I’ve been a big fan of the Angry Video Game Nerd since he was known as the Angry Nintendo Nerd. He does a lot of research for anything he reviews, especially movies, and he does a great job of editing videos to make them entertaining. Plus, I like him for the same reason that I like the comedy of Lewis Black: what’s funnier than watching someone swear and complain about stuff?
Now, for the record, I’m not a video game master. I still find it difficult to beat World 8 of Super Mario Bros., and there are lots of games that I have never beaten, and never will. You know that friend you have who just kicks ass at video games and can beat any game that you’ve ever seen him play? That’s not me.
That said, I’ve been playing video games for over 20 years, so I don’t suck at them. Eye hand coordination and reflexes have never been a problem for me. I expect everyone else to be better than me at any game that I don’t own, and I expect to be better than them at any game that I own and they don’t. Do you get what I’m saying here? I’m a remarkably average veteran video game player.
Not long ago, the AVGN finally relented and reviewed Superman 64. In the emails he put in his previous video, people were mentioning the game in the same sentence as E.T. for Atari 2600. That game is the worst game ever, so Superman 64 must really suck!
So, the AVGN starts his review and talks about how hard it is to fly through the rings. I finally decided to play the game about 10 minutes ago to see if it was really as bad as he says. Um… he had trouble with the rings?
I mean, okay, I ran out of time the first time because it took me a while to figure out that B makes you fly. After that, I just cautiously flew through the rings without any trouble. The control is a bit sensitive, but the N64 controller’s joystick is even more sensitive. I mastered the art of controlling tiny degrees of tilt while playing Super Mario 64 (the first game that came out), and I mastered flying through rings with an N64 controller when Star Fox 64 came out. I can make the tiny adjustments to keep Superman on course very easily, and when I’m off target, I just let go of the gas to give me the time to correct my aim. Within a minute, I was flying through rings with no trouble at all. It’s so easy, I was just astonished that anyone who has been playing video games for as long as the AVGN would struggle with it.
It’s true that you can only miss three rings, but who cares? I rarely miss any, and if I accidentally miss one, I just move on to the next one. You’re allowed to miss a few! I beat every ring level with 30 seconds to spare. The ring levels just aren’t difficult. Period. (more…)