Angry Video Game Nerd Deluxe 1 & 2 (Switch)

He’s gonna take you back to the past, with 2 games that didn’t suck ass. That’s right, Mr. Angry Video Game Nerd himself is back with a deluxe package of the AVGN games, are the added tweaks and content worthy of a tasty Rolling Rock, or are they buffalo diarrhoea straight into your ear? Read on to find out!.

If you’ve been on YouTube for more than 5 minutes researching retro video games you’ll no doubt have come across the loud, lewd, and highly entertaining Angry Video Game Nerd. This game bundles the AVGN game and its sequel “ASSimilation” in a tight package, remaking the original and adding an extra chapter!. 

So as I just mentioned this title is a bit of a “toofer” with a little extra, while the games aren’t leagues apart there is enough difference to them in which we would need to talk about both separately and will undoubtedly each have their own “camp” so to speak in which players will favour one over the other.

Before we tackle the differences, let’s talk about how good each of the titles looks, fortunately for this re-release the developer has taken the original AVGN Adventures 1 and remade the game using the more robust engine of the sequel. What this essentially boils down to is the game feels a little tighter but more importantly for this section, the game looks so much better, everything is more vibrant, visual effects are more powerful and of course there is so much more of the red stuff everywhere!. 

These titles a lot of inspiration from 8-bit and 16-bit titles which is mostly apparent in the art style and direction. The graphics are 16-bit with double blast processing and the levels are designed in a way to harken back to the old days, with plenty of parallax scrolling, levels made of giant board games, and other classic video games. While we are on it, the AVGN 1 takes a lot of inspiration from classic games in its levels especially, such levels as Assholevania and Beat em and eat em are instantly apparent from the second you load them up what the inspiration was. AVGN 2 on the other hand is a little broader in level direction and throws in other references than classic video games. 

The cameos are a major part of what makes these titles enjoyable, from the Moon from the Majoras Mask looming over the Assholevania Stage, to E.T in Area 52 and even the ongoing Kaiju battle in the Nerd Gaiden sections of AVGN 2, you’ll be hard-pressed to go even a few seconds without something triggering nostalgia. The Nerd himself also comes fully equipped with a Nintendo Zapper which upgrades into a Super Scope, AVGN 2 also has you collect items such as the Power Glove and Mario’s cape!. 

Naturally, in a game based on the Angry Video Game Nerd there are going to be a lot of references to the show, fortunately, if you aren’t familiar with the show then you won’t be completely lost, if you are familiar with the adventures of the Nerd, on the other hand, you’ll get A LOT more of the jokes and the changes made throughout the games. Mike Matei, a member of Cinemassacre and an integral part of the AVGN show sat down with the developers and made some changes to both the games to keep them more in line with the spirit of the show and change some of the more questionable choices. 

The games are both 2D platformers in the vein of MegaMan, more so than Mario due to the fact both games allow you to tackle levels in any order and also has more firepower than the wimpy plumber!. While both games play the same, as mentioned earlier there are a few areas of difference that separate the game and make them both worthwhile experiences to play through rather than just skipping ahead to the latest. 

Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures 1 features 7 stages which are all 1 level each, they are all video game themed and you’ll get the most classic video game references here. The major difference between this and the sequel is that in this one you’ll be trying to find the Nerds friends, Mike, Guitar Guy, and B.S Man, each of these characters has different abilities and the key to getting them is starting off by finding Guitar Guy who’s ability allows you to shoot through walls (that’s the only hint I’m giving!). 

AVGN 2: Assimilation features a world map and many more stages than the original, the difficulty has been slightly calmed down but make no bones about this, these are some tough games and you’ll see that with your death count!. The game has several items you can find hidden in levels and these not only give you an edge in battle but also unlock the “Good” ending. This game has more of a focus on AVGN for its parody and cameos and people who haven’t seen the show may feel the jokes fall a little flat here. Fortunately, the gameplay is tight and varied enough between the stages that you’ll be too lost in some platforming goodness to care about references you may not understand. 

Both games are fantastic platformers with the adult humor of AVGN and covered in gaming history cameos, as a nice bonus the developers have created a new epilogue “Tower” for the game. This is 3 stages and a boss fight and nicely ties the games together in one of the most extreme references to the show throughout, certainly not one for kids if you hadn’t figured it out through all the swearing and gore!.

Angry Video Game Nerd Deluxe 1 + 2 features 2 full games and a bonus extra “World”, despite the amount of content these aren’t the longest games, and depending on your difficulty chosen you can see these fully completed, all optional items found easily around the 5-hour mark. The game features many difficulties to give to the incentive to replay the game on a tougher level and try to keep those deaths down to a minimum, as mentioned there are also optional items to collect for that precious 100% rating such as NERD NES games and the ever-illusive “Shit Pickle” on AVGN1.

I had so much fun with these titles, I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a 2D platformer this much, partially to how good it plays and partially to the nostalgia and the references. If you don’t have the latter you still have a fantastic 2D platformer but I could see the references being confusing or awkward. Me? I loved the fact I spent a level on a shark that was on fire or a Giant Tanuki with its nuts on fire or the fact I was switching between Mike and Guitar Guy to get through levels. Fan or not, if you like platformers you really should take a trip to see the Angriest Gamer you’ve ever heard!.

Currently, the game is available on Nintendo Switch and Steam but Playstation 4 and X Box One releases are in the pipeline and should be announced shortly