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Angry Video Game Nerd (The): X AKA AVGN X
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Cinemassacre/Screenwave Media Review written by and copyright: James-Masaki Ryan (26th January 2016). |
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The Show
 “AVGN X”: The First 100 Episodes of The Angry Video Game Nerd Since 2004, “The Angry Video Game Nerd” with his trademark white button up shirt, glasses, and bottles of Rolling Rock beer has taken us back to the past, by playing and reliving the childhood frustrations of old video games. With more than 100 Internet episodes made almost entirely by James Rolfe himself, directing, acting, writing, and editing, plus one feature length theatrical film for the 10th anniversary, volumes of DVD releases of the series, the series still goes strong (although not as frequent) to this day. Back in 2004, Rolfe made a video showing gameplay of “Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest”, the 1988 NES sequel to the classic Konami adventure game “Castlevania” from 1986. Rolfe starts the review with a simple “This game sucks”, and explains the difficulty, the cryptic nature of the game, and the unnecessary night/day shift. A few months later, Rolfe made a new video to explain about the NES game “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” (1989), this time appearing in front of the camera explaining to the audience that it really is the worst game ever made and is torture to play. He shows the absurdly difficult game that has haunted him for years, but only plays the game for a short time, while being on camera in his white button down shirt and glasses that would become a trademark. With the first review, it’s just footage of gameplay with narration that is badly scripted. There were “ums” and “uhs” in the narration and overall it was not well written. For the second the camera was on Rolfe for more than half the time of him and not enough on the game. And when it does show the game, it is not footage directly from the game, but a camera shooting a TV monitor at an angle. The review barely shows what the game is. Critical as that sounds, the first two episodes were like seeing first drafts or pilot films rather than finished products, and what came afterward was a drastic step forward. Rolfe returned in 2006 to make the first episode with the moniker and title “The Angry Nintendo Nerd” for a series of videos uploaded to YouTube to showcase bad video games on the 8 bit NES, though the name eventually changed with episode 15 in 2006, officially renamed “The Angry Video Game Nerd”, which was more fitting as he then reviewed other console games such as the Sega Master System “Rocky” in episode 16, The 2006 “Season 1” episodes featured Rolfe in character becoming much more creative in the making of the episodes. Episode 3 “The Karate Kid” (1987, NES) shows some great editing and some destruction special effects, the Halloween-timed episodes of “Friday the 13th” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street” features Jason and Freddy respectively tormenting the Nerd with great horror movie lighting and editing, and every episode features very good overviews of the games filled with colorfully fowl-worded yet almost poetic profanity, many times involving diarrhea. Though there are some misfires such as the unfunny “Shit Pickle” character making a cameo appearance in episode 9 “Master Chu and the Drunkard Hu” or the updated ending of “Wally Bear and the No Gang” having a horror themed ending that didn’t fit with the rest of the episode. Regardless, it’s quite incredible that the template for the series was established so well in the first season. Season 2 in 2007 proved that Rolfe had much more to offer. Episodes became longer with more intricately written content, with more time give to the game background and better explanations on the examples of badness with colorful euphemisms with yelling and screaming. The Nerd reviews not only games themselves, but consoles such as the bulky Atari 5200, the life-support add-ons to the Sega Genesis: the Sega CD and the 32X. During the season, the Nerd gets visits by a cast of characters from the games such as Spider-Man, Bugs Bunny, Leatherface, and Michael Meyers, mostly to torment the Nerd. 2008 marks season 3, marks some big changes, including the first time an actually good game is reviewed with “Super Mario Brothers 3”, though it’s not all a pat on the back, as the satanic references and