The Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN; originally called Angry Nintendo Nerd) is an American comedy web series created and starred in by James Rolfe. The show follows Rolfe’s character, often called "the Nerd," who is known for being easily angered and using strong language when reviewing old video games of poor quality. The series started with Rolfe playing games and giving commentary about them, but over time, it expanded to include sketches with guest characters, reviews of gaming equipment, and short lessons about video game history and culture.
James Rolfe began his career as an amateur filmmaker. He first made videos of the Nerd character as a private joke for friends and coworkers. In May 2004, with the help of future producer Mike Matei, Rolfe shared the videos on his website. In 2006, he uploaded them to YouTube, a new online video platform, where the series became popular. The show gained a large following and led to Rolfe appearing in other media, such as movies, video games, and public events. To avoid legal issues with Nintendo and to review games from other companies, the series was renamed The Angry Video Game Nerd. Between 2007 and 2011, the show was shared with websites like ScrewAttack and GameTrailers. It was also briefly available on Amazon Video in 2018.
The Angry Video Game Nerd is seen as one of the first creators of online review videos. His style influenced many other reviewers and helped make this type of content widely known. Many other creators, such as JonTron, Doug Walker, Egoraptor, Angry Joe, Scott Wozniak, and Joueur du Grenier, have said the show inspired their own work.
Premise
The show focuses on a character named "the Nerd," who critiques old video games that he considers to have poor quality, unfair challenges, or bad design. Rolfe's character, "the Nerd," is a video game collector who reviews old games in a style similar to comedy shows like Mystery Science Theater 3000. While playing the games, he points out their technical flaws, design issues, and strange features to warn viewers about their shortcomings. Some episodes also include reviews of video game consoles, accessories, or games with similar themes. These reviews often begin with a short explanation about the game's history or the Nerd's personal experiences, mixed with humorous sketches and jokes filled with strong language.
The Nerd wears typical nerd clothing, such as glasses, a white button-up shirt, khaki pants, and loafers, while reviewing games in his basement. During these reviews, he is sometimes interrupted by guest characters from video games and popular culture. These guests often add their own comments, mock the Nerd's frustration, and act as copies of the characters they represent. The Nerd uses exaggerated, unusual scenarios, intense anger, and humor to entertain viewers while reviewing games. He also drinks Rolling Rock beer (and later Yuengling) during these reviews. His frustration with bad games, often expressed with the phrase "What were they thinking?!", sometimes leads him to destroy game cartridges or simulate actions like burning, crushing, or throwing away games and consoles.
In many episodes, the Nerd dresses as other famous characters, such as Batman or Indiana Jones, while reviewing their games. Other characters in the show include the Nerdy Turd, Shit Pickle, the Guitar Guy, the Game Graphic Glitch Gremlin, and Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 B.C. Version 4.0 Beta. The show also features occasional appearances by other video game reviewers, such as Pat the NES Punk. Special guests have included Lloyd Kaufman from Troma Entertainment, Macaulay Culkin from Home Alone, and Gilbert Gottfried, who played a fake lead developer of Life of Black Tiger and the Nerd's enemy, Fred "Fucks" (Fred Fuchs), during a July 31, 2019, episode.
Production
James Rolfe's first two episodes were created as a joke and were not meant to be shared publicly. In May 2004, he made his first on-camera game reviews, using humorous insults and exaggerated confusion to comment on two games—Castlevania II: Simon's Quest and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. These reviews became the defining style of the Nerd character. At the time, the series was quickly named "Bad NES Games." Rolfe later explained in an interview that the joke was about how upset a dedicated gamer could be over games that were already 20 years old. Although the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde review was meant to be the last, Rolfe's friends, who enjoyed the earlier "Bad NES Games" reviews, encouraged him to make another. A friend named Mike Matei helped produce and publish the videos on Cinemassacre, and they were released outside the website as part of a four-VHS tape set called the "Cinemassacre Gold Collection."
In 2006, Rolfe began sharing episodes on YouTube. He released a review of The Karate Kid game, which was the first episode where Rolfe's character was introduced as "The Angry Nintendo Nerd." These videos were named "The Angry Nintendo Nerd Trilogy" and posted on Cinemassacre. The show's popularity led Rolfe to review games on other systems, and he later changed the title to "The Angry Video Game Nerd" to avoid issues with Nintendo's trademark. Rolfe expanded his reviews to include platforms like the Atari 2600, Super NES, Master System, and Sega Genesis, as well as peripherals like the Power Glove and U-Force, films like The Wizard, and Nintendo Power magazine. Over time, he reviewed games such as Sonic '06 on the Xbox 360 and Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing on PC.
