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Angry Video Game Nerd Ep 145: Sonic The Hedgehog (2006)

How does this guy get respect but Angry Joe doesn't?

Not to give the wrong impression, I don't care for the angry gamer shtick regardless of whom it's coming from but Joe seems often much more insightful when critiquing a game and gives games a pretty in depth analysis.

Neither are funny, but of the angry video game people on YouTube it doesn't make sense why people shit on his content and lash out when people post it and yet AVGN is so revered? Is it because he was one of the originals? Nostalgia?

I mean, that's your opinion. Whats your sample size for "people who shit on" avgn/joe?
 
How does this guy get respect but Angry Joe doesn't?

Not to give the wrong impression, I don't care for the angry gamer shtick regardless of whom it's coming from but Joe seems often much more insightful when critiquing a game and gives games a pretty in depth analysis.

Neither are funny, but of the angry video game people on YouTube it doesn't make sense why people shit on his content and lash out when people post it and yet AVGN is so revered? Is it because he was one of the originals? Nostalgia?

AVGN videos are not reviews. Seems you're taking the character far too seriously.

And I don't know which videos you've watched, but AVGN can often be incredibly insightful about certain games, consoles, and accessories from the 80s and early 90s. Watch the episode about ROB or the ones about the old Nintendo/SEGA peripherals.
 
I'm just saying, any time someone posts a thread with saying he (Angry Joe) posted a review or something, a parade of people show up asking "how is this thread worthy?"

And I'd agree.

But I'd have to say the same thing for AVGN and even Jim Sterling (whom I like). Pardon me, I'm not trying to come off confrontational. It's just after watching this video it was offensively unfunny. The hacky Forrest Gump reference just makes my case for me. "Life is like a box of shit. Hurrr"

I can beat whomever will post the "I don't like thing." "Ok.".jpg to the punch. I get it, but I do think my statement that these video (or maybe just this video in particular) is inane and extraordinarily unfunny are just as relevant as the statements saying "kek video gud"
 

SalvaPot

Member
The reverse middle finger got me good. He is not just swearing and anger, he makes genuienly funny comments.

I find it weird he has to put sponsored on the title, most people just put that on the description. Good he is upfront about it, I love his newer videos.
 
I really don't see what AVGN has to do with Angry Joe. They both have Angry in their name...ok...and?

People have been watching James for 13 years now. Over that time, he's built up a fanbase and a lot of respect. People might not be so into the whole thing anymore, hell even he doesn't seem as enthusiastic. But people still watch because it's a basically a comedy show about old videogames, and an obsessive nerd who gets pissed off because of how shitty they are.
 
I'm just saying, any time someone posts a thread with saying he (Angry Joe) posted a review or something, a parade of people show up asking "how is this thread worthy?"

And I'd agree.

But I'd have to say the same thing for AVGN and even Jim Sterling (whom I like). Pardon me, I'm not trying to come off confrontational. It's just after watching this video it was offensively unfunny. The hacky Forrest Gump reference just makes my case for me. "Life is like a box of shit. Hurrr"

I can beat whomever will post the "I don't like thing." "Ok.".jpg to the punch. I get it, but I do think my statement that these video (or maybe just this video in particular) is inane and extraordinarily unfunny are just as relevant as the statements saying "kek video gud"

Haven't seen actual "why does AJ get his own thread" posts in an AJ thread in quite some time tbh. Most now just enter and ask the same thing ironically.

I think my 2007 self would have found this AVGN video funny, like most of his. But it does feel like a relic of the past (and at that time the whole angry swearing shtick wasn't beaten to the ground).
 
How does this guy get respect but Angry Joe doesn't?

Not to give the wrong impression, I don't care for the angry gamer shtick regardless of whom it's coming from but Joe seems often much more insightful when critiquing a game and gives games a pretty in depth analysis.

Neither are funny, but of the angry video game people on YouTube it doesn't make sense why people shit on his content and lash out when people post it and yet AVGN is so revered? Is it because he was one of the originals? Nostalgia?

I remember James Rolfe saying the original joke behind the Angry Nerd videos was that the games were so old that it seems ridiculous this guy would be mad or care about them.

I also hate when people downplay people's enjoyment of something to "nostalgia." It's a lazy argument. I do think his early stuff his by far the best, but it's because the character isn't too over the top, not because of nostalgia. He's more pissed off than angry, if that makes sense. The McKids video is a good example of what I mean. Rolfe's production is also far above other "angry" reviewers on YouTube.

As for Angry Joe... I can't say I care for him. I don't find his reviews particularly inciteful or funny, and they go on for far too long.
 
How does this guy get respect but Angry Joe doesn't?

