official AVGN thread

[A Black Falcon]

<embed src="http://blip.tv/play/AYGOpmyPp34" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="390" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed>

Mediocre game... awesome ad. :)

[Geno]

Has anyone watched his new series "You Know What's Bullshit?" It's pretty good. I wholeheartedly agree with everything he said about DVDs. Don't get me wrong, DVDs are superior to VHSes, but the companies that make the DVDs feel the need to make them suck by throwing in ads and logo animations that you can't skip over, as if we haven't already bought their shit and they need to keep shoving advertisements in our faces.

[Dark Jaguar]

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[A Black Falcon]

This game, Plumbers Don't Wear Ties, looks so bad that it makes bad games look good... which means, of course, it's an FMV "game" -- a really, really bad FMV "game".

Warning, 17, um I mean 18, plus only...

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[Fittisize]

Bwahahaha

That was probably the most entertaining AVGN I've ever seen. Just watching him review it was a fucked up surreal experience. I can't imagine what it would be like to actually play it.

[A Black Falcon]

Evidently the game, while it appears to give you "choices", really doesn't have much of any; the path he follows is pretty much the only one, the few other choices either just loop back in or give you those 'game over, try again' videos. So yeah, not much replay value here... but it sure is hilarious. That somebody actually thought this was a good idea, and actually managed to get it published as a retail game on a major console platform, really is kind of amazing... and without actual video either, just a slideshow for 99% of the game!

There are worse games out there -- see "Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing" for perhaps the worst retail game ever made -- but this game is clearly very high on the list. The game deserved a 20 minute review, the utter idiocy of the whole thing needed to be shown!, I guess. :)

[A Black Falcon]

Do you want to play the game yourself?

Now you can, through someone willing to waste their time to upload the whole thing to Youtube and link the videos together as they are in the game! Wow!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjMAG5IDnek

[alien space marine]

<embed src="http://blip.tv/play/AYGU_BgC" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="390" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed>

[alien space marine]

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[A Black Falcon]

Hmm, another fight-centric episode. They're never my favorites... I definitely like it more when he focuses more on the games than the theater -- that Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout one was actually one of my less favorite episodes for example, because of how much of it was taken up by the fight. This one, yeah, it'd have been nice to have more about the actual games, but as about the only bad thing about these games is the slow pace and potential boredom factor, it's not THAT bad, and the fight was very well done, particularly those Looney Tunes refences, I agree (those were pretty funny... :)). Still, yes, more about the games themselves would be great, even if they are all pretty much the same in gameplay. I guess that's the problem though, they aren't actually bad games, so how do you justify such a massive fight scene (centered around the Nerd's hate for the games) if you admit that? So spend as little time on the gameplay as possible I guess and just focus on the fights...

I mean, I liked the episode overall for sure. It just wasn't one of my favorites of his... but he obviously likes these fight scenes, so they happen every so often. Given that the last few before this have been heavily focused on the games in question, which HAVE actually been awful games, a change of pace for one episode isn't so bad. :)

Anyway, about the games. The Crazy Castle games actually are decently good puzzle-action games, and aren't bad at all. I think he knows that too, he just wanted an excuse to do some more fighting with Bugs Bunny... though some other more recent Bugs games are probably worse, so I don't know why he chose those, other than that one was on the NES and NES games are what he most likes to review. That's probably why, really.

I mean, I think they all got decent reviews and obviously did well on handhelds, given that there were five of them. And note that he doesn't actually say much negative except for "they're boring"... doesn't spend much time talking about the games at all, really. It's a long video, but it's mostly taken up with the fights. I will admit, though, that being a rabbit it's kind of odd Bugs Bunny can't jump... :) but really, they are decent games. Somewhat slow paced, but not bad. Quite decent as far as handheld platform-puzzle games go, really... nothing amazing, but nothing awful either. I remember wanting some of them back when my only console was a Game Boy... they looked pretty good. Still do.

Some stuff he doesn't mention about the series:

The first version of the original game was actually an FDS Roger Rabbit game, ported to the US as Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle for the NES. That game also had a Game Boy port, which in Japan was "Mickey Mouse" and starred, well, Mickey Mouse, but was Bugs Bunny as usual in the US and Europe. The second game was a Mickey Mouse game as well in Japan. The third and fourth ones were Bugs Bunny everywhere, and the fifth was Woody Woodpecker everywhere, though.