the appearance of Super Mecha Death Christ shows. The season also marks location change to the new “Nerd Room” starting in the “Batman” episode, the first episode shot in 1.78:1 widescreen in “Bible Games 2”, a review of one of the most requested games ever - the abomination “Superman 64”, and the 2 worst choices Nintendo ever made - the Virtual Boy, and the licensing of Mario and Zelda characters for games on the failed CD-i gaming console. The season marks better written and more elaborate episodes, again with great uses of special effects, editing techniques and humor. Season 4 in 2009 was also filled with an amazing amount of hilarious episodes. Highlights include taking the audience back to the beginning - “The Odyssey” episode showcases the very first home game console: the Magnavox Odyssey from 1972, “Transformers” introduces the Japanese Famicom for the first time, an 2-part look at Atari’s final console the Atari Jaguar, and an epic 4-episode review of the “Castlevania” games which also includes the first time the Nerd re-reviews a game already covered, by reviewing “Simon’s Quest” - the very first episode. For the revisited “Simon’s Quest”, the rescripted episode fits much better with the tone and feel of the rest of the AVGN episodes. Season 5 was shorter than the usual 20-plus episodes per season, with only 12 made - one per month instead of the standard 2 per month. Rolfe has stated that the quality of each episode improved due to more time put into each. The “Back to the Future Re-revisited”, “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, “How the Nerd Stole Christmas”, and “R.O.B.” are some of the best in the series. “Back to the Future” and “Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde” looks again at games already showcased in the past, but this time with more detail and gameplay than before, improving the older reviews, but not necessarily replacing them. “How the Nerd Stole Christmas” is a creatively fun episode, as an homage to Dr. Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, with the storytelling done in rhyme, with still artwork by Mike Matei like a storybook, and music by Bear McCreary who also composed the music for “Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie”. The 100th episode “R.O.B. “ looks at Nintendo’s robot accessory meant to be played with “Gyromite” and “Stack Up” (only), with a big homage to the Godzilla” films with the climactic final battle in the city. Quite an epic 100th episode. There are a few lesser episodes though. The video game “Cheetahmen” starts off with a game playing nerd getting sucked into the game and meeting the Cheetahmen before the game starts. You would think this would come full circle with a metaphysical ending with the Nerd character himself getting sucked into the game, but no. The ending is just a celebration of finishing the “Action 52” cartridge. With “Daydreaming Davy” the Nerd character just falls asleep like the game’s title character. Again, you expect suddenly to be in the Nerd’s head in some strange land looking for Davy to rip his head off or something, but the ending is just a fadeout. Both are seemingly wasted opportunities though the rest of the episodes themselves are enjoyable. “Deadly Towers” is scripted from user-submitted sentences for the script which was an interesting concept, but the usual feel of the Nerd’s wordplay just doesn’t sound consistent. “Ninja Gaiden” was an excellent episode but why weren’t the sequels played as well? Unless those are upcoming episodes…? Common themes for the games played by the Nerd are movie based games, comic book character based games, and horror based games. Movie-based games from the 1980’s were an easy sell. “Back to the Future”, “Ghostbusters”, “Indiana Jones”, “The Terminator”, “The Karate Kid”, “Die Hard” were all fun series of movies that are still considered infinitely rewatchable classics. But as for the games, a common complaint was that the games seemed to be designed by people who had never watched the movies in the first place. Marty McFly wearing a tanktop? Winston completely absent from “Ghostbusters”? As the Nerd frequently says “What were they thinking?!” The comic book character based games such as “X-Men”, “Batman”, “Superman”, and “Spider-Man” may be a little better depending on the title. The NES “Batman” game was one of the best. “Superman 64” is even worse than “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace” ever was. For game buyers of the time, there were high