Super Mario Maker @ Best Buy First-Hand Impressions!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Nintendo Access: Super Mario Maker @ Best Buy! ...What a flop.

A month ago, when Nintendo announced the "Nintendo Access: Super Mario Maker @ Best Buy" event, KoopaTV wrote derisively of it.

"Does anyone out there actually want to go out to a Best Buy and play Mario Maker? Really?"
"Seriously, there is nothing compelling about going to that Best Buy event besides filling up your 3DS's Streetpasses. Which definitely will happen, assuming anyone shows up. The crowds will definitely be thinner this year."

Well, I went anyway on Wednesday June 17. Just to see how many folks would go there. So how many people were there? And should you go Saturday June 20?

The Nintendo 2015 E3 Outlook (Updated May 19)

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA  - Lacking details that we'll fill in later.

For all the details regarding Nintendo's E3 plans check out their E3 minisite (e3.nintendo.com) and their explanation video below. 

For a summary:

1. Nintendo World Championships (after a 25-year hiatus).
1. Qualifiers May 30 at participating Best Buy retailers. Participating ones are unknown, but they'll be in major cities. You probably know if you're near one of those. Anticipate Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, one or two in Texas, and a southern Florida city wrongly representing the entire Southeastern United States. Update May 19: Information on the qualifiers here.
2. The actual champion event round on June 14 that no one reading this will participate in, but you can watch it on Nintendo's Twitch channel.
2. Digital Event June 16 (Tuesday) at 12 PM EST. In other words, same time and day of the week as last year.
3. Treehouse Live @ E3 from June 16 through June 18. So same as last year.
4. Nintendo Access: Mario Maker @ participating Best Buy retailers on June 17 (Wednesday, 4 PM to 9 PM local time) & June 20 (Saturday, 12 PM to 5 PM local time). Limited edition 30th anniversary Super Mario Bros. pins will also be distributed. Last year it was Super Smash Bros. For Wii U at Best Buy, and the year before that it was Mario Kart 8, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, Super Mario 3D World, and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze at Best Buy.

Best Buy Country: Ludwig's Mac Quest

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - This is a really hard game.

On Tuesday, I wrote about me trying to get the Little Mac amiibo from Best Buy, and at the end I said, "I'll let you know what happens on Friday in regards to the Little Mac amiibo." ...It's Friday! The Best Buy employee — armed with the power of the inventory management system and a long look at the backroom storage — said it's out today! Let's drive down to the Best Buy (in bumper-to-bumper traffic) and pick it up!

This makes the title somewhat relevant. I guess they're making a huge push with Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze this Christmas. Good.

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd long story short there is no Little Mac amiibo and the manager said it might be replenished on Tuesday's truck shipment. But this is a commentary website, so I guess I gotta have drawn out comments about it. Sure!

Ludwig Ventures to Best Buy... Does He Get Fire Emblem: Three Houses?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Did I buy the game? ...And what else did I see there?

I needed to refill my stash of Nintendo eShop gift cards. If I don't have a supply of those at my desk, you all won't be happy, since I'm supposed to give those codes away in the KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program.

So I went to Best Buy to buy some more.

And I saw many, many troubling things in the world of retail.

For one, Nintendo apparently replaced Lord Bowser as the face of the $50 Nintendo eShop gift card with... LINK. Is this how Andrew Jackson is going to feel? What was wrong with Bowser?

But there's a lot more insights. For example, take a look at what's left of the amiibo section. This used to be a big shelf: 

The Retail amiibo Shelf and National StreetPass Weekend

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Featuring: The day after Halloween.

A day in the life of Ludwig: Well, a special day. After spending Halloween playing Splatoon to support the victorious Team Pirates in Splatfest, I needed to obtain the $10 eShop gift card that was the prize of Round 4 of the KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program. You know, for our lustrous winner ShinyGirafarig. I also wanted to finally get Yoshi's Woolly World after having such a warm, snuggly article for its launch.

So it sounds like what I needed to do was go to a videogame store. Well, let's go to my reoccurring local Best Buy!

This time we have a ton of Captain Olimar & Pikmin amiibo.

Yoshi's Woolly World with the included yarn Yoshi amiibo ($60 bundle) wasn't on the shelf, so I had to ask for it from the back-room. And it was there! But while I was waiting for the Best Buy rep, I was wondering around the store.

I figured out that promising a $10 Xbox Live code or a $10 PlayStation Store code could be... bad ideas, as I teased yesterday. There was no $10 Xbox Live code in the store. The lowest denomination was $25. There were $10 PlayStation Store codes, but they were in a set of 3 that were $30 total. There was also, like, 1 of them at the front of the store instead of near all the PlayStation stuff. Not very reliable. Meanwhile, Nintendo's eShop cards had plenty of $10 denominations in both weird AR card forms I don't trust, and just the code.

