The Irate Gamer

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About

The Irate Gamer is a YouTube personality portrayed by Chris Bores who is known for his series of ill-tempered video game reviews. His YouTube series has been frequently compared to Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN, also known as James Rolfe), leading some fans of AVGN to proclaim Bores to be a ripoff, dislike all of his videos and leave an excess of hateful comments and parody response videos on his uploads.

Online History

Chris Bores released his first Irate Gamer video on his YouTube channel^[1] on April 28th, 2007, in which he played the Back to the Future video game for the original Nintendo Entertainment System. In the seven-and-a-half minute video, Bores combined clips from the movie with the gameplay, while he gave a relatively hostile overview of his playthrough.

Many fans initially compared this video to the AVGN’s review of the same game uploaded nearly a year earlier, as Bores raised many of the same points Rolfe had made in his production. As of October 2012, the comments have been disabled on the video due to the controversy it caused.

On July 2007, Bores launched the official website at irategamer.com^[2], and later that year, launched two additional web series. On October 2007, Bores uploaded a Ghost-Hunters-inspired video in which he and a group of people explored the Patterson Tower^[3], a supposedly haunted Ohio landmark.

This video would later evolve into a supernatural exploration series called Haunted Investigators^[4] (shown below, left) in 2009 where Bores and friends visit local places known for being spooky. On November 2007, Bores launched Irate Gamer NEO^[5], a show dedicated to reviewing modern games (shown below, right). In 2008, Bores further expanded his channel adding the series Irate the 80s^[6] in which he reviews food, drinks and toys popular in the 1980s.

In 2009, Bores began compiling a documentary-style show called History of Video Games^[7], chronicling the growth of both arcade and console games over the years. As of October 2012, there are five episodes of this show, reaching the release of the console Fairchild Channel F in 1976. In 2011, he began refilming the videos in high definition for a potential DVD release. Also in 2011, he launched a Facebook profile^[8] for himself, where he has nearly 1500 friends and publishes updates publicly for people to follow.

On January 16, 2016, Bores unceremoniously started a new channel called "Puppet Steve – Minecraft, FNAF & Toy Unboxings"^[12] in order to ride the trend at the time for unboxing, toy reviews, and Minecraft. He used his experience in making Skylander videos to create his new format of channel. In an effort to avoid having his trolls and critics flood his new channel, he didn't advertise Puppet Steve to his main Irate Gamer channel.

Afterwards, on his Puppet Steve Toy Show channel, he posted the video, "Street Fighter II Champion Edition Tabletop Arcade & Boardwalk Arcade Cabinet Unboxing"^[13] on January 13, 2020. It featured The Irate Gamer and The Angry Video Game Nerd together in a video voicing Ryu and Ken respectively.

Finally, on July 1, 2020, The Irate Gamer channel announced via trailer that he'd have a "formal" crossover with The Angry Video Game Nerd. This video, a review about the NES Dick Tracy video game, 1990s movie, and franchise^[14], was then posted on July 16 or about 15 days later. On his channel, he also posted behind-the-scenes videos before and after the crossover episode revealing he'd been in touch with Rolfe via email for some time now.

Reputation

Silent Rob's Criticism

On September 11, 2007, a YouTuber known as Silent Rob uploaded a video comparing the Irate Gamer to the Angry Video Game Nerd. Rob accused Bores of plagiarism and predicted that his next video, scheduled to be a review of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles NES game, would be a near copy of Rolfe's review.^[9] Since Rob used footage from Irate Gamer episodes, the original video was taken down due to a copyright claim by Bores, but has since been reuploaded by Angry Video Game Nerd fans.

Commentary from Other YouTube Reviewers

In 2008, Doug Walker, the Nostalgia Critic, released a video that was part of a faux feud with the Angry Video Game Nerd in which he claims that Rolfe has become the "Irate Gamer" in respect to the Critic's videos after an extremely long series of vulgar insults (shown below, left). This is followed by canned booing, and Walker apologizing, saying that this comment was going too far.

Rolfe acknowledged the Irate Gamer for the first time a year later at a convention (shown below, right) where he stated, "He pretty much pretends that I don't exist so why would I even need to say anything about him?" Later on, Rolfe would have a full crossover with Bores on the Irate Gamer's Dick Tracy video game review^[14].

Long-time critic the Archfiend^[16] would then upload the video titled, "Continued Hate of the Irate Gamer is Just So Pathetic & Sad" (shown below, left) on September 2014. A month later, Bores posted a response video on October 2014 that, for the first time, acknowledged the plagiarism controversy between him and Rolfe in his perspective (shown below, right).

A few months earlier, Archfiend along with fellow Irate Gamer critic Asalieri^[17] (among many others) had cameos on Irate Gamer's Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers Sega CD Video Game review^[15] on April 2014.

Parody Videos

There are several mean-spirited parodies of the Irate Gamer Show on YouTube, including several accounts dedicated solely to hating on Chris. These videos exaggerate the flaws of his videos to ridiculous proportions, like the "Isuck Gamer Show" (shown below, left).

Many other videos depict the feud between the Angry Video Game Nerd and the Irate Gamer (shown below, right). That Guy With The Glasses reviewer Linkara has also parodied Bores' videos, reviewing an issue of the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers comic in the style of the Irate Gamer, exaggerating his perceived flaws. As of November 2012, there are 600 search results for "irate gamer parody."^[10]

Bores n' Doors

In late 2008, Bores uploaded his review of the obscure NES cult game "Monster Party"^[11] while appearing upset that he has not been invited to a Halloween party occurring across the street from his home. Multiple times throughout the episode, the Irate Gamer's doorbell rings and he is greeted with people who believe the party is happening at his house. These scenes spawned the "Bores n' Doors" video fad, in which various characters from other works, such as SpongeBob SquarePants, are depicted visiting Irate Gamer during episodes.

Breakfast is Ruined!

Chris Bores posted a video unaffiliated with any of his series in 2007 featuring a rant about the cereal Lucky Charms, noting that the shapes and colors of the marshmallows had changed since his youth. To summarize this frustration at this, Bores proclaims "Face it. Breakfast is ruined!" This line is often used in parody videos as a quintessential example of complaints by the Irate Gamer that could be considered irrelevant, exaggerated nitpicking.