The Angry Video Game Nerd/Awesome

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • While reviewing the Power Glove for the NES, he subjects himself to playing Top Gun... again. As many times as he tried and failed to do so in the past -- and this is probably the first accidental CMOA -- he finally lands the plane on the carrier at the end of the level using the Power Glove.
    • "Oh great, I'm trying to land the plane in Top Gun with the Power Glove. I can't even land it with the regular controller!" The look of utter awe on his face afterward as he looks at the mentioned Power Glove just seals the deal for this troper.
    • It happens again at the end of his Zelda 2 review, except he wasn't even trying to do the impossible, he just left the Power Glove on while giving his closing recap, while in the background he accidentally beats Shadow Link, and doesn't even realize what happened until he turns off the TV in frustration. When he turns it back on after a beat, he gives the Power Glove the exact same look of astonishment as in Top Gun.
  • Speaking of bad NES peripherals, one of the Zapper variants was a scope attached to a clunky and awkward looking headset. It was voice activated, and he would later discover that you didn't have to say, "Fire!" like the packaging suggests; any word will do. You can guess where that goes from there.
    • He then turns it on Duck Hunt. And shoots down a duck by shouting, "Fuck!" at it.
  • There was his epic fight against the possessed consoles in his review of Super Mario Bros. 3. Best part? The Nerd pulling out two NES Zappers and fires them like crazy, shouting "I'm the lord of the harvest! Bring it Down! Bring it Down!"
    • In the same episode, Super Mecha Death Christ made of guns and a tank (who keeps on shouting "FUCKEEEEEERS!") with a Thrash version of the AVGN theme playing is, in this troper's opinion, James Rolfe's CMOA as a video maker. He later blasts the Nerd for saying "That was fuckin' awesome!", yelling "WATCH YOUR FUCKIN' LANGUAGE!"
      • Especially as James Rolfe does the voice acting for Super Mecha Death Christ himself.
    • This one gets even better for James Rolfe if you look at his Making Of special, where he shows the video clip timeline of the sequence. It is positively labyrinthine.
  • And then we have the episode where James beats the ever-living hell out of Bugs Bunny. ("I can't believe it! In my own house! Bugs Bunny! Bugs FUCKING Bunny!" * punches Bugs in the gut and then in the head* ) 'Bugs Bunny Birthday Beating' indeed.
    • And then Bugs came back for the Crazy Castle video, a multi-review that's so ludicrously over-the-top that words can't do it justice. Watch it now!
  • His take on the 32X has him taking the 32X outside, propping it on a fiery stand, and shooting it with a bow to "send this fuckin' shit back to the fires of Hell."
  • And all of this is topped with his final battle against The Nostalgia Critic where the two battle with fists, firearms, fireballs, lightsabers, and one final clash between good and evil to end it all.
    • For now...
    • And later both he and Kyle Justin participating in pretty much the most epic online event ever as the two of them team up with all the video game reviewers of That Guy With The Glasses against the site's other contributers.
    • And the kickass Rousing Speech he delivers to the gamers team during that battle.
  • Somewhere in-between this and a Funny Moments is his priceless reaction to Michael Jackson's... special Power-Up move... in Moonwalker: the Game...
  • In his two-episode review of the third TMNT movie, he concludes that 'this movie is so bad, something must be done.' And then he proceeds to cut the videotape in two WITH A KATANA, before hammering it to bits during hammertime!
  • The Nerd's final battle with rival The Nostalgia Critic should have no doubters of its inherent greatness. Not to mention his showdown with the demonic spirit of Super Mario Bros. 3...
  • Flying into space to throw a Superman 64 cartridge into the sun while John Williams' Superman theme plays qualifies as well.
    • Which was nicely contributed by Chris Holland, another guitar guy who occasionally sends his stuff to Rolfe.
  • This video is also a crowning moment for Mike Matei's animation skills.
  • And, of course, only the Nerd can beat the final boss of a shitty game whilst being strangled by a Frankenstein's Monster (of his own creation, to boot).
  • The Nerd's unnecessarily vulgar Shut UP, Hannibal given to Freddy Kreuger.
  • The intro sequence for part 2 of his Batman game reviews is super awesome not only because of the theme being nicely redone by Chris Holland, but also because it features Luigi and the Nerd kicking ass!
    • And while we're at it, the Batnerd freeing himself from the Joker's clutches in the same video and kicking his butt in a Shout-Out fighting sequence, as well as shoving the shitty games up the Joker's ass.
  • Death Kitty chasing the bothersome Jaguar icon all around the room and finally getting out of the place at the tune of a heavy metal contribution of the AVGN Theme, also done by a fan.
  • The end of his review of Winter Games on the NES, where he actually goes against all the warnings on the back of an NES cartridge, leaving said cartridge in an oven, in a freezer and under running water, before cleaning it with alcohol, disassembling it, and finally throwing its remains in a fireplace.

