Having started my own YouTube channel recently, I've been watching quite a bit of other
people's content for inspiration. I've also been searching for different types of
videos from the ones I'm used to watching and found quite a few new
channels that I've become a regular viewer of. It can be
difficult finding a new channel that you can get fully invested in,
so I decided to write this list for others who want to find more to
watch but don't know where to begin looking. Think of this list as my
top ten recommendations for people wanting more game related YouTube
content.
I'll be explaining what
each channel does, who they are and why I like them, while also
trying not to just gush too much. The only particular rule
in this list is that there are no channels devoted to 'Let's Plays'.
The reason for this is that I normally don't find this type of video
particularly interesting, it's just something I've never really gotten into. The sort of
content all the channels on this list create are reviews, documentary
style videos and current affairs/gaming news. If you want to check out any of the channels, you can click their names and go straight to their YouTube page. I'll be starting at
number ten and making my way to my favourite YouTube channel at
number one.
Mark Brown's YouTube
channel is one I only discovered recently but since doing so I've
watched all of his new videos and almost all of his back catalogue too. Unlike all the other content creators on this list, Mark Brown looks at games from the perspective of the game developer.
In his 'Game Maker's Toolkit' series he delves into different methods
of designing games and why they work (as well as why they don't).
It's worth watching even if you aren't a game developer because it's interesting to learn about some of the design elements and mechanics going
on in the background of a game which you might not have thought about
before.
Despite 'Game Maker's
Toolkit' being the main series of videos on Mark Brown's YouTube
channel, he also does a series called 'Boss Keys' which is a detailed
analysis of The Legend of Zelda series' level design in the
temple/dungeon sections. Each episode focuses on a specific Zelda
game and shares an opinion on why some designs are great and some are more mediocre, often he'll be comparing the later Zelda games to
the older ones to analyse how the designs have changed with the jump
to 3D. But obviously, the main issue with this series is that you have to be a fan of Zelda games and also have played the specific game
he's talking about to truly appreciate them. Regardless of whether
you're a fan of Zelda or not though, I highly recommend you check out
this channel if you're at all interested in game design and
mechanics.
This is another one which
I've only recently discovered and like the channel above, I think it deserves a
much bigger following. Daniel Ibbertson's YouTube channel features
quite a mixture of game related content but his most popular
videos are his 'The Complete History' series. Each episode offers a
look into the history of a game franchise and are normally about a
series that started life as a retro game or that has an interesting
development history. It's a good place to learn more about the games
you like but may have forgotten about as well as find new games that
you've never tried. The videos are extremely well researched and
normally offer information about the developers as well as the games
themselves. It's definitely worth a watch, especially if there's a
video on a series you're a fan of (which is highly likely as he's
done quite a few episodes). They're very well edited and this keeps
the videos engaging and interesting when it could have been quite static and boring. His
enthusiasm and how he explains his personal relationship to each game
series makes him come across as relatable too which is always a great
thing to find in YouTube videos.
He also creates other game
series such as 'Random Histories' which are similar to 'The Complete
History' videos but rather than covering an entire series of games
they can be about mascots, genres or any other smaller topics. With the style of
these videos being so similar to 'The Complete History' series you
should give these a watch too if you end up enjoying his content.
Other than those two
series he also creates top ten lists, unboxing videos and reviews but
these are much less common than the other types of videos and I see
the main reason for subscribing being his 'The Complete History'
series and everything else being there to sweeten the deal.
This is the most popular
channel on this list and I doubt it needs much of an introduction at
all. JonTron (Jonathan Jafari) is known outside of his personal
YouTube channel because he hosted an extremely popular 'Let's Play' channel called Game Grumps for a while, however he stopped doing this
after having unspecified conflicts with his co-host.
His main YouTube channel
(JonTronShow) primarily consists of reviews about
retro video games, however, recently the show has taken a turn to be
a mixture of game, film and TV reviews, but the emphasis on games is
always prevalent.
The recent episodes of 'JonTron' have had extremely high production values and often
feature dedicated sets depending on what the review is about. Skits
are heavily featured in the show and these can be very funny, but the
main thing that I find to be great about JonTron is the way in which
he reacts to the strange things that happen in whatever it is he's chosen to review. It's difficult to describe to someone who hasn't watched
any of his videos, but if you have, you know what I'm talking about.