I also found something else...

The May 29 Purchases: Splatoon and amiibo

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The trip to Best Buy, as promised.

It is the time that I have been waiting for since E3 2014, when I first fell in love with Splatoon and declared it my second-most anticipated game of the show. Yup, Nintendo's entry into team-based third-person shooters (not counting Kid Icarus: Uprising) is here! As I wrote about yesterday, I set out to make it a Day 1 purchase at my local Best Buy since I pre-ordered it. (As opposed to the non-local Best Buy Nintendo World Championships happening tomorrow.)

Well, I'm sure y'all are dying to know about my adventures, so apologies to write this article so late at night (but that's sorta been the case with every article this week). I was... busy playing Splatoon, you see.

The disc is so cool.
It's also competing with Smash 4.

So I go to Best Buy and I don't immediately go to Store Pick-Up, because my copy is gonna stay there until June 6. No, I go to the Nintendo section... to the amiibo. Here's what I saw.

Your "local" Nintendo World Championships Qualifiers

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Nintendo used the word "local", and we give it the scare-quotes it deserves.

As KoopaTV previously reported, Nintendo of America has revived the "Nintendo World Championships" from 25 years ago at participating Best Buys. The qualifiers are May 30. We now know where those are and what games are involved.

According to e3.nintendo.com:

"When & where:
May 30, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time, at the following eight Best Buy locations:

• San Francisco, CA (1717 Harrison St.)
• Torrance, CA (3675 Pacific Coast Highway)
• Miami, FL (10760 NW 17th St.)
• Schaumburg, IL (900 E. Golf Road)
• Maple Grove, MN (12905 Elm Creek Blvd. N)
• Long Island City, NY (5011 Northern Blvd.)
• Dallas, TX (9378 N Central Expy)
• Tacoma, WA (2214 S. 48th St.)" 

Don't forget to fill out this .pdf registration form which is titled "PowerPoint Presentation". This and the official rules reveal that the game you'll be playing will be... Ultimate NES Remix... on the 3DS. Well, guess that makes up for the Wii U console-favouritism shown by Nintendo's Best Buy events up 'till now, but no one was complaining.

So what are the games as part of Ultimate NES Remix? Well, Championship Mode, which includes Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, and Dr. Mario.

So instead of showing favouritism to display-friendly Wii U games, Nintendo just shifted their favouritism to be to EXCLUSIVELY Mario games. This is on top of Mario Maker at Best Buy a few weeks later. You know, what no one will wanna show up for. But that's not the worst part.

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Released... And More Best Buy Shopping Adventures!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I bought Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes. There's more to the story than that.

I last wrote about Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes in September, writing about its delay to January 2019 (a very smart delay) and how I was still unsure if I should buy it. Either way, January 2019 is here (specifically Friday, January 18) and the game has released. I decided to go to Best Buy today and see if I would impulsively buy it or not. Moment of truth time.

I do want to support the No More Heroes franchise, after all. But Travis Strikes Again strikes me as something to be wary of... again and again. (There's wordplay in that sentence.) That said, it's something I've been paying close attention to since SUDA 51 appeared on that stage when the Nintendo Switch and its concept was formally introduced.

The first thing I see when I get to the Nintendo section of the store is that Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is nowhere to be found. Instead, another game that I've been agonising over the purchase of was there, and in eye-catching fashion.

Ludwig's Smash-Fest @ Best Buy Experience 2014

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Fun game. Fun times, too.

Here is what y'all have been waiting for: I played Super Smash Bros. 4 at the Smash-Fest @ Best Buy. And it's great. I played as Bowser twice on Wednesday on the Wii U version, and then left. I played as Bowser once on the 3DS version on Saturday, and once on the Wii U version on Saturday. And that's all I got to play.

We got to Best Buy around 2:30 on Wednesday (1.5 hours early) and played at around 4:30.

Got to Best Buy around 10:50 on Saturday (1.16 hours early) and played at 1:10.

But the experience wasn't just the games!

Hunting Down Little Mac and his amiibo wave

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - KoopaTV goes on the road for Wave 2 amiibo.

I really want the Little Mac amiibo, as I have wrote about before. (I have since learned that the proper syntax is no capitalisation on "amiibo".) Little Mac is, in case you forgot, the hero of KoopaTV. So getting his amiibo is important.

Best of all, he doesn't have a pole going up his ass.

