

From there, the series became a cult success, and Rolfe began appearing as the character in various other media such as a feature-length film and video games, and many public appearances. In 2004, Rolfe, by suggestion from longtime friend Mike Matei, put the Angry Nintendo Nerd videos on his website, and in 2006 on the emerging video streaming platform YouTube, where it gained popularity. Starting out as an independent filmmaker, Rolfe intended for his earliest videos of the character who was originally called The Angry Nintendo Nerd to be a joke privately shown to his friends. While the series began with Rolfe simply playing games while delivering a running commentary, the show would eventually grow in scope to encompass sketches featuring guest characters, reviews of gaming consoles and peripherals, and short lectures about video game history and culture. The series centers on Rolfe's titular skit character, often simply shortened to "the Nerd", a short-tempered and foul-mouthed gamer who delivers commentary on retro games of poor quality. The Angry Video Game Nerd (abbreviated as AVGN) is an American retrogaming review comedy web series created by and starring James Rolfe.

"Angry Video Game Nerd Theme" by Kyle Justin
