by Eric Caoili - 07.11.06

For every Nintendo classic the 80s gave us, there were at least five crappy games that dissapointed our after-school hours. These games preyed on our naïveté, hiding their true nature behind the promise of movie licenses, or the allure of discount pricing.
The Angry Nintendo Nerd takes those games to task every month, putting together video reviews that drag old enemies and gripes back to our attention. His retrospectives manage to recapture our youth’s frustration with a creative blend of vulgarity and NES nostalgia.
Stream the Angry Nintendo Nerd Reviews (NSFW)
Download the Angry Nintendo Nerd Reviews (NSFW)
We had a chance to throw a few questions at the Angry Nintendo Nerd. Check out what he had to say about his reasons for starting these reviews and where he hopes to eventually take them, after the jump.

4cr-Eric: What inspired you to finally start recording these reviews over a decade and a half after some of the games were originally released?
Pure nostalgia. I grew up on Atari, NES, SNES and a little Genesis here and there. Then as video games kept becoming more advanced, I just went along like many others. There was a period of time, just before the rise of the internet, when it wasn’t cool to play old games anymore. For me, personally, the demands of being a busy adult didn’t allow me time to play games as often anymore.
What it comes down to, there’s nothing more pleasing than digging up the old 8-bit & 16-bit games. They’ll always be my favorites. That’s why the timing on my reviews is appropriate now, but rather than bringing back the good memories like everyone else, I’m focusing on the bad ones.
How have the responses been so far from the people who have seen your Angry Nintendo Nerd videos?
Fantastic! My fans see the humor in the reviews and most seem to understand that they aren’t meant to be taken too seriously.
There are hints of a sizable NES collection throughout your videos. Which games are your personal favorites?
On NES: Legend of Zelda, Super Contra, & Super Mario Bros 3 are some of my favorites.
On SNES: Zelda: Link to the Past, Castlevania 4, Final Fantasy 3, F-Zero and many many more. Perhaps, I’ll do a review of them sometime and I can explain in detail their greatness.
Are there any particular NES catastrophes that you’re looking forward to critiquing in the near future?
Way too many. I can be doing them til the end of time. I’ve started out reviewing a lot of famous games, but later, I plan to rip apart the more obscure ones.
Do you have any plans to one day review the video game failures on the SNES, Genesis, or any other console?
Oh yeah, I’ll jump platforms a little sometime soon, but most of the ones I want to review are on NES. I want to do a series of mini-reviews like “Top 10 Worst games with the word SUPER in the title.” For example, Super Pitfall.
Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. We’re eager to see what games you’ll attack next.
As James Rolfe, the 26-year-old New Jersey native sticks out for his 130+ short films, prolific by any standard. As the Angry Nintendo Nerd, he becomes the everyman’s video game reviewer, the scornful voice of a generation raised by dusty gray cartridges and fuzzy 8-bit audio. You can read more on James’ film projects at Cinemassacre, while his insightful commentaries on NES games of yore can be found at Screw Attack.










