Summary
The Angry Video Game Nerd, a popular web-based gaming influencer who specializes in showing frustration over excessively difficult or poorly designed old-school games, is getting his own video game on a real cartridge that will work on classic NES systems. TheYouTube-based game reviewer has announcedThe Angry Video Game Nerd 8-bit, which is also planned for release on modern consoles and PC.
Now Rolfe is reaching out in a new direction with the announcement of his first physical video game, which is being developed by Mega Cat Studios and published by Retroware. While there are severalAngry Video Game Nerdgames available on Steam, this new game designed to mimic the look and feel ofclassic NES gamesis the first one capable of running on real NES hardware. Featuring intentionally generic tropes like disappearing platforms and zombie and skeleton enemies, Rolfe also indicates in a trailer for the game that some enemies are designed after frustrating encounters he has reviewed in his web series. “Yeah, coming back to haunt me,” he remarks. “This is personal.”
Angry Video Game Nerd Getting Game on a Real NES Cartridge
From a look at the trailer,The Angry Video Game Nerd 8-bitwill be a classic side-scrolling shooter/platformer, as a version of the Nerd with diminutive proportions fights off enemies with the orange version of what appears to be theclassic NES Zapperlight gun used in games likeDuck HuntandHogan’s Alley. In terms of gameplay, it looks like the Nerd will be able to jump, slide, and even make use of a jetpack to traverse levels. In addition to the physical cartridge, the game is also planned for digital release on Nintendo Switch, PC via Steam, and PlayStation and Xbox consoles.
The move for new physical games that run on classic NES systems seems to be a growing trend. Last September, The MIX Games released thefirstRugratsgame in 19 years, titledRugrats: Adventures in Gameland. With a fourth-wall-breaking story that sees the babies imagining themselves inside a video game,Adventures in Gameland’s digital version features a choice of modern and 8-bit graphics, though the publisher also released a physical cartridge that contains just the 8-bit version and runs on NES systems.
