Nerd FAQ

F.A.Q.

Q: Why'd you break a SNES in your Wizard/Mario 3 video? Do you know the value of classic game consoles?!

A: Calm down. I'm obviously a big retro game collector. The SNES was ALREADY BROKEN in the first place, so chill out.

Q: When are you going to review R.O.B.?

A: It's been on the list since day one and always a big request. Eventually when I do, it'll be a big review. For now, he's just making small cameos, like in the background of the Simpsons review and committing suicide in the background of the Wizard of Oz review.

Q: In the intro to DoubleVision Part 1, why do you show Mischeif Makers and make an angry face at it? That's a good game and doesn't deserve that treatment!

A: It's funny for me, because I just put random stuff in my intros and see what the fans talk about. But I can never predict what causes a fuss and what doesn't. How about Fatal Fury Special on the Neo Geo? That's in there, and its a great game! I never said Mischeif Makers was a bad game. Yes, I put it in the intro, but it might as well have been any game. Now you want to know the real funny thing? I've gotten many requests for Mischeif Makers. I even recieved the game as a donation with the usual note saying "tear this game a new one!" And everybody seems to want an N64 review, so I decided to put it in there. But NOW, NO? Are you all playing a joke one me? Well... good one. You got me. But if you're wondering if I'm actually planning on reviewing Mischief Makers, the answer is NO. It was just a little clip for the intro, so relax.

Q: I saw in a couple of your videos, you mentioned that you didn't have a Sega Saturn. Can I send donate one?

A: I appreciate your offer, but after those videos, I recieved 4 Sega Saturns in the mail. Watch the intro to the Fester's Quest video and you'll see what I mean. Thanks anyway.

Q: When is your next game review?

A: Every 2-3 weeks, I release a review. That's usually 2 a month.

Q: When are you going to review ET?

A: Eventually.

Q: When are you going to review Shaq Fu?

A: Watch the AVGN Christmas Carol episode.

Q: When are you going to review the Super Mario Bros movie?

A: Eventually.

Q: When are you going to review Deadly Towers?

A: Eventually.
I get these kind of requests every day, and they are planned for future reviews, but if I told you every game & console that's on my list and, then it would spoil the surprise.

Q: I have an idea for a review. Can I request a game?

A: I welcome requests, but remember I have no shortage of ideas. The whole year of 2008 is planned. In fact, your request might already be on the list. So just sit back, there's lots of great stuff on the way.

Q: Are you ever going to review any newer games?

A: I understand there's a lot of interest in more recent games, but my show is all about nostalgia. After all, I'm mostly a retro gamer. What's the first lyric of my theme song? "He's gonna take you back to the past..."

Q: Why haven't you responded to me?

A: Best place to try and contact me is send an email to [email protected] and then wait. Don't email again, it's normal for me to take about a week or more to respond. You need to realize how many people are trying to contact me. In the time it takes me to answer one single email, I recieve about 10 more, which means it's unrealistic for me to answer or even read all of them. In my heart's wish, I would stay on top of my email every day and try to answer everything, but then I wouldn't have time to make any videos. If it's an interview request, game donation or business matter, chances are, I will get to you first. If not, all I can ask is, please keep it short.

Q: Can I talk to you on MSN, or AIM?

A: Sorry, I very rarely use instant messaging. I can't even keep up with my regular messages and emails, let alone have time to chat one on one. I appreciate the fan base and I try to respond to as many of you as I can, but having time to talk is competely unrealistic.

Q: Can I talk to you on the phone? Can I hang out with you?

A: Sorry, no.

Q: What editing equipment/camera do you use?

A: Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, and sometimes After Effects. My camera is a Panasonic DVX100.

Q: How do you record your game footage?

A: All my game clips are recording to DVD, while I'm playing them. After i'm done, I just playback the DVD
in a DVD player that's connected to my computer (through a DV camera) So the DVD player connects to
the camera, and the camera connects to the computer. That's how I go from RCA to Firewire. And I capture
with Final Cut Pro using the option "non-controllable device" so it doesnt' look for timecode from a DV tape.

There are also programs made for ripping DVD's, but I don't use them, because they don't do a good job, they
take a long time, and when I import the footage into Final Cut, I have to render it first. So in the long run, it takes more time.

Q: What's on the DVD?

A: AVGN VOLUME 1 is a double disc set containing all the Nerd videos up til December 2006. On guessing the total running time to be "about 4 hours", many fans have disputed this. My revised approximation is 3 HOURS and 15 MINUTES of content. "Content" includes the BONUS FEATURES and BOTH DISCS TOTAL.

More info about the DVD.

Buy the DVD here.

Q: When's the next DVD?

A: Sometime this year, hopefully before summer. Right now, my priority is keeping up with the new videos.

Q: In your intro, I saw clips from games like E.T. which I can't find your reviews of. Did you take those ones down?

A: I didn't review them yet. Just because there's a clip of a game during my theme song, doesn't mean I reviewed it already. These are games that I plan to review in the future.

Q: How did the Angry Nintendo Nerd (Angry Video Game Nerd) get started?

A: It started as a quick little video as a joke. I make a lot of short videos for comedic purposes, and one thing I decided to do for a quick little joke in May 2004 was to pick on an old NES game (Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest) which is regarded as a classic game, but I chose to pick on all the flaws. During the course of the review, I got more involved than I thought. I complained about every detail I could find and felt the need to swear which later became a character trait of the Angry Video Game Nerd.

