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Monday, January 9, 2017

KoopaTV 2016 GOTY Awards!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - And other categories.

Some people out there believe that 2016 was nothing but a disaster. KoopaTV, your source of boundless optimism (...lol), would like to disagree with you (if you think that way). And, so, we're going to prove there's lots of good in 2016: Not only from the gaming industry, but also KoopaTV itself... with our AWARDS!

It's not a totally disorganised process, of course. We published our list of Nominations right here. (And this article is structurally the same as the nominations article.)

We will now begin with our videogame-related awards for 2016, which will include the Game of THAT Year 2016... and then move to KoopaTV's own set of awards for our site. It's all very prestigious and official, I promise you. And voted on by the staff members that bothered to participate.

Videogame-related Awards for 2016

Best PC Game

The winner of the Best PC Game of 2016 is... The Wonderful 1237! Why, what a surprise! This game upset strong challengers that were vying for the title of being the best of that year. The Wonderful 1237 just had the right combination of humour, deep gameplay mechanics, replayability, and sense of timeliness and worldliness that pushed it ahead. It's a classic, alright, to be immortalised in gaming history. Maybe in one of those gaming museums they got.

KoopaTV is proud to host The Wonderful 1237 and we are offering continuing coverage on this December release. Play The Wonderful 1237 right here, for free, from your browser! (Provided you have Flash Player.)

    Best 3DS Game

    The Best 3DS Game of 2016 was FIERCELY contested, with all sorts of debate going on within the KoopaTV staff. However, after a weekend of gridlock, the staff has decided to award Best 3DS Game of 2016 to... Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon! In terms of staff ownership, it's probably Pokémon Moon if you had to narrow it down to just one.

    I haven't counted, but I'm going to guess that these Pokémon games got the most KoopaTV attention of any 3DS game in 2016. We were loving the franchise changes and adjustments that its pre-release material was promising... and... the games ultimately delivered. Alola is a beautiful region, and the game maintains player excitement and attention the entire way through, unlike the Generation 6 games which had an amazing start of the game and then fell off as time progressed. Most of the new Pokémon are great, and we'll still be playing this for some time to come.

    I just wish that Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon had Miiverse functionality.

    Best Wii U Game

    Paper Mario: Color Splash was unanimously voted as the best Wii U game released in 2016. While the Wii U competition for 2016 was... well, weak, by no means do we feel as if Paper Mario: Color Splash got this far by default.

    Stay tuned for Ludwig's formal review of it. Coming within a reasonable time frame.

    Best New Character

    The winner of this hotly-contested category of Best New Character is... Paul Atishon, from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Spirit of Justice!

    Paul Atishon Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Spirit of Justice clean image screenshot on the stand testimony name plate
    Paul Atishon captions himself, with his name-plate passed down from his grandfather.

    It would be spoilers to go into too much detail about Paul Atishon and what he represents in terms of the game (he's a Case 5 character, after all — the last part of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Spirit of Justice). However, as a character, Paul Atishon (formally known as Paul Atishon-Wimperson) is the perfect embodiment of a politician, which is Paul Atishon's chosen profession. In fact, he was born into a powerful, political family, and was destined to seize power.

    In practice, he's a magnificent blend of the worst traits of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Intentional on CAPCOM's part? I dunno, but he's hilarious, and a timely character archetype that was long overdue.

    He also has one of the best leitmotifs in the game, in a series known for meaningful leitmotifs. ...Which is a good transition to the next category...

      Best OST

      The best original soundtrack for 2016, as determined by KoopaTV's staffers... is... Paper Mario: Color Splash! Proving that Paper Mario: Color Splash has merits of its own, it may possibly be the best Paper Mario soundtrack ever made. Here are two samples that hopefully do not spoil things (the game has surprises and content worth spoiling), but there are many gems located in what would be spoiler-material. (Well, basically the whole game is a gem, at least musically.)

      The first is Daffodil Peak, a relatively early-game level:



      The second is a battle theme of the Shy Bandit, a game mechanic and dude that wasn't revealed to us pre-release, but he's a reoccurring random map element with his own battle theme. The, uh, “lyrics” are from Nintendo Treehouse's own Nate Bihldorff. (Remember that name.)



      This demonstrates a clear diversity and willingness to try out new things and musical genres in Paper Mario: Color Splash, compared to its jazz-enriched (but still adored) predecessor, Paper Mario: Sticker Star.

      Game of THAT Year

      The nominations for Game of THAT Year for 2016 are...
      • The Wonderful 1237
      • Pokémon Sun/Pokémon Moon
      • Paper Mario: Color Splash
      • Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Spirit of Justice

      And the winner is, after much debate (this is the final category to be decided)...

      Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Spirit of Justice!

      All of the four nominated games above, and even some not mentioned in this article (looking at you, Pocket Card Jockey) are highly excellent. However, I believe Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Spirit of Justice to have the least amount of flaws. (Actually, I think The Wonderful 1237 has the least amount of flaws, but Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Spirit of Justice has even higher upsides.)

