r/ElectricUnderground

No one loves Mark more than I do. Ever since I saw my first Electric Underground video I was a fan. It was the one where he’s in his room talking about how the RE4 remake would suck. Man, those were the days.

It was great because it reminded me of those late university nights in my dorm getting high with my friends and talking about video games. We were dreamers then. We had that boundless, youthful energy that could discuss video games until the sun rose. Sure, everything we said was polemic and our arguments brash, but we were true to our hearts, dammit. We knew what art was on an intrinsic level and if you didn’t get it then you’d never get it.

So when I found Mark it was like finding an old friend. A friend who introduced me to the world of shmups. What a beautiful place. Heck, I even got a few 1ccs and made youtube commentaries.

But one day, something changed.

He set up lights properly. He started discussing more and more AAA titles. He went full time. Now he wasn’t some cool guy to rip a bong with, he was a man asking for money to listen to him talk about video games. As much as I resisted, I had to be more critical.

Suddenly I noticed his little asides would start to bother me. Why would someone say that the reason “the variety and quality of risk taking films has declined” is because movie theaters are less prominent? Especially while showing 2003 footage of The Matrix Reloaded screenings. Was this a wink? A cry for help? It didn’t make sense.

I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Was there any evidence to support this claim? Either that the variety and quality of risk taking films has declined or that that decline is a effect of movie theaters shutting down? It didn’t seem like it.

And so now I watch the video again. He claims that fighting games are not products. I assume he will make an argument to buttress such boldness, but no! There’s nothing. I rewatch the video. Somehow this time there’s less than nothing. In fact, at one point he says “in terms of art, you cannot ask the question, what is the point of its design.” Who is this man? Does he remember himself?

He claims that developing fighting games is like composing jazz. I repeat: he claims that developing fighting games is like composing jazz. Couldn’t even a Youtube viewer identify that this comparison is embarrassing? That all it does is showcase his own bias and insecurity? Why is it that every time he mentions anything outside his specialized interests he seems completely out of his depth? Wouldn’t someone notice this and tell him?

One would think so, but then I check the comments. My blood runs cold. Hundreds of fans loyal enough to shut off their brain — the worst kind of parasocial! — and encourage him no matter what nonsense he spouts! An overwhelming like to dislike ratio! Infinite good will headed his way!

A true fan, someone who deeply cares about Mark, wouldn’t allow this. They would take him aside and say “even though I won’t subscribe to your patreon I still want the best for you. You are going down a dark path. Perhaps it will have monetary gain, but you will lose more than your integrity if you go continue this way — you will lose your mind.”

Hard cut. My dorm room bud is now on stage claiming that he is an art critic. No! I yell, that was just us goofing around! Put down the bong! But he cannot hear me over the applause of Youtube essay-watchers. I yell stop! Stop! You’re not engaging with any artistic history or theory beyond video games! This isn’t art criticism! This is a more specialized IGN review! You’re talking about whether or not a product is worth buying! But my cries fall on deaf ears.

I look to the crowd. Gamers, one and all. They watch Christopher Nolan films and anime. If they are older they listen to Linkin Park, if they are younger they don’t listen to music at all. If they have read a book it’s either Dungeon Crawler Carl or Malazan. They don’t talk about art, and when they do, they simply ascribe it to the stuff they like in a sort of self-preservation technique. They consume content. I wonder to myself if video games attract these kinds of people or create these kinds of people.

I think of the world in 2026. I think of all the systems and factors weighing upon us. I think of how the video game landscape is shaped by things outside our little world. I understand why Mark doesn’t want to address it. Why discuss the damned state of things when it will bring nothing but pain? But to not do so is death. And to believe one can earnestly engage in “art criticism” while skirting these sweeping forces is to remain in the escapism of video games. No game offers real escape, only acceptance. They eases our adaptation to our prison. Our artificial world composed of numbers and built by other men…

I zoom out. I do the minimum of what an art critic must do. I think of my body, designed for movement, reduced to pressing buttons. I think of what it means to complete challenges that were created to be completed. I ponder what mind would shun the Chao Garden ASMR video but display “fighting games are NOT products.” I wonder why am I writing this to Mark. Why I love him so much. And then I realize: I am Mark.

We must have split somewhere along the way, him getting the confidence required to ask people for money to listen to him talk, me getting my beautiful hair. But now I see that we are one and I must save him before it is too late. God, I hope it’s not too late…

Mark, if you are reading this, stop listening to the mob! They are poison! Think about the type of person who watches Youtube video essays! Think of the type of person who watches live streams! Don’t think about the type of person who makes reddit comments! Does their praise hold meaning? You still have the chance to become the John Berger of video games if you don’t let these voices mislead you! And if not, there’s no shame in just being a likeable guy who talks about shmups! Why does Boghog’s new game have a sexualized child on its cover? Is that him being true to the artist withing or is that a marketing ploy? Why is that the target audience for this art? These are the questions you must grapple with!

And for all you still reading — all you fellow Electric Underground fans — lend me your strength. Let us shepherd our wounded champion away from monthly engagement bait and towards a brighter star! Let him ascend to his throne and gaze back on a land not corrupted by the thorns of greed and shallow thinking, but blooming with the flowers of integrity and contemplation! He can still make money off it, I’m sure! Red Letter Media does!

What other games, excluding competitive multiplayer games, do you find yourself adopting the arcade, 1cc or high-scoring sort of mentality around? I’m thinking of games in which you repeatedly fail or otherwise encounter friction while striving for mastery, aside from shmups, bmups, rail/cabal/gallery shooters, and run & guns. A few genres that come to mind personally, which I have also heard mentioned by other creators in arcade-adjacent circles, are arcadey puzzle games like Tetris, rhythm games, precision platformers, and retro action platformers such as the Ninja Gaiden NES Trilogy. Feel free to share experiences with specific games from the genres I just mentioned or any other games or genres that come to mind.

r/ElectricUnderground

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