expectations for titles featuring your favorite movie or character. But with those high expectations came a disappointing weekend of frustration in front of the TV, not knowing how game designers got so many things wrong. Rolfe is a huge fan of classic horror, with the Universal Monsters, Hammer films, and pays tribute to the horror genre with episodes dedicated to “Dracula” games, “Frankenstein” games, “Friday the 13th”, “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, “Halloween”, and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. Lest not forget the ultimate horror based game series, “Castlevania” which is frequently mentioned (both good and bad examples) in various episodes. Common complaints heard: bad controls (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Superman 64), cryptic gameplay (Simon’s Quest, Milon’s Secret Castle), horrible music (The Terminator, Doom on 3DO), insane difficulty (Silver Surfer, Transformers), spelling and grammar errors (Simon’s Quest, Ghostbusters), long passwords (Hydlide, Who Framed Roger Rabbit), and consoles with giant AC adapters. But the more complaints there are, the funnier the episode is. What started as frustration in childhood has become comedic gold from a viewer’s point of view. Though not everyone will find the humor funny. The frequent toilet humor and cursing will turn off a lot of people being childish and loud, and ones who are not familiar with basic gaming may not be interested at all in watching the series. Though to say, even non-gamers can enjoy watching the episodes. The gameplay and background of the titles are well explained that non-gamers can understand. The Angry Video Game Nerd and other series such as “Retro Game Master” and “Pat the NES Punk” have in fact influenced a wave of interest in retro-gaming: the really bad games. In Japanese there even is a word: “Kusoge” which is literally a combination and shortening of the 2 words “Shit” and “Game”. “Kusoge” have actually become quite popular, with gamers challenging each other to dare to play the bad games, or it should be said “attempt” to play the games. Titles such as the NES “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and Atari’s “E.T.” which were sold in shops for a dollar years ago are now going for higher prices due to interest in the infamous low quality. The Angry Video Game Nerd episodes have previously been released on 8 separate DVD volume sets which were filled with special features like commentaries, making of featurettes, outtakes, and more. A minor complaint from fans was that some of the episodes were changed from the original Internet uploads. For copyright reasons, episodes that used movie clips and music had to be cut or changed (Back to the Future, Rocky, etc) while some episodes were updated to include additional scenes or updated information (Virtual Boy, Dick Tracy etc), though the original versions can still be found on Cinemassacre and Youtube. For this Blu-ray entitled “AVGN X” in homage to the Mega Man X series, it collects the first 100 episodes of the series which were also on the Volumes 1-5 DVDs plus a few episodes from the Volume 6 DVD. The Blu-ray edition also includes the updated episodes with the movie clips removed and updated scenes. A small difference from the DVD sets is the opening theme song: the DVD sets sometimes removed the Kyle Justin penned theme song from the beginning of the episodes, but each one has been reinstated for the DVDs. Though a curiosity is the “Bible Games 2” episode actually removes the ending theme song that was on the DVD version. Why? Here are the list of 100 episodes in standard definition 480i which can be played in one continuous 18 hour marathon: (An asterix * indicates which episodes have the theme song reinstated) Episodes (with Play All) (1137:54) - "Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest" (9:22) - "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (6:29) - "The Karate Kid" (4:29) - "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (3:46) - "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (7:04) - "Back to the Future" (6:24) - "McKids" (7:07) * - "Wally Bear and the NO! Gang" (4:32) - "Master Chu and the Drunkard Hu" (4:19) * - "Top Gun" (7:34) * - "Double Dragon 3" (4:09) * - "Friday the 13th" (11:00) - "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (12:36) - "The Power Glove" (12:27) * - "Chronologically Confused: Movie/Game Sequels" (11:06) - "Rocky" (6:55) - "Bible Games" (21:28) - "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3" (VHS