 – Tara vs. Alyssa Flash; Team 3D promo
Q3: 1.26 – Motor City Machine Guns vs. Team 3D; Scott Steiner promo; Bobby Lashley vs. Eric Young
Q4: 1.30 – Bobby Lashley vs. Eric Young; Scott Steiner run-in; Kevin Nash promo; AJ Styles/Daniels promo
Q5: 1.24 – The Beautiful People vs. Christy Hemme, ODB and Hamada
Q6: 1.19 – Abyss vs. Dr Stevie; Matt Morgan vs. Rhino
Q7: 1.24 – Samoa Joe/Daniels promo; Homicide attacks Don West; Kurt Angle promo
Q8: 1.18 – Kurt Angle vs. Desmond Wolfe; Hulk Hogan press conference

Oh yeah, Hogan is definitely a step in the right direction.

SPEED OF LIGHT!

Classic Bite Commentary #90 – October 31st, 2009

Decided to wait until Halloween to put this up… welcome to another wonderful edition of the Bite, where I just ramble in text form. Until recently, I was going to start up by posting a new video llog (so you can HEAR me ramble about random shit rather than READ my ramblings), but things didn’t go ahead as planned and so things will have to wait until I’m good and ready.

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WWE Bragging Rights 2009

I’m trying to figure out whether this is a decent trade-off.

Last year and years prior, WWE held a PPV called Cyber-Sunday – originally called Taboo Tuesday – where WWE fans would have their say on what happens in certain matches… i.e. who does the champion face, what stipulation between two men are there, what silly costume do the Divas wear in order for us to care about them, and so on and so forth. It was a novel concept, but for some reason – possibly something to do with sales being shit – WWE decided to drop that PPV in favor of Bragging Rights, which is touted as a Smackdown vs Raw encounter, but only ends up being one match billed as such… and a Divas match.

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PPV Predictions – WWE Bragging Rights 2009

I’m trying to figure out whether this is a decent trade-off.

Last year and years prior, WWE held a PPV called Cyber-Sunday – originally called Taboo Tuesday – where WWE fans would have their say on what happens in certain matches… i.e. who does the champion face, what stipulation between two men are there, what silly costume do the Divas wear in order for us to care about them, and so on and so forth. It was a novel concept, but for some reason – possibly something to do with sales being shit – WWE decided to drop that PPV in favor of Bragging Rights, which is touted as a Smackdown vs Raw encounter, but only ends up being one match billed as such… and a Divas match.

In any case, it’s another generic PPV. So let’s get this over with… UPDATED WITH RESULTS

Continue reading “PPV Predictions – WWE Bragging Rights 2009”

Aborted Second Trailer Altered Female Dog

So I was intending this video to be the second trailer for the Youtube channel, but after sleeping on it for a bit, I decided against it and uploaded the Dracula’s Curse video, instead.

And before anyone asks… yes, “Altered Female Dog” was originally supposed to be “Altered Bitch” and was changed to the more friendlier title for obvious reasons… though I’m sure “Altered Bitch” is buried somewhere in the angry reviewer thesaurus somewhere ready to be used by someone without a knack for creative wordplay.

(2024 Update: The above video was uploaded in 2011 on the secondary DTM Archives channel.)