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Blondeguygamer (or Jquelta on Youtube) is a Canadian game reviewer that contributes to RiverCityGamers and is one of the original four founders. Usually nicknamed "Blondy."
History[]
Blondeguygamer started out with reviewing games in late 2007, after being inspired by other game reviewers to talk about and showcase various video games. He decided to stick with a simplistic online name/persona that reflected himself and his tongue-in-cheek nature.
The first game he reviewed was Toy Story for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. At the time, BGG simply just used an emulator and a headset microphone to narrate over played back footage. He gained a surprising amount of views and, unsurprisingly, criticism for his complaints on the game.
However, not content to stick with just expressing negative views on games, BGG tried alternating styles with a more positive look at Hagane - also on the SNES - after being inspired by WizWar100's quick review of it.
After Alien3 for the SNES, BGG decided to purchase a Dazzle USB video capture device (that is still being used) to cover more modern games, with the first being Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. BGG stopped using emulators to record footage in 2008, with the last reviews using emulators being Biohazard Battle and Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (with the exception of Okamiden on the DS in 2013). Later that same year, BGG made his first fully scripted review with Rez HD, having narration be mostly impromptu in previous reviews.
Since then, BGG has made gradual changes in presentation and recording equipment, but still retains his informative-with-occasional-jokes style when talking about games covering various platforms and genres.
Shows[]
Older Reviews[]
While most older reviews were technically not titled as a show and were just listed as standard reviews, BGG still tried to bring something new to the table by reviewing games that aren't as well known. But much like SCXCR, Blondeguygamer doesn't favor his older reviews much.
In fact, reviews from 2007 to early 2009 were unlisted after ChipCheezumSA made a commentary riff on BGG's original 2008 Evil Dead Regeneration review. BGG felt the quality of those reviews were too low to represent his current quality. These reviews included NES game reviews titled "NES Quick Reviews" - a take on WizWar100's "NES Quickies" - a silent film parody review of The Castlevania Adventure, and "Impression" reviews of Perfect Dark for the Game Boy Color and Xenosaga Ep. II (the latter of which stirred up some controversy among fans that saw it)
To this day, the oldest publicly viewed review is the only remaining NES Quick Review of Pinball Quest. Following that are reviews of the Nintendo E-Reader; a follow-up silent film parody review of Drakken; Eternal Darkness (which won a reviewing contest Angelhalo hosted); Evil Dead A Fistful of Boomstick and Hail to the King; Sword of Sodan on the Genesis; a "BGG Quick Review" of M.U.S.H.A.; the Gameboy Camera; P.N.03; Illbleed, and three Sega CD FMV games - the last of the FMV games ending with a parody skit starring several other RCG members.
Byte-Sized Reviews[]
In late 2009, Blondeguygamer made a short video review of Phantasy Star similar to Doug Walker's "In Five Seconds" movie videos. While they are mostly short videos with a joke about the game, BGG does explain the game with text/voice at the end, giving the game a proper "review" - albeit a very brief one. The first two videos were also titled "Bite sized reviews", but the title was changed to "Byte" with the Breakdown video. BGG still occasionally makes these now and then.
I Feel Like Playing[]
While BGG did attempt a blind let's play (entitled "let's suck") of Megaman X in his early days, it was never finished and eventually deleted. BGG returned to LPing in 2011 with the debut of "I Feel Like Playing" - titled similarily to SCXCR's "I Wanna Play" - with Jurassic Park for the Sega CD.
The series comes in three variations: recording games with live commentary with his brother in the form of "We Feel Like Playing"; "I Feel Like Trying" in which BGG plays through game demos with post commentates; and the default "I Feel Like Playing" with play throughs of entire games with post-commentary. Some of these games were also done for Zeromaster's 16-Bit Winter let's play events.
Black Sheep Game Reviews[]
This is BGG's main current review show in which he showcases games that are often called or can be considered "black sheeps." These include games that are a part of a series (spinoff or not) that are different from the rest; somewhat obscure games (which BGG tended to review anyway), or games that are just different on their own.
The series debuted with Killer 7 in 2011 - which was also the first time BGG used title cards drawn by TigerUchimaru. Later on, he would also use title cards drawn by Danniku.
