For a man that specializes in playing video games, it makes sense that shout-outs will abound in stunning numbers, but not just video game shout-outs. Not too surprising since, by his own admission, James is "more of a movie nerd than a video game nerd" in real life.
- As the Nerd reveals the Magnavox Odyssey "gun", we hear the starting sound of Donkey Kong Country 2 in the background, and as he slides into the frame right before using it, we hear the level clear jingle from Contra.
- From the Tiger Electronics episode: "Yeah, this Tiger sure rose up to the challenge of its rivals, had the guts, got the glory, went the distance, now it's not gonna stop! It's literally a survivor!"
- Also from Tiger Electronics episode: I had too much to drink.
- Wax on, wax off! With Q-tip! Sai!
- While playing Top Gun on the NES, the Nerd said a quote from the the movie the game was based off of about rather "Flying a Cargo Plane full of rubber dog shit out of Hong Kong" than playing the game.
- At the end of the McKids review: Toasty!
- This is Spın̈al Tap:
- "The question is, how much more black could this be? And the answer is, none."
- "Like Sewer Shark, for this game I only have a two word review, Shit Shark."
- And in Dragon's Lair when he says the bat kills you in 11 hits, why 10 when it can take 11?
- In the beginning of the X-Men review he's recalling a conversation with his teacher in school about how it's "sexist" that they're called X-Men despite many members being female. He replied, "Well, what's wrong with being sexy?"
- And yet another reference happened in the Nintendo World Championships episode; upon realizing that they had one of the extremely rare gold copies of said game, Pat the NES Punk said that it can never be played, let alone touched. Or pointed at. Or looked at.
- Numerous ones
to one of his favorite films, American Movie.- And he's made a couple of more references since he made that video.
- From the Cheetahmen episode: "Aww, kick fuckin' ass! Life is kinda cool sometimes."
- And from the Spielberg Games episode, he says that all of those games are "a mockery, man!"
- In Ikari Warriors, the Nerd says to the Guitar Guy on the subject of buying some beers: "Well, if you buy 'em, I'll drink 'em."
- In the "DVD Packaging" episode of "You Know What's Bullshit," he begins with, "All right, I'm gonna tell you why DVDs fail, and I'm gonna tell you why DVDs succeed."
- He describes the combat system in Hydlide as being as random as playing the lottery. "Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose...but it's better than using drugs or alcohol, because when you use drugs or alcohol (especially drugs), you always lose..."
- And he's made a couple of more references since he made that video.
- He said in his Ninja Gaiden video that he'd like to find whoever programmed such an unfairly difficult game and rip his still beating heart out of his ass so he could see how cold and black it is before he dies.
- This exact clip from the movie is used in his Wayne's World review. Only in that case, he said he'd rather hurl.
- The title card for "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde Re-Revisited" has The Nerd, Marty McFly, Michaelangelo and Mr.Hyde assuming Metallica's pose on their Garage Days Re-Revisited album cover◊.
- "It's time to wrap things up! It got something to blow the lid off the crap barrel! Time to flick the shit switch, turn up the diarrhea dial, it's Bible games on CD-i!! Yeah-ha-ha! We're living on the edge! More like living on a prayer!"
- When reviewing Intellivision and NES light gun games he said, "Aw, man, I thought it was gonna be He-Man!" at the Intellivision He-Man game and, "You mean you gotta use your hands?! That's like a baby's toy!" when reviewing Wild Gunman.
- In the Batman review, the Nerd ends up getting in a fight with the Joker. This uses copious amounts of sound effect bubbles, like in the Adam West series, but there's another one when they use the sound effect "BIFF!", which is immediately followed by the Unsound Effect "MARTY!"
- He does another Back to the Future gag in the Atari 5200 video while trying to set up the console. "Damn! Damn! Damn, Damn!"
- In the Fester's Quest review, AVGN says, "You were expecting, uh, maybe, uh, the Ninja Turtles?" (which is a nod to the quote from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, "You were expecting The Addams Family?")
- During one of the many fights in the Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle review, the Nerd says, "BullSHIT!"
- The scene at the beginning of the Sega CD review is a shout-out/parody of the 1993 Sega CD commercial with the angry black guy.
- At one time in his Plumbers Don't Wear Ties review, the Nerd mistakenly calls John and Jane "John and Kate", which could be a shout-out to the controversial TV show Jon & Kate Plus Eight.
- Apparently, you can sync up the first half of The Dark Side of the Moon with the "The Wizard of Oz" episode, in reference to "Dark Side of the Rainbow".
- One of the many, many times the Nerd has stated he'd rather do something disgusting than play the featured game, he said "I'd rather eat raw eggs". This happened in none other than the Rocky video.
- In his Ghosts 'n Goblins review, he fights the cartridge Final Fantasy style, using attacks such as Cluster F-Bomb, Precision F-Strike and Atomic F-Bomb. A definite Shout-Out to TV Tropes.
- He references the TV show Home Improvement in his Zelda II: The Adventure of Link video."These guys peek their heads out over the fence like Tim the Tool Man's neighbor, and throw rocks!"
- In his Atari Sports video, during his long rant about the sports games' names, he mentions that the older games have "No quarterback, dimeback, Nickelback..."
- During the Ikari Warriors review, when James complains about the unavoidable bombs hidden by the level's scenery, Kyle sings "Somedays, you just can't get rid of a bomb."
- In "An Angry Video Game Nerd Christmas Carol", several of the scenes and shots of the ghosts are copied directly from the 1951 film adaptation starring Alastair Sim.
- The end of the The Wizard / Super Mario Bros. 3 review has dialogue and visuals ripped straight out of The Exorcist, and a combination of two lines from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 ("I'm lord of the harvest! Bring it down, bring it down!").