Rolfe's series gained mainstream attention after his review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles went viral on YouTube. A writer named Alex Carlson noted that before 2004, video game criticism was mostly done by professional writers in magazines and websites. He explained that the opinions of these professionals often did not match the views of average gamers. He added that now, anyone with a webcam and video software could become a critic and express strong opinions without being censored. Since then, the show grew in quantity, production quality, and fan base. Rolfe began adding homemade special effects and storytelling to episodes. The first of these cinematic episodes was a review of the 1989 Friday the 13th game in October 2006, using dramatic lighting and camera angles to highlight its horror-themed story, where the Nerd is attacked by Jason Voorhees for disliking the game. Later episodes mixed direct game reviews with documentary-style storytelling, where Rolfe shared facts about the games or consoles being reviewed. When asked if the Nerd would review modern games, Rolfe said the show focuses on nostalgia and that he is "mostly a retro gamer."
In late 2007, Rolfe paused production after experiencing a voice issue. On March 17, 2010, he announced he was taking a break due to burnout from constant work, and the show entered a short hiatus. Production resumed a month later, but episodes were released less frequently—only one per month instead of two—because of Rolfe's other projects. In late 2011, Rolfe paused the show again to work on the AVGN movie. Production resumed in late summer 2012. Since then, Rolfe has released Nerd videos on his Cinemassacre website and YouTube account in an irregular schedule to balance his personal life with other projects. By 2013, the show had over 900,000 YouTube subscribers and 400 million views. By 2014, Cinemassacre had 1.5 million subscribers. Rolfe said the show became popular around the same time YouTube gained popularity.
In January 2013, the YouTube channel was temporarily shut down due to claims of serious violations of YouTube's rules. The channel was later restored. In March 2016, the channel reached 2 million subscribers, 10 years after its creation. Rolfe made a video thanking fans for their support and for helping him, Mike Matei, and others grow Cinemassacre. In June 2019, the channel reached 3 million subscribers, which Rolfe celebrated as part of the show's 13th anniversary on YouTube. In December 2020, Rolfe announced on the Cinemassacre YouTube channel that longtime collaborator Mike Matei would leave to focus on his Twitch career.
Other media
James Rolfe reviewed the Back to the Future games in an MTV segment titled "Viral Videos Infect the Mainstream." On November 2, 2008, his videos and personality were featured on the nationally syndicated radio show Opie and Anthony. The Nerd also became the subject of a discussion on Howard Stern and David Arquette's episode of Stern's Sirius XM show. During this episode, Stern criticized the show's format and the gaming community in general at the TooManyGames 2011 convention in Philadelphia. James Rolfe appeared as the Nerd at various gaming and internet conventions.
On September 24, 2008, Rolfe worked with fellow reviewer Doug Walker to create a fictional feud between his character, the Nostalgia Critic, and the Nerd. The feud began because the Critic disliked comments from fans that compared him unfairly to the Nerd. Together, they made a series of humorous videos showing their characters arguing, culminating in a fight in Clifton, New Jersey. The characters also dared each other to review something from the other's work, such as the Nerd reviewing a bad movie and the Critic reviewing a bad game. A final fight took place in the Nerd's basement on October 10, 2008, with parodies of movies like The Matrix Reloaded and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. These videos became very popular with fans. To celebrate the first anniversary of the ThatGuyWithTheGlasses website, Rolfe and Walker created another special video where their characters met again to battle, with other reviewers joining them. The characters eventually agreed to stop fighting. Rolfe later appeared as the Nerd in various Channel Awesome shows, including a review of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie with the Nostalgia Critic. Both the Nerd and Critic made background appearances in the anime Unlimited Psychic Squad.
On July 21, 2014, an independent film titled Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie was released online and in limited theaters. DVD and Blu-ray versions came out later that year. The movie's story follows the Nerd trying to prove that over 1 million copies of the video game E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600 were not buried, as fans had asked him to review it. During his search, the Nerd is chased by federal agents who think he is investigating Area 51 and a UFO crash.
The movie started developing in late 2006 after the popularity of the Angry Video Game Nerd web series. James Rolfe directed, produced, and co-wrote the film, and he played the Nerd on screen. The script was designed to have the Nerd finally review the E.T. game, but Rolfe had to balance filming with his other projects. The screenplay was finished by 2008, and the film's budget of over $300,000 was raised through crowdfunding. Rolfe asked fans to send webcam videos of themselves reacting to the Nerd's web series, which were used as an intro to the movie.
