Fixing Frye and Shiver in the Play Nintendo Deep Cut Popularity Poll

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - It was an off-brand Stroop Test. I got it fixed.

Which of Splatoon 3's new idols, the three members of Deep Cut, do you like the most? That's a hot conversation topic in the Splatoon 3 fanbase right now. So Nintendo of America's site for kids, Play Nintendo, outright asks “Which Deep Cut member would you want to jam with first?” You should consider this an official popularity poll.

Unfortunately, when the poll first went up a few weeks ago—and had already gotten hundreds of votes—it mixed up Frye and Shiver. See the screenshot below.

Shiver is given Frye's photo, while Frye is given Shiver's photo.
Big Man is still Big Man.
See this archived link.

According to someone I asked—I didn't want to vote in the poll myself since I wanted to vote for Frye, but it's unclear which option to pick—as of the evening of September 11, Big Man has about 55% of the vote (177 votes). Frye, with the picture of Shiver, has 30% (96 votes). Shiver, with the picture of Frye, has the remaining 15% (50 votes). However, according to unofficial polling, as well as the World Premiere Splatfest, Shiver is way more popular than Frye is. The explanation is that people voted for Shiver's picture rather than Shiver's name. The mismatch between the picture and the name, and the decision that people take based on that, is called the Stroop effect. You may remember the Brain Age DS's Stroop test (or Quick Brain Age Check), where the words blue, black, yellow, or red would appear, but in a different font colour than what the word means, and you had to say the font colour instead of the word. It tests your prefontal cortex—and who knows if the Play Nintendo base passes or fails that.

I want an accurate poll and not a test, so I tried to contact Nintendo of America to get them to fix it. For that, I used their PR Contact form around midnight of September 12. First time using it. On their “How can we help? (200 word limit) *” question, I said,

Masayoshi Yokoyama: Underground Feeling of Yakuza/Like a Dragon Clashes with Nintendo Switch

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I have some evidence I'd like to PRESENT.

Since it wasn't clear, when Like a Dragon: Ishin! was announced at last week's Sony State of Play, that is a remake of a 2014 spin-off from the Yakuza series... which has been renamed to Like a Dragon. I'm not the expert in why that makes sense or why tossing out all of that brand recognition is a good idea.

Anyway, series producer Masayoshi Yokoyama of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio (owned by Sega) sort of explains with GameSpot (in what really should've been written in interview format but isn't) why the Like a Dragon games (the spin-off, whatever Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is, and Like a Dragon 8) are coming not just to PlayStation consoles like they've always historically been, but also PC and Xbox... but specifically not to Nintendo platforms. Again, the GameSpot article is short and presented terribly, but the direct quotes provided are...

Dragon Quest Treasures Gameplay Overview Trailer

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I'd much rather play this than a certain other thematically similar RPG that will release in November.

I would like to apologise for not providing consistent coverage on DRAGON QUEST TREASURES. As far as I know, Samantha Lienhard has done a decent job with that on her site, writing about the world and story as well as the gameplay loop. These are based on updates from SQUARE ENIX. Well, a summary is that you can play as either Erik or Mia, and they're the young kids (and siblings) portrayed in the DRAGON QUEST XI flashbacks. They don't want to be with their Viking masters and would instead want to go on their own adventure to get treasure. However—and it's unclear if DRAGON QUEST TREASURES will be a canon game—two magic creatures named Porcus (the pig, who likes Mia) and Purrsula (the cat, who likes Erik) appear to take a dreamy Erik and Mia to Draconia, a treasure-filled world that's separate from Erdrea.

Here's a brand-new trailer that explains gameplay (and some story):

I see it as quite a bit like Pikmin where you need to command local creatures with different exploration and combat abilities for the purpose of finding and collecting treasure and bringing it back to your base (and read fun descriptions of the treasure). It'd be way closer to Pikmin if you could switch between Erik and Mia and they're both existing in the overworld at the same time and you need to use them together to solve puzzles, but that's not part of the gameplay depicted in the trailer or any other information. So I guess I gotta get that off my head—the trailer specifically refers to DRAGON QUEST TREASURES as an RPG, not as a strategy game. What is present is charming and likable.

Splatoon's Developers Focused on Player Customisability and Expression in Splatoon 3

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I appreciate the focus, and I think their insights are spot-on.

Have you read the four-part Ask the Developer Vol. 7, Splatoon 3 series published on Nintendo.com? In my opinion, it doesn't contain spoilers for Splatoon 3, but it does contain significant and interesting insights from Hisashi Nogami (Splatoon producer), Seita Inoue (Splatoon art director), Shintaro Sato (a Splatoon technical director), and Toru Minegishi (head Splatoon sound guy).

