Most viral video stars tend to fade away fairly quickly. The Afro Ninja is likely waiting tables, "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" reached its peak with a mention on Family Guy, and let's pray to God that we've seen the last of Chris Crocker (I'm ashamed to even know his name). Yet one Internet favorite has managed to grow exponentially in popularity and success since his first video debuted four years ago. What started as a simple decimation of Castlevania 2 on a VHS tape for friends has grown into one of the most recognizable features in the Internet gaming culture.
James Rolfe, better known as the Angry Video Game Nerd, is a New Jersey native who has entertained web viewers for the past four years with eviscerations of awful games. Every two weeks, he produces a new admonishment of an old-school abomination for ScrewAttack. What you might not know is that he's an aspiring filmmaker with a passion for the medium unrivaled by most directors with astronomically larger budgets. His hard work hasn't gone unnoticed, as the MTV-owned GameTrailers.com now sponsors his AVGN videos and Spike TV has commissioned him to produce non-AVGN related content.
Wii Fanboy recently tracked the man down during production of his latest video, a scathing look at the Philips CD-i. We discussed gaming old and new, the AVGN character, and his independent film studio known as Cinemassacre. Find out more about the man behind the glasses and Rolling Rock after the jump.
Gaming:
We know that you have an impressive back catalogue, but what current consoles and handhelds do you own? What current generation games do you like?
I have a DS, PSP, Wii, and Xbox 360. I own just about every major game console. As of now, the only one I don't have is a PS3, which is funny if you think about it.
What do you think about the Virtual Console?
It's nice to see those old games being made available again. It doesn't affect me personally since I own and collect the cartridges. But from what I've seen, it's pretty cool.
I saw that you had a chance to play Mega Man 9 at E3. Have you played the finished version? If so, did it live up to your expectations?
I have it now, yeah. I played it for a while and didn't make it very far. It's a hard game, one I look forward to playing more when I have time.
If you're anything like us, you're praying for more retro revivals like Mega Man 9. What old franchises in particular would you like to see given new life via WiiWare / XBLA / PSN?
Another side-scrolling Metroid, maybe, or another linear Castlevania.
As someone familiar with bad games, do you find a consistent trait that usually indicates a terrible game?
Off the top of my head, not sure. But my videos all seem to come across the similar problems with a lot of games. It could be something about the control being delayed or something as minor as the password system.
