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Tiger Electronic Games - Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN)

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Overview / Episode Setup

The AVGN opens with a recap of how he warned viewers about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the NES, then quickly pivots to even rarer, more “obscure” horrors. He jokes that he accidentally named a game he didn’t even know (claiming “Tax-Man”).

He explains that Tax-Man for the Apple II is essentially an “exact copy” of Pac-Man, using it as a springboard to the episode’s real target: Tiger’s portable electronic games and the ugly, cheapskate legacy attached to them.

Tiger’s Handheld Games: “Primitive Tech” + Mass-Produced Trash

He describes Tiger’s wrist/handheld system as brutally crude. The display uses:

  • a fixed printed background, and
  • a clear “cell-like” screen on top where character/object images light up

The effect is meant to simulate motion—like a fancy calculator/watch—but in the worst possible way. Despite the technology being laughably cheap, the games flooded stores and schools, spreading everywhere like a contagious fad (“like chicken pox… we all got it”).

He highlights why they spread so fast:

  • low cost
  • easy battery needs (AA)
  • gift-friendly packaging

Franchise stripping and brutal “licensed product” claims

A major theme of the rant is that Tiger didn’t just make simple games—they shamelessly stripped well-known franchises and butchered them beyond recognition. He mocks the “licensed product” strategy with examples such as:

  • Mega Man 2 remixed into something like “Mega Man with a gun and ammo you can run out of”
  • Street Fighter II scaled down into “the bottom of the pile” (behind arcade/home/Game Boy versions)
  • Full House: The Tiger Game, where he leans into the absurdity of fighting inanimate objects in the Tanner household

Controls, Instructions, and Recording Problems

The AVGN argues these “simple” games aren’t even playable without frustration. He says the controls are:

  • counter-intuitive
  • inconsistent

His examples include mapping problems—such as a Castlevania II comparison where controls are so wrong that the D-pad might control the whip while the buttons handle jumps/weapon actions in bizarre configurations.

He also claims many games:

  • don’t age well
  • are fragile
  • are difficult to see on camera due to LCD glare (“hard to record,” lighting issues, objects vanishing in reflections)

Bowling gag

He adds a specific gag involving a bowling game:

  • the ball goes straight toward the pins
  • then disappears

He’s left yelling “WHAT IS HAPPENING?!”

Why They Lasted: “Survived the Game Boy” Anyway

He contextualizes Tiger’s endurance by comparing it to the Game Boy. Even though the Game Boy was black-and-white and hard to see, it had more “real game” quality and momentum.

Tiger, meanwhile, kept going into the 90s—surviving like cockroaches:

  • always offering a cheap alternative
  • while other competitors fell off when the Game Boy became dominant

He contrasts:

  • “old-school” (primitive but fun, like the Atari 2600) with

  • “outdated” (something you never want to return to)

His verdict is harsher than “outdated”—Tiger is portrayed as a milking fad that simply wouldn’t stop.

“Wrist Games” and Packaging Rage

The episode ramps up from handhelds to wrist games, which he describes as even more desperate. He fixates intensely on packaging, especially the clamshell plastic:

  • it’s nearly torture to open
  • he compares it to “bullshit”
  • he mocks how scissors are sometimes needed just to open scissors

The joke is framed so that the packaging itself becomes part of the punishment.

Even Worse: Batman Returns Wrist Game + Demo Ad Hypocrisy

He uses Batman Returns: The Wrist Game to reinforce the point:

  • he can’t even get it open
  • once opened, it’s still terrible

He also mocks commercials where kids react with horrifying, screaming expressions—claiming the ads accidentally reveal that the games are agony rather than entertainment.

Tiger’s Bigger Attempts: Game.com and R-Zone

Finally, he reviews Tiger’s failures in the console era.

Game.com (1997)

AVGN frames Game.com as a portable competitor to the Game Boy with:

  • a stylus touch screen
  • PDA-like tools (calendar, calculator, phone book)
  • dial-up texting

He questions the logic (“why not just use a computer?”).

He also criticizes:

  • the included Lights Out puzzle as mediocre
  • cartridge lineups with mangled ports missing core appeal

Example: a Mortal Kombat port lacking Scorpion and Sub-Zero, replaced with “Rain and Reptile” instead.

Controls are also a complaint—he says they punish you instantly, using a comparison like Resident Evil 2, where you’re immediately placed near a zombie with no time to react.

R-Zone

He calls R-Zone an awful knockoff of the Virtual Boy, bluntly asserting it was made into a “YES, I said that” moment. He describes the setup:

  • red-and-black projected image
  • strapped close to your face

He claims it causes immediate eye strain and forces cross-eyed viewing—turning the whole thing into a “torture device” running joke, especially when paired with marketing imagery of kids looking horrified.

Closing Verdict

He ends by summing it up: across handhelds, wrist games, Game.com, and R-Zone, Tiger products represent the lowest point in gaming—entertainment that feels like punishment rather than play.

Key Jokes / Highlights

  • “Tax-Man” as a literal Pac-Man clone (“exact copy”).
  • Tiger handhelds portrayed as swarm-like mass-produced items “like chicken pox.”
  • Franchise butchering:
    • Mega Man altered with a gun/ammo twist
    • Street Fighter II reduced to bottom-tier status
  • Full House: The Tiger Game turning the Tanner household into a kill zone of “inanimate objects.”
  • Bowling ball “disappears” before hitting pins.
  • Counter-intuitive controls (e.g., Castlevania whip/jump/sword mapping weirdly).
  • Packaging rage:
    • clamshell plastic nearly bulletproof
    • “scissors to open the scissors” joke
  • R-Zone as a “torture device” and red-black eye-strain disaster, mocked through commercial kid reactions.
  • Criticism of Tiger’s “follow Nintendo’s trend” mentality as the reason it chased fads unsuccessfully.

Appearing Personalities

  • AVGN (Angry Video Game Nerd) – main narrator/performer
  • “Bullshit Man” – a character used in the packaging-rant bit
  • In-game character voices (jokes/impersonations), including:
    • Joey (“Well, blow me down!”)
    • Jesse (“Have mercy…”)
    • Popeye-style imitations
    • Batman, Duke Nukem, and others referenced via mocked Tiger game audio clips

Original video