When I did my second video review (Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde), I took the joke a step further by appearing on screen in my "nerd" persona which I was inventing. That time, I really took my acting over the top to exaggerate how horrible the game was. It was kind of a comedy experiment and I didn't know if anyone would find it funny. I only showed it to close friends and never put it on the internet until 2 years later. My friends thought it was really funny and because of all the encouragement I got, I decided to make it public and that's when it became as famous as it is now. Because of the overwhelming amount of requests, I just kept making the videos, and that's how it started.

Q: What is the reason for the name change from "Nintendo" nerd to "Video Game" Nerd.

A: When I started this whole thing, I had no idea how popular it would become. So soon the problem came up: You can't sell merchandise with a trademark like "Nintendo" on it, period. End of story. Besides, I'm reviewing more than just Nintendo now. If you still prefer to call me the Angry Nintendo Nerd, then go ahead. Think of it as an alternate name. I'm also the Angry Atari Nerd, Sega Nerd, whatever, but in general, I'm the Angry Video Game Nerd.

Q: That game's not that bad, you're whining about it, just because you suck at it!

A: Remember this is for comedy. Sure my gripes with the games stem from truth, but they are exaggerated. The whole point is to play bad. If you want to see somebody play good, go watch a speed run. If you take my reviews seriously, you are missing the whole point. Think for yourself. I may actually like some of the games I'm complaining about. I only focus on the negative. Some of my complaints may be legit and others far fetched. To this day, I still get long winded emails bitching about my Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest review, describing every last detail why they disagree with my video. Meanwhile, I'm just laughing my ass off. It was just a quick little video I made one night when I was bored, just for a little joke, and there's real "Angry Nerd's" getting mad about it, which is sad, pathetic and hilarious! The same people probably believe that I go around in real life, wearing a white pressed shirt, stuffed with pens in the pocket, and saying "fuck" all the time and talking about buffallos taking diarrhea dumps.

Q: Why do you drink beer in the videos? What's your choice of beer? Does Rolling Rock sponsor you?

A: It's sort of a character trait. The nerd drinks to soothe the pain of playing bad games. It's also done to show the contrast of being a little kid playing these games to being an adult and drinking. It's definitley done for comedic effect. Some people have misinterpreted it as trying to be "bad ass" and others have argued over the choice of beer. Some people have also wondered if Rolling Rock sponsors me. No, it just happened to be the beer I had when I did my first on-screen video, Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde and since then, chose to keep it a character trait. Although, during the SpiderMan review, I was out of Rolling Rock, and didn't feel like buying any just for the video, so I chose Yeungling and it worked out, because it's local brew, while Rolling Rock got bought out by the biggest beer corporation there is. No, beer companies DO NOT sponsor me. Beer companies want nothing to do with video games, because it's viewed as a "kid's" thing, even though the average gamer is around 30.

Q: Will you still review Nintendo games?

A: Whenever I review an Atari game, Sega game, or something else, the rumor wagon starts up that I'm quitting reviewing NES games. Where do all you get your ideas?! Of course I'm still going to review NES games! My main area of interest will always be Nintendo and there are literally hundreds of Nintendo games I want to review, but that doesn't mean I can't review other stuff too.

Q: What are you favorite games?

A: On NES: Zelda, Super Mario 3, Contra, Super Contra, Mega Man 2, Castlevania 3, Double Dragon 2, Punch Out, Metroid.
On SNES: Mario Paint, Zelda: Link to the Past, Super Metroid, F-Zero, Super Castlevania 4, Final Fantasy 3 (6 in Japan), Chrono Trigger, Donkey Kong Country 1 & 2, Super Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat 2, Killer Instinct, TMNT 4, Super Mario World, Star Fox, and a bunch of others. It's really a hard question.

Q: What's CineMassacre.com and what is your relationship to ScrewAttack.com and GameTrailers.com?

A: I can understand why it's confusing. Here's the story:

CINEMASSACRE.COM
This is my own website. I've been making videos my whole life, ranging from horror, action, comedy, documentary, music videos, animation. The Angry Video Game Nerd is just one little thing in my entire filmography that blew up. Ironically, The Angry Video Game Nerd videos take a lot less work than most of my other filmmaking, but became extremely popular because of its raw humor, and connection with the video game fans and perhaps a little because of the relentless swearing. After posting the first 3 Nerd videos on my own site, I eventually put them on YouTube and shortly after, ScrewAttack got in touch with me.

SCREWATTACK.COM
ScrewAttack, named after a kickass powerup in the Metroid games, is a site that also reviews games as well as producing and showcasing other game related content. It's run by two guys, Stuttering Craig and Hansome Tom. Like me, they have a sense of humor when talking about gamer stuff and they are also busy like me. On top of running a weekly podcast SideScrollers, they do videos such as Top 10 lists and Video Game Vaults (retro game reviews). Sometime around May 2006, (ironically two years after the first couple Nerd videos in May 2004), I joined ScrewAttack as a feature on their site. We would host the videos there for a week, then I would post them on YouTube afterwards.

GAMETRAILERS.COM
In February 2007, MTV's GameTrailers bought an exclusive deal with ScrewAttack's Top 10 videos, Video Game Vaults, and The Angry Video Game Nerd, which now is the top viewed thing on the site. This means that I don't post the new Nerd videos on YouTube any longer. Starting with the Atari 5200 video, they're all on GameTrailers, and I only post trailers to them on YouTube. Still, people are sometimes confused, as my YouTube account still holds strong and to date, is the #9 most subscribed channel on YouTube of ALL TIME. When I have time, I still try to post original content on YouTube, such as the "You Know What's Bullshit" videos and occasional movie reviews. I am still hard at work making an average of TWO Angry Nerd videos a month.

go to Screwattack.com
and ask questions on the forum.