- Speaking of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies, the Nerd's own Texas Chainsaw Massacre Episode, aside from obviously having several references to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, there is actually a reference to one of James Rolfe's own films, The Deader the Better — the line, "Batter up, bitch boy."
- The following episode, Halloween, also has several homages to the Halloween films:
- The Nerd's monologue about the Halloween cartridge that had "the dullest graphics ... and the most awful gameplay" directly parodies Dr. Loomis's speech about Michael Myers from the first movie ("he had the blackest eyes ... the devil's eyes").
- Also, this scene at the end:
Nerd: Call the police! Tell the sheriff he's on the loose!Neighbor: Is this some kinda joke?! I've been trick-or-treated like shit tonight! - Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing episode with Nerd going into plaid, and then being sent flying when he stops instantly.
- There is also a blink-and-you'll-miss-it Shout-Out to Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Very faintly visible on the game screen just before the Nerd lets go of the reverse button, you can see Darth Vader and Miss Piggy. Not to mention Spock and Winnie the Pooh.
- In the Desert Bus review: "The bus can't go any faster than 45 MPH. I don't know why; maybe Dennis Hopper put a bomb on it or something."
- In the Cheetahmen episode, he pulls a double Shout-Out in the same rant: "You wanna play dumb-ass?! Well, double dumb-ass on you, motherfucker! You swine! You son of a motherless goat!"
- Towards the end of his review of Little Red Hood, he's speculating that the game's incomprehensible gameplay is meant to test the effects of negative reinforcement. He says "Whoever you are, and if you wanna know what the effect is, I'll tell you the effect! It's fucking pissing me off!"
- In the Power Glove review: "We got this, man! We got this by the ass!"
- From the Toxic Crusaders episode with Lloyd Kaufman: "Whoosh, whoosh"
- In the outtakes to the Nintendo World Championships video, the scene where the Nerd says that Pat's copy of the game is a fake contains a reference to Curb Your Enthusiasm, as Pat suspiciously stares at the Nerd for a long time and eventually concedes, "Okay."
- The ending to the Star Trek episode, where the Nerd refuses to destroy the NES cartridge and tells the audience, "You'll have to get your entertainment somewhere else!", references the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Arena".
- Before playing Predator on NES, he recites a quote from the film:Nerd: This is a real man's game. This game will turn you into a sexual tyrannosaur. Like me.
- In the Mega Man episode, the Nerd remarks that he upgraded his cellphone, complete with a cover of the iconic Nokia tune.
- During the "Double Vision: Part 1" episode, while talking about the Intellivision game Microsurgeon:Nerd: The picture◊ reminds me of Slim Goodbody. I can't believe I'm making that kinda reference.
- The "Game Boy Accessories" episode ends with the Nerd talking about the Game Boy PediSedate, which was made to be used in hospitals to pump kids with anesthetic gases while they played games, leading to the Nerd screaming "I WANNA BE SEDATED WITH THE GAME BOY!"
- In the "Wrestling Games" episode, the Nerd's wrestling style intro has him drinking two cans of beer in a very familiar way
- The Nerd begins his rant towards the end about WCW SuperBrawl with "Let me tell ya something brother..." and ending with "...And THAT'S the bottom line, because the fuckin' Nerd said so!"
- In the "Earthbound" episode, the Nerd, after having his legs and arms broken by Poo's ancient ancestor, starts shouting out the lyrics to Metallica's "One":
- Nerd: Taken my arms, taken my legs, taken my soul, left me with life in hell!
- The ending of the "Pepsiman" episode is a parody of Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
- The "Superman 64 Returns" review contains two:
- The beginning sees the Superman 64 cart transform in a similar fashion to how Nuclear Man formed in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.
- The ending has the Nerd snapping the cartridge's neck to stop it from killing a crop of good video games ala the Man of Steel scene where Superman kills Zod.
- The beginning of his review to The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is a parody to The Twilight Zone (1959) episode, "The Masks."
- A subtle one in the Who Framed Roger Rabbit episode: The Nerd's threat that he's going to kill Jessica Rabbit and her "whole fucking family" is a nod to a similar speech in The Devil's Rejects.Spaulding: You best come up with an answer, 'cause I'm gonna come back here and check on you and your mama and if you ain't got a reason why you hate clowns, I'm gonna kill your whole fucking family.
- In the "Bad Final Fight Games" episode, he notes that Belger, the final boss of Final Fight Revenge, has stopped living and become a mixed-up zombie.
- In the Dennis the Menace review, after defeating the first boss (a girl on a swing set), the Nerd comments, "Dennis the Menace? More like Dennis the Murderer!" What follows is the "Dennis the Menace II Society" skit from The Critic episode "Sherman, Woman and Child".
- At the end of the Taito Legends review, the Nerd states "That was 69 games reviewed this month. 69, dudes!"
- The music in Bartman Meets Radioactive Man 's ExpressVPN ad is the intermission music in Kung Pow! Enter the Fist.
- In the Fear and Loathing in Vegas Stakes video, the bootleg Atari game Pac-Kong features the Ideon on its cartridge.
- The melting face and hands of the Nerd in Mike Matei's title card for Metal Gear homages Lee Elias' front cover for Black Cat Comics #50, "White Heat!".
- In the Star Wars episode, the Nerd's meltdown when the buffalo shits through his window seems to be a homage to a similar rant Bob Saget's character made in Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd
- At one point in the 2023 Indiana Jones review, while the present-day Nerd is tuning the Diarrhea Dial, he chants "Diarrhea cha-cha-cha!"
.jpg){kind=small}