Although Rolfe has not ruled out a sequel involving the lost Swordquest treasures, he says it is unlikely due to the time spent on the movie and his focus on other projects.
In 2013, a video game titled Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures was announced. Developed by FreakZone Games, it was released on September 20, 2013, for Microsoft Windows via Steam. The game follows the Nerd rescuing friends who were sucked into his TV, using a NES Zapper as his weapon. A character named Naggi the Patronizing Firefly guides him, parodying Navi from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The Nerd faces enemies like zombies, Mr. Hyde, Custer, The Giant Claw, and parodies of Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger. The game was later released on Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. A sequel, Angry Video Game Nerd II: ASSimilation, was announced in 2014 and released in 2016.
A remastered version of the first two games, The Angry Video Game Nerd I & II Deluxe, was announced in 2019 and released in 2020 for Nintendo Switch and Steam. Ports for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and the Epic Games Store followed later. The remaster includes new difficulty settings, altered story elements, and additional content.
A new version of the Angry Video Game Nerd for the original NES and modern platforms is being developed by Mega Cat Studios.
Unofficial fan-made games include Angry Video Game Nerd's Angry Video Game, Angry Video Game Nerd in Pixel Land Blast, AVGN Game Over, AVGN Game Over 2, and AVGN Planet. There are also games for the Atari 2600 titled Angry Video Game Nerd and AVGN K.O. Boxing. The Nerd mentioned these games in an episode titled AVGN Games. He also appeared as a playable character in Texting of the Bread, produced by ScrewAttack.
The show's opening theme song, The Angry Video Game Nerd Theme Song, has been a part of the series since its beginning. Written by Kyle Justin and James Rolfe, it was performed by Justin. Over the years, the song had different versions for special episodes. A soundtrack album was released in 2011 by Lachlan Barclay after fans requested it. Another album, based on the video game, was released in 2013 by FreakZone Games. A movie soundtrack, composed by Bear McCreary, was released in 2014. It included rock-and-roll, heavy metal, and music from classic gaming systems like the NES and SNES.
Board James is an internet show created by Rolfe, in which he plays a character named Board James, who is naive but ultimately sinister.
Reception and legacy
The Angry Video Game Nerd show helped James Rolfe become one of the most well-known Internet celebrities before YouTube became popular. The show won the title of Best Online Web Series in Mashable's 3rd Annual Open Web Awards on December 16, 2009. Peggy Rajski explained that the show's success came from using the Internet effectively and a crowdfunding system. She also said that Rolfe had already built an audience that cared about his previous work, and when he asked them to support him, they were happy to help. Doug Walker, a fellow filmmaker and Internet celebrity, called the Nerd the "Greatest Video Game Critic of All Time." Jacob Rich of Michigan Daily described the Nerd as the "pioneering internet 'gamer' show," noting that many major game review shows online today were influenced by the format of the Angry Video Game Nerd. A French show called Joueur du Grenier was inspired by the Angry Video Game Nerd.
Zach Whalen described how the show connected retro gaming to modern gamers as "a process of looking back to an unattainable past and trying to bring that past into the present." Rolfe told The Guardian that the show's impact on today's video game industry is still felt, as people today "still relate to it and they like learning of the past." In the same article, reporter Luke Langlands noted that the show inspired the creation of other independent online shows. The Nerd's success as an independent celebrity outside of mainstream pop culture showed that people could build lifelong careers online. A survey by Mediscape found that many people admitted to being inspired by the Nerd to create and share their own content on platforms like YouTube, DeviantArt, SourceForge, GameFAQs, and ScrewAttack. This inspired creators such as the Nostalgia Critic and Angry Joe.
In his analysis, writer Alex Carlson of Hardcore Gamer called Rolfe's character "The Nerd Who Changed Gaming Culture Forever." He described the Angry Video Game Nerd as "one of the most recognizable figures in gaming culture," adding that if you're a gamer, it's likely you've seen videos from the series on YouTube. Nearly a decade after the series began, Rolfe's character with strong language is still influencing others. As more gaming channels appear on YouTube, many take inspiration from The Nerd. From the start, The Angry Video Game Nerd was a major step forward. Whether Rolfe realized it or not, the rise of The Nerd marked a moment that changed how games are reviewed and shared online forever.