Besides Killer 7, BGG's most notable reviews are the Evil Dead games of Hail to King, A Fistful of Boomstick, and Regeneration, which were revisited and covered more in depth in 2012 while dealing with an evil version of himself ala Army of Darkness that first appeared in the original Hail to the King review. Later that year he also revisited Double Dragon V, with the original review of DDV being a parody on an old reviewer that BGG does not prefer to show anymore among the rest of his oldest work.
Among the rest of these reviews include: Castlevania Judgment; a Guitar Hero cereal box toy; Command & Conquer Renegade; Earthworm Jim 3D; Grabbed by the Ghoulies; Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts (with a JonTron style parody review of it beforehand); Soul Calibur Legends; Lair; Journey From Darkness: Strider Returns; and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel.
They Made a Sequel?[]
BGG's second main review show that covers more unknown and unexpected sequels of games. The series debuted with Rad Racer II on the NES in early 2013. These videos tend to be more comparative reviews as follow ups to the predecessor to see if they hold up as sequels or are inferior. So far these also include: Okamiden; Heart of the Alien; Skullmonkeys; and ActRaiser 2.
North American Tales of Retrospective[]
Being an avid fan of Namco's "Tales of" JRPGs and owning every entry that came to North America, BGG decided to start a retrospective in early 2014 covering the series. In the introduction video, he made it clear that he was only covering the games released in North America (and not any of the Japanese only ones despite existing fan translations) and that he was not going to talk about the entire plots of the games for time restraints and keep the videos relatively spoiler-free. BGG also explained that while he wants to showcase awareness for the games since they are somewhat obscure in the general North American game market, the videos on each Tales game will still be similar in style of his reviews.
Characters[]
Generic Angry Gamer[]
Originally conceived for a contest entry on a gamer forum that isn't around anymore, Generic Angry Gamer is an Irate Gamer parody character created by BGG. In 2009, GAG (which the acronym was intentional) reviewed River City Ransom, making several illegitimate complaints and facts along the way for comedic purposes.
The character wears a blue collared shirt and is portrayed as getting several things wrong and being overly negative to reflect on badly acted angry gamer reviewers, but mostly on the aforementioned Irate Gamer. ("Face it, breakfast is ruined!") While originally intended as a one-shot parody, WizWar100 created his own "angry gamer" - Furiously Angry Gamer - and reviewed Gunstar Heroes the following year. BGG in turn made a follow-up GAG review of Jackal.
Because of this, nearly every other member of the RiverCityGamers has made an Angry Gamer character for a video. These include Zeromaster's Nerdy Angry Gamer; Wellunreal's Moronic Angry Gamer; Angelhalo's Really Angry Gamer; Shadowsnake's Bullshit Angry Gamer; Onirokaku's Dumb Angry Gamer, and SCXCR's Livid Angry Gamer (who has yet to make a video appearance).
Despite starting the "legacy" of Angry Gamer videos among RCG, there has been no new Generic Angry Gamer videos. GAG was later in BGG's review of Killer 7 as a persona expressing the confusing nature of the game. He was then shot to prevent telling crucial end story spoilers and was presumed dead. But in the Lair review, GAG showed up briefly ("Lair, more like LIAR!") but vanished into thin air when BGG questioned his existence after the Killer 7 video. Whether or not GAG is actually "dead" is still a mystery.
Croshach[]
Croshach is an intentional knockoff of Watchmen's Rorschach, and an avid conspiracy theorist. He was originally created in 2009 to spoof and exaggerate the portrayal of people who, in a viral video, claimed that Youtube is under control from corporations. He was originally shown to be wearing a leather trench coat, red gloves, and a pillowcase and winter cap to conceal his face - but eventually got a fedora to more closely resemble Rorschach.
Later on, Croshach moved into BGG's furnace room and appeared occasionally in his reviews, most notably Killer 7 as a personna and in the original Evil Dead Hail to the King review where he saves BGG from his evil counterpart and helps banish Evil BGG away through a portal. One of Croshach's most prominent appearances was in BGG's review of Command & Conquer Renegade where he confronts BGG's leniency towards EA and that they can't be trusted, this time exaggeratedly portraying the C&C fanbase and gamers' attitude towards EA and other game corporations in general. Croshach then briefly appeared in BGG's Skullmonkeys review (wearing a black winter cap over his face instead of the pillow case), attempting to intervene about the game being distributed by Electronic Arts but BGG stops him at gunpoint.
