Following up from the end of the previous episode, this time The Nerd takes a look at many accessories produced for the Nintendo Entertainment System during its life. Really, it’s a subject that a book could easily be written on, but here I think James does an okay job demonstrating some of the items available during the life of the NES.
The episode opens up setting up how games traditionally are played – with a typical controller. This was during the time of the Wii and the DS being the primary Nintendo consoles, both having their own unique variations on the traditional control scheme. These wouldn’t be the first time Nintendo mixed up the way you interacted with the games, and James begins demonstrating this by showing off the “light gun” for the NES, the Zapper
For whatever reason, his Zappers all seem to be in bad shape – I’ve never had an issue, but that’s just me. He also covers the Super Scope, but has some major issues with his (which he attributes to using a “flat screen TV” which is not actually the cause of the problems) before moving on to the Miracle Piano. Yes, a keyboard for the NES. There isn’t much to say about it.
We then hit another well known NES accessory for most people — the Power Pad. James makes a comparison of the Power Pad to Dance Dance Revolution, of all things ( both are basically a pressure pad where you use your feet to provide input – a valid comparison) and mentions one coming for the Wii. That never happened, and what was being referred to was probably the Wii Fit pad.
Now we begin moving on to the weird stuff, and the point where the episode gets stupid. The fun kind of stupid. The Speedboard, a hunk of plastic you put your controller in, is a joke. The Konami LaserScope is another light gun, but you wear it on your head and say “Fire” to shoot. Oh, and it’s also usable as normal headphones, because, that’s something you should be able to do.
The Roll’n Rocker? Well, obviously his is a broken piece of shit, hilariously enough made by LJN! This gives us a chance for one of the more funny, albeit clearly “planned” scenes in the video – James drinking Rolling Rock beer on the Roll’n Rocker. Beyond that, the things a damned joke.
Lastly we hit the Uforce, a controller that’s hard to explain — it seems to use something about capacitance (much like the touch screen on a smartphone, or the trackpad on a laptop) to detect your movements, apparently actually working somewhat well! Well enough for James to crash the plane at the end of Top Gun again, anyway.
James leaves off one well known accessory, R.O.B the robot, hinting at it coming up soon. This wouldn’t happen till episode 100, but at least it happened. The episode ends with a hint at what’s to come next, which is a set of Indiana Jones games.
Final Rating: 3.0/5
The episode has its funny points, sure, especially Boo on the Roll’n Rocker, but other times it’s really too clinical for the typical AVGN style, especially at this time. Not at all a bad episode, just very low key.
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