One thing that confirmed what I already wrote years ago is that the Splatoon development team waited for the outcome of the Chaos vs. Order Splatfest to determine the theme of Splatoon 3. They outright said in the interview that until they saw the results of the Splatfest, they weren't seriously thinking about the theme of Splatoon 3, so it would've been substantially different if Team Order won. That's why Splatsville is the city of chaos, and many things followed from that, including the different art style, culture, and music. The ethos of the street culture among Inklings and Octolings is that disorder is cool, and that the kids wanted to rebel against the big sophisticated city life from Splatoon 2. That's why the Splatlands are so far away from the very close-together setting of Inkopolis in Splatoon and Splatoon 2.

They start getting into the customisation and expression in Part 2 of the talk, starting with Lockers. These are a first for the series. You can customise a locker with items from the Catalog and the Hotlantis shop, which is a whole shop category that didn't exist in previous games. For example, as an Ace Attorney fan, my locker is simply a Stepladder and The Thinker statue. You can view the Lockers (which are never locked) of some of your Nintendo Switch friends and some random people at any given time. As Nogami said, “The inside of a locker can tell you a lot about the person who owns it.”

Facebook/Twitter Log-ins and Wii U/3DS Image Shares Discontinuing October 25 2022

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The image shares aren't good anyway.

Today, in the excitement of Nintendo announcing Nintendo Brazil and Nintendo Latin American Twitter accounts, there is probably a más importante pair of announcements that's lost in that excitement. Both of these are supposed to go into effect on October 25, 2022, and both involve Facebook and Twitter:

Number one, “Discontinuation of the Use of Facebook or Twitter to Sign In to Your Nintendo Account.” There should be zero people who do this, and for a variety of reasons. If you currently do this, you stop immediately and not wait for October 25. Use your Nintendo Account ID and password. Nintendo is important enough that it should have its own log-in information that you use.

Number two, “Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Image Share Service Discontinuation.” This is a real and legitimate feature of the 3DS and Wii U that is the main way to export screenshots from 3DS and Wii U games for other use. Using the Wii U/3DS's built-in Internet Browser to access i.nintendo.net, you could share screenshots to Facebook or Twitter in a more complicated process compared to how easy it is for the Nintendo Switch Screenshot Capture (and video) sharing.

15+ Years after Nintendo NSider Forums Closed, Reunite HERE!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - NSider was a formative place, and some users are still talking together.

Fifteen years ago, Nintendo of America's Nintendo NSider Forums were abruptly put into a read-only mode (September 17, 2007), and then the entire thing was deleted a week afterward (September 24, 2007). This was devastating to a younger me, and it still discomforts me to think about to this day. I can't understate the influence having a very large and popular Nintendo discussion forum was to my upbringing and development to the person I am today. KoopaTV certainly wouldn't exist—the whole founding team came from that forum. I'm sure folks didn't know that decisions made, say, 18 years ago on an Internet forum would decide their identity now.

Anyway, imagine you're on NSider. September 16, 2007, everything looks fine and normal and highly active. The next day, the front page is replaced with this message that NSider will close indefinitely beginning that day, and you can only look at a read-only version of the forum for a week. Afterwards, the read-only message is gone, and so is the forum that you might have had your childhood on.

It's not a good look for the Wii and DS to have to be associated with the forum shutting down.
(When NSider first opened, Nintendo's current consoles were the GameCube and the Game Boy Advance,
though the DS and Super Smash Bros. Brawl speculation was huge for the forum.
Just don't let the mods catch you sharing your friend codes.)

Younger people—or anyone else who loved it—who only have experience with when Nintendo ran Miiverse don't quite have the same amount of pain we did. Unlike NSider, Miiverse had over two months notice that it would be closed, which actually provided time for people to go and archive almost the entire platform. NSider is very poorly archived, and 2003–2007 was before people widely understood archival techniques and the importance of it.

Why a Chaotic Genius Brings Gear to a Deserted Island…and for Splatfest, You Should Too!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - It's the obvious choice... and still the choice if you think harder than that.

The most immediate impact of the Nintendo Direct earlier this week was the announcement of a new Splatfest that is starting NEXT WEEK. And new to this Splatfest (as opposed to the previous one) is a SNEAK PEAK period. With the sneak peak, if you pick a side in-game now, you can earn points for your team in the designated sneak peak category for this week before the actual Splatfest begins—which means I really need to write and publish this article now before everyone goes and picks their team in order to influence people. Because there's enormous incentive for people to pick teams as soon as possible.

And the first post-release Splatfest prompt is...

Team Gear? Team Grub? Team Fun? What would you bring to a deserted island?

Let's get things straight: Deserted island means the island is either desolate, or it had life on it that abandoned it. Nothing in the prompt says that you're stranded on the island. Think of the deserted island as... a hotel stay. So you can get back to civilisation and back to the island as you please.

