The Angry Video Game Nerd: The Angry Video Game is a retro-styled platformer based on the Angry Video Game Nerd comedy web series. The premise is that the angry video game nerd is playing a bad NES game - starring himself! The game features original commentary by AVGN creator James Rolfe, commenting on the game action as you play.

The game consists of eight themed levels with their own bizarre enemies and hazards, each one ending with a boss battle. The fourth and eight stages differ from the rest by instead being scrolling shoot 'em up rather than the regular platforming gameplay.

The nerd has an infinite supply of empty beer bottles which can be thrown either forward or in an upwards arc. You can also roll by pressing down, even while jumping, which makes you a smaller target but you can't shoot while rolling. Defeated enemies will sometimes drop exclamation mark items which refills some health, or even more rarely an extra life item. Dying will send you back to the last checkpoint. You start with three lives, if you run out of lives the game is over.