Well, here we are. Episode 100 of the Angry Video Game Nerd. Honestly, I didn’t think I’d make it this far with these reviews — I figured I’d get maybe 10 or 20 in and then get tired of it. Nope. That’s not the case, and today we’re taking a look back to the (then) much anticipated 100th episode of the Nerd.
This is a bit of a funny one in that, for years, fans had been speculating that the much-demanded review of E.T. The Extra Terrestrial for the Atari 2600 would be the 100th episodes subject matter. This wouldn’t be the case and it would later be announced that the E.T review would happen in the (then in early production) Angry Video Game Nerd movie.
So what would the 100th episode of the series be about? As it turns out, James decided to go a bit more modest with the premise of this one and look at R.O.B., the “Robotic Operating Buddy” accessory which was originally sold with the NES in North America, partially so the game system could be marketed as a toy rather than as a video game console, which was still a bit of a taboo thing to be following the then-recent Video Game Market Crash of 1983-1984.
Enough history, though – let’s get to the episode, which opens like normal until a few seconds in when bam – we get hit with the previous near 100 episodes worth of title artwork. This, being the 100th episode, would be the last title card that Mike would make for the episodes — at least, at this time. He’d get back to doing title card work later on, but for now, this was it — the swan song for that Nerd tradition.
Past the opening the episode has a much more cinematic production quality about it — at least for the opening, with production credits, great music (which would be used later in the series) and widescreen formatting to boot. We focus on the Nerd talking about how everything sucks — all the junk games, consoles, accessories, what have you, that he’s messed with over the past 99 episodes do nothing but piss him off. With great apathy he throws a pen at the wall to decide what to play, and it his a copy of Gyromite, one of the original launch titles for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and one of the two games for the system which require R.O.B.
The Nerd, naturally, just pops the game in and tries to play it. After being confused by the name of the game when it boots, he realizes he can’t actually control the game, until he notices that the second player controller can control the pistons while the first controller moves the player character — basically they split up the controller.
Confused as to who he would get to play the game with him, we finally see R.O.B. come up from behind the couch to offer his assistance. Fun fact, R.O.B. is see in much the same way at the end of the NES Accessories video behind the Nerd in much the same way. James offers him the controller, which R.O.B. rejects, saying he needs and adaptive device to play, since he doesn’t have thumbs. The Nerd procures the adaptive device and sets R.O.B. up, except he’s missing one other part — the Gyros!
The Nerd mistakes this for a request for the Greek food Gyro ( actually pronounced something like “Euro”) and actually cooks him up one! It’s honestly one of the more hilarious moments in the series especially when the Nerd takes the “That as not a Gyro” line as an insult to the food rather than a statement that the object is not what he was requesting.
The Nerd procures the correct gyros, basically spinning tops, and the spinner. He sets everything up and explains how it all works. It’s a pretty good explanation, at that, and it’s great to see the video not only show R.O.B. actually working, but just how slow and tedious an experience it is to use the accessory. It’s pretty awesome in a way, but a nightmare in another.
He then explains the game Robot Gyro, er, Gyromite, in reasonable detail. It’s a pretty straightforward arcade title, but one you play with R.O.B. as opposed to just playing it in a conventional way.
Done with Gyromite, the Nerd asks R.O.B. what he wishes to play, rejecting a suggestion of Life Force and instead demanding to play Stack-Up, the only other game in the Robot series. The Nerd doesn’t look too enthusiastic to play it, but R.O.B. assures him that it’s good.
The Nerd explains how Robot Block… I mean, Stack-Up, in the same way he explained Gyromite, with the idea being that you use the game to command R.O.B. to actually move the blocks to match a particular pattern. Once that’s done, you press start and move on to the next stage. It really doesn’t need to be a video game, but it exists, in not just one form but multiple variants for sending commands to R.O.B.
The Nerd, done with Stack-Up, suggests more games to R.O.B., who rejects them to play either Gyromite or Stack-Up. This scene is a parody of the friend everyone has who would come over and only want to play one particular game, and works really well — it’s quite relatable, to say the least.
So, the Nerd keeps on playing Gyromite and Stack-Up, with his frustration growing from failure after failure. We then have what has to be a total mental breakdown in the Nerd as he decides to take R.O.B.s roll and let R.O.B. be the first player.
Quickly tossing R.O.B. to the side, he decides to play the game with both controllers in his hands and, after a stroke of “genius” creates a controller made specifically for Gyromote.
He realizes quickly he could play any other game, and goes to the shelf to pick one. This is where things get dark — every game he chooses is changed by R.O.B. to be either Stack-Up or Gyromite. The Nerd realizes what’s happening, and goes after R.O.B. who commands all of the Nerd’s game system controllers to ensnare the Nerd as all his games are changed to be “good” games, according to the standards of R.O.B.
Here R.O.B. himself tells the story of the North American Video Game Crash of 83-84, and, using some poetic licenses, tells how he helped bring games back to the market. The Nerd counters this by saying that the success of Nintendo had nothing to do with R.O.B. and begins fighting back.
After a short duel between R.O.B. and a Mario plushie (which, for what is in reality some grown men playing with toys does look pretty cool in the video) R.O.B. finally terminates the Nerd. His job done here, he grows to a massive Kaiju size (think Ultraman, Godzilla, what have you) and goes on a rampage through the city.
We cut to the Nerd contemplating a world without bad games — a world of only Stack-Up and Gyromite. As horrible as some of these games have been, he won’t let that happen and the Nerd rises up, donning the same battle outfit he had when fighting the Devil in the Super Mario Bros. 3 review, to fight R.O.B.
The Nerd succeeds, and all the previous games return to their terrible glory. They may be bad games, but the world is better for having them than not. We end with the Nerd embracing many of these games and a zoom in on the box for Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest.
Final Rating: 5.0/5
This really was an incredible episode when it was first released, and is still a great one to watch today. It’s nice to get a look back to the simpler, early days of the NES and to see R.O.B. in action. It gives us a chance to look at what Nintendo was trying to do to break out in the United States and, in retrospect, shows us how quickly Nintendo abandoned the R.O.B. concept to focus on more conventional video game experiences.
While the idea of R.O.B. being sentient and, indeed, evil, had been done before — in a way, already done to death by many video creators, James took quite a sinister direction with this one, and it paid off for how the end of the video feels.
Of note is that this episode actually took longer to make than any other episode before it, and the effort put in really shows. This was a hell of a production, and then, or now, I quite enjoy it for what it is; a fun video.
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