The reason this channel
isn't higher on the list is because I don't tend to care for the
videos entirely devoted to skits, I personally find them funnier as a
part of a review and with more of a context. Not only that but videos
aren't uploaded very often at all to his channel, there can sometimes
be a three month gap between videos and because of the lack of any
other regular content there's no reason to keep coming back to his
channel. But I respect that the with the videos being so high in
production value they must be very time consuming to create and I
always look forward to the next episode.
DaveControl (Dave Klein)
is most popular for his videos about Dark Souls and Bloodborne lore,
that's how I initially found his channel, and these videos are
fantastic for anyone who's a fan of the Souls series and wants to
uncover more about the story and the different theories on the
smaller bits of lore hidden within the game. However, although these
videos are fantastic, it isn't the main reason I watch DaveControl
and it isn't the main reason I would recommend watching his channel.
One of his other video
series is called the 'Super Show' and in these videos he does reviews
of a game that he's either been playing recently or simply one he
wants to share his opinion on (the games he covers are fairly random
and he doesn't really have a niche) but the skits and the way the
information is presented in a detailed and entertaining way has kept
me watching all of his new Super Shows ever since I first found them.
He also has a series
called 'Chronicles of Gaming' which consists of documentary style videos which focus on the history of a particular console. His newest entry into this series about the NES is one of my favourite YouTube
videos ever, it's so informational and I recommend any fan of gaming
history or the NES in general should give it a watch. The amount of
research done for this video is incredible and I always appreciate it
when you can tell someone has put so much effort into something like
this.
He does also have several
other shows on his YouTube channel but those are the three ones which
I enjoy to watch. All three of them are fairly differently focused
but because all of them appeal to me in different ways I can't help but say this
is one of my favourite YouTube channels.
I have very little doubt
in saying that Jim Sterling is the busiest person (or at the very
least one of the busiest people) on this list. Not only does he run a
YouTube channel and do daily video uploads as a part of eight regular
shows but he also runs his own website which features written reviews
and editorials as well as hosting two separate podcasts on top of all
that. How this man has any time to sleep is beyond me.
Jim Sterling was the
editor of the popular gaming website Destuctoid before moving on to
working for another popular gaming (and pop culture) website The
Escapist (where he also eventually, albeit briefly, became the
editor). He then decided to move away from traditional games
journalism outlets and become independent, creating content for his
own personal website and YouTube channels while being financially
supported through Patreon (a crowd funding service).
Jim Sterling's most
popular video series is called 'The Jimquisition' in which he debates
and gives his opinion on current gaming news while playing the role
of an exaggerated version of himself who appears to have a god complex. Not many people could pull this
off and come across as both professional and highly
entertaining at the same time, and to do it without being cringey is
even more impressive. This series is one I look forward to watching
every week and it's a good way of staying up to date with gaming
controversies and news.
He also creates several
different video series covering Steam games, 'Steam Greenlight Good
Stuff' is dedicated to the games that have been green-lit by the
community on Steam which are worth paying attention to and
supporting, whereas 'Best of Steam Greenlight Trailers' is basically
the reverse of this, showing trailers for games put onto Steam's
Greenlight service that are of an extremely bad quality. Another
series of his called 'Jimpressions' covers both new Steam releases
(both indie and AAA) and new console games and is a sort of blend of
an impressions video and a 'Let's Play'.
But some of my favourite
video series of his have to be 'Boglinwatch' and 'Nitpick Theater'. 'Boglinwatch' is a series of informal review/unboxing videos about a
line of toys called Boglins. The videos are constructed to be amateur
in quality but in a way that's very entertaining and sometimes
extremely funny. 'Nitpick Theater' is about very small issues which
crop up in games that are mildly annoying and the videos basically
consist of him getting extremely angry over these problems, but the
fact that the issues are relatable makes the videos very
entertaining.
Although I don't watch all
of Jim Sterling's content (there's far too much of it for me to do
that), I always watch 'The Jimquisition', 'Boglinwatch' and 'Nitpick
Theater' and I'll often partake in a 'Jimpressions' video if I'm wanting
to watch something that I don't need to concentrate on or if I'm
feeling bored. If you're interested in gaming news,
Steam games or Boglins, I highly recommend Jim Sterling's channel.
This channel is another
one ran by a single person, there isn't too much detail to go into
with this one, but it's still one of my favourites because of the way
that NitroRad (James) analyses and reflects on his experiences while
playing a game.
He's a reviewer who
focuses almost entirely on obscure platformers, horror and RPG Maker
games, the first two of which I'm a very big fan of. Although I'm (typically) not a fan of RPG Maker games, I still enjoy watching
NitroRad's reviews of them because of how entertaining and
informational they are. You can tell he loves all the types of games
he reviews and he clearly has a very good understanding of what
separates a bad (or underwhelming) game from a great game.