Tape Destruction) (0:40) - "Atari 5200" (9:32) - "Ghostbusters" Part 1 (16:23) - "Ghostbusters" Part 2 (10:23) - "Ghostbusters" Part 3 (12:06) - "Spider-Man" (9:36) - "Sega CD" (10:02) - "Sega 32x" (8:01) - "Silver Surfer" (10:21) - "Die Hard" (8:11) - "Independence Day" (5:05) - "The Simpsons" (12:10) - "Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout" (8:27) * - "Atari Porn" (8:51) - "Nintendo Power" (14:26) * - "Fester's Quest" (9:05) * - "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (12:29) - "Halloween" (15:53) - "Dragon's Lair" (9:03) * - "An Angry Nerd Christmas Carol" (14:57) - "Chronologically Confused 2: The Legend of Zelda Timeline" (16:32) - "Rambo" (12:03) - "Virtual Boy" (15:23) - "The Wizard of Oz" (11:01) - "DoubleVision" Part 1 (9:48) * - "DoubleVision" Part 2 (8:10) - "Super Mario Bros. 3" (10:22) - "NES Accessories" (13:33) * - "Indiana Jones Trilogy" (18:35) - "Star Trek" (10:21) - "Superman" (10:44) - "Superman 64" (9:42) - "Batman" Part 1 (10:34) - "Batman" Part 2 (9:30) - "Deadly Towers" (8:12) - "Battletoads" (7:24) - "Dick Tracy" (13:58) - "Dracula" (11:19) - "Frankenstein" (13:52) - "CD-i Games Part 1: Hotel Mario" (6:35) - "CD-i Games Part 2: Zelda CD-I" (11:33) - "CD-i Games Part 3: More Zelda" (13:23) - "Bible Games 2" (16:43) - "Michael Jackson's Moonwalker" (9:52) - "Milon's Secret Castle" (11:21) * - "Atari Jaguar" Part 1 (8:06) * - "Atari Jaguar" Part 2 (14:08) - "Metal Gear" (13:03) * - "Odyssey" (10:45) * - "X-Men" (13:08) - "Terminator" (14:34) - "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (13:10) - "Transformers" (12:31) * - "Mario is Missing!" (9:19) * - "Plumbers Don't Wear Ties" (20:24) * - "Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle" (16:46) - "Super Pitfall!" (10:53) * - "Godzilla" (15:33) * - "Wayne’s World" (10:05) * - "Castlevania" Part 1 (9:55) - "Castlevania" Part 2 (12:11) - "Castlevania" Part 3 (12:38) - "Castlevania" Part 4 (9:29) - "Little Red Hood" (13:50) - "Winter Games" (9:27) - "Street Fighter 2010" (16:46) - "Hydlide" (7:21) - "Ninja Gaiden" (14:37) - "Swordquest" (8:58) * - "Pong Consoles" (11:45) * - "Action 52" (25:30) - "Cheetahmen" (19:24) - "Game Glitches" (15:55) - "Zelda II: The Adventure of Link" (15:01) * - "Back to the Future Re-Revisited" (21:58) - "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Re-Revisited" (15:44) - "Lester the Unlikely" (10:32) * - "How the Nerd Stole Christmas" (12:00) - "Day Dreamin' Davey" (13:46) * - "Star Wars Games" (22:16) * - "R.O.B. the Robot" (18:40) The following episodes have content changed from the original versions, due to copyright or updates: - On “Back to the Future”, clips from the first “Back to the Future” film have been removed. - On “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, new music replaced the "Nightmare on Elm Street" music. - On “Wally Bear and the NO! Gang”, an additional scene has been added. - On “Rocky”, the opening scene in which the Nerd is playing the first five Rocky films on every TV in his house, as well as clips from the Rocky movies played throughout the review, have been removed. Also, this version has the re-release alternate ending of the Nerd at the Philadelphia Museum of Art stairs. - The “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III” Parts 1&2 movie review episodes are not on the DVD set due to rights issues, though only the destruction of the VHS tape remains. - On “Ghostbusters”, the Ghostbusters theme song has been replaced with a sound-alike version of the song. Also, clips of the movie and TV series have been replaced with still images. - On “Virtual Boy”, a clip from the movie “Waterworld” has been removed and a scene with the game "Jack Bros." has been added. - On “DoubleVision” Part 2, the theme from “2001: A Space Odyssey” (“Also Sprach Zarathustra” by Strauss) has been replaced. - On “Super Mario Bros. 3”, the review for the movie “The Wizard” including footage from the film has been removed. - On “Indiana Jones”, footage from the Taito editions of “Temple of Doom” and “Last Crusade” have been added. - On “Dick Tracy”, footage of the movie has been replaced with stills. Also, there is a newly added scene. - On “Wayne’s World”, footage from the movies “Wayne’s World”, “Wayne’s World 2” and “Borat” have been removed. - On “Action 52”, the reference and music of Rob Base and DJ EZ-Rock’s “It Takes Two” has been removed. Note: This is a region ALL Blu-ray and can be played back on any Blu-ray player worldwide.
