I just completed my very first game review, a look at an obscure NES game called Kick Master

It's probably the most work I've put into any single video project ever, and I plan on hopefully making this a regular thing. I estimate that I should be able to release a new review every two weeks or so if I keep at the pace I had while making this one.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy. I know it isn't the most professional video ever, I'm not the AVGN or JonTron or anything, but it's a start, and I hope to improve as I go on. Tell me what you guys think, and don't be afraid to throw out your own suggestions for future game reviews. I'm most likely doing NES and SNES games to start with, but I'm open-minded to most consoles.

Oh, and shout out to Zachary for animating the intro for me! Thanks a lot buddy.

First thing I noticed, invest in a better camera, jesus christ.

You're alright, just very generic for the AVGN format without many jokes or anything to mix it up.

At 8/8/13 08:48 PM, Oliver wrote: First thing I noticed, invest in a better camera, jesus christ.

No kidding, I think that's the biggest thing that takes away from the video. I literally had no other option than to record using my brother's iPod. Egh. But hopefully sometime in the future I can save up and get a decent camera or something.

At 8/8/13 09:06 PM, Jackho wrote: You're alright, just very generic for the AVGN format without many jokes or anything to mix it up.

Although I think AVGN is cool, and definitely an inspiration for me in certain aspects. I really wasn't going for that style of review. It was really me just stating my thoughts, rather than exaggerating them through a character. If there's anything that resembles a joke, it's just because I thought a certain part of the game in itself was silly.

I thought it was good which is weird because I thought it was gonna be really bad

Upvote for exceeding expectations XD

I really liked the video. While I agree that the camera is pretty shitty and that you have a ways to go in terms of jokes and writing, I think you've at least got the potential to be really good. Your voice isn't annoying and you seem to have the editing and playing skills to make this work.

Any hints at what the next game might be? You just focusing on NES titles at the moment?

At 8/8/13 09:35 PM, Gobblemeister wrote: I thought it was good which is weird because I thought it was gonna be really bad

Upvote for exceeding expectations XD

I'm glad I get your approval, even if it includes disturbing CGI Donkey Kong.

At 8/8/13 09:59 PM, ZJ wrote: I really liked the video. While I agree that the camera is pretty shitty and that you have a ways to go in terms of jokes and writing, I think you've at least got the potential to be really good. Your voice isn't annoying and you seem to have the editing and playing skills to make this work.

Thanks a lot man. I'll work on getting a new camera as soon as that Youtube money starts rolling in ;)
As for the jokes, I guess I'll just have to keep working on it xP

Any hints at what the next game might be? You just focusing on NES titles at the moment?

I actually have another game in mind already that I'll probably start working on soon. I'll tell you that it's an NES title, and this time it's actually a BAD game. Although I'm not sure how well known it is.

After that I'm not sure yet, it could go in any direction.

Never heard of the game before, so I felt intrigued enough to watch. Be clever about which titles you choose to review and avoid covering old ground, so great job in that department. As others mentioned you could throw down a couple hundred $$$ for a new camera, but your voice wasn't annoying and your dialogue didn't drift too far away from the subject matter at any time. You didn't blow my hair back, but you were much better than I expected to be honest.

The main issues you face is that this particular niche of "reviewing video games" is simply over-saturated with schmucks who think they're entertaining. This isn't an insult to you, just take this into consideration for future episodes. You have to either offer something no one else does or do it really damn well by presenting the facts and trimming the fat. Number one thing you have going for you is that you're likable and have a voice that seems natural. So yeah, consider me a +1 view when you release more! Are you taking requests by chance? (just curious, not really wanting to suggest anything)

By the way, I forgot to ask, are you mostly going to be tackling "hidden gems" or are you going to cover steaming piles of shit as well? Perhaps a broad spectrum of quality?

If you ever need someone to throw out some names to check out, just give me a call. I'm a master at finding games that were "fun" and "average" but not amazing and forgotten. (mostly) Gonna toss one out there for kicks, Soldiers of Fortune (aka The Chaos Engine) for SNES. Not sure if people find this to be obscure or not, but I liked it enough to remember it all these years later. It's a top down run and gun shooter where you collect upgrades/points to spend between stages. 2 player available.

Falls in that grey area, that sweet middle ground. I'm sure few have heard of it -it's fun enough in it's own right- but has many flaws that hold it back. Might make for decent subject material. Cheers and good luck on your project.

