On May 25th, 2004, a video started with a screen with an image: on top, was a "bacon strip" type logo that read: Konami, in the middle was a filmstrip with 2 more logos that read: Castlevania II Simon's Quest, and on the bottom was text that read: "PUSH START KEY" and bellow that was another line of text that read: "TM AND © 1988 KONAMI INDUSTRY CO. , LTD. LICENSED BY NINTENDO OF AMERICA INC.", And just as this image appears, an unseen male narrators voice is heard uttering the following words:
"This game sucks!"
What I just described was the beginning of the very first of The Angry Video Game Nerd, a series that began as an inside joke that soon turned into a internet icon, and influenced content creators along the way. So as someone who considered it a big influence and mentor to him to get into the retro gaming hobby and influenced his career in general.I think its time for me to do my share to share the story of how it all began.
The story begins with the man behind it, James D. Rolfe, and he came a long way from his early days to that faithful video.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 10, 1980, He was raised in south New Jersey, and had an interest in storytelling from a young age. As a young child, he received A Fisher Price cassette recorder as a Christmas present, He used it to record his own stories, with sound effects and voices for all the different characters.
A Fisher Price #826 Cassette recorder, Similar to the one Rolf had
In 1989, He was introduced to video cameras when he filmed himself playing a clumsy boxer who couldn't hit his own punching bag. Afterwards he made short films with his friends, but eventually they left as this fims got scripts that the couldent memorize. Rolfe also illustrated comic books, which he updated monthly. One such comic he created had a plot inspired by the video game The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, as well as painting and animation.
By 15 he had become a movie buff, especially for classic horror and slapstick comedy, which were a big influence on his work. He goes on to attend the University of the Arts in Philadelphia where he studied filmmaking. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in fine arts in 2004, He worked as a film editor for corporate safety and instructional videos.
In his spare time he would make short films for his Cinemassacre website. One day, after finishing one of his short films, he had the idea to do an angry review of the NES game Castlevania II Simon's Quest. The inspiration came from his time in college playing childhood games with friends. He thought it would be funny to brutally critique and complain about the game despite the fact he like the game. He called the video "Baad NES Games" and although he made it as a joke, he included the film on a VHS box set.
After that he wanted to make another, and made a second episode reviewing Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde for the NES, this time he was fully revealed in a stereotypical nerd outfit and guzzling a Rollin Rock. He said he picked Rollin Rock. because it was the only beer in the fridge with the joke being that the game drove him to drink.
Both videos initially weren't a huge success at first only being available in a box set, but in 2006 the short were about to gain a wider audience. Rolfs college friend collaborator, Mike Matei, convinced him to post the videos on YouTube, and on April 8th, 2006, the episodes were uploaded to Youtube, with a new short featuring The Karate Kid for the NES appearing that same day. The name was also changed from "Bad NES Games", to "The Angry Nintendo Nerd".
These videos really changed the public eye on game reviews. At the time, the only people who did game reviews were magazines and and websites. Initially it was meant to be the final episode, but once Rolf realized how popular the series became, he continued to make more. By the time his review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles became popular on YouTube, he was an internet icon. By the end of 2006 he was looking to diversify the games he reviewed and decided to change the name from The Angry Nintendo Nerd" to the The Angry Video Game Nerd".
By 2014, Cinemassacre already had 1.5 million subscribers and was inspiring many other content creators to follow in Rolf's footsteps, like JonTron and Scott Wozniak. Today, the channel has 3.82 million subscribers and new episodes continue to be made. Not bad for a series that was created for an inside joke! Thanks for reading! see you next time!
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