Video
Cinemassacre/Screenwave Media presents the 100 episodes in 480i in the MPEG-2 codec. Almost all of the 100 episodes were shot in standard definition NTSC, and are presented that way. 18 hours of episodes on a single Blu-ray seems excessive, but consider that the previous DVDs were on single layer 5-gigabyte DVDs and this holds the 100 episodes on a single 50-gigabyte Blu-ray, so 10 DVDs worth of information. Compression doesn’t seem to be much of an issue, with the episodes looking as good as they could. Considering the source materials and in comparison to the YouTube uploads and previous DVDs, don’t expect anything drastically different in quality. Most of the episodes were shot in the 1.33:1 format and are presented that way. Only the episodes “Bible Games 2” and “R.O.B.” are in the 1.78:1 format, which later became the standard format for the series.
Audio
English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo For a 2.0 track, music and sound effects are very lively with explosions, video game music, and other background music sounding very good. Unfortunately for the dialogue, it is hit or miss. ADR narration sounds fine, but when The Nerd yells and screams, the audio gets muffled often, on some episodes more than others. It’s not unlistenable but it’s noticeable. There are no subtitles provided.
Extras
The first disc holds a few commentary tracks as extras while the rest is on a second Blu-ray disc. All extras are in 1.33:1 in 480i, except where noted: DISC ONE Audio commentary on "Spider-Man" by James Rolfe and Kyle Justin (9:36) Audio commentary on "Bugs Bunny's Birthday Blowout" by James Rolfe and Mike Matei (8:27) Audio commentary on "Ninja Gaiden" by James Rolfe and Kevin Finn (14:37) Audio commentary on "Game Glitches" by James Rolfe and Kevin Finn (15:55) Audio commentary on "R.O.B. the Robot" by James Rolfe (18:40) The commentary tracks are carryovers from the previous DVD sets. From anecdotes to general silliness, they are fun to listen to, though strangely the commentary on “R.O.B.” gets cut off at the end, so Rolfe doesn’t finish his final sentence. This was not an issue on the DVD release. DISC TWO "Angry Nintendo Nerd Intro" (0:39) The original intro song with the original moniker “Angry Nintendo Nerd” used in the early episodes. This was previously on the Volume 1 DVD set. "Duck Tales" Special VGV Episode (1:42) In a special game review for Video Game Vault, the Nerd actually reviews a good game and doesn’t trash it. This was previously on the Volume 1 DVD set. "Fan Gallery" featurette (2:30) An automated gallery of artwork created and submitted by fans set to music. This was previously on the Volume 1 DVD set. "AVGN Theme" Cover by Dustin Assmuteit featuring Wally Dude (3:24) A cover of the theme song by fan Dustin Assmuteit mixing original footage of them singing with footage from various AVGN episodes. This was previously on the Volume 1 DVD set. "Fuck Reel" featurette (1:47) All the “fucks” blasted from the first season are collected here. This was previously on the Volume 1 DVD set. "Shit Reel" featurette (1:01) All the “shits” blasted (oh, that sounded nasty…) from the first season are collected here. This was previously on the Volume 1 DVD set. Game Trailers Interview (3:59) Shot for gametrailers.com with Amanda MacKay interviewing Rolfe in character as the Nerd and Kyle Justin singing the theme. Strangely the original 1.78:1 composed video has been cropped to 1.33:1 with the right and left sides cut off which makes the interview segments extremely tight in composition. Also the image has been slightly stretched to about 1.50:1 making everyone slightly fat. What happened here? This was previously on the Volume 1 DVD set, which was correctly in anamorphic 1.78:1. "Nintendo 64 Shit Video" featurette (0:35) A parody of the “Nintendo 64 Kid”, the infamous viral home video when a boy goes crazy when he gets an N64 as a present on Christmas day. This was previously on the Volume 1 DVD set. "ScrewAttack's AVGN Top 10 (2006)" featurette (3:51) A countdown clips compilation. This was previously on the Volume 1 DVD set. "The Anger Begins (1988)" featurette (1:26) Home video footage of Rolfe as a child in 1988 playing the NES for the first time shows his frustration at an early age. This was previously on the Volume 1 DVD set. "What Was I Thinking?" featurette (13:09) This