Detective Blonde[]
Detective Blonde is a "hardened police detective" that only appeared in SCXCR's Five Dollar Gaming review of Urban Chaos. After SCR questions why you are able to target what looks like randomly placed garbage cans and what would happen if an officer arrested the can, Detective Blonde is shown intensly interrogating a garbage can, trying to figure out what supposed criminal plan the garbage cans are up to. After getting nowhere talking to an inanimate object, Detective Blonde gets a phone call from Croshach telling him that it's the garbage men doing the nefarious deeds. The Urban Chaos review then ends with Detective Blonde shooting an innocent bystander garbage man, parodying the infamous "Garbage Day" scene from the movie Silent Night Deadly Night Part 2.
Evil Blondeguygamer[]
Evil Blondeguygamer is an evil twin of BGG - similar to the Evil Ash character in the movie Army of Darkness. He was created in the original Evil Dead Hail to the King review, when possessed copies of Evil Dead games forced BGG to review them and unleash the evil within. After a confrontation with BGG and Croshach, Evil Blondy was transported away through a summoned portal, where he meet Wizwar100's character Dr. R.
While Evil Blondy is considered the main "villain" for BGG, he has not appeared in any other BGG videos besides the Evil Dead ones. The only exception is Zeromaster's review of Power Rangers Super Legends, where Evil Blondy and Dr. R team up to take on the RiverCityGamers. Because of this, BGG's Black Sheep Game Review of Evil Dead Regeneration "canonically" takes place after Zero's review despite the video release dates.
Evil Blondy's main plan was to simply take over BGG's videos and become viral on the internet to control it once BGG re-unleashed the power from the Evil Dead games. But when BGG stopped his evil counterpart plans by exorcising the games beforehand and locking him out of his house, Evil Blondy became so enraged, he decided to drop the plan and just go to Las Vegas, where he may never be seen again - and presumably has hookers.
Late 80s/Early 90s Kid[]
Late80s/Early 90s Kid is a knockoff parody character of Linkara's 90s Kid character from the TGWTG comic review show, "Atop the Fourth Wall".
He first appeared in the 2010 review of Sword of Sodan, after BGG asked who would think the game looked good from the back box description. He is stereotypically portrayed as a "cool" kid from the 80s and 90s, wearing a backwards cap and sunglasses.
He appeared again in the Midnight Raiders review (this time wearing an AC/DC shirt) defending the "awesome" technology of the Sega CD. After being asked if he even played any recent games, he answered with "Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock" and proceeded to air guitar. BGG promptly shot him, declaring that he won't rip off other popular reviewers again (despite wearing a Spoonyone "I Heard That Curtis!" T-shirt). However, he then re-appeared over three years later as a ghost in the Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel review.
Ninjaraptor[]
Ninjaraptor is actually not a character played by BGG, but his younger brother. His name comes from a combination of his love of dinosaurs and martial arts - the latter of which is proven by his ownership of a second degree black belt in American Kempo.
While he does not make videos himself, Ninjaraptor does help BGG with several videos and even appeared in some of them. His first notable assistance was in the original Evil Dead Regeneration review, where he helped filmed the live action scenes. His work also includes puppeteering a possessed copy of Evil Dead A Fistful of Boomstick that pesters BGG to review it, and being a stunt double during the fight scenes in the original Evil Dead Hail to the King review.
Ninjaraptor first appeared on camera in SCXCR's review of Urban Chaos as the garbage man who gets shot by Detective Blonde. In the review of Prize Fighter for the Sega CD, he was a sparring partner in his karate uniform that easily takes out BGG during the training montage. Ninjaraptor also briefly appeared in SCXCR's and BGG's collaborative review of Muramasa: The Demon Blade, as well as helped in filming. In the Midnight Raiders ending skit, he played several roles, which included the pilot that took BGG to the "base"; stock enemies; a stunt double, and the "not-so-genetically-enhanced-ninja."
He also occasionally plays and co-commentates games with BGG in the "I/We Feel Like Playing" let's plays, which include Jurassic Park for the Sega CD and Legend for the SNES. As well as going to ConBravo and Anime North with BGG.