Not to give the wrong impression, I don't care for the angry gamer shtick regardless of whom it's coming from but Joe seems often much more insightful when critiquing a game and gives games a pretty in depth analysis.

Neither are funny, but of the angry video game people on YouTube it doesn't make sense why people shit on his content and lash out when people post it and yet AVGN is so revered? Is it because he was one of the originals? Nostalgia?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but AVGN basically invented the angry gamer shtick.
 

border

Member
I'm just saying, any time someone posts a thread with saying he (Angry Joe) posted a review or something, a parade of people show up asking "how is this thread worthy?"

Angry Joe reviews get a new thread every other week. AVGN reviews don't even get their own thread, and have been relegated to the community thread for literally years. This one video is thread-worthy because it tackles a notoriously bad game that people have wanted to see him address for years. Angry Joe's take on a boring, assembly-line title like Far Cry Primal is inherently less engaging and interesting. Yeah I'm sure he'll get all mad and stuff, but after 5 years of cookie-cutter Ubisoft open world games there isn't much left to say.

I tend to prefer AVGN just because his videos are bite-sized. Angry Joe does long form content, which is great for some viewers but I really don't want to listen to some guy rant about a single game for like 45 minutes. Angry Joe beats a dead horse forever, while AVGN gets some quick punches in and steps out. If every Weird Al song was 13 minutes long, he'd probably get the same sort of backlash.

Angry Joe is meant to be taken as serious criticism (at least by some), whereas AVGN episodes are kind of a fun lark that may contain insight but are ultimately just comedy.
 
Good but fat from his best.

On the other hand his second to last video, the one he made about Power Rangers games, was absolutely one of the best he's ever done. Im serious.
 
I'm just saying, any time someone posts a thread with saying he (Angry Joe) posted a review or something, a parade of people show up asking "how is this thread worthy?"

And I'd agree.

But I'd have to say the same thing for AVGN and even Jim Sterling (whom I like). Pardon me, I'm not trying to come off confrontational. It's just after watching this video it was offensively unfunny. The hacky Forrest Gump reference just makes my case for me. "Life is like a box of shit. Hurrr"

I can beat whomever will post the "I don't like thing." "Ok.".jpg to the punch. I get it, but I do think my statement that these video (or maybe just this video in particular) is inane and extraordinarily unfunny are just as relevant as the statements saying "kek video gud"

MOD VOICE:

If you don't have anything relevant to say about the thread's topic, don't say anything.

This thread is about: Angry Video Game Nerd Ep 145: Sonic The Hedgehog (2006)

We'll allow a certain amount of conversational drift and low-info posting, but this has turned into derail. If you have something to say about a derail in a another thread, PM a mod. Otherwise, stay on topic. This is your warning.
 
Honestly a disappointing episode. He only just barely dipped his toes into Sonic 06's web of insanity.

I wanted to see his reaction to Silver's Billiards level. :(
 
Angry Joe reviews get a new thread every other week. AVGN reviews don't even get their own thread, and have been relegated to the community thread for literally years.

Acknowledged. This makes sense.

I tend to prefer AVGN just because his videos are bite-sized. Angry Joe does long form content, which is great for some viewers but I really don't want to listen to some guy rant about a single game for like 45 minutes. Angry Joe beats a dead horse forever, while AVGN gets some quick punches in and steps out. If every Weird Al song was 13 minutes long, he'd probably get the same sort of backlash.

You do you, fam. I agree on some points and disagree on others. I think both are cosmically unfunny but I tend to find Angry Joe reviews far more informational whereas AVGN stuff tends to be purely for entertainment. No one in this day and age is playing the games AVGN is playing. They aren't meant to inform purchasing decisions so there's really very, very little to compare about these two outside of the fact that they're both "angry gamers." Format and intent is completely different.

I really do find the schtick about playing and roasting bad games to be lazy and worn out shtick. I find Jim Sterling genuinely funny and insightful and I've just had enough of his dreadful "look how bad these Steam games are?" content. Though at least with Jim it's part of an ongoing theme and critique of the industry (Steam specifically) as a whole.

Angry Joe is meant to be taken as serious criticism (at least by some), whereas AVGN episodes are kind of a fun lark that may contain insight but are ultimately just comedy.

Comedy... yeah... that's what we'll call it. But I see your point and I think echoed it earlier in this post.

Edit:

MOD VOICE:

If you don't have anything relevant to say about the thread's topic, don't say anything.

This thread is about: Angry Video Game Nerd Ep 145: Sonic The Hedgehog (2006)

We'll allow a certain amount of conversational drift and low-info posting, but this has turned into derail. If you have something to say about a derail in a another thread, PM a mod. Otherwise, stay on topic. This is your warning.

