KoopaTV's Exhaustive Thoughts On #GamerGate

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - One article dedicated to #GamerGate. No more than that.

Though it may not look like it, KoopaTV has tried to follow the #GamerGate drama from our private AOL Instant Messenger Blast chat. That hasn't translated to KoopaTV articles. Until now. But only now, because there is a reason why we have not covered #GamerGate even though it should be up our alley. After all, KoopaTV cares about videogame journalism! And we definitely care about biases, social justice warriors, and basically everything #GamerGate encompasses. So... what is wrong with us?

To those who have no idea what #GamerGate, here is the Wikipedia article. (It has its own Wikipedia article!) Uh, BASICALLY it's a movement by people who call themselves gamers to put into question journalistic integrity within the videogame industry, because journalists don't have a sense of ethics. ...And for some reason there is a lot of talk about sexism and women involved. It's why we subtly inserted that line about journalistic integrity in our Affiliates and Recommended Sources page. It was timely! And according to #GamerGate advocates, this article is timely too because #GamerGate has staying power. You know, like the Tea Party. ...Except the comparisons end there. Unless you're against #GamerGate.

I challenged these clueless folk if they knew what the Tea Party was even about. No response.

Fortunately, I got a lot more comparisons to make. If we're taking the above picture's representation of #GamerGate as the truth (since, in terms of its representation of the Tea Party, it's a total falsehood) then the movement is closer to Occupy Wall Street. Like Nintendo Redirect was. Boy, that was a fun article.

But for this article, we have things against #GamerGate here at KoopaTV that makes us incompatible with 'em. And of course, we are also incompatible with #GamerGate's opponents. By no means is KoopaTV taking a wimpy centrist "we don't like either party" stance! I'll tell you why throughout this article.

What KoopaTV's Staff Is Thankful For In 2014 *Updated 11/29/2014*

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Thank you for accepting what we give.

Today is Thanksgiving. What does that mean? It means you probably will be spending a lot of time with your family today, doing great American traditions such as eating turkey and mashed potatoes.

Mash Potato Samurai, credit to ice-the-hedgehog on deviantART.

(And to you non-Americans, well, I'm sure you can appreciate being thankful. As Herman Cain said, this is like the one American holiday where we're not celebrating something war or death-related.)

It also means we don't expect you to have some heavy reading (just heavy eating) today, so we'll just take this moment to tell you what we're thankful for this year. I'll start.

KoopaTV Was Hiring!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Want to be part of our staff? Look for job openings below!

Do you want to join a hip organisation that is making waves across the Internet? Do you want to be part of a company culture where you set your own hours, can wear whatever you want, and basically have unrestricted speech? Do you want the opportunity to talk, play, and write about videogames or anything else all day? If you're okay with not being paid anything (but the résumé [we will even be your references/recommendations], learning, and fun potential are limitless), then KoopaTV was the place for you!

Unfortunately, KoopaTV is no longer hiring due to no longer producing new content. Everything below is for posterity.

Benefits also include being in the KoopaTV Nintendo Switch Online Family Group, which saves you money for the online subscription; as well as membership in our exclusive Discord group.

KoopaTV is proud to contribute to the communities that we serve. For more information, see KoopaTV's Corporate Social Responsibility Report.

Any positions that KoopaTV has open will be listed below, with all of their details. If you would like to apply for any of these, send an e-mail to jobs(at)koopatv(dot)org expressing your interest and why you would be right for the job (include a résumé and references if you got 'em). If you comment below, we'll see it, but it's best to talk about these things in privacy.

We'll have an e-mail-based interview and may ask you to submit some work.

All positions start right away and hires are decided upon an on-going basis.

We do not accept individuals with ties to the modern KKK, neo-Nazi groups, ISIS, the Taliban, or al Qaeda.

We do not accept those under the age of 18, unless there are extraordinary circumstances.

KoopaTV is significantly more likely to accept your application if we already know who you are and you regularly interact with the site.