The Blondyone[]
Blondyone is a one-shot parody character based on popular game/movie reviewer Noah Antwiler - A.K.A. The Spoonyone. In 2012, BGG parody reviewed the Xbox 360 RPG "Lost Odyssey" similarly to how Spoony reviews Final Fantasy games.
BGG reviewed Lost Odyssey as a "Spoonified" persona due to how similar the game is to some Final Fantasy games, with it even being made the creator of FF and the music from the main series composer. The review also makes several remarks towards the abstract fantasy nature of the game and making references of Spoony's work, including Blondyone wearing the "I Heard That Curtis!" shirt. Another common theme in the review is heavily comparing the game to previous Final Fantasy games.
Towards the end of the review, a character called "Dr. Blondsano" appeared and claimed to be his future self, who is a version of Spoony's character Dr. Insano and is poking fun at Spoony's storyline skits. During the exchange, an alternate dimension bum called "Blond E. Bum" appears and starts reviewing the game like Doug Walker's Chester A. Bum character does with movies. Dr. Blondsano promptly shoots him. After Blondyone loses sanity over the whole ordeal, the review cuts away and Blondyone is seen holding a pill bottle saying the pills "make all the crazy go away," implying the previous scene may not have even happened.
After summarizing how he felt on the game, Blondyone decides to play a retro game, and in a fitting bit of irony, decides on The Adventures of Bayou Billy, the first game Spoonyone ever reviewed. Even more ironic is that the copy of Bayou Billy is signed by Noah Antwiler whom BGG got autographed at ConBravo 2011, even going so far as to say "some asshole" wrote on it. The review then ends with Blondyone playing and dancing with The Adventures of Bayou Billy during the credits, eventually getting frustrated at the game.
Trivia[]
- BGG is an avid Rocket Knight Adventures fan - he owns all of the games in the series, and covered them in his I Feel Like Playing let's play series.
- BGG is the only member of the RCG that owns a Sega CD and a Turbografx16, the former of which other members of RCG has given him games for - for better or worse. Tomcat Alley and Midnight Raiders were given by SCXCR (which BGG reviewed), while Corpse Killer, Slam City, The Terminator, and Heart of the Alien on the Sega CD were given by Angelhalo, the last two BGG played for IFLP and reviewed for They Made A Sequel? (latter of which Angelhalo starred in) respectively.
- SCXCR has also given BGG several other games during their meetups for conventions. These include Illbleed (which BGG reviewed), Expendable, Jurassic Park for the Sega CD (played for IFLP), Sylpheed (Sega CD), Loadstar (Sega CD), Rise of the Dragon (Sega CD), Iridium Runners, Cobra Command, Way of the Samurai, State of Emergency (PS2), NHL 2001-2006, Star Wars Racer Revenge, Road Rash Jail Break, and Hard Drivin'. BGG in turn has given SCR four games: Canada Hunt for the PC, Skate 3, Unnecessary Roughness (a football game for the Sega Genesis), and WWE Crush Hour.
- Despite being right handed, BGG golfs and bats left handed.
- BGG's Dazzle video capture device is one of the only original pieces of equipment he still has and uses from his early days of video making.
- The "Desk" shot that BGG normally uses when talking on camera was first used in the impression review of Xenosaga Ep. II. It became a regular angle in 2010, complete with showcasing games of various relevance on the desk shelves.
- During a point where BGG had computer problems and resorted to using his brother's laptop to make reviews, a Philips computer monitor was used as a placeholder on his desk during the first Evil Dead Hail to the King review. After Christmas of the same year, BGG got a new desktop computer, now using the monitor for that computer.
- During a time when SCXCR lost his over 15 minute time limit on Youtube, BGG uploaded the second Bloody Roar retrospective video on Bloody Roar 2 for SCXCR on his Youtube so SCR wouldn't split the video into two parts.
- In SCXCR's Bloody Roar Marathon stream in late 2011, BGG was the only person that managed to stay on with SCR during the entire nearly 24 hour run.
- In F-Zero GX, BGG has managed to beat every story mode chapter on very hard legitimately after 9 years of owning the game. A feat that BGG considers one of his hardest to obtain game achievements. The other RCG members that have played F-Zero GX usually express their frustration on the game itself when mentioned, most particularly Wellunreal007.