Fanfic / A Saga of Parallel Worlds

In an alternate universe where Nintendo and Sony worked together to release the SNES-CD, there exists a familiar Nerd. Here are some snippets of life in this universe. There will be reviews, swearing and emotion.

A Saga of Parallel Worlds is an The Angry Video Game Nerd fanfic set in an AU where the SNES CD-ROM actually came out. This sets into motion a new chain of events. It is also available on AlternateHistory.com here.

A Saga of Parallel Worlds contains examples of:

• Ace Pilot: Jet Starman from the MythWar franchise is one of the best fighter pilots in the solar system.
• Adaptational Heroism: Due to Spooning with Spoony being butterflied away, Spoony is not a rapist.
• Adaptational Mundanity: Inverted. Player Two Start was a story set in a world with no supernatural occurrences. This fic maintains the supernatural aspects of the canon Channel Awesome universe such as the Devil and Santa Christ.
• Adaptational Skill: Jennifer Morrison can read Japanese hiragana and katakana.
• Added Alliterative Appeal: The Nerd describes one of the games in the SNES-CD Action 52 as a shitty surfing simulator.
• Allohistorical Allusion: The Nerd's childhood friends James, Mike and April are named for James Rolfe and people he knew in real life.
  • The Wonderswan prototype that Gunpei Yokoi shows Yamashima in 1993 resembles the real life version of it.
• Anachronic Order: The chapters are published whenever they are completed, and this is a natural result of that.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: Some chapters and parts of chapters focus on characters other than the Nerd.
• Artistic License – Gun Safety: Averted in the Atari 5200 update, as the Nerd and Jennifer Morrison put on proper ear protection before using firearms to destroy the 5200 and its games.
• At the Opera Tonight: Ted Woolsey attends a performance of The Marriage of Figaro when he finds the actors he wants to play Draco and Ralse.
  • Final Fantasy VI has a vocalized opera scene on a cartridge SNES title.
• Author Appeal: The author is a huge fan of old-school JRPG games, as two chapters describe them in detail, and other chapters reference them.
• A Winner Is You: Cheetahmen II is actually completable, and doing so yields a message of "Congratulations! You won!".
• Back from the Dead: In this AU's version of DC's Earth-1, Jason Todd averts this trope.
• Background Music Override: In Final Fantasy VI, the Floating Continent has its dungeon theme play during random encounters.
• Big "YES!": The 13-year-old Nerd says this as he opens the SNES-CD.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: The Nerd paraphrases Nostalgia Critic's catchphrase when finishing up Bebe's Kids.
• Bowdlerise: The Game.com version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is censored like the cartridge SNES verison of Mortal Kombat I.
• The Cameo: Joueur du Grenier cameos in the 2023 Christmas chapter, receiving a French translated Sega CD copy of Phantasy Star IV for Christmas.
• Canis Major: Dalvo Blotch from the MythWar franchise is a giant dalmatian who joins Jet Starman's team of freedom fighters.
• Canon Welding: The LucasArts video game franchise MythWar would later become incorporated into the Star Wars Expanded Universe and remain a separate property.
• Characterization Click Moment: Super Mario RPG (SNES-CD) was this for Princess Peach, and marked the start of her Character Development into a princess who can fend for herself.
• Christmas Episode: The 2023 Christmas episode depicts the year 1995 and several people getting presents.
• Creative Differences: In-Universe, differences regarding the Virtual Boy and its scrapping by Nintendo and Sony is what causes Gunpei Yokoi to leave Nintendo sooner than in canon.
• Critic Breakdown: The Nostalgia Critic has one at the Bebe's Kids video game.
• Continuity Drift: Earlier chapters were published when this AU was conceptually much closer to Player Two Start's universe. The Panasonic-Bandai deal chapter and Miyamoto's survival changed the direction the AU went in dramatically.
• Cool Starship: Santa Christ's rocket ship was never given much details in canon. In this AU, it's depicted as using state of the art NASA tech to be able to deliver presents to anywhere on Earth in less than 24 hours.
• Colonized Solar System: MythWar has all of the Solar System colonized by the Galactic Armada.
• Crossover: The author has confirmed that other Channel Awesome characters will appear later on in side stories.
• Deal with the Devil: The Nostalgia Critic averts this trope due to Son of the Mask being butterflied away.
  • Played straight with Fred Fucks, who sold his soul to the Devil so that he could make shitty games for the rest of his life.
• Decomposite Character: James is a separate character from the AVGN.
• Devil, but No God: Santa Christ is the closest thing to God in this universe.
• Different World, Different Movies: The release of the SNES-CD sets off a new chain of events that include different sequels to beloved films and games as well as some new franchises.
  • The Game.com version of Sonic Jam consists of zones from different Genesis & Game Gear Sonic titles, and is in color.
  • With Ted Turner having rejected the acquisition of his IPs by Warner Bros., Kids' WB continues to exist, and is the home to some unique to this AU shows such as That Smarts!, a Looney Tunes show starring Pepé Le Pew and Penelope that parodies various spy-themed media.
  • DC launches their cinematic universe in 1996 with a Green Lantern film.
  • Phineas and Ferb is picked up by Cartoon Network in 1996 after both Nick and Disney reject it.
  • LJN makes a video game based on the animated X-Men show.
  • Panel de Pon debuts as an anime after Gunpei Yokoi pitches the idea to Bandai. The game itself is a Wonderswan launch title.
  • As for the Wonderswan itself, the system uses mini-CDs thanks to the Panasonic-Bandai deal, and uses an ARM 6 processor.
  • This AU's equivalent of Superman 64 is an Iron Man game by LJN that releases in 1999 for the Ultra Nintendo.
  • The release of the Ultra Nintendo Modem meant that Goldeneye has all of the past Bond likenesses.
• Downer Ending: Bubsy 3D ends with the bobcat being Killed Off for Real.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Vincent Price's nightmares are like this.
• Duelling Works: In-Universe examples:
  • The Amulet Saga and The Legend of Zelda: Temple of Time are 3D fantasy adventure games that were released by the creators of competing console hardware in 1998.
  • The SNES Combo Mini and Sega Genesis Mini both released in 2016 and contained 30 games. While the SNES Combo Mini contained 10 cartridge SNES games and 20 SNES-CD games, the Sega Genesis Mini includes 20 Genesis games and 10 Sega CD games.
• Election Day Episode: One detailing George W. Bush's loss to Al Gore came out in 2024.
• Follow the Leader: In-Universe, Secret of the Stars tried to capitalize on Square's RPG successes, but only ended up being a massive bomb.
