You did a Let's Play of a game. You upload to Youtube. You admit that the production qualities weren't the best ever, and maybe the commentary could be better, but you tried. Sometime later, you see a video with identical length and thumbnail. You click on it, and it is you're video, but there's extra people in it. They start cracking jokes and pointing out flaws. You ask yourself, "What is this?"
The answer to that question is a little think called Retsupurae. A group of people find sub-par Let's Plays or other video game related videos, and comment over them. In a way, they're like a modern day Mystery Science Theater 3000. Do these people know what there talking about? Can they really do better than the videos they comment over? Let's find out.
Before we go anywhere, let's learn a little bit of Let's Play history. Most Let's Plays were done, and still done, on forums, specifically Something Awful. They were done in a way much like a blog. They post screen shots, describe what goes on, and adds their own thoughts and tips as well. This worked well when video sharing was still very primitive on the Internet and was limited to Quicktime embeds that were pretty unwieldy for a forum. It was tried-and-true system that is still used on Something Awful today, now with videos to supplement the screen shots.
Flash forward to 2007, where a Something Awful user by the name of Slowbeef decided to record himself playing and talking over a game called The Immortal, and uploaded it to Google Video. It was a simple set-up, there was no game sound, and he took his time to play it while following his screen shot Let's Play he was doing at the same time.
Little did he know that a lot of people would follow suit on Something Awful doing both video and screen shot Let's Plays, and eventually migrating to the blossoming Youtube crowd. Now it seems like the video Let's Play has become the standard Let's Play. People make it seem easy. It seems like anyone with a game, something to record the game, and a voice could do a Let's Play. This leads to Let's Plays that... aren't as well executed as others.
Enter Slowbeef again, only one year later, with Diabetus, another Let's Player from Something Awful who is most well known for doing a video Let's Play of Battletoads, find a badly executed Let's Play, and commentate over it. They point out flaws, poke fun, and are overall snarks. They rinsed and repeated with other Youtube videos they find, and they eventually developed a large following, even larger than Slowbeef's or Diabetus' Let's Plays.
Other people have started doing Retsupuraes as well. Some people join in with Slowbeef and Diabetus, like Proteus, Dave_o, and Psychedelic Eyeball, and some do their own, like Chipcheezum with General Ironicus. These people are fairly well known around the Internet, and they have been mentioned in videos they comment over, with good reactions since they don't usually pre-screen their videos. They're also disliked in many circles as well, and have been the subject of some rant videos. Some have their facts straight more than others.
Is getting Retsupuraed necessarily bad? In may eyes, I think not. There are sometimes where they enjoy the videos they comment over. A Retsupurae fan will remember BillyMC. They've done multiple videos with him, and Slowbeef and Diabetus has said that he is one of their favorite Let's Players. This didn't hold them back though. They eventually came up with an alternate story line where he was taught to play video games by Mr. Miyagi, is forced to play Super Mario Bros. 2 in his basement, and has an older brother named JacobMC which Billy is jealous of. Personally, I would prefer Billy over Jacob any day.
Another thing about Retsupuraes is that the videos have some constructive criticism between the jokes and comments. They say things about the commentary and it should be related to the game. They talk about the Let's Player's set-up and that it usually shouldn't be a camera pointing at a TV or Gameboy screen. They say these things among others.
All-in-all, Retsupurae is couple of the first Let's Players watching some Let's Plays, reviews, flash videos and games, and more recently, Long Plays, videos showing gameplay with no commentary, where they focus on the game specifically. If you get Retsupuraed, it's not a big deal. Just take it in stride, and they'll, usually, find someone else in a couple of weeks.
Questions for thought:
Have you heard of Retsupurae?
Have you been Retsupuraed?
What do you think of Slowbeef, Diabetus, or Retsupuae?
Should Slowbeef be considered a Let's Play guardian?
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