Duly noted.

On topic: Wow. Sonic '06 is bigger shit than I ever thought. Looks like the sort of low effort dreck you'd see in one of Jim Sterling's Steam Greenlight videos. I learned something today: Sonic '06 is every bit as bad as everyone has always said it was. I thought maybe people were exaggerating but I guess not.
 

Dremark

Banned
Is it just me or does Rolfe seem like he's worn out in this episode? I mean, he's be doing this for like a decade now, so I would expect it. Maybe it's been like this for a while now; it just seems really noticeable this time around.

I haven't seen this episode yet but he's really not at the same level he used to be and he hasn't been for a long time. I'm not sure how much of it is burn out and how much is just him getting stale but I don't know how much longer he can keep doing this for.
 

Lothar

Banned
I'm just saying, any time someone posts a thread with saying he (Angry Joe) posted a review or something, a parade of people show up asking "how is this thread worthy?"

And I'd agree.

But I'd have to say the same thing for AVGN and even Jim Sterling (whom I like). Pardon me, I'm not trying to come off confrontational. It's just after watching this video it was offensively unfunny. The hacky Forrest Gump reference just makes my case for me. "Life is like a box of shit. Hurrr"

I can beat whomever will post the "I don't like thing." "Ok.".jpg to the punch. I get it, but I do think my statement that these video (or maybe just this video in particular) is inane and extraordinarily unfunny are just as relevant as the statements saying "kek video gud"

You just don't understand the schtick of the character for that Forrest Gump line. You're not supposed to be laughing at the joke. You're supposed to be laughing at the character for saying it. It's not a joke Rolfe would say in real life. It's the character. The character has a fecal fetish. The shit references being forced and awkwardly shoehorned in is the joke. That's what made me laugh at that line.
 

Dremark

Banned
I really don't see what AVGN has to do with Angry Joe. They both have Angry in their name...ok...and?

People have been watching James for 13 years now. Over that time, he's built up a fanbase and a lot of respect. People might not be so into the whole thing anymore, hell even he doesn't seem as enthusiastic. But people still watch because it's a basically a comedy show about old videogames, and an obsessive nerd who gets pissed off because of how shitty they are.

Yeah I'll be the first to admit he's not anywhere near as good as he used to be but I still check his stuff out.
 

border

Member
You do you, fam. I agree on some points and disagree on others. I think both are cosmically unfunny but I tend to find Angry Joe reviews far more informational whereas AVGN stuff tends to be purely for entertainment. No one in this day and age is playing the games AVGN is playing.

That's kind of why people (ironically or unironically) question the purpose of an Angry Joe thread. There have been at least 100 published reviews of Mass Effect Andromeda in the past few weeks, so I think it's probably fair to question why Angry Joe's Mass Effect Andromeda review needs its own separate thread. The implication in starting a separate thread is that this guy's opinion is so insightful or definitive that it needs its own space for discussion and analysis. But that's really not the case at all.....he's just some ornery dude screaming at a TV screen. His take on a newly-released game isn't so fresh or revealing that it warrants a specific space to address and consider this one reviewer's complaints. He's mostly just echoing the hundreds of other people already talking about the game, albeit in a more enigmatic style.

By contrast, nobody else right now is really reviewing Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 or the 16-bit Power Rangers games. I honestly think it's fair to question why even AVGN's Sonic review needs its own thread, given how thoroughly the game has been critiqued and dismantled by others. But given how infrequently he posts content, I think it's fair to let it slide.
 

oatmeal

Banned
Wow! James was definitely a pioneer for this style of YouTube celebrity I feel.

Will watch was a huge fan. Can't believe it's been this long since he started.
 
Wow! James was definitely a pioneer for this style of YouTube celebrity I feel.

He just announced his wife is pregnant with their second daughter, too.

It's crazy to when you think back on its humble beginnings. I became a fan when the TMNT review came out.
 

Mr_Moogle

Member
I still remember watching his review of the TMNT NES game ages ago. I didn't realise he was still doing these.

Holy crap at Sonic though. I knew the game was a mess but I didn't realise just how janky and buggy it is. It's almost like the developer was trolling gamers. It should never have been released in this state.
 

thefro

Member
I haven't seen this episode yet but he's really not at the same level he used to be and he hasn't been for a long time. I'm not sure how much of it is burn out and how much is just him getting stale but I don't know how much longer he can keep doing this for.

He's already hit all the low-hanging fruit (and most of the medium-hanging fruit), frustrating games from his childhood that he remembers, movie/TV licensed games, noted terrible games.

Heck, he had to binge-watch Power Rangers for the first time for his last video.