At 8/9/13 02:16 AM, Elixur wrote: Never heard of the game before, so I felt intrigued enough to watch. Be clever about which titles you choose to review and avoid covering old ground, so great job in that department. As others mentioned you could throw down a couple hundred $$$ for a new camera, but your voice wasn't annoying and your dialogue didn't drift too far away from the subject matter at any time. You didn't blow my hair back, but you were much better than I expected to be honest.

Yeah, the reason I even played it to begin with was because I had never seen it before, and the title intrigued me. As soon as I have the extra money to spend, a new camera will probably be the first thing on my checklist. Until then I'm going to TRY to live-action sparingly.

The main issues you face is that this particular niche of "reviewing video games" is simply over-saturated with schmucks who think they're entertaining. This isn't an insult to you, just take this into consideration for future episodes. You have to either offer something no one else does or do it really damn well by presenting the facts and trimming the fat.

This was a bit concerning to me as well. I know I'm a bit late to the game, but this is something that I've sincerely been wanting to do for a long time now, and have recently been able to finally attempt. My goal is to be at least somewhat entertaining, while just being myself and getting my idea across on whatever game I happen to be reviewing.

Number one thing you have going for you is that you're likable and have a voice that seems natural. So yeah, consider me a +1 view when you release more! Are you taking requests by chance? (just curious, not really wanting to suggest anything)

I appreciate the feedback, and I'm glad that you liked it. As for requests I'm totally up for that, the only problem is that I have to own the game to review it xP Although if there's enough want for it, and it seems like something I could pull off, then I guess it wouldn't be too much trouble to get a hold of it. I have an idea for what my next review is gonna be already, but besides that request away!

At 8/9/13 02:36 AM, Elixur wrote: By the way, I forgot to ask, are you mostly going to be tackling "hidden gems" or are you going to cover steaming piles of shit as well? Perhaps a broad spectrum of quality?

Funny you ask, my next review is actually going to be a bad NES game. It isn't that well known either, but it doesn't mean that all of my future reviews have to be obscure. Also, Top 10's are definitely another thing I've been looking into, I actually started a Top 10 a while back but began to loose interest because I chose a subject that was more difficult than I had originally thought., and it was just a pain to write for.

If you ever need someone to throw out some names to check out, just give me a call. I'm a master at finding games that were "fun" and "average" but not amazing and forgotten. (mostly) Gonna toss one out there for kicks, Soldiers of Fortune (aka The Chaos Engine) for SNES. Not sure if people find this to be obscure or not, but I liked it enough to remember it all these years later. It's a top down run and gun shooter where you collect upgrades/points to spend between stages. 2 player available.

I definitely haven't heard of this one, but I'll try to look into it without spoiling the actual game too much for myself.

Falls in that grey area, that sweet middle ground. I'm sure few have heard of it -it's fun enough in it's own right- but has many flaws that hold it back. Might make for decent subject material. Cheers and good luck on your project.

Thanks a lot for the suggestion man, I'll try to start working on my next review soon.

I'll be honest, I went in expecting mediocrity but you're actually a pretty good reviewer. I tend to watch reviews when I'm considering buying a game, so how I judge them is that if that review alone gave me enough information to decide whether or not I wanted to buy the game or not, it's a good review. I'd call that a pretty good review.

If I had some constructive criticism or just general comments:

- Generic camera quality comment. I wouldn't say it's vital to upgrade at this point but if you planned on getting serious with this it's a must. Usually when I see low video quality I expect the worst of the video. In your case through the content was good enough to keep me watching and the camera scenes weren't significant enough in the video for it to irritate me.

- Backgrounds. When I'm watching video gamer reviewers and they actually do scenes of themselves, rather than just screen capture, I think it's better if they have something video game related in the background. And by that I mean like a video game related poster or a shelf containing their video game collection. When the background is just random, unrelated parts of your house it just seems a little less interesting. That's just me though, I'm sure some other people might not agree.

- A gimmick. You need something that makes you stand out from the average reviewer. Luckily, you're already a better speaker and give better structured reviews than most, but I'd say it's worth trying to have something unique that's common to all your reviews. Personally, I thought your knee drop montage was pretty cool. I assume you created the music yourself? If you had some kind of montage in every review you did, with music that you wrote and performed yourself, I think that'd be a pretty cool gimmick.

Stick with it though. I think you definitely have potential to be a decent reviewer.

At 8/9/13 06:26 AM, Dean wrote: I'll be honest, I went in expecting mediocrity but you're actually a pretty good reviewer. I tend to watch reviews when I'm considering buying a game, so how I judge them is that if that review alone gave me enough information to decide whether or not I wanted to buy the game or not, it's a good review. I'd call that a pretty good review.