Last updated: 7/4/2023

Taking the "Digital Graphics Producer" description's advice. (This caption won't make sense if the job is taken.)

KoopaTV Is Now On Ello!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The ad-free invite-only social network.

The world is burning down (or just Ferguson, Missouri, which I wrote about on Friday) but KoopaTV will continue to make progress and spread our message of telling the truth, giving you the facts, and leaving you with a smile at the end. (Or in total outrage. But then you want to keep coming back for more!)

To help do that, we have teamed up with Ello, which bills itself as "A simple, beautiful, & ad-free social network." For an objective explanation, consult Ello's Wikipedia article. We've been looking into other social networking sites since Facebook took us down. Tumblr is one of them, and though that's been up and continually updated for two months now, we have gotten nothing out of it.

I'm confident that our Ello social media account (click here to visit it!) will be as good or better than our Tumblr one! After all, we can't get any worse than that! Ello is pretty much the anti-Facebook, so if Facebook is evil, then Ello should be alright. As usual for KoopaTV's social media tactics, we write slightly different and catering messages for each of our social media platforms, so it's worth lookin' at everything for maximum value. (There are probably diminishing marginal returns though.)

Here is what it looks like.

I mentioned that Ello is invitation-only. This means that KoopaTV has Ello invitations we can give to you.

If you want one, then, you know, we can work that out if you comment your e-mail address.


The task for handling all of these social media platforms might be too daunting for Ludwig. This footer is foreshadowing something. For social media where Ludwig DOESN'T plug KoopaTV all the time, Follow him on Miiverse at NNID PrinceOfKoopas!


The Knowing When We Update article has been updated accordingly, and the link to KoopaTV's Ello will now be in the bottom left corner of KoopaTV.
Ludwig's foreshadowing is complete, and he wants to hire a Social Media Manager.
KoopaTV continues to expand alternative social media platforms, this time with GAB, which is the anti-Twitter.
KoopaTV has ended its Ello account since Ello deemed KoopaTV a spammer.

Amazon Delivered Smash For Wii U Early

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - A whole week early. So I got impressions, too.

I spent my Sunday morning on my Wii U, going through Miiverse and talking to people on private messages and such. (Apparently, that's how I got to 1,000 hours so far.) All of a sudden, a package from Amazon is delivered at my door. "Well, that's strange." I thought. "What could it be?" As I wrote about on Friday, I wasn't expecting anything from Amazon for another week. I tempered my expectations and expected something like food or clothes or a wrong package.

Upon opening it... it was... the Super Smash Bros. For Wii U bundle featuring a GameCube controller and the adapter! (I thought, looking at the package, that the box was too small to fit all of that. I guess since Ridley isn't a playable character, it could fit.) According to eyewitness accounts, I could not help but smile very wide. Happy early birthday, Ludwig! So Amazon now deserves to be bolded like other videogame outlets.

Let me make something very clear: This was supposed to come November 28-December 1. It came November 23. We did not pay for shipping. Amazon did this out of the kindness of their heart, or because they want me to give them word-of-mouth support. And you know, I'm very happy to throw bad companies under the bus, but when companies do good things they should be rewarded with praise. And not just good things — surpassing expectations! ...By a lot! And by absolutely no means am I an Amazon shill, unlike some lovely people I know. They had no reason to do this. Hell, they can't really afford to do this if you look at their financial statements. But... I am going to conclude that unlike some companies and presidents, Amazon is in support of KoopaTV! So we highly recommend them for your own future game purchases.

With the amazingness of Amazon out of the way, since I have Super Smash Bros. For Wii U and played it for the rest of that Sunday, let me give some impressions.

First impression is that I look great.

Enjoy Smash On Wii U — While Ferguson GETS Smashed!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I'm only writing the article like this because I'm not getting the game on launch day.

The moment that KoopaTV has been waiting for... for years! With nearly half of our over 400 articles dedicated to it (that's a guess), we present to you... Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. For Wii U! The game is out today in America, as we SAID would happen over a month ago. (Lesson? You can trust KoopaTV.)

