Nester's Funky Bowling retrospective: Empty Nester syndrome | Virtual Boy Works #12

[@SmashBrosOdyssey64]

Jeremy getting audibly mad when describing Nester may make this my favorite episode.

[@squidyparty]

bro got so aggressive i don know even why💀💀

[@TracksuitChic]

I THINK what the random animations were going for was mimicking the always-surreal score screen animations I've seen at every bowling alley I've ever grown up around, which were definitely best described as "amateurish".

[@TenshiCat]

Spot on!

[@HybridAngelZero]

Having grown up with Nintendo Power, I can't hate Nester. He always wanted to be the star of his own game, so I can't help but be happy for him. He got to make an appearance in Pilotwings 64, too

[@ladsworld]

Take pride in knowing you are the first person to put a video in the youtube category for this game

[@SugarBlaster]

There's something to be said for Jeremy getting increasingly frustrated by the concept of Nester but not changing his usually collected intonation.

[@JeremyParish]

Last week at work something really annoyed me and I went off in a conference call, then apologized to everyone for ranting. There was a collective pause and finally everyone said, "...you were upset?" Monotone people problems, y'all.

[@josephdacosta5229]

Nice review! I actually discovered a debug menu in this game about a year ago. It allows you to play all the music, sound effects, animations, as well as display the credits. On the Automatic Pause Screen, hold up on both D-pads, then press the L and R triggers to make the menu appear.

[@JeremyParish]

Nice!

[@JoeBushOnline]

This is not nearly as good as Howard Phillips' Radical Snooker but it'll do for what it is

[@Lifesizemortal]

please tell me that's a real VB game

[@mymangodfrey]

Underrated comment

[@JeremyParish]

I think it was on Game Axe

[@TeruteruBozusama]

Your description of Nester makes me think of a kid who was friends with one of my cousins. I gave my cousin Sonic Heroes for Christmas and he loved the game. So one day I visited his friend was visiting. He was arrogant little shit who only liked Sonic and Shadow and said that all the other characters should die. Tails being my favourite character I got slightly angry. So when the boys got stuck I said I could play. Took control of Tails and pushed Sonic and Knuckles off the stage and flew the whole stage and beat it only as Tails. He was speechless!

[@evenmorebetter]

I just want to lean in and intone that Pilotwings 64 is the superior Nester (or, excuse me, "Lark") playable character experience

[@RogerPyoko]

Western exclusive light gun game "To the Earth" also has Nester provide a (text only) cameo as well.

[@Larry]

Nintendo of America must have had some faith in the character, as Nester was originally going to be in Pilotwings 64 as well.

[@RockSoup]

He was in it, they just changed his name to match the bird naming theme all the other pilots had

[@pentelegomenon1175]

Faith that is entirely inexplicable, as this video comprehensively explains.

[@Poever]

Didn't think I'd ever hear Jeremy Parish say the phrase, "toxic little shit" in one of his videos

[@Frumptastical]

This was my favorite Virtual Boy game as a kid. I absolutely loved it. And yes, I had Wario Land too. Maybe I was a dumb kid but I still think it's pretty fun.

[@Frumptastical]

Crazy Castle is a legit great series and I don't understand why people hate it either!

[@sonicmario64]

Am I the only one who is able to get Shovel Knight vibes from seeing the Nester comic panels featured at 5:34 and/or 5:54? ;)

[@ladambell]

That was the first thing I thought of as well! Yacht Club are certainly fans of classic Nintendo; it wouldn't be out of the question for them to have taken this idea and run with it.

[@MissAshley42]

I did, too. I was super confused at first!

[@thechrononaut1]

"Unlikable, Toxic Little Shit" is the name of my acoustic album.

[@JeremyParish]

All Britney Spears covers, one hopes

[@thechrononaut1]

An ABBA tune here or there for good measure, of course.