Glad you think it was a pretty good review, I tried to have a good mixture of being entertaining and informational.

- Generic camera quality comment. I wouldn't say it's vital to upgrade at this point but if you planned on getting serious with this it's a must. Usually when I see low video quality I expect the worst of the video. In your case through the content was good enough to keep me watching and the camera scenes weren't significant enough in the video for it to irritate me.

Yeah totally, like I said before I'll try to get a decent camera when I can. I just really can't afford to right now. I'm having enough trouble as it is trying to register for community college.

- Backgrounds. When I'm watching video gamer reviewers and they actually do scenes of themselves, rather than just screen capture, I think it's better if they have something video game related in the background. And by that I mean like a video game related poster or a shelf containing their video game collection. When the background is just random, unrelated parts of your house it just seems a little less interesting. That's just me though, I'm sure some other people might not agree.

I actually agree with this as, since this was my first review I think I was mainly trying to experiment with different locations, and I think what you see in most of the video is the spot that I'll keep. I'll try to see what I can do about spicing up the backgrounds a bit. The video DID feature a Street Fighter 4 poster near the beginning, but I didn't realize until afterwards that it's a bit hard to see. Won't be using my room to film anymore xP

- A gimmick. You need something that makes you stand out from the average reviewer. Luckily, you're already a better speaker and give better structured reviews than most, but I'd say it's worth trying to have something unique that's common to all your reviews. Personally, I thought your knee drop montage was pretty cool. I assume you created the music yourself? If you had some kind of montage in every review you did, with music that you wrote and performed yourself, I think that'd be a pretty cool gimmick.

Glad you liked the Knee Drop Montage music, and yes that was something I made. I figured instead of searching for good montage music, I could just make something real quick myself. As for the gimmick idea, I dunno if I'm too much into something like that. I'd like my videos to be pretty open to anything. But if I find something nice that works and isn't monotonous, I suppose you might see it as a recurring theme once in a while.

Stick with it though. I think you definitely have potential to be a decent reviewer.

Thanks a lot for the feedback, I'll definitely try to do my best.

No gameplay with us commentating on it you mentioned putting into it, tut tut.

Personally not a huge fan of the irl camera footage in most cases when it comes to game reviews / gameplay. A rare exception of this for me is the AVGN simply because he actually does cinema so he knows how to make something interesting and unique for most videos offering new characters or strange atmospheric scenes etc. but for the most part I prefer to just see the game itself or a slideshow of fitting pictures (like Ashens game reviews had) rather than someones face talking about it. This is a personal taste thing though as others might like it but it's just not my cup of tea.

I need to finish my first review also once I actually get a recording I'm happy with. Already got all the footage to piece together for it.

At 8/10/13 06:40 AM, Ragnarokia wrote: No gameplay with us commentating on it you mentioned putting into it, tut tut.

I probably didn't explain myself well when we started recording it. I had the idea to release a separate "Jay Plays" of me playing Kick Master, as a little bonus thing after finishing the review. The reason for this was because I figured I'd have to get gameplay footage for the review anyway, so might as well talk over it. I had done most of it up until the final stage, which is when I figured I'd just finish up with you co-commentating real quick since we were about to do Paper Mario, but you know how that went. (I wasn't used to the game and got my ass handed to me by the final stage)

Now I'm not exactly sure if I'm going to release it as a Jay Plays since I didn't even get to commentate on the final boss or anything. So I may just edit together the best parts or whatever as a bonus thing, which will probably involve some of the bits with you in it. We'll see what happens.

I have that game, and I purchased off amazon and the person that sent me it claimed it was in good condition but forgot to mention that the back of it had stickers plastered all over it and it had writing all on the back. I left a negative review for that person and said fvck you because amazon wouldn't allow me to type fuck you to them. That moron got offended at me cussing at them for false advertising what they were selling to me. I paid like 25-26 bucks for the game, so I was pissed because I was expecting some what decent copy of it from what the description they gave of it. I am now worried when buying stuff from amazon because people are deceiving little shits. I also went on an insane rant about how that person is probably an ignorant liberal that voted for O-bum-a.

Does anyone know of good cleaners that get off all permanent marker of the back of nes carts without destroying the look of it? I tried stuff like paint thinner but it didn't work. I even tried a crazy method I read online where they said heating up soap in a boiling pot would work but it didn't.

Also, the only reason I knew about this game is because I think I seen either James Rolfe or Mike from AVGN review this great game. This game is pretty cool, and I think I did play it once at my cousin's house because my Cousin is a big retro fan or was at one time.