Also, the third game is a black-cart game, as you can see in the video, so it actually has a colorized mode; in the footage he's playing it on Super Game Boy (it's easy to tell, in the footage the games use the SGB's default palette for non-SGB enhanced titles) so it's in B&W, not color. Play it on a GBC or GBA (such as that SP there in the video) and it'd be in color.

[alien space marine]

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[alien space marine]

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[A Black Falcon]

Classic AGVN material there, for sure... I know it's saying what everyone else is, but seriously. Why DID people ever design games like that? As he said, how in the world is anyone supposed to play it without a guide in hand? Bizarre...

Good episode for sure. :)

[alien space marine]

<embed src="http://blip.tv/play/AYGc9GsC" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="390" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed>

I once owned that game

The parts do break easy, Losing the balls is a bigger problem , The catapult is the hardest thing to shoot with.

My favorite board games, Were Risk and Monopoly. I also had a Jurrasic Park and ST TNG board game.

[A Black Falcon]

Awesome game, I didn't have it but a friend of mine did. I always wished that I had it myself... great fun though, for sure. :)

[A Black Falcon]

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Great episode!

There was one other early '90s US-released Godzilla game, the quite rare late 1993/early 1994 Turbo CD game named "Godzilla". It was one of the system's last releases in the US though, and sold horribly of course... evidently it is a 1 on 1 fighting game, though, though just an average one based on reviews.

Anyway, great episode. And yeah, licensed games aren't often great, are they. Once in a while one is... but usually not.

(Oh, and I've never played it, but that Game Boy Godzilla game looked fun. Silly, but fun. :))

[Geno]

Haha, that Game Boy Godzilla game was hilarious. :D

[Fittisize]

I do believe this is the first time the Nerd has uttered the "c" word.

[Geno]

Yeah, I don't recall him ever using that word before. For some people, that word is even more taboo than "fuck." I once called my ex-girlfriend a cunt and she flipped her lid, not so much because I insulted her, but because of what horrible language I was using. Note that she swears all the time, even dropping F-bombs frequently, and yet that word was somehow toxic to her ears. What a hypocritical cunt. :)

[alien space marine]

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[A Black Falcon]

I never saw Wayne's World... funny episode though. Too bad he didn't finish the NES one, the funniest parts are often him playing awful games... :) But overall, great episode as usual.

(oh, evidently the NES one was also on GB and the SNES one also on Genesis. Look like the same games though.)

[alien space marine]

<embed src="http://blip.tv/play/AYGa63cC" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="390" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed>

[alien space marine]

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[A Black Falcon]

Will he cover Castlevania II again next time? We'll see!

But yes, he's quite right about the first Castlevania. I got it last year, and it's really, really hard indeed... I got pretty far into it before giving up and turning it off, one of the later levels, but yeah, not to the end. It's very, very hard and unforgiving. So yes, it was definitely a good, accurate episode. :)

[alien space marine]

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[Fittisize]

Puhleeeeeeze cover Castlevania II again! Wasn't that the first AVGN ever, back in '04 (it was, I confirmed it)? I'd love to see him take on that game once more.

[alien space marine]

Puhleeeeeeze cover Castlevania II again! Wasn't that the first AVGN ever, back in '04 (it was, I confirmed it)? I'd love to see him take on that game once more.

Yeah, You can tell this was one of his first reviews, it seems more unpolished and he sounds like he has a cold or something.

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[alien space marine]

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[A Black Falcon]

Good episode. I can see the angry Castlevania III fans now, it's one of the most popular games in the series and he says some not-so-nice things about it...

But of course he also said that it was the best Castlevania game on the NES, so it's not like he actually dislikes it. He's just pointing out how hard it is. :)

[alien space marine]

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[A Black Falcon]

First -- absolutely agreed 100% with him about Super Castlevania IV. Best controls in the series, and a nearly perfect game too. Just exceptional work, it's almost certainly my favorite game in the series. At least, none of the other ones I've played can compete. Lots of levels, interesting level designs, exceptional music, that awesome 8-way whip that I badly wish they had kept in the series, and more... I just can't agree with pretty much any of the people who dislike its' complaints. Nor does the AGVN, evidently. No branching paths? With this many levels, I don't care. No other characters? Oh well, Simon is awesome here. Difficulty? Well, there is a hard mode you unlock after you beat it... and it's a moderate challenge at least. Fun the whole way through. Oh, and the fact that it actually gives you new passwords after every boss in the boss rush at the end impressed me and made me very happy, you don't have to redo it all every time you die!