      I might change my mind later on, but right now, I believe Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Spirit of Justice to be the best Ace Attorney game ever made, and that series is a KoopaTV darling. So, congratulations to CAPCOM!

      Now, for some website-related stuff...


      KoopaTV-related awards for 2016

      Best Communications Platform


      For the third year in a row, the best communications platform/social media for KoopaTV was Twitter.

      ...The other platforms need to step up their games.

      Twitter got KoopaTV the most measurable referrals, and unlike certain other platforms, doesn't require DLC to use its basic features. (You can pay Twitter for advertisements and stuff, which you could call the website-equivalent of DLC, but we don't do that. ...And maybe we should, I dunno.)

      It also hasn't banned KoopaTV or Ludwig this year, or ever, unlike some other platforms.

      Follow KoopaTV's Twitter @TheREALKoopaTV!

        Best KoopaTV Guest Article Contributor


        There were two main competitors for our best guest article contributor for 2016, and we ought to mention both of them: Bernie Sanders and ShinyGirafarig. However, just like his real life presidential campaign, Bernie finished a close second to his female rival. That's right: ShinyGirafarig won!

        (And, just like the presidential primaries, getting second place gets you absolutely nothing. Sorry, Bernie, you should've retweeted your own article. ...And you should've come through with the Spanish transliteration.)

        ShinyGirafarig exemplified what a guest poster should do: Provide perspectives that the site's main staff cannot. She had four articles published.

        The first, on the grand reopening of the Nintendo NY store. None of KoopaTV's staff members have access or personal knowledge or experience with Nintendo's activities in New York, and she documented her own experience quite well with the use of maps and video.

        Secondly, her Splatoon-influenced vacation to an aquarium, with Callie and Marie plushies to join along. ShinyGirafarig then transferred being inspired by Splatoon to go on an aquarium to the greater lesson that everyone can be influenced by fiction. Sometimes, it's to do positive things... such as liking giraffes. The problem with THAT is the lack of giraffes in media!

        Third, her article on her call for Nintendo to start licensing new-family merchandise. Again, this is a unique perspective KoopaTV's staff can't talk about. ShinyGirafarig provided real examples of what she's talking about and what she wants.

        Lastly for 2016, her fourth article is on Gamers and Significant Others. (None of KoopaTV's staff has a significant other. Not yet, anyway.) This is certainly a perspective that we'll want to have in mind for our future selves, and addresses a real problem that gamers may encounter!

        So, kudos to ShinyGirafarig, and we hope to see you nominated for 2017, too!

        Most Humourous KoopaTV Article


        As you should expect from a website that promotes Levity as a core virtue, KoopaTV has lots of viable nominees for this category — even ones that didn't get nominated. In the end, the staff compromised on When Kickstarters Get Kicked In The Ass (Part 3), also known as the Mighty No. 9 release article. The article uses many real-life examples, in the form of Miiverse posts, of people being quite frustrated with the game. The article's tone takes no prisoners in its derision — expressed in hilarious put-downs — for Mighty No. 9 and Keiji Inafune, especially since KoopaTV has been building up a case for YEARS about how Inafune is essentially a fraud and totally overrated, and that Mighty No. 9 would turn up short. The article isn't just funny for the sake of being funny, but uses Levity as a tool to get THE TRUTH across. That makes it great as a prime example of a high-quality KoopaTV article, and the put-downs are around every corner!

        Best KoopaTV Reaction Log


        In a rare unanimous vote, the winner of KoopaTV's Best Reaction Log from 2016 was Nintendo Treehouse Live E3 2016: Day 2 — Paper Mario: Color Splash. This E3 2016-based reaction log came during Day 2 of the Nintendo Treehouse presentation, after a very exhausting Day 1 of watching The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for four hours straight (also nominated), and a bunch of uninteresting filler games prior to Color Splash.

        At this point in time, we all still believed what everyone else on the Internet thought — that Paper Mario: Color Splash would be a massive disaster and disappointment. A shame and death-knell to the acclaimed Paper Mario series. Yet, we thought that, even if the game would be a disaster, our staff could at least have fun watching Nintendo Treehouse play it for half an hour or whatever. We could make witty cynical comments and be entertained, unlike the rest of that day where we didn't even know what was going on, or had any interest. We began the log with the lowest expectations possible.

        If you read through that Reaction Log, however, our opinions were reversing...slowly... and then very quickly and unbelievably. Right around twenty-five minutes in, when they switch from the Oceanfest level to Morton Koopa Jr., the staff is hyperventilating. But... that's still not the end. Treehouse shows a montage reel of exciting moments in the game (and, now that it's after release, we can tell you that their montage is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg), and KoopaTV's staff can barely breathe.