People would prefer to see THIS image in social media than the one at the end of the article.

Oh, Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire is also out today. I guess some of you care about that for some reason. Just like Pokémon X/Y, you cannot post screenshots in the Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire Miiverse community, so... yeah. Have fun not sharing your adventures. Then again, you can always just use text! That's what I did with my copy of Pokémon X when it came out last year. Those of you who are long-time KoopaTV readers should remember the awfully long time it took me to actually get Pokémon X, and, uh, I finally got it for my birthday.

Well, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U is also a birthday gift, but I'll get it earlier than December 13! It will come, with a GameCube controller and adapter, whenever Amazon decides to get it here on the slowest (free) shipping available. (That should be November 28 to December 1, so let's pretend I'm on a European game-release schedule here.)

As I mentioned last night, the daily doctor visits that the CDC required of us at the beginning of the month are now complete. We believe this also means that KoopaTV staff member Kamek is free of his quarantine! Everything is perking up, right? Besides Obama ruining the country?

KoopaTV's Live Reactions To Obama's Executive Amnesty!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Obama's illegal immigration policy: Survival of the fittest.

Ready for President Barack Hussein Obama to become Emperor Barack Hussein Obama the First? KoopaTV was! I'm your host, Ludwig, also known in AOL Instant Messenger as Nintendork 13 13. KoopaTV staff member RawkHawk2010 is here as himself, and we are watching and live-reacting to Barack Hussein Obama's executive orders in relation to the illegal immigrant problem!

Or "undocumented workers", as he puts it.

His whole logic for why this is not illegal on his part is that the steps are NOT new!

Sakurai Doing The Right Thing On DLC

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - We can rely on the 'rai.

For some reason, it feels like some out there in the gaming world are losing their trust in Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai. Maybe they don't like him because Ridley is not a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. Maybe they don't like how he keeps posting menus in Miiverse as the Pic of the Day. (You should realize he does that as a tribute to his wife, who he doesn't get to see because he's working all the time.) Maybe they take issue with some other design decisions, like the ratio between "competitive" and "casual" elements in his games. (Which are bad labels to begin with, by the way.) Or maybe it's the valid complaint that Smash Run isn't online for Super Smash Bros. For 3DS and how that's a bad thing. And... I'm going to guess that Smash Tour is not online-compatible on Super Smash Bros. For Wii U, though I will be happy if I'm corrected.

Seriously. Take to the comments section immediately and inform me about its status.

But on one issue, Sakurai is absolutely correct and I'll defend him to the end on it. In an interview with videogamer.com (which seems to be a European publication), Masahiro Sakurai had this to say:

"However, what I can say now about paid DLC is that we aren't working on anything at the moment. We’ve put all our efforts into making the actual game."

Good! Well, that's not something to be "absolutely correct" on since he's just giving the facts. Here is his editorial on it:

Wii U Turns Tu

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - That article title makes me wonder why "two" isn't pronounced "twoh".

Everything in the Nintendo-sphere is congratulating the Wii U for turning two years old today, November 18. In America, anyway. Last year, I wished the Wii U happy birthday when it turned one year old. This year, I want to review the five reasons I said to get a Wii U that I wrote about in that article.

...Good luck keeping that thing on your GamePad.

By the way, the GameCube is also 13 in America.

Sakurai Vs. Miyamoto: The Brawl

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The Brawl about Brawl.

Not that you need a reminder, but Super Smash Bros. For Wii U comes out at the end of this week. It's a big deal, especially since KoopaTV will have nothing to write about starting 2015 since half our articles are about Super Smash Bros. and every new development. We'll try to manage.

But let's go back in time a bit. Like, eight and a half years: It's E3 2006 (it was in MAY back then), and Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Solid Snake were just revealed. Shigeru Miyamoto (who wasn't 62 back then — happy birthday?) and Masahiro Sakurai (who was older than he is now) were answering questions about the new and promising Nintendo Wii system and this new game. The transcript is here. They made some forward-looking statements that we can now evaluate for accuracy.