[@MrLeo34]

I think there was a later era (N64 era I think) Nester comic in NP where he comments on having a ton of unsold copies of Funky Bowling lying around.

[@FlanGaming]

Nope, it was in an intro comic in the 20th anniversary issue, which has Nester talking to his son.

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

Howard Phillips wears a Bow-Tie really well, just like Bill Nye or Matt Smith.

[@nimaiiikun]

Howard and Nester was fun, but when they switched to just Nester, the art style and writing changed a lot and for the worse

[@evenmorebetter]

I think it was Shuji Imai was the artist for the original Howard and Nesters? For sure it went downhill once they switched

[@jasongarrett768]

@evenmkrebetter Thanks for that lead to follow. I remember finding the art of the original Howard & Nester charming as hell as a child. The Nester strips, not so much.

[@jasongarrett768]

tbh, a LOT of the original art commissioned for Nintendo Power was charming as hell. Especially when it came from Katsuya Terada. Except when he did Final Fantasy IV. (His Zelda art though...)

[@adamking6645]

Once Howard Phillips was essentially written out in Nintendo Power #25, the comic got far worse as you mentioned as it was obvious Nester as a solo act just didn't work. In fact in January 1992 it was cut back to a single page and limped along for two more years, finally being put to rest following the Dec 1993.

[@m0rShh]

The latter H&N comics and the early Nester's Adventures definitely looked pretty bland and amateurish. Shorty into the NA run though they got another artist named Dan Spiegle who was a much more talented artist, and while his style wasn't anything like the early comics I feel like he brought his own flair to it. There was one he did based on the Game Boy Kid Icarus game that I thought looked especially good.

[@moyamedia9]

JEREMY MADE A SWEAR

[@darktetsuya]

I don't have a lot to say on Nester's Funky Bowling, but I *will* say they brought the comic series back for Nintendo Power's final issue, which I made damn sure that I picked up! Definitely the perfect end to Nintendo Power's legacy.

[@bobjohnson7148]

They also brought back Nester for the 20th Anniversary issue in 2008!

[@PSNationTorgo]

I actually just picked this game up recently, and I like it. I'm surprised though, that you didn't identify how similar this is to League Bowling on the Neo Geo, which is a blast to play.

[@METR0lD]

This is one of the VB games that I own. I actually really like this game.

[@fireflocs]

Nester for Smash.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Oh he'd want that!

[@lucasm.thomas5976]

Nester was the greatest! Pure confidence and bravado even in the face of his repeated failures. :p

[@JeremyParish]

Like all the best recurring villains

[@mymangodfrey]

I Googled “Lucas M. Thomas” and there’s a record of his legally changing his name from “Nester M. Thomas.” He’s also part of the nefarious Russian troll army.

[@jessragan6714]

He shoulda teamed up with Dan Hibiki. The less than dynamic gaming duo!

[@jasongarrett768]

Are we just not gonna talk about what Sonic Blast Man is wearing at 6:13?

[@johnsimon8457]

The characters are animated in a 3D program while their faces are ... something I’d come up with MS Paint ... 7:41 Hester? Hester-*NOOOOOO!*

[@beipiaosaurus]

Nesterica? Nesterina? Nesterabeth?

[@jasonblalock4429]

Well, Nester's sister is certainly nightmare fuel.

[@THEmuteKi]

And to think nobody even considered making "Hsu and Chan's 'Golfer? I hardly know 'er!'"

[@BenCol]

Saffire also were responsible for the other Nintendo produced James Bond game - James Bond 007 on the Game Boy, a strange piece of electronic entertainment which plays like a sub-par Zelda, oddly enough. Also they don’t appear to know how to spell.

[@m0rShh]

I thought the name was familiar. That game's not too bad if you take it for what it is, but I can't help but imagine there were a lot of kids who woke up on Christmas morning 1998 hoping for an N64 and Goldeneye and ended up with that instead.

[@pentelegomenon1175]

I was a big Nintendo Power reader back then, and I understand this game's existence no more than a total outsider, I might even understand it less.