AVGN: Burn, motherfucker, burn!

AVGN: The Kingdom of Nerddom depends on it!

  • In the Pong Consoles episode, James comments on how a gamer during the Pong Era would react to modern consoles. They'd think that maybe the graphics would be a little better, or maybe even color! Cut to scenes from Grand Theft Auto IV, with a rock-mix of the AVGN theme playing in the background, which then cuts to James in a awesomely-shocked-and-pleased look on his face.
  • Combining both a Moment of Awesome and a Funny Moment together in once scene, at one point during the Battletoads, James and Kyle just start groovin' out to the techno music during the Pause screen.
  • "It's a Nintoaster, and yes, it works." A Moment of Awesome for Richard of stupidfingers.com (who also helped out in the Jaguar Part 2 video), and a Funny Moment because of the look James has on his face while saying that.
  • James winning the glitched boss battle in Mega Man 5, as chronicled in the "Game Glitches" episode.
  • James discovering a good Back to The Future game on Super Famicom at the end of his revisiting of the Nintendo Nerd years. One minute of mouth-watering clips from the game, with a great chiptune rendition of the movie's theme and James's astounded face.
    • Only as the realization of "Super Famicom" means "Japan-only" catches up to him. After which we're treated to a Funny Moments filled with Angrish.
  • Towards the end of his second Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde review, the Nerd does a philosophical rant about how the game is the greatest game of all time, and how it parallels human life. He concludes the review, however, by saying that "The game fucking sucks!"
  • In the ROB Review, after the Nerd is attacked and lectured by ROB about how he (ROB) was Nintendo's hero, the Nerd grabbing a Mario doll and proclaiming "This is my hero!", and then using it to beat up ROB.
    • And after that, when ROB supposedly kills the Nerd and transforms every game into either Gyromite or Stack-Ups, the Nerd starts recalling many of the shitty games he reviewed, thinking "No more (name of game)?". His self-answer to that? "I WON'T FUCKING HAVE IT!!" Cue Awesome.
      • It also unleashes Epileptic Trees on how the Nerd wanted to play all those games.
    • Also, a very minor one, the fact that he sawed two NES controllers in half and taped them together just to make a specialized controller for Gyromite!!!
  • Did you know that toasters can play NES games?
  • After discovering that the modern Godzilla video games are so much cooler than the ones he played as a kid, the Nerd lets out a "FUCK!" set to Godzilla's roar, trashes his cartridge racks in rage, and proceeds to realise that, since he's used all the swears in existence, he needs to make up a new one. Which is bleeped out, because "it's that bad".
  • James/The Nerd has the Nintendo World Championships Gold Cartridge, possibly the rarest video game cartridge in existence. WHICH HE JUST FUCKING ANNIHILATES WITH A HAMMER! Only in-universe, thank the lord.
    • Sadly, the part about him owning the gold cartridge isn't true. According to the comments he posted on his video of outtakes from that episode, Pat the NES Punk does indeed own both the grey AND the gold version of NWC (which is pretty awesome in and of itself).
  • In his "Contra Memories" video, James (as himself) talked about his fond memories of the NES game Contra; he actually beat the game WITHOUT USING THE KONAMI CODE!!
  • The full-length AVGN theme in the Sega CD episode. Not only is the full song pretty good by itself, but it's loaded with Call Backs to previous episodes!
  • The Fundraiser for the AVGN Movie was set for $75,000. The end total is almost $326,000. That's over 4 times the goal James Rolfe expected. To say he was shocked at his fan's generosity is an understatement. This doubles as a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.

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