The production quality is
also really good in his videos too and since I started watching him it's gotten
better and better. He sometimes does skits (which
are entertaining) but they are few and far between and the main
reason to watch him is for the review sections of his videos which
are full of comedy and analysis.
This channel has very
quickly become one of my favourites after discovering it fairly
recently. Stop Skeletons From Fighting consists of Derek Alexander,
Grace Kramer and Luke Green, although Grace and Luke have more
production based roles (Grace being a filmographer, writer and
producer and Luke being an animator who created all the logos and
idents for the channel and it's videos).
Originally this channel
was known as the Happy Video Game Nerd , an obvious reference to the
Angry Video Game Nerd, and focused primarily on game reviews but from
the angle of trying to see the good in the games he reviewed (rather
than the AVGN style of focusing almost entirely on the negatives).
Back in 2015 the whole
channel was re-branded as Stop Skeletons From Fighting and developed
a much more streamlined upload and show structure and much greater
production values. The Happy Video Game Nerd was scrapped (presumably
to separate the channel from being too closely associated with the
Angry Video Game Nerd) but traditional reviews are still uploaded to
the channel. These reviews are great and they often cover games that
aren't too popular, so it's a good place to find more obscure things
to try, but where the channel truly shines is in it's documentary
style videos.
These documentary videos
consist of 'Past Mortems', which go through the history of a certain
game related topic in a lot of detail (one of the best videos I've
watched on YouTube is the 'Past Mortem' episode titled 'The Rise of Dark Souls, FromSoftware, & Hidetaka Miyazaki'), they're
informative, extremely well edited and Derek Alexander's hosting is
fantastic too. 'Punching Weight' is another series about “weird,
ambitious or unnecessary” games which normally consist of rare and
unpopular titles or unusual ports which are discussed, analysed and
questioned as to why they exist. There's also other different one-off
videos which are created every now and then which keep things very
fresh and means there's always something to look forward to.
I would recommend this
channel to anyone interested in more obscure games that you might not
have heard of or for people who are interested in video game
documentaries like myself.
AntDude is one of my
favourite content creators on YouTube and I think a part of the
reason for this is because his videos are fairly short, informative,
entertaining and about games I enjoy. They're well produced and just
the right amount of his character comes through without being over
the top. He tends to stick to reviewing either RPGs, platformers or
Nintendo games which gives him a bit of a niche without being too
limiting. I'm into a lot of the games which he reviews which is
probably another reason I keep going back to watch him.
He doesn't normally stick
to a particular upload schedule but has been producing around two
videos a month for the past seven months, so it's fairly regular. He
doesn't really have a selection of different shows like some other
channels on this list but rather it's all under a single banner.
Most of his videos are retrospectives about a particular series
(Kirby and Kingdom Hearts being the newest ones) but he does tackle
the odd one off game as well as reviewing ROM hacks (which are his
most popular videos). He used to create shorter reviews called in a
series called 'Rapid Review' but he seems to have stopped producing these, I
assume the reason for which being that he wants to focus on his main
videos.
You should give AntDude a watch if you like reviews and retrospectives about Nintendo properties, RPGs or platformers.
You should give AntDude a watch if you like reviews and retrospectives about Nintendo properties, RPGs or platformers.
Caddicarus was bound to be high
on my list because he's probably the most popular (or at least one of
the most popular) game reviewers that focus on PS1 games (the PS1 happens to be my favourite console). Every week he uploads a new review as a part
of his long running 'Caddicarus' show which is not only a detailed
and entertaining review but it also often features skits. Although
his main show is normally about a PS1 game it has also been known to
tackle more modern games as well as the occasional film, but the
focus is very obviously on the PS1 titles.
He's recently started
uploading another weekly video simply titled 'Caddy' in which he
reviews modern (mostly brand new) games which can be an interesting
perspective if he's talking about a game you haven't played yet. He
also had a ton of other video series he created ('Current Quickies',
'Caddy's Retrospectives', 'Tinker Time', 'Drive Thru Reviews' and
'The Puppicarus Show' just to name a few) but scrapped all of them
while trying to find a formula which maintained creative freedom but
also informed his audience of what to expect each week.
'Caddy's Film Fridays!' is
the final show which is uploaded to the Caddicarus channel regularly
and this is normally a mixture of informal reviews of films (of any
type) or kids explaining and reacting to different films and TV
shows. This is the one show of Caddicarus' I don't normally watch,
not because it isn't good but simply because it's not my cup of tea.