One problem: That release date is a little... vague. Some sources online have reported that Wave 2 amiibo, that is, Diddy Kong, Zelda, Luigi, Captain Falcon, Pit, and Little Mac, have been released in America since December 14. Even so, it is midway through December and Nintendo's official site gives no specific release date! What is going on?

KoopaTV takes to the streets.

No Excuse: Nintendo Switch Consoles Are PLENTIFUL and WELL-SUPPLIED!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Your only excuse now is “I'm poor and don't have $300 for a console that isn't bundled with any games.”

It was over-extensively covered by the media: Nintendo Switch shortages at launch! The demand far stripping the supply led people to believe the Nintendo Switch launch was rushed. Afterward, it was very hard for months to buy a Nintendo Switch, though I managed to do so in July.

In the interest of being better than the mainstream gaming media, rather than only covering when there are Nintendo Switch shortages, I would like to dedicate this article to telling Nintendo that they are doing a good job with supply vs. demand right now.

You can actually walk into a brick-and-mortar retailer and buy a Nintendo Switch in-person without reservation. Since evidence is everything in court... erm, articles, I have proof of this claim:

amiibo Purchase Limits

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Retailers to penalise the accumulation of wealth.

May 29: More amiibo come out. We got the three Splatoon amiibo (pictured here) plus Wave 4 of the Super Smash Bros. series amiibo. Oh, and Splatoon comes out.

It's unclear which revenue stream will give Nintendo the most money tomorrow. 

I'll be picking up Splatoon (I pre-ordered it) at Best Buy tomorrow. Same one I keep referencing throughout KoopaTV, and the same one that I tried to get the Little Mac amiibo from, failing more than once. So for tomorrow, I want to buy the three-pack set of Inkling Boy, Inkling Girl, and Squid. That way, I can have kids and squids! I don't have that pre-ordered or any amiibo pre-ordered, yet I still want 'em.

I want the Jigglypuff amiibo too but that's exclusive to Target, which I don't have access to.

Apparently she's exclusive to Wal-Mart in Canada. That's much better.

Sony and Microsoft Have E3 Outreach, Too!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Movie theatres!

The whole Best Buy-Nintendo collaboration isn't the only collaboration between a videogame console manufacturer and the outside world that will go on this E3! No, Sony is doing something really interesting. They will be streaming their E3 conference in movie theatres across the United States and Canada! 43 in all! That pales in comparison to the 103 Best Buys in America and the 22 in Canada, but whatever. You have to RSVP to get in, too. But it's free.

And Microsoft? ...Actually, their outreach is apparently limited to Los Angeles.You can hang out with Major Nelson, if you're really interested in doing that. Yeah, Microsoft is boring.

KoopaTV's 2018 GOTY Nominations!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - And other categories.

These were decided and talked about in our Koopa Keep Discord server. Behold!
 
The déjà vu from years past is intentional. (To be eligible, those running have to start their existence in America from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018.)

And just so you remember, that stands for “Game of THAT Year”. That's the KoopaTV touch.

But yeah, this isn't just about gaming, but also ourselves. ‘cause we're art to be recognised and applauded, too. Just to make it clear, we have an “each KoopaTV article may only be nominated once, total.” rule that obviously doesn't apply to the gaming half.

This article is such a rehash of the 2017 one that I just drew over the 7 to make it an 8!

Actually, this isn't a complete rehash of 2017. As I wrote in the footer of 2017's Awards article, we now have categories for Best and Worst comments on KoopaTV, as well as categories for each KoopaTV article category! That means more effort on my part. Hope you like it.

(We removed Best Communications Platform as a category, though.)

SMASH FEST BEST BUY LOCATIONS REVEALED! *Updated*

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - List included in this article! The article title is in all-caps to convey my HYPE!!

After we memorialized its predecessor, we now know where we can play Super Smash Bros. 4 at Best Buy. Here's the list, right from their site, with the times. Apparently, Canada has it too. Here's their list.

I also painstakingly recreated the list at the bottom of this article with no drop-down stuff for your copy-pasting pleasure.

This news was enough to pretty much give me super-charged energy despite not getting much sleep. So here's Mike's Song from Brawl that pretty much describes my excitement.

To play, visit a participating store:
• Wednesday, June 11 from 4 p.m.–9 p.m.
• Saturday, June 14 from Noon–5 p.m.

Be one of the first 70 attendees at each event to pre-order Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS or Wii U and receive a rare collectible Super Smash Bros. gold coin (one per customer, while supplies last). You will also get a $5 My Best Buy™ certificate when you pick up your fully paid game upon release.