• Framing Device: The first chapter's framing device has the Nerd watching a VHS depicting his past self opening Christmas presents including the SNES-CD.
• From the Mouths of Babes: Even as a kid, the Nerd swore often.
• Genius Programming: The vocalized Opera from Final Fantasy VI is an in-universe example, stunning many including Polly Klaas that a cartridge-based game could do it.
• Graceful Loser: George W. Bush calls Al Gore to concede the election, and turns down a job offering at the Pentagon.
• Halloween Episode: 2023 has two, one about Vincent Price's Deal with the Devil, and one where the Nerd beats the NES Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde game.
• Happily Married: The Nerd is married to Jennifer Morrison, and they sometimes review shitty games together.
• Incompetence, Inc.: Tiger Electronics released the Game.com in an unfinished state, using cheap parts that made the system weaker than the NES, drain batteries quickly and a barely functional touchscreen. This resulted in the system's complete failure.
• In Spite of a Nail: Despite the SNES-CD changing most of pop culture, some things have not changed.
  • Columbine still happens like it did in canon, with the same number of deaths and people who died.
  • The Nostalgia Critic is still miserable and single like his canon counterpart.
  • The port of Mortal Kombat III to the third console in the Game Boy line is still an awful conversion with broken controls and cheating AI.
  • The Nerd and Critic still have a feud.
  • Deadly Towers is still reviewed in 2008.
• It's a Wonderful Failure: The Game.com's version of Sonic Jam has a game over screen where Robotnik laughs at the player.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: In-Universe, Kirby's Avalanche hasn't seen a rerelease since its original SNES release due to Sega buying Compile and still being in the console business.
• Killed Off for Real: Vincent Price died in 1993, and isn't coming back.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: Even as a kid, the Nerd had a love of cats, owning a cat named Golbez during his childhood.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: This fic treats some of the big moments of Final Fantasy VI as this, showing the Nerd's reaction to the End of the World.
• Long-Lost Relative: In the MythWar franchise, Coral and Seaweed are twin mermaids that were raised on separate planets, only aware of their relation at the start of the game.
• Milestone Celebration: In-Universe, the Top 10 Worst SNES-CD games video is published on April 6, 2013, exactly 20 years after the North American launch of the SNES-CD.
• A Minor Kidroduction: We are introduced to this AU's AVGN as he unboxes the SNES-CD for his 13th Christmas.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Upon reading the November 1994 issue of Nintendo Power, the Nerd realizes that he abandoned Shadow on the Floating Continent.
  "I just left a badass Ninja to die! What was I thinking?!"
• Nightmare Sequence: Vincent Price has one about the future that shows 9/11 and parts of the Bosnian War in detail, before ending with his own death.
• No Dub for You: In-Universe, the PAL SNES release of Final Fantasy VI was only sold in English even in France and Germany.
  • The same is true for the PAL SNES release of Romancing SaGa 2
• No Export for You: In-Universe, the Nerd considers this a good thing about Final Fantasy II
  • Mega Man 6 didn't get localized due to Nintendo ending support for the international NES after the release of Kirby's Adventure.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted, as there are two characters named Vincent. Vincent Dawn is a film director who experiments with different genres, while Vincent Price sold his soul to the Devil for perfect vision of the future.
• Our Presidents Are Different: President Al Gore is President Personable, working across the aisle to improve America.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: The Game Boy Color gets thoroughly overshadowed by its predecessor, successor and the competing Wonderswan to the point that software support for the GBC stops a few weeks after the Game Boy Nova's release.
• Pals with Jesus: Tom Kalinske is friends with Santa Christ, which helps Sega get support in the Console Wars.
• Precision F-Strike: Tom Kalinske has one once he learns of the vocalized Dream Oath Opera.
• Polishing A Turd: The Nerd considers the Wonderswan port of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (NES) to be this.
• Porting Disaster: In-Universe, a lot of the Tiger game.com's library consists of these.
  • The Genesis port of Revolution X tried to add vocalized Aerosmith music, but the vocalized music creates a lot of lag.
• Poster-Gallery Bedroom: The Nerd's childhood bedroom was covered with Nintendo Power posters.
• Regional Bonus: In-Universe, the US and PAL versions of Final Fantasy VI include a vocalized Opera and makes Gau's rages more streamlined and useful.
• Related in the Adaptation: While canon was never clear who Hyper Fangirl's parents were, here they're Aunt Despair and Uncle Lies.
• The Problem with Licensed Games: In-Universe, the SNES-CD Jurassic Park game was rushed to meet the theatrical release of the film, and has plenty of major flaws as a result.
• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: The Cinema Snob is an independent movie director.
  • Al Gore is elected President in 2000, with Joe Lieberman as his Vice President.
  • Avril Lavigne goes into game design after being fascinated by an SNES-CD game titled Live A Live.
  • Polly Klaas is a speedrunner who focuses exclusively on SNES-CD games, and is trying to play the console's entire US library of 693 games.
• Sarcasm Mode: The Nerd describes the censorship of the game.com version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 "Cause mimicking the worst console version of a Mortal Kombat game was surely a good idea."
• Shout-Out: In Chapter 1, The Nerd greets his cat "Merry Christmas, you filthy animal!".
  • The release of the SNES-CD is described as the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
  • The fate of Chris-Chan is a reference to Player Two Start, with the creator of Sonichu being sentenced to jail for a thwarted shooting that they actually carried out in the latter timeline.
  • The title of the 2023 Christmas chapter is a reference to a music piece by John Williams written for Home Alone 2.
• Short-Lived, Big Impact: In-Universe, The cartridge based SNES was only on the market from August 23, 1991 to November 1995, and transformed the way stories are told in video games, revolutionized sound design, and brought the Mario Kart franchise into existence. Some still consider this system the greatest console of all time.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: The Nerd swears just as much as his canon self.
• Stillborn Franchise: Invoked when Kang Fu has a sequel announced in the credits of the game.
• Stuff Blowing Up: The finale of the Dr. Jekyll revisit features many terrible games exploding.
• Take That!: The Nerd delivers one to Uwe Boll in the Kangaroos, Superheroes and Shovelware chapter.

