The Angry Video Game Nerd dates back over 20 years now, since he first released a few video game reviews on his website, which he then put on YouTube a couple of years later in 2006.
While the focus is obviously on the titular Angry part most of the time, creator James Rolfe has managed to make the series into more than just videos of someone ranting about a bad video game. This led to him filming his own feature film and having a few video games created based on the character along the way.
Now, Mega Cat Studios and Progamancer has stepped in to create perhaps the best game yet based on the character titled Angry Video Game Nerd 8-bit.
Return of an Arch Enemy
While the Angry Video Game Nerd YouTube series focuses on reviewing awful video games, Rolfe, at his core, is a filmmaker and has used the series to branch beyond just plain reviews. This has led to ongoing stories or self-contained stories within certain episodes. The start of Angry Video Game Nerd 8-bit dives into this a bit with an intro from The Nerd himself that explains why he does what he does, but when he announces he’s finally ready to play a good game for once. Right as he says this, a new version of one of his arch enemies, known as Super Mecha Death Christ, arrives and takes over not only his NES, but also all video games across the planet. To save the world from Super Mecha Death Christ, The Nerd does a ritual with six of the worst games he’s ever reviewed on the Nintendo Entertainment System to create the titular Angry Video Game Nerd 8-bit that he puts in the NES to try to save the world.
This opening sequence and other cutscenes within the game are presented as actual 4K video clips recorded by James Rolfe himself and really add a lot to the game, as it makes the whole experience feel like an actual episode of the series. Outside of the opening and ending sequences, these are relatively short so that they never feel like they are getting in the way of gameplay. Even so, you can always just skip them if you want.
From the very opening screen, you are greeted with an 8-bit version of the AVGN logo and The Nerd himself, as well as an NES version of the classic series theme song. I will admit I found myself just sitting there listening to the theme for a bit, as the 8-bit version is always a banger. With the rest of the game’s soundtrack also being very good, including a pause theme reminiscent of the classic Battletoads pause screen song, I wish there was an audio player in the game to just listen to the music too. From here, you can start a New Game, continue if you were previously playing, or go to the Password screen. Having a Password allows you to move to specific areas in the game when you beat a level, but it’s not necessary if you’re just playing through, as the game will auto-save for you and let you use the previously mentioned Continue feature.
The Angry Video Game Nerd 8-bit offers players three difficulty options upon starting, which are Chill as Hell, Normal, and Hard as Balls, which serve as the equivalent of Easy, Normal, and Hard of course. The Chill as Hell option even removes dying from falling in pits, as it places you back on the last platform you were on instead. It was a great decision to include difficulty options here, as it allows all sorts of gamers to play through the game and enjoy it without feeling like it is too easy or too hard. The game can get incredibly hard, too, on the higher difficulties, with it not always even being a cakewalk on Chill as Hell. For instance, the final boss fight in the game will take some time even on Chill as Hell to master, so feel free to play around with whichever difficulty works best for you.
Feeling Mega
As mentioned prior with the story, The Nerd uses six classic crappy NES games in a ritual to create the Angry Video Game Nerd 8-bit cartridge, each of which represent a level in the game in which you have to play through and beat the boss at the end. This may sound very familiar, as Mega Man is not only a major inspiration for the level setup, but also the gameplay as well. To start, you get to choose between one of six levels that have the bosses of T.P., The Devil, Speziman, Letule, Festerdrome, and F-14 Tomcat. Each level has a villain based on something at least similar to games that The Nerd has played over the years, such as T.P. being a stand-in for E.T. and Speziman being a stand-in for Pepsiman.
Beyond the bosses, each level has a theme based on either that specific game or at least a genre. For instance, Letule is very much based on the infamous Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde game for NES, with the enemies, backgrounds, and even the change to night mechanic from the game. On the other hand, a stage like Festerdrome has the boss being a take on Fester from Fester’s Quest as a giant robot now, but the bosses are more general horror-themed enemies like bats and spiders that you’d see in many classic 8-bit games. The variety from stage to stage here is a lot of fun and keeps the game fresh.