Points for not swearing pointlessly or yelling for no reason. If you stuck to reviewing games that no one has ever heard of (hidden gems) You'd have a new audience. I'd watch it. You seem pretty laid back and relaxed with your review and you're informative. The kneedrop montage made me laugh. You're clever. Good luck on your reviewing

At 8/10/13 04:39 PM, Jay wrote:

At 8/10/13 06:40 AM, Ragnarokia wrote: No gameplay with us commentating on it you mentioned putting into it, tut tut.

I probably didn't explain myself well when we started recording it.

You are worrying too much about this, just pointed out that it wasn't used thats all, didn't really expect it to be inside a review anyway since it wouldn't fit.

Completed my next review sooner than anticipated.

Here it is, my review of Cybernoid (NES) An odd spaceship game that may have been a bit overambitious. Tell me what you guys think, and suggestions are welcome!

If I keep at this pace, you should expect a new review from me every 1-2 weeks. Although I've been considering doing a Top 10 video next, we'll see what happens.

At 8/17/13 10:38 PM, exudaz wrote: I'll be honest
1. Nice writing, but it could be touched up a bit.
2. Your voice could use a little more emotion.
3. Get a better camera, man.
All in all, 6.5/10
8/10 if the camera were better.

Impressive for a first try, keep working on it.

Narration is one of the hardest parts for me because I only have a small window of opportunity to record anything, given that I use a shared computer located in the front-room of a full house, but I'll try to get better as I go on. I'd love to have a decent camera, that's the first thing I'm getting as soon as I have the extra money. As for the writing, that will hopefully improve naturally as I continue doing these things.

Thanks for your feedback!

NEW REVIEW! This time it's of an old TV show that I've never seen before! Mission Impossible (NES)

Complete with semi-elaborate, super-cheesy intro!

See if you can spot the neat drawing my buddy BrazilianNinja drew for me too.

I don't have anything to say, but Jay kicks lots of asses and you all should go watch his shit.

I'm out.

You deserved a bump.

Gonna throw out another idea, which will also serve as a bump.

Working on another video Jay?

Check out The Guardian Legend on NES. Takes elements of Zelda, Metroid, top down vertical shooter and RPGs and mashes them together and has a surprising amount of polish. Pretty fun game.

Probably sold poorly due to the horrible N. American box art. Best part is you can find it fairly cheap at only a couple dollars, so it's not rare or anything.

Hi Newgrounds, sorry for the lack of reviews and updates. I've been a bit busy settling into being a college student for the first time, so I haven't had a whole lot of time to work on new reviews.

BUT, I decided to update this thread to say that I am currently working on a review right now that should be released on Halloween. So look forward to that! As always, I'm open to opinions and review suggestions, or any questions you may have on my future reviews.

Thanks for being patient!

Good to know you're still pursuing this. Can you tell us what console the game is on?

At 10/29/13 06:59 AM, J-Rex wrote: Good to know you're still pursuing this. Can you tell us what console the game is on?

Yes sir. It's sort of a double review. The main review is on a Turbografx 16 game, along with a short overview of a remake of the same game that came out recently.

Plenty of hints to work with :P

At 10/29/13 09:56 PM, Jay wrote: Yes sir. It's sort of a double review. The main review is on a Turbografx 16 game, along with a short overview of a remake of the same game that came out recently.

Plenty of hints to work with :P

I have a guess but assuming you don't want anyone to know I will just patiently wait for you to release the video itself.

At 10/29/13 10:01 PM, J-Rex wrote: I have a guess but assuming you don't want anyone to know I will just patiently wait for you to release the video itself.

Finally it's here, the Halloween Review that I've been toiling away at for quite some time now!

Splatterhouse

I hope you guys enjoy it, and I hope you have a Happy Halloween!

More reviews to come!

At 10/31/13 07:16 PM, Jay wrote:

At 10/29/13 10:01 PM, J-Rex wrote:

Finally it's here, the Halloween Review that I've been toiling away at for quite some time now!

Splatterhouse

I hope you guys enjoy it, and I hope you have a Happy Halloween!

More reviews to come!

Oh Yeah! I knew it had to be Splatterhouse! The inner monologue is nice and the COD joke in the beginning was nice. Good audio quality. The lighting really bothers me, not being able to see your face when playing. Also like Dean said a cool video game background would be cool. Your voice is also a little monotone. Some more emotion would be nice but your voice itself sounds fine. Pretty nice review though.