As expected, our favourite developer had different views on quite a bit of issues than one of our least favourites, including controls and a story mode.

SETTLE IT... IN SMASH!

Super Smash Bros. 4 Newcomers and their Trailers Tier List *Updated 11/15/14*

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - A tier list of... the trailers and hype, not based off peak competitive metagame potential.

We now have seen the trailers for every new character in Super Smash Bros. 4, and even a trailer of a returning character. It is time to... grade them! And give my thoughts on them all! Based on the following criteria:

Relevant KoopaTV article(s):
Thoughts on the character before reveal:
Thoughts on the trailer:
Thoughts on the character based on trailer:
Thoughts on the character after the game came out:

That enough boldness for you? Let's go! (Hah, like you thought I could resist internal linking.)

eShop Preloading and Website Code Buying

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - One by one, removing the advantages physical copies bring.

If you don't know already, Nintendo has launched two key eShop initiatives:

1. You can buy download codes for games off their website. (This effectively brings "gifting" back from the Wii for a limited selection of titles, something we at KoopaTV missed. See the below video, too.)
2. You can pre-purchase and pre-load games before they come out. Doing this basically makes your load bar go to 99% nights before the game is released, and then on release day, it downloads that extra 1% and you're on your merry way. Masahiro Sakurai advocated this for digital downloaders of Super Smash Bros. For Wii U.

The goal is to make people go on the eShop more, what else? Nintendo wants to sell directly to you without middlemen like GameStop, which makes Shulk a weirdo. It appears to be working rather well, with Super Smash Bros. For 3DS having 20% of its sales in North America through the eShop, higher than the industry average of between 10 and 20%. How much % is the goal? 50%? 100%? According to Reggie Fils-Aime, some people were too lazy to get into a store and buy the game. While I went to Best Buy and got the physical 3DS game, my colleague RawkHawk2010 is on record stating that he is not only too lazy to go to a store, but he is too lazy to swap discs. (And if you ask him to, he may write an article describing how he is even lazier than that...!) So accessibility is definitely a plus for digital, and Nintendo is making it even easier because you can do all the download work on relatively strainless server times now.

Shulk Is Really Feeling The Exclusivity

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - His game and his Amiibo!

That Shulk guy can apparently see the future and he's not really feeling it. He made my father really feel it when he viciously assaulted him, though. And for some reason, his future sight ability (and probably his callous hatred for handsome Koopa Kings) makes Shulk really like GameStop. After all, Xenoblade Chronicles was, according to GameStop, exclusive to GameStop. (Also according to GameStop, it's worth more used than new. Seriously, click this. You'll laugh.)

Now we have learned from Nintendo that Shulk's Amiibo will also be exclusive to GameStop. GameStop is saying it's an exclusive in the same wording as before!

We'll wait for Pre-Owned Shulk figures to be $22.99.

Actually, it's not that ridiculous that Shulk's Amiibo, or anyone else's, might increase in value if it's pre-owned. After all, he will be trained already, and depending on the owner, he might be capable of things you could never imagine. Folks are already predicting that Amiibos owned by Super Smash Bros. series professional players will be quite high in value, since the Amiibo will learn its tricks off its owner. Certainly worth a lot more than what that Flare Blitz-spamming guy online's Amiibo will be worth.

KoopaTV's Live Reactions to CALL OF DUTY: ADVANCED WARFARE Cutscenes!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - We personally involved ourselves with this series again.

Apparently, it is now KoopaTV tradition to watch the latest Call of Duty game's cutscenes and publish it on Veterans Day! That is what we did last year with Call of Duty: Ghosts, and this time we are totally ready for Activision's latest offering: Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. It's not on the Game Boy Advance, but it IS on every non-Nintendo console. Well Sledgehammer Games outdo Infinity Ward?

Read on and find out. I'm Nintendork 13 13, and RawkHawk2010 is himself. And there are a ton of other guys that appear throughout that you might find familiar!