Speaking of the bosses, they are one of the highlights of the game as they are all difficult and have very different patterns to learn to beat them. The inspiration of different bosses from games that are not even the main theme of each stage is really cool and added a lot to each battle. There is even a shooter segment for the F-14 Tomcat boss fight that was quite fun. You do not get power-ups from each boss, though, like in Mega Man, so you can tackle the stages in any order you would like.
After beating all six of the boss stages, you will unlock the seventh and final stage that is a mishmash of much of what was found in the game up to that point. Unlike Mega Man, there are not multiple stages like with Dr. Wily’s Castle. Rather, it’s just one lengthy stage that ends with a very tough boss fight.
The stages are very much laid out like Mega Man, where you are platforming left to right or up and down. Something I quite enjoyed was that there are alternate routes you can take through the stages that lead to different areas and such. This allows for some variety in multiple playthroughs to see what you may have missed.
Zap Away
Gameplay in The Angry Video Game Nerd 8-bit also takes a lot from the Mega Man series, but at the same time introduces some unique mechanics that set itself apart. The controls were very tight and easy to use, as it utilized a classic control scheme that didn’t try to do anything too fancy. Pressing one face button shoots, pressing one face button jumps, and pressing another face button uses your special ability at your base level. You can also hold down when pressing the jump button to slide under obstacles as well. That seems very simple, but there’s more to the system that is rather intriguing.
The platforming itself is quite solid most of the time, with deaths feeling like they are your fault rather than the game’s most of the time. There are definitely some spots where the game does try to get you with enemies that will knock you off platforms as soon as you land, and even one death trap I found where there was no escape upon falling in it. Really, the only problem I had sometimes, especially on the disappearing block sections, was that I kept sliding instead of jumping, due to how quickly I had to react. This is pretty standard, though, and just felt annoying at times when it did happen.
Not only do you have a health bar, which of course is represented by a green beer bottle, just like The Nerd’s favorite Rolling Rock beer, but you also have something known as the Gun Power meter that you need to keep an eye on. At the start, you just have the basic shooting option from your NES Zapper, but as you get power-ups that increase your Gun Power level, the individual blasts get stronger. Once you reach high levels of the meter, you can unlock a spread gun too, which can make your life so much better in this game when taking down enemies. The major downside though is that for every hit you take, you not only lose health, but also a piece of your gun power meter. If you are quick enough, you can recover this by grabbing the object that falls. However, typically, you are not able to get these in time and will have to instead rely on future power-ups. This system was probably my least favorite thing about the game itself, but I’ll give credit that it’s something different that they tried to set itself apart from others.
The special abilities found in the game are also found as essentially power-ups, which you can activate at any time. The middle finger one makes you invincible for a short time, while The Nerd’s pal Sh*t Pickle can be activated and help take down enemies on screen. There are even more that can be useful too, so make sure to try out all of them.
The Nerd also has one more upgrade available in the game that you can find, which upgrades your NES Zapper to the SNES SuperScope. What this does is give you the charge attack ability that was introduced later in the Mega Man series and was a staple in the Mega Man X series. This was something I wish were available from the start, and sadly, you will lose it upon losing a life. When that happens, you just have to happen across the upgrade again or you’re stuck with the regular NES Zapper weapon.
Verdict
Angry Video Game Nerd 8-bit feels like the most complete of the Angry Video Game Nerd games so far due to it feeling super polished and having a distinct overall style. The Mega Man-esque gameplay is a lot of fun and the homages to past episodes is always welcome alongside the 4K live action cutscenes. The downside here though is just how short the game itself is, as you can breeze through it in no time with only a little replayability thanks to the alternate routes in the stages. That being said, the short time spent while playing Angry Video Game Nerd 8-bit was a blast and could easily be enjoyed by even those with no prior association to the character.
Score: 8.5/10
Pros:
- Super polished and well designed gameplay
- References all over
- 4K live action cutscenes
- Multiple difficulty levels
Cons:
- Gun Power Meter can be frustrating
- Super short
Store Page (Steam): https://store.steampowered.com/app/3445490/Angry_Video_Game_Nerd_8bit/
Official Website: https://avgn8bit.com/
Angry Video Game Nerd 8-bit was provided by the publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.