As for the N64 games though, there I disagree quite a lot. Nitro? I don't even remember the Nitro part, must not have been that annoying, for me at least. I did just look it up though, and it's quite simple, just walk up to the door and then use the item. He didn't do that. Really. it was obvious even in the video though, he didn't even get anywhere near the door before trying to use the item, most likely because he knew that that way it'd actually work and be less funny for what he wanted to do in the video. Just chalk it up to another case of "him doing things that are obviously wrong for the comic value", he does that kind of thing all the time... I'm sure he actually knew what to do there. Too bad he didn't like the games though, yeah. It was a good episode though, you can't take what he says too seriously... :)

Also, the music is definitely good. It's quite solid music which fits the series well, and some classic songs from earlier games return. This game has no problems in the music department. The 'atmospheric sounds' parts work well too, to help create the sense of atmosphere that the game has. Can't agree at all about that one.

Also, I know I'd normally criticize such a thing strong and it may be hypocritical to say it, but I can't help it -- 1830s/1850s motorcycle skeletons are awesome! It's just so ridiculous here that I can't help but find it amusing... :)

As for the controls, I actually think that they're pretty good. It's very nice how easy they made it to grab onto platform edges, you have to TRY to miss jumps, pretty much, most of the time. It'll even flip you around to grab onto a ledge behind you if you jump facing the wrong way! It's a lot more forgiving than a lot of other 3d platformer games, really. :)

I've said it before, but I got Castlevania Legacy of Darkness a couple of years ago with no expectations for it to be good, considering how everyone seemed to hate it, but quickly realized that it actually was a really good game. Great sense of atmosphere, good controls, good level designs, some good puzzles, very good graphics (high res mode looks great, very sharp and clear! Vast improvement over the first version.) and more... I just really liked it. I do have the first one too, now, but haven't played it as much. The graphics are nowhere near as good as the second game's, these two characters are way weaker in combat than Cornell, and the fact that you only get the good ending if you beat it in a time limit really ruins it. I hate games with time limits! LoD is awesome though, and makes the original one nearly irrelevant, except for that very cool violin song on the main menu that isn't in LoD and a few small touches in the levels or something (some areas were changed).

On the level designs, as I've said I think that they're quite good. The game's just got such great level designs. From LoD's first level on the boats to the last level in the clock tower, the levels are consistently interesting, varied, and fun and challenging to explore and get through. It would be hard to choose my favorites. I did find the tower with all the lava in it frustrating, and got stuck there for a while, but after that it got fun again, in the Tower of Sorcery full of disappearing blocks you have to jump across and beyond. The jumping puzzles are great because they may look hard, but just get your timing right and you'll be fine. It's nowhere near as hard as some of the stuff in the 2d games, you have better control over where you're going and can hang from many ledges. Take the Tower of Sorcery for example, when I first saw it I thought it would be quite frustrating, but a little practice got me through. You just learn the patterns of the blocks and jump... as I said you won't miss the jumps if you're aimed anywhere near the right direction, so it's just about timing. It was a fun level for sure, though I could say things as nice about most of the levels in the game... a game like this needs good level designs to be good, and it has them.

The game definitely does have some challenging platforming in it, and some tricky puzzles, but it better, given that it's a 3d platform/adventure game. If it didn't I'd be disappointed... but it does. It's got some good fights too. Some of the bossfights are great, the last one for example. Teleporting Dracula, etc... pretty cool. :) Even so, combat isn't the game's main strength, platforming and adventure (figuring out how to get where you need to go, puzzle solving, etc) in a very atmospheric game are, and I like it that way. It definitely has a stronger adventure-game feel than most games of this kind, with all the items you have to find and puzzles to solve. I loved that element of the game. Challenging at times when I couldn't figure the puzzle out, sure, but the game is better off for it. That's a good kind of challenge, the kind that actually makes you think.

As for the camera, that I will agree wasn't great. Very, very few 3d games back then had great cameras. It's tolerable, but sometimes annoying, sure. But that doesn't ruin the whole game.

