That’s the one I had, the one on the left, the top-loader. It was a rerelease well into the lifespan of the Super Nintendo. They even rereleased some of the biggest games along with it, like The Legend of Zelda, which came with the original map! At least, I think it did. I heard someone talking about that map recently and I knew what it was. But I had only played these games at the houses of friends when I was a kid until I got my own, years later. So, I must have gotten it through a rerelease, right? As for Nintendo, they were already into reselling their old games all the way back then. And as for me, all the way back then, I was already into classic gamming.
One of the things I’ve wanted to do with this new blog having to do with cataloging, categorizing, and codifying the various and lovely oddities I find on the internet is to post some of who I think are the best examples of good YouTubers. Now, most of the YouTube videos I watch are related to classic video gaming. And thanks to YouTube’s algorithm-driven homepage, I’ve been introduced to many people who are quite bad at making these videos. Some of them are funny in their missteps. Others annoy me to the point of exasperation. What I find interesting is that before YouTube had introduced me to these jokers, I would not have thought to ever form an opinion on the subject of what makes one of these videos either good or bad. At this point, however, I have seen so many bad videos, that I want to try and map out, here, what might be some contributing factors to the appropriate enjoyment of amateur video editing.
This brings me to a side note, if you will allow me to veer into the margins for a bit. I don’t really enjoy calling these people YouTubers, because they have existed and will continue to exist independent of that website’s longevity. Perhaps “vlogger” or “content creator” are more appropriate terms, but not every video available need be thought of as a constituent pertaining to a “video-blog.” And as for the creation of content, though this may be key to forming the bloated detritus of material foundational to the site’s business model, the result of having made something hardly lends itself to critique. If we were only flinging leftover spaghetti against the wall, it would seem rather inconsequential to want to say anything about it. But we do want to talk about it, don’t we? Perhaps the very activity of the comments section and the active chat indicate that we long for something more than just a post-labor opiate, perhaps even real, personal interaction. This is why I like to think of these people as “writer-performers” more than anything else. Yes, they do edit video, and they do film some of their own, but we are only talking about the medium, here. You wouldn’t call a novelist a paper-decorator, would you? Thus, we are able to discuss and think about the quality of the writings and the performances to which YouTube has triumphantly exposed us. Forgive me my digression.
Meet Joe Redifer, who has been uploading videos about classic gaming consoles for a very long time. Joe does a professional job, and his casual demeanor and low-wit sense of humor make what he does look easy. Joe doesn’t do a whole lot of unique stuff, which makes him a good base line to compare to others who are trying to do the same thing. Just from listening, you wouldn’t think he was one of the best because he does tend to speak clearly and naturally, but this is something with which many other performers struggle. He is also concise and is able to explain complex things quickly and with simple words. Which, now that I think about it, is worth mentioning to the people I teach. Using big words and complex expressions to talk about simple things sounds foolish. Even worse, using overly expressive and emotional language to talk about simple and mundane things is aggravating, but I plan to talk about this in another post. For now, you can see and hear for yourself how Joe is a good writer and performer. I would also guess that he does video and audio professionally, but his expertise in the medium only helps us to focus on Joe and what he has to say. I highly recommend Joe’s Game Sack videos for your lunchbreak or for anyone who wants a general overview of what classic gamming has to offer.