I think the reason I'm not into this series is because a lot of the
films talked about are ones I haven't seen or just that I have no
interest in, so it's definitely just a personal issue. For those that
like film reviews and debates though, I imagine this would be very
entertaining.
If you enjoy playing PS1
games and want to find more reviews and content about them, this is
the channel for you.
My all time favourite
YouTube channel has to be Cinemassacre. The team consists primarily
of James Rolfe and Mike Matei (although Brendan Castner (AKA Bootsy)
and Ryan Schott also make a lot contributions).
The channel is most famous
for their 'Angry Video Game Nerd' videos in which 'The Nerd'
(portrayed by James Rolfe) reviews retro games (mostly on the NES)
which are notoriously flawed in some form which leads him to become
increasing agitated, often resulting in extreme and bizarre
situations taking place. I would be surprised if anyone reading this
hadn't heard of the 'Angry Video Game Nerd' or watched any of his
videos as they've been regularly uploaded since 2006 and there's even a
feature film which James Rolfe wrote and directed titled
'Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie'. How many YouTube shows can say
they went on to become feature films?
The 'Angry Video Game
Nerd' is by no means the only great series on the Cinemassacre
channel though, another amazing set of videos is the 'Board James'
series. This started out as a fairly typical review show focused
on board games rather than video games, but after a few episodes
you're introduced to new characters who make regular appearances and
it becomes apparent that there's an overarching storyline going on in
the background. Later in the series things take a dark turn and
rather than the show consisting of reviews, each episode becomes more
of a short film based around one or more board games. This series is
amazing and I think it's overlooked by a lot of people (possibly due
to the popularity of the AVGN videos), but trust me, if you're a fan
of board games, the 'Angry Video Game Nerd' or horror/comedy films,
you'll love 'Board James'.
Another series
Cinemassacre creates is 'James and Mike Mondays' which is a weekly
show where James and Mike sit and play a random video game while
discussing it and often deviating onto entertaining tangents. While
this could be considered a 'Let's Play', the way in which it's
edited, wrapped up with a short informal
review and how it incorporates filmed sections separates it from a
standard 'Let's Play'. Similar series are 'Mike and Bootsy' and 'Mike
and Ryan', which follow the same format only with different
combinations of hosts in each show.
'Talk About Games' is
another series Cinemassacre creates and this one is hosted by Mike
and Ryan. It's an analysis of more current topics in the gaming
industry but it offers a unique perspective by being hosted by Mike
who is predominantly a retro enthusiast and Ryan who has more
knowledge of modern games. This can lead to interesting conversations
between the two that are quite fun to watch.
'You Know What's Bullsh*t'
is yet another series of videos on the Cinemassacre channel, but this one isn't
about video games. In this series
the 'Bullsh*t Man' (portrayed by James Rolfe) basically talks about
all the different minor annoyances he encounters in day to day life,
such as iTunes, hotel TVs and warranties. It's highly entertaining and it can be hilarious if the topic is something you also find to be annoying.
There's also a ton of film
reviews on the Cinemassacre website, most notably a series called
'Monster Madness' which was created every year (for the last ten years). In this series a different horror film review was uploaded every day in the month of
October. James is a huge horror fan and you'll find some good
recommendations and probably learn about some obscure films too if
you delve into these. The latest (and unfortunately last) series of
'Monster Madness' was also uploaded to YouTube (rather than being
exclusive to the Cinemassacre website) so it's more accessible if you
want to give it a watch.
The amount of content
Cinemassacre create mean that it has quite a broad potential
audience, so I would say if you're at all into nerd culture you
should give some of their videos a watch, but if you're interested in
retro gaming, B-movie/classic horror films or surreal comedy this channel
should appeal to you.
A few honorable mentions
that just missed out on being in my top ten list but are still channels I
am a fan of are YongYea, who does gaming news and theory videos about
popular upcoming titles (mainly Death Stranding), SwankyBox, who
creates theory videos and nostalgia themed videos which talk about
levels from games which bring back memories,
Gggmanlives, who does short reviews about all different kinds of
first person shooter games and Jimmy Whetzel, who creates reviews of
many different types of games which are very entertaining.
That wraps up the list of
my favourite gaming YouTube channels, hopefully I've suggested a few
channels you might not have heard of or maybe not considered watching
before and if you have any suggestions for channels I might like feel
free to leave a comment. Thanks so much for reading!
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