featurette includes interviews with James Rolfe, Kyle Justin, and Mike Matei. Topics range from the origin of the Nerd videos and character, Rolfe’s other projects on his website Cinemassacre, about the theme song, the artwork, and his love for old school horror films. This was previously on the Volume 1 DVD set. "Wii Salute" featurette (4:47) The Nerd addresses the upcoming Nintendo Wii console. This was previously on the Volume 1 DVD set. "Autograph Video" featurette (8:17) James Rolfe out of character signs autographs for the AVGN Volume 1 DVD, and also shows off some of his autographed posters and photos. This was NOT on any of the previous DVD sets. "AVGN Remix" music video (3:10) A techno remix of the full theme song with clips from various episodes. This was NOT on any of the previous DVD releases. "ScrewAttack's AVGN Top 10 (2007)" featurette (9:09) A countdown clips compilation. This was previously on the Volume 2 DVD set. "Batman Fight (Full)" featurette (2:15) The original fight scene was longer, making references to the various Batman movies. This was previously on the Volume 2 DVD set. "The First Game Reviews (1989-1991)" featurette (6:44) Home video footage of Rolfe as a child playing various NES games such as “Super Mario Bros. 2”, “Bubble Bobble”, “Double Dragon” etc. while narrating the gameplay. This is where it all really began. This was previously on the Volume 2 DVD set. "Fester's Quest" with commentary by James Rolfe (4:30) This is not the full episode but just a partial commentary by Rolfe solo. This was previously on the Volume 2 DVD set. "Angry Nintendo Nerd Theme Recording Session" featurette (1:25) Footage of Kyle Justin recording the theme song back in 2006. This was previously on the Volume 3 DVD set. AVGN Intro (2008) (2:50) The full length version of the theme song by Kyle Justin with clips from the series. This was previously on the Volume 3 DVD set. "ScrewAttack's AVGN Top 10 (2008)" featurette (12:42) A countdown clips compilation. This was previously on the Volume 3 DVD set. "Donkey Kong Doll" clip (0:16) The footage originally appeared as the intro to the CD-i episode. This was previously on the Volume 3 DVD set. "Fan Art Reel (2009)" featurette (3:01) More artwork by fans with music by fans. This was previously on the Volume 3 DVD set, though the runtime on the Blu-ray is 2 minutes shorter, since this featurette on the Volume 3 DVD also combined the 2 minute artwork featurette from the Volume 1 DVD set. "Fan Songs Reel (2009)" featurette (2:43) A compilation of fans around the world performing the theme song with various instruments in various styles of music edited together. This was previously on the Volume 3 DVD set. "Nerd Room Tour (2009)" featurette (23:31) Rolfe shoots a tour of the new “Nerd Room” introducing the consoles and games within the room. This was previously on the Volume 3 DVD set. "Hanging Out in the Nerd Room" featurette (15:11) Mike Matei shoots James Rolfe going through the “Nerd Room”. This was previously on the Volume 4 DVD set. "NES Collection" featurette (6:07) Rolfe introduces his NES shelf, consisting of almost every NES title ever made. This was previously on the Volume 4 DVD set. "ScrewAttack's AVGN Top 10 (2009)" featurette (11:48) A countdown clips compilation. This was previously on the Volume 4 DVD set. "Playing the Odyssey" featurette (5:50) Rolfe and Matei play The Odyssey console together. This is the raw footage that eventually was used in “The Odyssey” episode. This was previously on the Volume 4 DVD set. "Sega 3D Glasses" featurette (2:42) Rolfe and Matei test out the 3D glasses for the Sega Master system. This was previously on the Volume 4 DVD set. "Stuntmaster" featurette (14:35) The “Virtual Reality Stuntmaster”, an accessory to play SNES and Genesis games in a 3D goggle-headset, which they have dificulty trying to set it up. This was previously on the Volume 4 DVD set. "The Making of Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle" featurette (12:13) Rolfe and Matei talk about the episode in this featurette, which includes behind the scenes footage and outtakes as well. This was previously on the Volume 4 DVD set. "Title Cards" featurette (7:34) Matei designed the title cards for all the episodes, and this featurette showcases where and how he draws the artwork by hand. This was previously on the Volume 4 