        It was a very HIGH-ENERGY experience that you'd only be able to read on KoopaTV. (We're also one of the few places with the intellectual integrity to publish our live, honest reactions, and our ability to have our strong opinions be REVERSIBLE.)

        Best KoopaTV Artistic Corner Contribution


        KoopaTV would like to award its Best Artistic Corner Contribution award of 2016 to... Announcing and Launching KoopaTV Adventures! This fully original web comic video series, produced in a partnership between KoopaTV and Tea Storm Studios, brings you inside the behind-the-scenes antics of your lovable KoopaTV staff. It might be the most ambitious project undertaken on KoopaTV of all 2016 (besides The Wonderful 1237), and it's just the FIRST EPISODE. The second episode is scheduled for sometime in 2017. Hopefully we get more than one of these a year!

        While lengthy, KoopaTV Adventures Episode 1 is packed with excellent, authentic KoopaTV humour. The time just goes by very quickly, which is a sure sign of a successful entertainment product. We're proud to have KoopaTV Adventures as a feature on this site.

        KoopaTV Adventures Rawk Hawk Duck pay a wage
        ...Maybe if KoopaTV's staffers DID make some kind of wage, production on KoopaTV Adventures Episode 2 would be farther along.


        Best KoopaTV Article Series


        KoopaTV has had many reoccurring article series in 2016. More than 2015, that's for sure. While critics may say that means KoopaTV is covering less topics and that's bad, I believe it means that KoopaTV is doing into great depth into what's still a great many number of issues. With that said, I'd like to award Best KoopaTV Article Series of 2016 to Team Koopa's Rio de Janeiro Experiences, which was given its own index here! Everything included in this index is participatory in the award, besides the first article listed which was published in 2015.

        This covers a very large and varied amount of content on a defining moment of 2016: The Rio 2016 Olympics. A number of KoopaTV staffers were chosen to train and attempt to participate in these Olympics under the moniker of Team Koopa. It was a truly patriotic endeavour... but then it all went to hell when we got the Zika virus and had to undergo a hiatus. However, Ludwig ultimately covered everything that happened in our stay in Rio de Janeiro during that hiatus with the How Team Koopa Escaped Rio series.

        While Ludwig and the rest of Team Koopa ultimately chose not to participate in the final Olympics, that did not stop Koopa Kingdom's arch-nemesis, Mario, from possessing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe in the Closing Ceremonies!

        The whole Rio de Janeiro experience was a series of amazing and unlikely incidents, covered from a large variety of angles with KoopaTV's signature mix of quality and artistic flair, along with truly exemplifying and proving that life imitates art. It also proved that KoopaTV's supposed “tangents” are, in fact, quite on-topic. This makes it a worthy winner of the Best KoopaTV Article Series.

        Best KoopaTV Article


        While you may disagree with the final decision (of the award's recipient), and KoopaTV's staff is certainly divided on it, the Best KoopaTV Article award of 2016 goes to The State of the Videogame Industry if Hillary Clinton Had Her Way! This comprehensively-written article details the history of Hillary Clinton, as a Senator from New York, and how she tried to censor and destroy the videogame industry. The article's analysis goes past a surface look at what the law says it would do, and, using hindsight, explains what would not exist today (almost everything) if this harsh government regulation actually happened.

        Of course, the article's ultimate conclusion is to not vote for Hillary Clinton, which was a position adopted by KoopaTV as a whole. KoopaTV delves into political topics as a form of both entertainment and advocacy, and The State of the Videogame Industry if Hillary Clinton Had Her Way does both. This is a paradigm-shifting article that would spark a year-long quest for KoopaTV to spread awareness of the dangers of a Hillary Clinton presidency.

        It is thanks to KoopaTV, and this article, that Hillary was ultimately stopped in her tracks, and America elected a much better alternative. While liberals and central intelligence agencies will try to blame the Russians, they should really be blaming Koopa Kingdom. And we're proud to accept that blame, because all we did was spread the truth. When people know the truth, they will make the right decisions.


        Do you agree or disagree about KoopaTV's choices? Let KoopaTV know in the comments section! Perhaps you could even go through all of the categories and pick your favourite nominees from each for your own personal comments-section ceremony. KoopaTV's staff would love to read that. Stick with KoopaTV throughout the year, and you may be able to pick up on what the staff prefers as the articles go on. 2017 will feature a new console release, which is guaranteed to shake up these awards!


        For 2015's awards, click here!
        The Paper Mario: Color Splash review has finally been written, five months after this!
        Click here for 2017's awards, which are even more contentious.

        16 comments :

        1. If there was a Comment of the Year category, I have a feeling I'd won with this. http://www.koopatv.org/2016/09/porting-wii-u-games-to-3ds.html?showComment=1473039234696#c4977802121145092449

          I haven't played Spirit of Justice yet because I'm in the middle of Dual Destinies, but I'm greatly looking forward to it.

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