You can watch along with our live reactions here.

We pay our respects to the veterans of Koopa Kingdom. ...Best quick-time event ever or what?

Keep NeoGAF Out Of Our Games! *Updated November 11*

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Like, literally. They shouldn't be name-dropped.

I hope you guys remember Sunset Overdrive from Insomniac Games. It first made a cameo in Microsoft's 2013 E3 Conference, though if you asked us in 2014 if it did we wouldn't be able to tell you. Then it reappeared in Microsoft's 2014 E3 Conference, where it was one of the games that stole the show and got Microsoft rated above Sony in 2014 E3 conferences. One of the downfalls of Sony that E3 was their reference to NeoGAF during their conference. (Here is the moment directly, and then note what they show after.) Remember, NeoGAF is that evil forum that has an inflated sense of self-importance that is KoopaTV's premier example of left-wing fascism run amok. While they are not important in the grander scheme of things, they do foster a hotbed of angry people resulting in movements like #Miiquality. What is important is that they think they are the gateway between game developers and the rest of the world. The truth looks more like this:

NeoGAF, I'll let you in on a secret. Most of the (hundreds) of developers I know avoid you like the plague and think you're mostly cunts.
— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) June 18, 2014

So Sunset Overdrive is out now. Here's what the ending to the story looks like:

The Miyamoto Cinema

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - With any luck, filmography will be Miyamoto's full-time passion.

Remember on Wednesday during that Nintendo Direct, when Shigeru Miyamoto showed up and we all thought he would ruin the Direct by talking about bad, boring things like Project Giant Robot? Well, as you should remember, he did not do that. He talked about Pikmin 3 and some movies he was making with them instead. ...And Flipnote Studio too.

You can see the trailer up above (which is different than what was presented during the Direct), and you should also have gotten information on it delivered to you on your 3DS and Wii U. (If you got 'em. ...And you ought to.)

Why All The Excitement Over A Remake?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Remakes can be nice, but they shouldn't be a system seller!

Without question, the biggest news from yesterday is that the United States is going to be saved from the tyranny of the Democrat Party, and the voters were smart. However, SOME people think that the biggest news is that The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is getting a remake on the Nintendo 3DS, coming out early 2015! The Legend of Zelda fans everywhere are super-happy from that. And I know these people are a cult obsessed with creepypasta and the Moon, based on the view count of when I published an article during E3 2014 of just the Moon and Great Fairy from Hyrule Warriors. That got far more views than anything else published during E3 2014, because people just want to come search to see their precious Majora's Mask Moon. And if you look at the trailer for Majora's Mask 3D on Nintendo's YouTube channel, it has way more views (over half a million now) than any other video published yesterday. Including the Direct itself.

Are you people happy?

Do so many people really think Majora's Mask is such an amazing game that they want it remade? GameFAQs thought it was the best game of the 2000 to 2010 decade, trumping Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Well, hey, I was around back then, and I voted for Brawl. And you can bet that I voted for Wind Waker too when it was up against Majora's Mask.

KoopaTV's November 5 2014 Nintendo Direct LIVE REACTIONS!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Spoilers: The best part of the log is the very bottom of it.

This is the first REAL Nintendo Direct in a long time. Not a game-specific Direct or anything, but a general Direct where anything could happen. I think the last one that happened was in February during KoopaTV's hiatus! Anyway, as we usually do, we at KoopaTV live react to these things from our AIM Blast. I'm Nintendork 13 13, RawkHawk2010 is... himself. LET'S GO!

Vote In The Election; Win An OR/AS Demo Code

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Another giveaway. For a good cause.

Last week, we told you that today are the mid-term elections in the United States of America. Well? Polls should be open when you read these words. Go figure out your polling location and vote!

But besides that, Ludwig has another Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire demo code to give out, thanks to a Nintendo e-mail. He has actually played the demo himself now with another code, so he has nothing else to do with this extra, third code besides give it out. Like he did his first one.

