askchapo

T90 for competitive aoe2 videos and just aoe 2 in general

Jimothy cool for mostly gen 3 OU pokemon videos

Wolfeyvgc for his pokemon vgc tournament videos that are always fun

Solid jj for funny videos

• Retro Game Mechanics Explained - pretty much what it says on the tin. Super well-structured breakdowns of retro game stuff (like getting down to the assembly level) with some of the best visualizations I've ever seen.
• pannenkoek2012 - this man has so much passion for pushing the SM64 A Button Challenge to its limits and all of the SM64 minutiae that have been discovered in the process. I want to live in a world where everyone can pursue their passion like pannen no matter how seemingly trivial.
• Kaze Emanuar - detailed technical breakdowns from a German man with a monomaniacal drive to squeeze every last microsecond of performance gain out of Super Mario 64, which has led him to rewrite large swathes of the game engine.
• MartSnack - okay, so he's only got two videos as of this comment, but they're some of the best goddamn videos on YouTube. Even if he had just posted the first one he would have a better output than most could dream of, but then two years later he dropped an even more impressive video. They both involve playing Pokémon "deaf and blind"--in other words, coming up with a sequence of inputs that will beat the game regardless of any RNG. The amount of work that went into these videos is truly mind-boggling, and he presents it in a very digestible and entertaining way.
• 8-Bit Music Theory - wonderful music theory channel which teaches concepts using examples from all across the world of gaming (two great videos to start with are his videos on the Dolphin Shoals sax solo and Baka Mitai). I appreciate that he uses concrete examples with detailed transcriptions and doesn't dumb down the explanations, and he doesn't just focus on the what but the why, showing how you can apply these concepts in composition. I think you can enjoy his channel even without music theory knowledge just for the experience of going, "Oh, neat, I never realized that this technique was being used in these different pieces!" and gaining appreciation for the craft; that said, if you are interested in music theory this is a really fun way to get introduced to concepts big and small. You're not going to master any one concept just from watching a 15 minute video with some examples, of course, but watching his videos has primed me for when I do come across those topics in my more rigorous study and helped me hear things when doing transcriptions. Just having that bit of prior exposure really makes things less daunting, and I treat his channel as a library for when I want to brush up on a topic (his series on modes is especially invaluable!).
• Jonko the ROM Hacker - Another channel with only a few videos, but if you're interested in ROM hacking I can hardly recommend a better place to start. The channel is run by the leader of a Haruhi fan translation group (that website also has some technical blog posts if you're hungry for more or prefer written explanations). As a bonus, you don't have to worry about whether he's some cryptofascist because he puts at the beginning of all his presentations.
• Hilltop - Another wonderful romhacking channel this one with a focus on PS1 games; I've linked to the playlist of all his romhacking breakdowns. Not much to say other than, if anyone can recommend other channels with romhacking/game reverse engineering videos of similar depth and quality, please share them!
• hazel - comfy cozy anime/retro game vibes. I'm gonna be real, I've only watched a few of her videos, but I've enjoyed all the ones I've seen so far. I think her video on old-school fansites will resonate with fellow millennials wistful for the days of the personal web before big tech got their claws into everything.
• Hunter R. - all the weird little trivia you could ever want to know about Animal Crossing and more! As you might guess from the other channels I've listed, this one has a fair bit of focus on some of the technical aspects of the series, and there's a focus on the GameCube game in particular.
• KRAZAM - satire on the world of software development. Highlights include Microservices, The Hustle, and AI Boyfriend.

I’m sorry to keep NL-posting but there’s a reason he’s like the only youtuber/streamer with emotes on here. He’s simply the GOAT of being a nice well-rounded person who is also actually funny.

FailRace and LeatherCap for fun, chaotic racing videos. Such a marvel of a community in a sea of racing dude bros.

I like Nimi Nightmare, she’s nice and chill, , and just some comfy vibes.

Nyanners - she’s a gremlin, not awful, just a cringe streamer.

Trey The Explainer - good quality highly informational videos about anthropology, archaeology, and paleontology.

My oshi, Haruka Karibu has finally returned to streaming after a long mental health hiatus.

She's also gotten two new chibi avatars!

Ææugh!

Random ones I like:
HubNut - Reviews and vlogs about old cars.
JaredAF - Videos about pistols and shooting sport without tacticool nonsense.
Tony Zaret - Weird comedy skits parodying internet culture.

f4micom makes cool videos about niche topics in consumer tech and gaming. lately she's also been getting into maker/DIY things

I like introvertedmadness for making rant videos about his life that are often relatable to me. he also makes videos with social commentary sometimes; these are more entertaining and suitable for general audiences, and though he can come off as a clueless lib, he has the right spirit

I really enjoy Exurb1a

Moose2 (Brutalmoose)!

Extremely comfy streams of random stuff, mostly vintage games for Windows 98 and XP, on original hardware (no emulation). His Nancy Drew videos are just the best.

This channel is very good: https://youtu.be/aVwxzDHniEw

Astrum

PBS Spacetime

PBS Eons

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_hK9fOxyy_TM8FJGXIyG8Q

Dhar Mann, the goat

I like the singer Scarlet Slaadek.

Benjamin Magnus, a streamer who plays both some niche games and popular ones. Some games I don't see many other people play. Xenonauts 2, Rule the Waves 3, Ultimate General: Civil War, and Hearts of Iron 3 being my favorite to watch. He also does Rimworld, Project Zomboid, and other games, but the games mentioned are my favorite to watch.

It's a livestream (on Twitch but restreamed over to YT too), so it's longform content and requires some attention span to watch.