Many sketches from the early days of Consolevania are so bizarre that they might have been hallucinated in a teenage fever dream: hosts Robert Florence and Ryan Macleod stripped to their Y-Fronts, standing on Wii Fit Balance Boards and suffocating on polythene bags; notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy (played by Florence) reviewing children’s games from his dank lair; and the odd-couple sitcom parody Mid-Level Boss And End Of Level Sub-Boss, in which Florence and Macleod, dressed in shoddy cardboard costumes, deliver bad jokes to the strains of an overbearing laugh track.

These were visions from that anything-goes era of the mid-2000s internet, a time Consolevania took full advantage of to make something that was one-part gaming magazine show, two-parts absurdist sketch comedy, and a lo-fi document of its makers’ lives. Across 20 years, this curious combo of absurdism and arts programming has retained a subversive edge without being afraid to mature; Macleod has eloquently discussed mental-health issues while (perhaps improbably) reviewing Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and Florence has explored the importance of nostalgic spaces in Shenmue when dealing with bereavement.

For its fanbase, it's been a reassuring presence, balancing humour with coverage that shines brightest when ploughing its own furrow. Now, the pair have entered a new era with Consolevania by launching CVXX, a year-by-year history of video games, starting in 1984 and winding its way towards the present day. ‘Secretly it’s not actually a video game show,’ says Florence. ‘We’re approaching it like a retrospective of our own lives.’ They promise an even deeper focus on the idiosyncratic elements that make the series so special while also de-Americanising games’ history by shining light on beloved British consoles such as the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum, and early 8-bit efforts like Chuckie Egg.

‘That’s the thing with Consolevania,’ explains Florence, ‘it’s been personal right from the start. It’s a thing that had our friends and family in it. And now I like the idea that my kids will be able to look back at old episodes and see their grandad that they never met.’

There’s arguably never been a better time to take a step back from gaming’s present, particularly in a year faced with major job losses in the industry and increasingly cynical money-making tactics from publishers. ‘It’ll be nice to look back at an era when it was just one person in a room making a game,’ says Florence.  ‘We need to be focusing less on these corporate entities that can cut a thousand jobs with their scythes, and more on individual designers like Sam Barlow and Hideo Kojima.’ 

Irrespective of what the future will bring, this prolonged gaze into the rear-view mirror is a chance to uncover gems from a duo who have dedicated their lives to highlighting material from the leftfield. ‘When you’re about 16 or 17 until your mid-20s, you’re consuming culture in a more feverish way,’ says Macleod. ‘I’m interested in doing the 80s episodes from a research point of view. But that period starting in the mid-90s is what I’m most looking forward to because it’s when I had the most autonomy in my hobbies, when I was spending the megabucks on Ridge Racer Type 4.’

Even a short amount of time spent with this pair is enough to catch the bug of their enthusiasm for the medium, with Florence proselytising almost religiously for the value of physical media, or Macleod describing the flashing blue light on a PlayStation 2 with a near-romantic fondness. If anyone can make a trek through gaming’s past an entertaining, weird and erudite delight, it’s these two.
CVXX episodes are available monthly on Patreon and YouTube.