I also have to agree about the autoaim, it works but it definitely could have been better. It targets things out of range and is slow to acquire targets sometiems, it seems. It works (definitely far better than trying to do all melee combat or something, he's absolutely right that this game is a lot more fun with a ranged attack!), but it could have been better. Oh well.

Other than that, my main complaints would be that all of the modes except for Cornell's are timed and that really annoys me, he is right that the auto-aim definitely isn't up to OoT's standard, and that while it's okay the camera could have been a little better. But the great graphics, good music and sound effects, great level designs, atmosphere, platforming, cool boss fights, puzzles, and more are all done well and make the game quite good overall. It's definitely not perfect, but it's good.


Oh, and I guess he's skipping Bloodlines. Huh. (If not for the fact that it's broken and no fun because of the continue limit, it would have been a great game...)

[alien space marine]

I regret never having played any of the castlevania games, Obviously Castlevania 4 would be were I would start if I did.

[A Black Falcon]

A Visit to Sleepy Hollow...
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And yes, Super Castlevania IV is amazing. Play it now! :)

[A Black Falcon]

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[Geno]

Okay, he's done it. He's made me want to check out the Castlevania series. Oddly enough, the only one I've ever owned was the Nintendo 64 one that he hates so much. Long ago, my brother also owned Castlevania II: Simon's Quest on the NES, another installment that the Nerd despises.

I should get to downloading some ROMs. :)

[A Black Falcon]

As I said above, I, at least, think the N64 ones are pretty good... but yes, it's definitely a series to play. The NES ones are pretty frustrating for sure, he's quite right about that, but it's a classic series...

[Fittisize]

My Castlevania experience involves Circle of the Moon on the GBA, which I loved, and then Castlevania IV on the Virtual Console, a game I bought on a lark a few years ago. They are both outstanding games. After these last few AVGNs, I might also have to check out the rest of the Castlevania series. Rolfe is a genuine fanatic and his extreme passion and genuine love and dedication of everything he does, be it AVGN eps, movie reviews, or whatever else, is infectious. It's what keeps me coming back, and his work has definitely got me interested in many other things, like old-tyme horror movies.

[Geno]

As I said above, I, at least, think the N64 ones are pretty good... but yes, it's definitely a series to play. The NES ones are pretty frustrating for sure, he's quite right about that, but it's a classic series...

I actually didn't hate the N64 version either (I only played the first one, simply titled Castlevania). The only problem I had with it was the need for a memory card to save it. For some reason, I never bought one, so I never got very far in the game. I made it a ways into the castle, but I don't remember the part where James got stuck, so I must've gotten stumped sooner. But yeah, I kind of liked the gameplay, even if the game wasn't a masterpiece by any means.

[A Black Falcon]

It's not like memory cards were that expensive, and games that require it say "requires a memory card" on the box... I've heard people say things like that, but it's never made sense to me. Why in the world wouldn't you just get a memory card first...

Anyway, new episode. It's Little Red Hood for the NES, an unlicensed game with the extremely low quality that is average in such titles. It's a good episode, and I love the ending too...

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[Geno]

I don't have much of an excuse there, just that I never got around to buying an N64 memory card for some reason, and I must not have paid attention to the Castlevania box when I bought it and therefore didn't know it required a memory card. Also, I was about 13 or so at the time, so I didn't have access to my own car or my own money and therefore couldn't just go out on a whim and buy something whenever I wanted.

Good episode. Gotta love those really bad games that always come complete with uninspired endings. The Ghostbusters one is still my favorite though. :)

[alien space marine]

I wonder if the N64 had some crappy unlicensed games too?

I wish he would do a Donkey Kong and Mariothon.

[A Black Falcon]

I wonder if the N64 had some crappy unlicensed games too?

I wish he would do a Donkey Kong and Mariothon.

No, I think the Castlevania ones show that he really is best when he's covering truly bad games... that is, when he covers games that are annoying but good like most of those, the results aren't quite as satisfying as they are with truly bad games like Little Red Hood here. Oh, the Castlevania episodes were great, but when the games aren't actually bad, he has to manipulate the episodes to make them look worse than they are -- think the part where he "couldn't figure out" how to use that bomb which you just have to walk up to the door and use.

... Mario 2 (Japan; that is, Lost Levels) would be a fine one for the show though, I think... :D (Maybe Donkey Kong 3? Not many people played that one...)

