Dale's Video Backlog Blog: Angry Videogame Nerd: The BFG Collection

It has been awhile since I have crafted an entry dedicated to the latest home video collection of Angry Videogame Nerd videos, but I am here today to resolve that with my ramblings for the BluRay disc containing seasons 11 and 12 off the AVGN BFG Collection. While most of the AVGN episodes on this disc do not disappoint, what I am disappointed with and have to address right away is one major detail of how this collection was released. The AVGN BFG Collection has all the prior past AVGN BluRays (X1-X3, Ready 4 Revenge) plus the aforementioned disc with the latest episodes from seasons 11 and 12 available on disc for the first time. Sounds nice and good on paper when visiting their store page and seeing all that available for $79.99. Problem is that is the only way to buy the disc with seasons 11 and 12.

For people like myself that have already bought all the original collections as they were individually released on DVD, and then upgraded to the BluRay releases, that means we will now have to buy all the older video releases for a third time in order to get that disc with the latest seasons since there is not a standalone BluRay for seasons 11 and 12. I vividly recall when Cinemassacre tweeted out the announcement for this and was going to reply to them and ask about a standalone release, but saw countless others beat me to it asking them about why this is so and noticed that Cinemassacre was not responding to any of the inquiries to my dismay. Even odder is that James Rolfe released a video ranking the reasons why BluRay sucks in general, and at the end of it was where the BFG Collection was announced. I understand the irony of it, but something about it rubbed me the wrong way. It is perplexing why Cinemassacre went ahead with this, and despite getting gouged for an extra $50-60 more than I should have paid for, I still went ahead and purchased the AVGN BFG Collection because like I mentioned in my previous entries about them, I have always been a big fan of them and want to support that crew.

As far as seasons 11 and 12 go, it is a return to form with more videos per season compared to the last few years of AVGN videos before them. They combine for nearly five hours of new videos and I will elucidate on a few of my favorites. Season 11 has an excellent montage of the awful 8 and 16-bit wrestling games, with a bulk of them coming from LJN. The Nerd character demonstrates some pro wrasslin’ theatrics which culminates with him pinning an oversized WCW SuperBrawl SNES cartridge. There is also some interesting Robocop cosplay tomfoolery when the nerd dissects the trilogy of NES Robocop titles. A big standout for season 11 is a redux of the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog with a thorough recap of the Nerd’s trials and tribulations experiencing one of the most panned Sonic games ever.

Season 12 has a ton of superb material. It kicks off with a 39 minute video dedicated to Earthbound where he gives an in-depth review of his many highs and lows with the highly collectible SNES RPG. I dug how the Nerd creates his own version of Magicant with cameos from infamous characters in past AVGN videos and ties it all together with an homage to Earthbound’s climactic final battle. If there is one video that usurps the rest it is easily this one. I will give props to his Resident Evil: Survivor video where he also recreates some of the clunky battles and menu mechanics seen in that PSone gem. I always am a fan of whenever the AVGN dedicates a video to an obscure console, and he does that with a video for the European and Canada exclusive system, the Amiga CD32 and its unique line of underperforming titles. Finally, Cinemassacre scored a surprise get when they had Macaulay Culkin guest on an episode posing as an unassuming pizza delivery boy on a Christmas themed episode where he helps the Nerd tolerate a heaping pile of abysmal Home Alone games. I remember how awful these games were as a child who loved the films, and it was a delight watching Culkin and the Nerd rip them apart.

Of the five hours worth of new videos in seasons 11 and 12, almost none miss the landing. I was looking forward to taking in a hearty amount of bonus features the past video collections have all had, but for whatever reason there are a complete lack of extras for the new seasons. If you have been collecting past seasons individually it is difficult to recommend the latest season because of the $80 asking price, but if you have not been purchasing them at all yet, then in that case The AVGN BFG is a hell of a value and well worth the investment.