His movie-related stuff and Board James have been on point in the last couple years so it's not like he's burned out making videos in general. Those ones probably get 20%-30% of the hit count of the Nerd episodes so it's not surprising that he keeps forcing these out.

I will say his last six videos (starting with Paperboy) have all been solid to good.
Probably his most consistent run in a while.
 

Dremark

Banned
He's already hit all the low-hanging fruit (and most of the medium-hanging fruit), frustrating games from his childhood that he remembers, movie/TV licensed games, noted terrible games.

Heck, he had to binge-watch Power Rangers for the first time for his last video.

His movie-related stuff and Board James have been on point in the last couple years so it's not like he's burned out making videos in general. Those ones probably get 20%-30% of the hit count of the Nerd episodes so it's not surprising that he keeps forcing these out.

I will say his last six videos (starting with Paperboy) have all been solid to good.
Probably his most consistent run in a while.

The one he did with Keith Apicary was an abomination. Aside from that I don't recall any of the recent ones being bad, but it's still gotten kind of tired.

I'm not blaming him though, it's just the nature of the stuff he's working with.
 

MrBadger

Member
I feel like if you're gonna cover one of the most covered games in existence, you should bring something new to the table, or offer a different perspective like he did with E.T. This was just more of the same observations every other angry reviewer's made, like the shit loading, superman 64 stuff, creepy romance and shitty Silver fight.
 

Kanann

Member
I feel like if you're gonna cover one of the most covered games in existence, you should bring something new to the table, or offer a different perspective like he did with E.T. This was just more of the same observations every other angry reviewer's made, like the shit loading, superman 64 stuff, creepy romance and shitty Silver fight.

Not surprise, this work was by requests, not self-suffering or passion.
 

magnetic

Member
I've been watching stuff about Sonic 06 for years and years at this point, starting with the Pokecapn LP (that's also 9 years old at this point), so AVGN is very late and doesn't offer any new insight. The games flaws have been thoroughly established.

However, his self insertion montages made me smile and at this point AVGN is a source of nostalgia in itself - he reminds me of oldschool bad game reviews, along with SomethingAwful, iMockery and Seanbaby, back when I first had my own place and Internet for myself.

He definitely isn't edgy anymore at this point, but I still enjoy watching him. He's been around for so long that he takes the place of comfort food for me.

And that little dance next to Sonic was worth a chuckle for me!

Maybe he does more board game videos, those were really refreshing and passionate.
 
About damn time, this is easily his most requested review. I guess he wanted to get to a point where he could review this past generation of consoles comfortably.
 
The reverse middle finger got me good. He is not just swearing and anger, he makes genuienly funny comments.
That's the thing, he's actually really damn funny when he makes subtle comments about oddities within the game. The faux-angry gamer shtick is old at this point.
 

Kart94

Banned
This is a good video, though i was worried cine Sonic 06 is not a game he usually plays.

*Maybe next time he can cover a slightly more obscure bad game. still not quite sure covering x-box games will work. Bad 7th gen games >> bad to ok NES games. but i have a feeling this is just because of sponsorship*
 

Chinbo37

Member
Funny stuff. I like the AVGN stuff. Also I like how it doesnt come out every week, so when tehy do come out it makes it a bit more special.
 
The review reminds me of his Superman 64 one, where he only plays the first hour or so of each game, and doesn't go beyond that to see other stuff like Silver's ball puzzle or using Superman's super breath to take out tornados.
 

bigkrev

Member
Interesting to see that this is a sponsored episode (by Full Sail University of all things?)

I haven't seen this episode yet but he's really not at the same level he used to be and he hasn't been for a long time. I'm not sure how much of it is burn out and how much is just him getting stale but I don't know how much longer he can keep doing this for.

He started doing these videos in 2004. In the 13 years since then, he's gotten married, had a child, bought a house, built an old school video rental store in his basement, and probably had a bunch of other life events happen to him as well.

He used to do these biweekly, then monthly, and we are now down to 4-5 episodes a year. It's not a priority for him, but he continues to do it because he gets to have fun for the Haloween episodes, and because it's how 99.9% of his fans discovered him
 

IpsoFacto

Member
'Bout time he touched this game. It's a bad game, no doubt about it, but I think he was fairly constructive in his swear-filled critique.

The game is bad but at this point, it's one of those guilty pleasure / Mystery Science Theater type of games that you can just stare in awe at just how silly it is.

The only things I didnt like from this review were:

- He didn't show off enough material from that game;
- He didn't make any major new gags out of said source material;

The loading jokes were stale 3 months after the game's release. The whale for example was a good joke, now that I think about it more, what was really the point of that killer whale? And despite a lot of the glitches, much of Sonic's game time is automated.
 
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