[@TVsMrNeil]

Jeremy goes a little off the rails in describing the Hower & Nester comics. Nester wasn't "hated". Yes, he was one of those know-it-all jerks we knew as a kid, but that sort of character was also more endearing back in the late 80s and early 90s. Everyone had a friend like that who made a fool of himself on a regular basis, and that's why we liked Nester. It's a little revisionist to call him "toxic" and "unlikeable" when he represented something that resonated with kids culture of the era. Plus he was the mascot of the friggin magazine. The reason why the comics flopped after Howard left is that they broke up the comedy duo formula. (Also, the art itself sucked hard after they switched to Valiant Comics illustrators.) It wasn't that Nester was unlikeable as much as it was that he ceased to be interesting without his comedy partner. Yes, he needed Howard, but the inverse would also have been true. The comics would have flopped just as hard if Howard was the only character. Probably even more so, since Howard was entirely uninteresting. He's like Dudley Do-Right, the sort of character to whom NOBODY relates. I know comes off as a little snotty, but you're looking back at a product from the early 90s with 2019 eyes and with a perspective that nobody at the time would have expressed. People loved those comics, and they loved Nester, which is why everyone got the feels when one final Nester comic popped up again in the last issue of the magazine.

[@JeremyParish]

I don't know any kids he resonated with. Maybe things were different in your part of the country. Certainly my friends and I all thought the comic was the worst part of the magazine at the time. Good art, annoying little snot of a character. Which was the point! It was Goofus ’n Gallant. You were supposed to kind of hate Nester.

[@TVsMrNeil]

@@JeremyParish Again, I think you're taking the comic out of context. It wasn't Goofus and Gallant. You're comparing a moralized feature from Highlights magazine to Howard & Nester that was clearly meant for comedy.

[@JeremyParish]

I'm really not. Have you re-read the H&N comics recently? The formula is: Nester brashly does a dumb thing, and in doing so messes everything up, then Howard calmly provides the proper solution, while Nester continues flailing in his stubborn idiocy. I'm not proposing anything radical here! The didactic sage/comic foil structure is a well-established standard for instructional media!

[@TVsMrNeil]

Yes, I have, and I know what a comedic foil is. I just don't think that we're meant to "hate" Nester. His foibles were comedic. There's no comedy in a Goofus and Gallant, Jeremy. I understand what you're going for, but it's a weird comparison. G&G was explicitly about morality. Goofus is a selfish brat while Gallant is respectful to his elders. That kind of stuff. That's not what Howard & Nester is like at all. Honestly, all one has to do is google Goofus and Gallant and they'll immediately know what I'm talking about.

[@JeremyParish]

I disagree, but OK.

[@rabbileiahmoser5461]

You know, as a child it never occurred to me that Howard and Nester might be different ages. I had never heard of the real person Howard was referring to, so I just assumed they were both teens and Nester was kind of short.

[@JeremyParish]

Ah, see, Howard's real-life counterpart showed up from time to time in the magazine (and the newsletter before it), so I always had something of a sense of who he was and the fact that he was a dude perpetually dunking on a kid.

[@GameplayandTalk]

This doesn't seem like a bad game on its own, but bowling is not a genre I think I've ever once gone to for a single-player experience. Like the other sports titles on the system, I skipped this one. Also, it's interesting that Nester was already defunct when this game came out. I was still a monthly subscriber to Nintendo Power at the time and so the character was still fresh in my mind. I wasn't even aware of his retirement.

[@MrKenichi22]

Shoot, Hester could have replaced Howard as the Smart Straight-woman to Nester’s silly “unlikeable s***”

[@RyumaXtheXKing]

The art is amazing. Very influenced by Moebius. Can easily be confused with Katsuya Terada's art.

[@m0rShh]

Is 'Hester' really the best name they could've come up with for his sister? Why not Nester and Esther?

