Retsupurae

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Published September 24, 2026

Retsupurae is a YouTube riff series where Something Awful goons layer MST3K-style commentary over bad Let's Play videos. It started in 2008 when slowbeef and Sinix mocked a rough Super Mario Bros. 3 walkthrough for laughs, and grew into a long-running channel with dozens of contributors and a distinct in-joke vocabulary.

lets play memessomething awful memesyoutube culture memessarcasm memeslate 2000s memes

Overview

Retsupurae is a YouTube riff project that pastes fresh audio commentary over other people's Let's Play videos, targeting walkthroughs that are poorly recorded, badly narrated, or full of unearned bravado1. The channel name is an Engrish spelling of "Let's Play," and its logo uses the Chinese character for failure, which sets the tone before the first joke lands2.

Most episodes follow a two-mic format built by co-hosts slowbeef and Diabetus, who trade dry asides while the source LP plays underneath1. Recurring targets include singing along to game music, screaming reactions, tutorial-level gameplay from someone claiming expertise, and shoehorned meme references2. Guest riffers pulled from Something Awful's Let's Play subforum, including proteus4994, Dave_O, Psychedelic Eyeball, Cherrydoom, and Voidburger, rotate through as second voices2.

The series also expanded beyond gaming videos into what fans call "Wow!s," riffs on old shovelware ads, public-access shows, and archival game journalism such as the Flights of Fantasy Mega Man 8 review circulated on the NAVGTR channel3.

Origin & Background

Platform
Something Awful (source) / YouTube (viral spread)
Creator
slowbeef and Sinix
Date
2008

Retsupurae was started in 2008 by slowbeef, a Something Awful moderator credited with releasing some of the earliest video-format Let's Plays2. That year he came across a Super Mario All-Stars: Super Mario Bros. 3 walkthrough posted to the SA forums and, with fellow goon Sinix, recorded a Mystery Science Theater 3000 style track over it as a joke thread response1.

The first channel was originally spelled "Retsupray" and hosted the early collaborations before being suspended by YouTube, at which point slowbeef opened the current "Retsupurae" account on February 28, 20082. The Super Mario Bros. 3 riff and slowbeef's follow-up uploads set the template that later contributors followed3.

How It Spread

The first uploads were shared inside Something Awful's Let's Play subforum, where slowbeef already had a reputation, and the reception there pushed him to open a public YouTube channel2. Once outside SA, the response split sharply: fans of the riffed uploaders left angry comments, some sent hollow death threats, and the original "Retsupray" account was suspended before the current channel went up on February 28, 20082.

By April 2014 the main channel listed more than 92,000 subscribers and over 50.4 million total views, with parallel accounts on Facebook (10,400+ likes) and Twitter (15,200+ followers) feeding the audience2. slowbeef and Diabetus also ran Formspring accounts for Q&A, and a Tumblr fan blog collected favorite clips2.

Reactions from targeted uploaders varied. Some flamed the riffs in comments, but Let's Players including SSoHPKC and John CandyFortyFive publicly said they enjoyed being featured2. slowbeef has said the videos are made in fun and has pulled riffs down when an original uploader asked politely, and both hosts pushed back on fans who brigaded the source videos2.

How to Use This Meme

The Retsupurae format is straightforward: pick a Let's Play with an obvious flaw, whether it's mumbling, empty hype, or the uploader failing at a tutorial, and record a second audio track that reacts in real time1. Riffers typically avoid heckling the person directly and instead pick apart the video's craft, quoting lines back at each other and letting silence do work when the source video is embarrassing on its own2.

Frequently Asked Questions