DVD set. "Bear McCreary Christmas Special" featurette (5:21) McCreary’s music composing credits include “The Walking Dead”, the reimagined “Battlestar Galactica” and “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”. He was also composer for the “How the Nerd Stole Christmas” episode and the “Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie”, and is interviewed here along with comments from Rolfe. McCreary says he was a fan of the series and offered his talent for AVGN. This was previously on the Volume 5 DVD set. in 1.78:1, in 720p "Castlevania 4 review" (1992) (1:51) Vintage 1992 footage of Rolfe playing and commenting on “Castlevania 4”. This was previously on the Volume 5 DVD set. "Convention Appearances" featurette (9:46) A montage of appearances by Rolfe, Justin, and Matei at various gaming conventions around America. This was previously on the Volume 5 DVD set. in 1.78:1, in 720p "Holiday Memories" featurette (13:24) A clip montage of “Bible Games”, “Home Alone 2”, “Bible Games 2”, and “Winter Games”. This was previously on the Volume 5 DVD set. "Mike's Game Glitches" (42:20) Mike Matei’s own series of episodes featuring how to do game glitches. The episodes featured are “Super Mario Brothers”, “Megaman 1&2”, “Kung Fu”, “Super Mario 64”, “DuckTales”, “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time”, “Megaman 2,3,4,7”, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, “Super Mario Bros. 2”, “Horror Games”, “The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past” , and “Super Smash Brothers”. This was previously on the Volume 5 DVD set, though on the Blu-ray these are not individual chapters unlike the DVD set. Also strangely, the DVDs had the episodes in anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen for Matei’s introductions and the games in their original 1.33:1 ratio. The Blu-ray crops the 1.78:1 footage to 1.33:1 cutting off the right and left sides of the frame, similar to the Game Trailers Interview. What happened? "Pieces of Meat" music video (3:58) A parody of the song “Pieces of Me” by Britney Spears. This was previously on the Volume 5 DVD set. in 720p "Pieces of Meat - Behind the Scenes" featurette (3:27) A self-explanatory featurette. This was previously on the Volume 5 DVD set, labeled as “Outtakes for Pieces of Meat”. "ScrewAttack's AVGN Top 20 AVGN Rants" featurette (15:36) A countdown clips compilation. This was previously on the Volume 5 DVD set. "Contra Memories" featurette (7:02) Rolfe recounts the first time he beat Contra before going to school in the morning. This was previously on the Volume 6 DVD set. in 720p "Ghostbusters (XBox 360)" review (6:24) Rolfe as himself reviews the Xbox 360 “Ghostbusters” game, which happens to be a very good game and a recent game, unlike the usual AVGN episode. This was NOT on any of the previous DVD sets. "Inking an AVGN Title Card with Mike Matei" featurette (9:12) Timelapse footage of Mike Matei drawing and inking the “Star Wars” episode title cards. This was previously on the Volume 6 DVD set. "Nerd Room Tour (2006)" featurette (5:05) James Rolfe narrates over footage of his old “Nerd Room” featuring clips of the series and footage from 2006. The audio level is extremely low on this featurette for some reason. This was previously on the Volume 6 DVD set, and the audio level sounded normal on the DVD. in 720p "R.O.B. - Behind the Scenes" featurette (15:32) Comprised of outtakes and behind the scenes footage of the “R.O.B.” episode, Rolfe comments on the making of the episode, supplementary to the audio commentary for the episode. This was previously on the Volume 6 DVD set. in 1.78:1 Outtakes (with Play All) (81:41) - Outtakes from Year One (14:24) - Batman (0:38) - Bugs Bunny (4:24) - DoubleVision (1:01) - Halloween (6:49) - Star Trek (2:51) - Super Mario Bros. 3 (5:42) - Texas Chainsaw Massacre (4:59) - Virtual Boy (0:24) - Wizard of Oz (4:20) - AVGN Christmas Carol (0:42) - Battletoads (6:47) - Atari Jaguar (1:27) - Metal Gear (0:26) - Maahpett Boooooobies (0:26) - Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle (8:49) - Game Glitches (2:19) - Ninja Gaiden (6:38) - Star Wars (8:26) In the outtakes are flubbed lines, alternate takes, before special effects, behind the scenes footage, and more. The video quality usually are on par with the episodes, though “Bugs Bunny”, “Halloween”, “Star