Let's combine those two concepts.

I did my best to make the colours match.

Comment in the comments section the candidates you (or your parents, if you're under 18 or not registered) voted for in the November 4 election. (United States citizens only.) Then we'll use a random number generator to pick a recipient for the code. That means it doesn't matter if you voted Republican, Democrat, or Libertarian. For the purposes of this article, anyway. You wield the power to generate far-reaching change with your vote! Use it! (We hold our biases about how you'd rather use your power, of course. Read around KoopaTV to know what those are.)

So we are looking for a list of candidates. If your ballot has like... a lot of them, list important-sounding ones. Those include (and your ballot may not have all of these): Federal Representative, governor, and federal Senator. Maybe list some important ballot initiatives, too. We just want you to be involved in the process, because a lot of the things we talk about on KoopaTV can be affected by your vote. Or, again, your parents' if you can't vote yourself. Just ask 'em what they did.

We recognize that we can't verify if you actually went and voted. ...But please be honest!

We'll comment on the winner in this article's comment section on November 5, 8 PM EST. That should give you plenty of time to make your comment in this comments section to enter.

Good luck!


Ludwig is getting more demo codes than he knows what to do with. He did not even like the demo! He will be voting later tonight. Polls do not close uniformly around the United States, so please be aware of your own deadlines!


Ludwig gave out the code here.
Then Nintendo gave Ludwig even more codes after their expiration date.
Here's a ballot you can vote in even under-age: The Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot!
Elections are rigged.

KoopaTV's October 2014 Newsletter

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Still your favourite looking back at the month article. New name.

I have finally done it. You know what KoopaTV does at the start of every month to review the previous one? Other sites call that activity a NEWSLETTER. Except this isn't being e-mailed to anyone. Although, I hear you can get new KoopaTV articles sent to your e-mail using the "E-Mail Subscription" feature if you look at the bottom of any page on KoopaTV. Either way, this is the new naming scheme. No clever wordplay, but that's what every other KoopaTV article is for.

You're probably wondering about the status of KoopaTV, given Friday's article saying that we might have gotten Ebola. Well, we explained to the Centers for Disease Control that since we're not health workers or anything, we were not in contact with the local people in Sierra Leone when we were there. And we weren't! So it's not like we were near Ebola-stricken people, and it would be inaccurate to suggest that everyone and everything in Sierra Leone is just covered with Ebola. As per the CDC's recommendations, we just have to report our temperatures and stuff to our local health offices often. And not wipe our bodily fluids on other people. That's fine! No quarantine for KoopaTV! We'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming.

And it's a good thing too, because October 2014 went past our ratings blip of September to become, by far, the most viewed month in KoopaTV's history! We're proud of that. Driving that is the quality content you have come to expect at KoopaTV! (And also a giveaway contest — we have more Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire codes to give out, by the way. Come back tomorrow.) It's also amplified by your sharing of our content, so thank you if you do that. Five examples (our highly-most recommended articles from October) are listed below, in chronological order!

1. Smashing in 3D - Impressions of Super Smash Brothers for Nintendo 3DS
2. Beware Barack O'Bowser
3. The IRS Ought To Audit Feminist Frequency
4. If Only The Videogame Industry Could Engage In Ebola Opportunism
5. Ludwig's Smash Bros. Wii U Post-Thoughts, Speculation, and APOLOGIES!

As I always say, everything on KoopaTV is worth reading. And... most things are worth sharing. So do that too. We'll continue our high-quality content, of course. As long as you keep on reading!


Check out KoopaTV's social media at Ludwig's Google+ page, the KoopaTV Twitter, and the flailing and failing KoopaTV Tumblr. For some reason, the KoopaTV Facebook gets new Likes despite Facebook slaughtering it. Those links are also at the bottom of the page.


KoopaTV's second September review article is right here. It's last month!
Want next month? See November's review article.
The miserable-sounding 2013 version of this article.
The... happier-sounding 2015 version. Not totally happy but a little better?