The shitty translation results in an enemy bandit named Badbad. I am dead fucking serious. It’s a name as lame as Uwe Boll.

• Tempting Fate: From the Worst SNES-CD Games update:

Arleen Sorkin (archive clip): I’d rather make an adaptation of A Death in the Family.

Jennifer Morrison: And now an animated film of Batman: A Death in the Family is coming out in the summer of 2014. You asked for it, Arleen and now you're in it.

• The Oner: The Nerd's Christmas video has one that tracks from the bedroom to the living room Christmas tree.
• The Title Saga: The Amulet Saga is an example of this trope.
• Ultimate Universe: This story is one to Player Two Start, mixing content from P2S with this fic's new takes on beloved and not-so-beloved games and consoles while adding some unique to this AU games and consoles.
• Updated Re-release: Super Mario Kart recieved an SNES-CD release titled Super Mario Kart Deluxe in 1994. This version added Wario and Daisy to the game's playable roster, undid the international censorship, reduced the size of the HUD and allowed for two players to play a Grand Prix.
• Virtual Soundtrack: Some chapters describe the music that either plays in-universe or in the AH.com version, links to the music.
• War Is Hell: Vincent Price certainly thinks so after his nightmares depict Bosnian war crimes.
• Worst. Whatever. Ever!: The Nerd and Jennifer Morrison consider Hoshi wo Miru Hito the worst NES game ever made, and the worst console RPG ever made.