[@JeremyParish]

Hester Prynne was the protagonist of The Scarlet Letter, so given the VB's color palette limitations, this might actually qualify as clever.

[@MissAshley42]

I remember thinking Nester was cool, but now I don't know why. Nostalgia is weird.

[@jessragan6714]

I gotta be honest with you, it was cartoon Howard who pissed me off more. Oh, look at Mr. Perfect, smugly enjoying Nester's failures even though he pretends to be neutral! I felt like Nester got some vindication when Phillips left to work for T*HQ. Not feeling so perfect now, are you?

[@floydhead42]

3:41 do you mean here that pressing B gives the ball a clockwise English? I think the intent might have been to simulate how you'd put the curve on a ball IRL.

[@bluwzrdisgreedy234]

Spares and strikes add the next ball or two respectively, not frames.

[@TeruteruBozusama]

Also Hester means 'horses' in Norwegian..!

[@Fattydeposit]

We need a video detailing every known Nester video game cameo

[@JeremyParish]

Not it

[@LBOOGIEDAMANN]

Why wouldn't his sister's name be Esther?

[@XanthinZarda]

How about Retsen?

[@feitclub]

thanks for reminding me that even as a kid I hated Nester. Did the character have a finale, or was he just disappeared?

[@JeremyParish]

Bill Mudron gave him closure in the final issue of Nintendo Power.

[@feitclub]

@@JeremyParish yeah I just went looking for that, can't believe I forgot!

[@Tubewings]

@@JeremyParish Also, Nester's Adventures lasted for about two and a half years after Howard Phillips left (last Howard & NESTER--June 1991, first Nester's Adventures--July 1991, last regular Nester's Adventures--December 1993).

[@evenmorebetter]

They brought him back a couple times as a college student or a dad for like, 10-, 15-year anniversary issues before bringing him back for the final issue

[@sentrysapper45]

Legends say he's sealed in a building wall somewhere, next to Jimmy Hoffa and Lyman from Garfield.

[@littleterr0r]

So if Nester = NES-ter then Hester = ? I guess they couldn't use Fester but maybe FAM-ster? Hamster?

[@unoclayGaming]

This was one of the few times i felt like your comments/review were slightly harsher than need be. Though it isnt particularly distinctive, Nester's is a fine example of bowling, made only better by a mascot character. I mean, the world is a better place with a game tied to OG nintendo power, is it not? What is this channel turning into, Angry Video Game Parish? ;']

[@RockSoup]

Kinda get the feeling that you might not care for Nester all that much.

[@mattdgroves]

steeee-rike

[@khristkannon1172]

"In short, Nester was an unlikable, toxic little shit." Wow. I mean you're not wrong, but still.

[@squidyparty]

5:56 just like me

[@JomasterTheSecond]

Can you feel the funk?

[@JeremyParish]

I can, but I think it's tuberculosis actually

[@mymangodfrey]

Someone will spoil it by downvoting the video, but for now it amuses me that the mob is unanimously upvoting Jeremy’s anti-Nester tirade.

[@JeremyParish]

Nester lied, Howard died

[@DeepWeeb]

8:16 Song name?

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

We go through this all the damn time here! It's the "next episode" stinger from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

[@DeepWeeb]

@@ChristopherSobieniak Thanks, sorry if it's an overdone question 😅

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

@@DeepWeeb It has been. Not that I was mad about it or anything, but there's always one guy who asks. This version of the theme is not the original version you might've heard in earlier episodes as it's a cover rendition done purposely to sound 8-bit.

[@famuel2604]

I’m confused. Is this it for vb works, or is there more?

[@JeremyParish]

Why would this be it?

[@dezm101]

Howard and Nester was always so terribly unfunny, like you can almost hear the sad trombone "wah wahh waahh" in each last panel. While the art of the game characters was ok - I dont remember anyone liking that comic. The Super Mario and Zelda ones were so much better