That should significantly affect your intended purpose of going to the island and what your mission will be. And therefore... what you would bring to the island.

Nintendo eShop Blockbuster Sale (includes Ace Attorney)

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Don't complain you have nothing to play.

While I didn't care that much about the Nintendo Direct from earlier in this week, I don't mind that at all. That's because there's still an incredibly healthy backlog of games that are already out on Nintendo systems that I haven't gotten through playing—and you likely haven't, either. While there is enough money in life to buy all of those, there just is not enough time in life to actually play all of those through.

Right now, for whatever reason, there are over 2,200 games on sale on the Nintendo Switch, and several dozen on sale on the Nintendo 3DS eShop. Those 3DS titles include fan-favourites like CAPCOM's Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney–Dual Destinies, and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney–Spirit of Justice, all for $5 each. That sale ends September 28. Note that you can't really add money directly to your Nintendo 3DS eShop balance anymore, but there are still ways around that, such as linking it to your Nintendo Switch account and adding money to that.

(By the way, the Ace Attorney titles on the Switch are ALSO on sale.)

This isn't a total me-chosen filler article; CAPCOM literally advertised the sale in their Tokyo Game Show 2022 presentation (which is all I'm gonna write about it, probably):

PlayStation State of Play September 13 2022 Live Reactions

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Kazuya Mishima Wins.

Want to watch about 20 minutes of Sony providing updates on the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and the PlayStation VR2? Well, they live-streamed that yesterday. Notably, unlike the same-day Nintendo Direct, Sony did not delay anything because of the Queen of the United Kingdom dying.

I DID react to this live as it was being streamed. I just didn't publish it right away. Sorry for the wait. ...Though I don't think there's anything too exciting that you'd really need my thoughts immediately for. But maybe that's something for you to decide for yourself rather than me tell you. I'm the only staffer in this log, by the way. At least that keeps it shorter.

[5:51 PM]Ludwig Von Koopa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aywlRsohBPY
PlayStation State of Play in 10 minutes.
[5:52 PM]Ludwig Von Koopa: I just ate a whole large chicken fried rice (that I got while shopping for milk) and now I feel...very sleepy...
[5:52 PM]Ludwig Von Koopa: Hoping that PlayStation State of Play won't have me fall asleep altogether.
[6:01 PM]Ludwig Von Koopa: THUNDER
[6:01 PM]Ludwig Von Koopa: EEK
[6:02 PM]Ludwig Von Koopa: EEK
[6:02 PM]Ludwig Von Koopa: KAZUYA MISHIMA
[6:02 PM]Ludwig Von Koopa: WINS

KoopaTV's Live Reaction to the September 13 2022 Nintendo Direct

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Live in the sense that the reactions aren't edited and were a stream.

Once upon a time—on Monday, September 12—Nintendo announced that there would be a Nintendo Direct the next day in 24 hours. That was an obnoxiously inconvenient timing and we all had things locked into our schedules a long time ago. They really should announce these in advance.

Instead, I—by myself—reacted to the Nintendo Direct as early as I could, since it's dangerous to venture to the Internet without watching it first. 'cause that's all anyone's going to talk about, and spoilers (and leakers!) are bad for society and must be cautiously avoided. So if you're on KoopaTV, you either feel the same way and have already watched this embedded Nintendo Direct and want to know how I thought of it (very touching of you, thank you for your interest), or you just don't care the same way I do:

I must note that in the United Kingdom, “[a]s a mark of respect during this period of national mourning” (this refers to the passing of Queen Elizabeth II), Nintendo in the United Kingdom published the video on their social channels one hour after the rest of the world. It's unclear what makes this one hour extra wait period especially respectful, but as a result, British people just went and watched the American stream and no one's really looking at Nintendo UK's. To help their view count, I've embedded the UK video above despite actually reacting to America's version. (It actually has chapters and omits a half hour of nothing going on.) I'm quite sure they're the same content.

[12:57 PM]Ludwig Von Koopa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ9Iz7HhU-I
[12:57 PM]Ludwig Von Koopa: I'm not sure when this transitions from the "tune in for" message to the--... okay, at 29:37.
[12:58 PM]Ludwig Von Koopa: RP-M.
[12:58 PM]Ludwig Von Koopa: I'll wait for the clock to get to an even number and then I can pretend I watched this from a goofy timezone.
[12:58 PM]Ludwig Von Koopa: I'm not allowed on the Internet until I watch this Direct.
[1:00 PM]Ludwig Von Koopa: Starting...
[1:00 PM]Ludwig Von Koopa: Four realms with a holy land at the centre?
[1:00 PM]Ludwig Von Koopa: With a fell dragon.
[1:00 PM]Ludwig Von Koopa: ...Fire Emblem?
[1:00 PM]Ludwig Von Koopa: ...yes, it is.