Mega64 is a video game themed comedy group, founded by Rocco Botte, Derrick Acosta, and Shawn Chatfield. The group was later joined by Garrett Hunter, Kevin Bushong, and Eric Baudour who mainly work behind the scenes in videos and contributing to Mega64's weekly podcast.
History[]
The group has been active on YouTube since early 2006, and have gained a strong cult following, especially with video-game fans. Many Mega64 videos have included guest appearances from many prolific internet celebrities and video game legends such as Rooster Teeth, Joe Huerto from Jabronie Pictures, Hideo Kojima, Shigeru Miyamoto, Ken Kutaragi, Gabe Newell, Tommy Tallarico, and Reggie Fils-Aime.
The trio, for a couple years or so, had many sketches released exclusively on the gaming company IGN's YouTube channel. It is unknown why they are no longer a part of IGN, but it is likely that they got fired for making videos that make fun of the company, as well as making videos that blatantly troll stereotypically arrogant IGN fanboys.
The name "Mega64" comes from the title of their TV show of the same name, where a mad scientist named Dr. Pouqe holds Rocco and Derrick captive in his lair where they must test games for the Mega64, a complicated virtual game console that puts the players in the real world. The TV show's 1st season aired on a public access station in 2004, and the group released the next 2 seasons exclusively on DVD.
Style[]
Mega64's comedy features a variety of styles, and mainly regard video games. Many of their videos are done in satirical, deadpan, symbolical, and sarcastic manners of performance, and may go over the heads of certain people who are unfamiliar with this surreal brand of humor. The types of videos they make are varied, including mock-umentaries, dressing as game characters and performing in front of the unsuspecting public, fake commercials and tutorials, and videos that are intentionally made to look like poorly edited public access shows.
Mega64's comedy style has often been compared to Adult Swim's bizarre hit TV show, "Tim And Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!". The crew are also known to make videos that are humorously spiteful towards ever growing video game trends and fads, like the constant release of zombie games, the overabundance of motion control console add-ons, and games with ridiculous amounts of downloadable content.
Videos[]
Most Viewed Videos[]
The mass majority of their videos with the most views on YouTube are the ones where they perform parodies of video games in public, mainly California where they live. Each of these types of videos start with a robot saying "NOW LOADING...." followed by the title of the game being spoofed, accompanied by clips of said game, which is helpful to viewers who might not have heard of the game before watching the video.
The two videos with the most views (both with over 6 million views and approaching 7 million views) are "Mega64: Assassin's Creed" and "Mega64: Resident Evil 4", both humorous recreations of the games performed in public. Rocco is the star of both of these videos. In the Assassins Creed parody, Rocco dresses up as the main character in the game and maneuvers his way through a crowded street market in the same style as the game, making it more funny when recreated in a public setting full of people who usually don't get the joke. In the Resident Evil 4 parody, Rocco is dressed as the merchant and walks up to strangers and repeats the merchant's phrases from the game, like "Whut are ya Buyin'?"
In these types of Mega64 videos, most of the comedy comes from the reactions from the strangers, who often turn the videos into something cringe-worthy, who often yell and act rudely towards the Mega64 members when confronted with something they don't understand. The videos are made true to the games in question by including the sound effects and soundtrack songs, as well as the visual effects and HUD elements. Something funny and a little sad about these videos is that in some of the most harmless and playful public recreations like Resident Evil 4 and Journey, they end up getting the cops called on them for false drug or weapon accusations, while in some of their more edgy and shocking recreations like Hotline Miami, Hitman, and Batman Arkham Asylum, most people either laugh or barely bat an eye.
Mega64's most viewed non-public-prank video is "New Consoles, Then and Now", which has over 1 million views. In this video, we see fictional flashbacks from the 90s and early 2000s where the trio rejoices over all the promising and groundbreaking news from game consoles at the time, followed by their angry conversations in the present day where they are disappointed at all the poor game console decisions in the present day. For example, one part shows them happy and excited in the early 2000s when backwards compatibility was first introduced. The next part then takes us to the present day where they are angry at the fact that most of the new consoles DON'T offer backwards compatibility. The video was made in 2012, and holds even more truth now.