Not sure if I want to pre-order it and we don't know what the coin looks like, but sounds awesome, like Pokémon TCG-like coin. And it's gold! While New Super Mario Bros. 2 drastically devalued the gold coin as a currency, it'll still look cool, right?

Canadian locations are only the first 25 attendees get the gold coin. Guess gold is rarer in Canada. 

UPDATE: It'll be at the Nintendo World Store from June 11 to June 15.  9 AM to 8 PM on June 11 and June 12, 9 AM to 9 PM on June 13 and 14, and 11 AM to 6 PM on June 15.

KoopaTV's 2019 GOTY Nominations!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - And other categories.

These were decided and talked about in our Koopa Keep Discord server. Behold!
 
The déjà vu from years past is intentional. (To be eligible, those running have to start their existence in the United States of America from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019.)

And just so you remember, that stands for “Game of THAT Year”. That's the KoopaTV touch.

But yeah, this isn't just about gaming, but also ourselves. ‘cause we're art to be recognised and applauded, too. Just to make it clear, we have an “each KoopaTV article may only be nominated once, total.” rule that obviously doesn't apply to the gaming half.

This article is such a rehash of the 2018 one that I just erased part of the 8 to make it a 9!

Why How Much Consoles Sell Matters To YOU!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - It makes a big difference in retail and availability.

I've heard lots of people over the years say they are too mature to think about the console wars. What does it matter to them that Nintendo's Wii U was a sales failure? That doesn't impact one's personal enjoyment of it!

I would ignore network effects at your own peril, people. Hitching a ride on a successful console car (as long as it's not a train) has a lot of benefits. I'll outline three of them in this article. The last one is the real reason this article was written. The first two are just for narrative build-up. ...Building away!

More People to Play With!

This is the most obvious application of network effects. In a world where most multiplayer games are locked to the console they are on (no cross-play), getting all your friends to be on the same console as you is pretty important. If they don't have that console, you don't get to play with them. Then you'll have to make another group of friends. For a lot of gamers, doing that is tough stuff. And you'll get estranged from your first group of friends.

Console popularity and consolidation saves relationships.

I mean, why do you think Wendy doesn't do anything on the site? She hasn't had a Nintendo console in, like, decades.

But what if you don't play games with friends? What if you play games by yourself?

Play Nintendo: NINTENDO AT E3 2014!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Expect coverage from KoopaTV. Just like E3 2013.

This is huge news. Watch, from Nintendo, about their E3 2014 plans:

The video is reminiscent of their 1990s ads against Sony and SEGA, actually. The one with Star Fox 64 being "leaked". Amazing stuff here.

In summary, we have:

• Nintendo Digital Event at June 10 2014, 12 PM EST
• Super Smash Bros. 4 Invitational Tournament at Los Angeles
• Super Smash Bros. 4 "Smash-Fest" at Best Buy
• Nintendo Treehouse Live @ E3

I'll give brief thoughts on all of these. Right now. Also, Nintendo's E3 site got updated.

KoopaTV's 2018 GOTY Awards!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Game of THAT Year 2018... and other categories.

You have been eagerly anticipating this all weekend, and it's finally arrived. KoopaTV's 2018 Game of THAT Year awards ceremony, mostly featuring the best KoopaTV articles from 2018! (Plus some obvious, non-surprising game categories.)

I've been anticipating our awards, too, since the KoopaTV staff most of our weekends debating things. Actually, to be honest, not much happened on Saturday, more happened on Sunday, and the majority of decisions were made on Monday right before this article was published. If it were just up to me, this would be very simple. But it's up to the entire KoopaTV staff to vote based on our nominations — check out the nominations by category here because it's an important reference for the winners — so there's some give-and-take and compromising that results in KoopaTV's signature takes that seem strange and out-of-line compared to the rest of the Internet.

And just so you remember, that stands for “Game of THAT Year”. That's the KoopaTV touch.

Was the Nintendo Switch Launch Rushed?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Well, besides the inventory issues, more time wouldn't fix anything. It might even make the problems worse.

The Nintendo Switch has been released worldwide for five weeks now, and people still have to put in a lot of search costs and planning to obtain one.

The entire Nintendo NY Twitter account is dedicated to talking about how they've run out of wristbands every day.

Million(s) of Nintendo Switch units have been sold, and those fortunate enough to have one are enjoying The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Still, some people who have a Switch, and many people who don't have one but follow things closely, believe that there are some quality issues with the new console and its accessories. They also are wondering why there wasn't much more other than The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at launch.

To these people, the Nintendo Switch launch was rushed and it should've been delayed for months... even to the end of the year.

I'm inclined to disagree.