[alien space marine]

No, I think the Castlevania ones show that he really is best when he's covering truly bad games... that is, when he covers games that are annoying but good like most of those, the results aren't quite as satisfying as they are with truly bad games like Little Red Hood here. Oh, the Castlevania episodes were great, but when the games aren't actually bad, he has to manipulate the episodes to make them look worse than they are -- think the part where he "couldn't figure out" how to use that bomb which you just have to walk up to the door and use.

... Mario 2 (Japan; that is, Lost Levels) would be a fine one for the show though, I think... :D (Maybe Donkey Kong 3? Not many people played that one...)

The "Irate gamer" the angry nerds "copy cat" , Did a video all about the history behind Mario bros 2, Comparing it to doki doki panic and the Japanese Mario bros 2 (lost levels)

This is one of his older videos back when he was trying to copy avgn, As of present he has moved toward the more standard style of game reviews.

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[etoven]

HA HA HA.......
~FAIL The review was informative though....

[Fittisize]

Hysterical, he criticizes SMB2 for being a clone of another videogame while at the same time he's a clone of another game reviewer.

[Dark Jaguar]

I have a <a href="http://www.tcforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5548">review</a> of SMB2 that sets a lot of this stuff straight. For example, they didn't "steal" anything. Miyamoto himself made Doki Doki Panic. In fact if you look it becomes pretty clear that this already had a lot in common with Mario just as Doki Doki.

Also, he greatly exxagerates the changes made to SMB2 Advance. The levels are almost exactly the same in terms of layout, aside from placing new enemies and hearts around. Oh, and the guy must not have played many of the later levels of SMB1 considering that mushrooms got pretty rare there. At least you can always get a heart so long as you have enough enemies to kill.

I think it's just become popular to hate on SMB2 lately. It's a good game, and face it, we all loved it back then. No reason to suddenly flip around on that.

[Geno]

Hysterical, he criticizes SMB2 for being a clone of another videogame while at the same time he's a clone of another game reviewer.

My thoughts exactly. I've seen one other Irate Gamer review before now (Aladdin on the SNES) and he's obviously an inferior knockoff of the AVGN.

I have a <a href="http://www.tcforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5548">review</a> of SMB2 that sets a lot of this stuff straight. For example, they didn't "steal" anything. Miyamoto himself made Doki Doki Panic. In fact if you look it becomes pretty clear that this already had a lot in common with Mario just as Doki Doki.

Also, he greatly exxagerates the changes made to SMB2 Advance. The levels are almost exactly the same in terms of layout, aside from placing new enemies and hearts around. Oh, and the guy must not have played many of the later levels of SMB1 considering that mushrooms got pretty rare there. At least you can always get a heart so long as you have enough enemies to kill.

I think it's just become popular to hate on SMB2 lately. It's a good game, and face it, we all loved it back then. No reason to suddenly flip around on that.

SMB2 is awesome. I loved it as a kid and I love it now. It's not the best Mario game, but it's one of the most unique and I still find it highly enjoyable. Besides, all those new enemies he bitched about, Shy Guys and such, have become staples in the Mario franchise. You'd think we'd be used to them by now, but heaven forbid a game should bring anything new to the franchise!

And yeah, SMB2 Advance doesn't look all that different from the original SMB2, just with the occasional big enemy and more hearts. The latter is the only real improvement.

[A Black Falcon]

Yeah, I loved SMB2 then as well, and I still like the game a lot. It's definitely one of the best platformers on the NES. Miyamoto also did work on it, and has said that he actually worked more on Doki Doki Panic than he did on the Lost Levels.

I know it's different, but different isn't worse, and SMB2 is a great example of that fact. Honestly it's kind of hard for me to decide between SMB2 and SMB3, they're both fantastic games... but I've always loved SMB2.

[alien space marine]

Yeah, I loved SMB2 then as well, and I still like the game a lot. It's definitely one of the best platformers on the NES. Miyamoto also did work on it, and has said that he actually worked more on Doki Doki Panic than he did on the Lost Levels.

I know it's different, but different isn't worse, and SMB2 is a great example of that fact. Honestly it's kind of hard for me to decide between SMB2 and SMB3, they're both fantastic games... but I've always loved SMB2.

I would kill to be able to play these games again , Especially super Mario Bros 3.

I don't see why they couldn't have released lost levels back then.

[Geno]

^Download 'em on WiiWare.

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...or download ROMs. ;)