Recurring Sketches[]
The trio are known for having a lot of recurring sketches and series, most notably:
COSPLAYERZ[]
In the annual COSPLAYERZ series, we are shown the natural and bizarre habitat of people cosplaying at game and comic book conventions. The same catchy techno song by Freezepop is played in the background of every COSPLAYERZ video since it started in 2007, and the main formula shows various cosplayers with humorous text captions at the bottom of the screen, telling us what they are dressed as. Fans of the YouTube Poop genre will more than likely enjoy this series, as the editing is crazy and drugged out, with many skipping and fast paced video editing techniques that will probably lead to the viewer either turning the computer off and going to bed, or throwing up from dizziness. all COSPLAYERZ videos
Todd and Aaron's Game Of The Year Awards[]
This series is a prime example of the kind of Mega64 videos that make fun of the mentality of stereotypical XBOX360 fan-boys. Rocco and Shawn take the roles of these kinds of people as Todd and Aaron, two loud, obnoxious and arrogant basement dwellers who host a yearly awards show, giving awards to games they feel should have won instead of IGN's yearly picks.
The typical formula of the series starts with Todd and Aaron mostly giving multiple awards to the Halo/Call Of Duty/Madden game of the year, so much to the point of irritation. For example: "Best Family Game: Call Of Duty Black OPS! Yo I found a FAMILY of Viet Cong, and I was like *makes gun noises* and they're dead now, hahaha!"
Most games that aren't Halo, Madden, or CoD games that get awards are usually followed by cheap word puns or hints that they never actually played the game. After a couple minutes, they then start giving awards to things that have nothing to do with video games, and then finish the year off with a long and blatantly irritating song sung poorly by Todd and Aaron, leading to something apocalyptic and ending with a quick shot of Derrick staring blankly at the camera. The videos are all accompanied with spinning pictures of fireworks in the background and metal music. All Todd & Aaron videos
Gamer Warz Saga[]
A trilogy (and a reboot video) starring game OST musician Tommy Tallarico, Rocco, and Derrick, who in each episode, loudly and and sometimes violently bicker and argue on why they think their favorite game console is superior to everyone else's, ultimately resulting in an angry next door neighbor (played by Garret) who stomps on the ground and either threatens to kill, or kills two of the gamers. The surviving gamer, in the 3rd episode travels back in time to stop the murder from happening, but of course makes the situation worse. The comedy in this series mostly derives from the intentionally horrible editing and bad acting that makes the series look like a corny high school project film. All Gamer Warz videos
Public Game Experiments[]
The series of games recreated in public mentioned earlier, and the groups most popular series.
Cabela Vs. Bungie Trilogy[]
This series is a dramatization about what might have gone on in the heads of the creators of the Cabela hunting video games when every time they release a game, it gets blown out of the water sales-wise by the release of a new Halo game on the same day. Each episode of the trilogy features the trio dressed as red-necks, going after Bungie (the developers of the Halo games.) Their comical attempts to thwart Halo sales get exponentially more ballsy with each episode. They angrily call a Bungie customer service line in the first one, launch a boycott at a local Game Stop in the second one, and personally fly to Bungie headquarters and shout obscenities through a bullhorn in the main lobby in the third one. The last 2 episodes both end with Shawn's character dying by suicide. [1]
VG Fact Checkerz[]
The VG Fact Checkerz series is made to look like a 90s science show on PBS Kids, with a video game theme, of course. Although the series is a fan favorite, there are only two so far [2]
Sonic Sucks[]
Another series with only two sketches, both featuring the trio eating at the Sonic drive-in restaurant, complaining to themselves about the mediocre food and wondering why they always go there, even though it is bland and isn't as great or original as it was when they were children. The more you listen to the conversations, the more you will realize that they are actually talking about Sonic The Hedgehog games. Both videos end with the trio getting in their car and saying they are never going back to Sonic again, right before either listening to the new Weezer album, or going to watch super hero movies. The comments section of these two videos are quite cringy at times, as many people either don't get the obvious joke, or have never played the cancer that is Sonic 06 and Sonic Boom.