You guys have no clue how much I played Castlevania II.
This game was great and awful at the same time.
Kevin - 07.11.06 10:58 am
omg Super Pitfall. lame++
Treasure Skunk - 07.11.06 11:25 am
Watching that dude put his head through a cabinet in a fit of Karate Kid-induced frustration is the funniest thing I’ve seen all morning.
MR_DNA - 07.11.06 11:43 am
As much as I loved the original TMND, it was GREAT to see it get ripped apart. It totally deserved it.
I also really liked the Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde review. I keep going back to that game trying to see if I can get anywhere in it. Like, that maybe later in the game it won’t suck so much. The graphics are pretty cool… there must be some redeeming factor to it!
He should do a special episode sometimes on the Color Dreams games. Even as a kid I knew to avoid anything made by that company, but I would always rent just once to know for sure. God they made bad games.
Joey - 07.11.06 11:48 am
Wow that was hilarious he used the F-word fifty time in the TMND review!
marv - 07.11.06 12:36 pm
Hilarious! I love him.
matt - 07.11.06 12:48 pm
TMNT was the hardest game, ever. The Game Genie was the only reason I saw more than half of the game.
Nintendonut - 07.11.06 1:18 pm
TMND…? It’s TMNT, unless we’re talking about a game I’m missing lol.
Tony - 07.11.06 1:20 pm
*Shiro
Holy shit, that was freakin’ hilarious man. This guy really bashed out on TMNT. I like this guy. *bookmarks*
Shjiro - 07.11.06 1:47 pm
well i have to say i enjoyed the videos but then i stumbled across the n64…man? on the main site….and saw how funny it was not lame so I have to say “that was awesome i mean man they sure did make fun of that guy wow sarcasm just doesn’t do that joke justice ha..ha….bleh”.
alexadroog - 07.11.06 4:03 pm
You’re TMND
Kyattsuai - 07.11.06 4:19 pm
Can’t get video at work. TMND = “The Man Now Dog”?
raindog - 07.11.06 4:30 pm
Pretty good, but personally I always really liked Castlevania II. Sure it had some problems, but it’s my favorite of the original NES trilogy of games and shows the eventual Metroid-esque adventure format the most.
belgand - 07.11.06 4:53 pm
Umm, it’s mildly funny, but it is ruined by his obvious thought that if he swears a lot, and tries to make up new swear words, that it will be more funny. But it isn’t.
I mean, I swear, a lot of people do, but, there is a certain point where it becomes just plain stupid and/or inappropriate.
Valid points on the games though.
Myles - 07.11.06 5:07 pm
Absolutely brilliant.
Tim-E - 07.11.06 5:23 pm
I agree with Lojus and Myles. The games with their ridiculous and poor game design are the real star of the show. He isn’t as charismatic enough for me.
Eddie - 07.11.06 5:32 pm
i havn’t watched these because i am at work but the idea seems real solid!! i spent COUNTLESS hours on TMNT, only to be thwarted time and time again by shoddy level design and just sheer inane difficulty!
lawrence - 07.11.06 5:46 pm
I think the most eye-opening thing when you go back and look at all the old NES games that so many of us whiled away our childhood playing, is how truely awful and frustrating a lot of them really were. As a kid, I actually used to think I was a bad sport because these games often pushed me to the point of screaming and throwing stuff… Like the one time I actually got to the end of Ninja Gaiden only to die a third of a second into the final boss battle, and since I had no continues left, I had to start over. As the title screen faded into view, I was so mad I think I actually had an out of body experience. Seriously, I don’t know how my NES survived all those years without me putting my foot or some other heavy object through it. But somehow it did manage to make it, and in fact I still have it and it even still works. That is something I find truely amazing.
angry lemur - 07.11.06 7:29 pm
Just watched the TMNT review. I agree with some of his points like lack of characters. But really, I didn’t find the game very hard until much later on. Of course you use Donatello for hard to reach areas–it just makes sense. The swearing seems forced and overall I wasn’t impressed.
Kev - 07.11.06 8:58 pm
Hey drinks pussy assed beer
666 - 07.12.06 4:06 am
well he is a nerd. maybe shirly temples would be more fitting.
matt - 07.12.06 1:12 pm
Congratulations. You can drink Rolling Rock and cuss. What a great website.
barry - 07.13.06 4:16 pm
I actually found these videos HILARIOUS. Best laughs I’ve had in ages. I teared up, got choked up, had to pause the video, etc.
TM2RAMPAGE - 07.14.06 2:41 am
All nes games have stupid parts of them. Alot of comedy meterial in there. But this is not the man who should be doing this.. Less cussing and other things that obviously is there just to make it fun, and fails at it. More ridiculing of silly/stupid parts of games
Noise - 07.14.06 2:40 pm
Ugh, that’s a pretty poor attempt at comedy. The problem is that there isn’t any cleverness or wit. That guy needs to watch some Monty Python or something to figure out how to be stupid and belligerent but also really clever and funny at the same time. I’m sure he can do it, he has the vibe of someone that could pull off really good stuff, but he just needs to take what he’s doing more seriously.
noizbot - 07.14.06 4:12 pm
Is it me or have I seen tons of other websites lampoon old school games a million times better than this? This guy just kept whining? The beer thing was not funny, either… I think it was supposed to make him look more pissed or incoherent or something? Bad timing, whiny, not even a lot of jokes, just bad. yuck.
matt - 07.14.06 4:27 pm
Master Shredder! Ha ha! Cool. Yeah TMNT was a bitch. I remember playing that into the long hours of the night with my pals making little progress each time. I don’t remember if we ever beat it though, but I can still remember the cheesy music and annoying level design.
While this guy may come off as a juvenile that just discovered beer and swearing for the first time, I know for a fact that I as well as my friends wrote a book in profanity while playing this game as well. But his over the top (not to mention overacted) profane style gets old unless of course you are some kid looking up to that.
mastershredder - 07.14.06 6:53 pm
Amazing! More reviews!
mike - 07.15.06 11:50 am
ROFL, THAT SHIT WAS HILARIOUS
XD - 07.15.06 10:05 pm
Ceck out:
http://www.cinemassacre.com/Home_page/frameset.html
He is actually a really interesting film maker. I think the whole Angry Nintendo Nerd started out as a joke. Some of his other stuff is really creative.
Eric - 07.17.06 11:50 am
Eric
it did start out as a joke. and it still is a joke. He’s just making these for fun. it’s funny how seriously a lot of people take it. It was just unexpected how popular it got.
mike - 07.17.06 10:49 pm
Yep, i wonder if there some kind of shedule somewhere to check out the release of his next review project. I like his attitude and shirt.
Dezorian - 07.17.06 11:04 pm
Man, some of you need to relax. btw, a new Nerd review has just been posted…
http://www.ScrewAttack.com
Jocelyn - 07.18.06 12:46 pm