Trek”, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” are interlaced so ghosting is prevalent in the footage. All these outtakes were featured on their respective DVD sets, except for the outtake from “Frankenstein” - “Maahpett Boooooobies” which was NOT on any of the previous DVD sets. Easter Eggs Like the DVD sets, there are easter eggs on the Blu-ray, though they are very easy to find: "Donald Duck" (0:43) - On the second page of the special features menu, press enter on the left easter egg. This was previously an easter egg on the Volume 2 DVD set. "1995 Midnight Demon Theater" (2:19) - On the second page of the special features menu, press enter on the center easter egg. This was previously on the Volume 2 DVD set, though not as an easter egg. "1995 Street Fighter II for Game Boy" (2:44) - On the second page of the special features menu, press enter on the right easter egg. This was previously on the Volume 2 DVD set, though not as an easter egg. Some Complaints: The Menus A complaint comes with the designs of the menus of this Blu-ray: Although this is a Blu-ray it does NOT use pop-up menus but only standard separate screen menus, like a DVD. Pop-up menus can make episode and bonus feature selection very quick and easy with quick scrolling. With this Blu-ray, scrolling to an episode you want to watch is very time consuming, scrolling page after page of episodes until you find what you want to see. But what if you chose the wrong episode? You could press “menu” but then it takes you back to the main screen and not the previous menu screen, so it’s time to scroll all over again. If you press the “next chapter” button, it doesn’t work! You can press the fast forward button instead, but another problem here: Finishing the episode will take you back to the previous menu screen, but like mentioned in the “Action 52” episode, the highlighted episode is NOT the episode you just watched or the next episode, but the episode at the top of the screen. Why is that? Now, there is an option to press “Play All Episodes” and just fast forward to the episode you want to see, but if you want to see episode #50, you have to press “next chapter” on your remote 50 times! Although on some players you could enter the “5”, “0”, “enter”, but on my player, it got an error message! It doesn’t work! What were they thinking? (Sorry, I’m starting to sound like The Nerd character myself… Missing Extras The following are NOT carried over from the previous DVD sets: Volume 1 DVD set - Deleted Scene from “Chronologically Confused” (1:05) - “James Rolfe’s Demo Reel (2006)” (1:46) (easter egg) - Trailer for “Slayer” (2:15) (easter egg) Volume 2 DVD set - Audio commentary for “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” with James Rolfe (12:23) - “Nerd Room Tour” featurette (7:03) - YouTube Trailers for 15 episodes (with Play All function) (13:59) Volume 3 DVD set - Outtakes - “Frankenstein” (0:29) - 19 Trailers (with Play All function) (14:22) Volume 4 DVD set - 22 Trailers (with Play All function) (17:35) - Swearing Outtake (0:11) (easter egg) - Uncensored ending to “Godzilla” (0:54) (easter egg) Volume 5 DVD set - Audio commentary on “Back to the Future Re-Revisited” with Director/Writer/Actor James Rolfe and Mike Matei (22:19) - Outtake - “Lester the Unlikely” (0:28) So, there is some new content in this set, but compared to the material not carried over from the previous DVDs, it’s disappointing. Why were they left off? Possibly disc space? DISC ONE has 18 hours of content on a BD-50 while DISC TWO has 7 hours on a BD-25. Surely they could fit a bit more… So completists should keep their DVD sets for all the content but also get the Blu-ray for the minor additional content.
Overall
Although all “AVGN” episodes can be watched for free on YouTube and Cinemassacre, Rolfe has always been a fan of physical media, and so are many of his fans. “AVGN X” is a great way to save shelf space, and a great for people who didn’t pick up the DVD sets previously. True there are some issues with the Blu-ray with the missing extras and the aspect ratio issue or the sound issue on some of the bonus features, as well as the slow menus. But there are some new additions here and there and the content itself is hilarious and extremely entertaining. Recommended? Absolutely.
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