From Riches to Rags…to Riches Again: The Nintendo 3DS Price Drop

RawkHawk2010
October 30^th, 2012

EC3020

Beil

From Riches to Rags…to Riches Again: The Nintendo 3DS Price Drop

Nintendo, a video-game distributer, has (usually) always done a spot-on job at analyzing its market and pricing products accordingly. After all, it is unanimously agreed upon that when the video-game crash of 1983 took its toll on the industry (almost irreparably so), Nintendo was its saving grace. Their first video-game console, the Nintendo Entertainment System, was marketed in a way that made it appear more “accessible” than consoles of the past. Nintendo also addressed the problem of terrible, half-finished software sullying the market by taking measures to approve developers’ game beforehand. Over the years the company has continued to be successful, but a lack of foresight with its latest portable system, the Nintendo 3DS, caused Nintendo to suffer their first ever annual loss. This resulted in massive reevaluation (and with it, price fluctuation) in ways that had never before been seen with the company.

The Nintendo 3DS was released in March 2011 for $250. Nintendo priced it at this amount based on excitement from fans (which was indeed quite high), but failed to properly communicate the product to those that were less knowledgeable and loyal. Many potential consumers thought it was simply a Nintendo DS (the 3DS’s predecessor) with 3D capabilities, as opposed to an entirely new piece of hardware. Nintendo was also purposely “conservative” with the games they themselves developed for launch, as they wanted to create a level playing field for third-parties so that they too could become successful and familiar with the system. However, third-parties were unsure of the system’s prospects and were “conservative” as well. These two reasons combined with the recession meant for an overly-expensive, poorly-communicated game system with a not-so-great library of games. By September of that year, the price of the Nintendo 3DS was cut by a whopping $80. Nintendo then began releasing their stable of “desired” games (the ones held back from launch to appease third parties), and voila! By Christmas of that year, the Nintendo 3DS had momentum at last.

Associated with the Nintendo 3DS’s release is a significant substitution effect. Because some customers believed the 3DS was either too expensive or that it was only a marginal improvement, many opted to simply purchase the original Nintendo DS instead. The Nintendo DS thus became a substitute for the Nintendo 3DS. Concerning the income effect, few consumers had enough income to consider the system desirable until after the price-drop. Obviously there is little demand for someone to own multiples of the same video-game console, so while the price-drop didn’t increase the quantity demanded for a single consumer, it did increase the number of games and accessories that were bought in tandem.

The indifferent curve/budget constraint and demand graphs can be represented as the following:

1.

(The overall effect of the change in price of the 3DS is the sum of the substitution and the income effects.)

2.

The price at $250 resulted in a supply over equilibrium and a demand below it. The price at $170 resulted in a supply and demand at (or near) equilibrium. Therefore, the market is clear and the consumer surplus increases.

A price of $250 was simply too much to ask for a portable video-game console that wasn’t optimally communicated or equipped with the desired library of games upon launch, despite the wave of excitement that followed its announcement. People showed they would get their entertainment in other ways, notably by settling for the aging Nintendo DS rather than over-spending for the brand new hardware. That was the substitution effect in its full splendor. Months later, the income effect came into play when its price was cut and people actually bought it. The Nintendo 3DS is a key example of how a price can make or break a product, a lesson hopefully learned by not just Nintendo, but companies everywhere.

Editor's note: This is Rawk's C-grade college paper on the Nintendo 3DS price cut that Ludwig parenthetically mentioned in the Nintendo Labo article a few days ago. The two graphs at the bottom of the paper were hand-drawn by Rawk prior to submitting the assignment, and have been lost to time. As a substitution effect, he put in videos featuring Nintendo President Reggie Fils-Aime. Rawk's original understanding of the micro/macro-economic principles at play with the 3DS price cut don't follow conventional economic logic, hence his C-grade.


Ludwig once did an assignment for Rawk for college (a sonnet for Masahiro Sakurai), but he dropped out before he got a grade on it.

Play The Wonderful 1237 Negative Ad Soundboard!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Miss negative ads on TV and radio? Make your own!

Right now, the United States of America just completed its 2018 mid-terms election cycle, and is heading into the 2020 presidential election cycle. Nothing is happening in terms of political ad-buying and commercials.

During those election cycles, there was a trend of candidates not creating positive advertisements for themselves — explaining their policy positions and how those would help the lives of the constituents they're trying to court — but creating negative advertisements to attack the character and record of their opponents, often inaccurately or misleadingly. For examples, see this playlist of negative advertisements made by the Republican Governors Association. There isn't a clean playlist made by the Democratic Governors Association, but you can start here.

People who actually make their voting decisions based on these kinds of advertisements are not engaging in critical thinking, but they're apparently effective. I think they're worthy of parody, so I took our 2016 videogame, The Wonderful 1237, which is a humourous simulator of the 2015–2016 Republican presidential primaries, and converted it into a negative advertisement soundboard.

Enjoy on your Flash-enabled browser:

(Additions and features and commentary below.)

The Nintendo Labo Robot Kit's Sneaky Price Cut

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - There's something weird going on with the Labo. Weird by Labo standards.

According to the Wayback Machine, the Nintendo Labo Robot Kit's Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price was reduced from $80 to $60 between October 22 and October 29, 2018. This isn't a sale. It appears to be a permanent price cut that remains to this day, reflected in all the retail outlets.

But you don't hear about it in the mainstream gaming media, or even in Nintendo's press releases. The only Labo-related bit of news during that time period is a feel-good story about Nintendo distributing free Nintendo Labo Variety Kits (and Variety Kits only, not the others) to the Institute of Play, where they'll be redistributed to elementary schools similarly to Minecraft for education.

At first glance, it appears that the Robot Kit got a $20 permanent (?) price cut because it doesn't have an award on its box.

Now Nintendo is trumpeting a bunch of awards. The Variety Kit made it to the Toys, Tots, Pets & More's Arts, Crafts, & Activities list of most wanted toys in 2018. The Toy Insider put the Vehicle Kit on the top 10 STEM toys, in the top 4 for ages 6–8. The awards continue, with the frauds at TIME Magazine rating the Nintendo Labo one of the best inventions of 2018. I disagree with that.

No one wants to give the Robot Kit an award (and I don't blame them), so I guess that's why it got a price cut that absolutely no one talked about. Usually, Nintendo creates press releases just to talk about price cuts, such as when the Nintendo 3DS went from $250 to $180. We all know that happened not because Nintendo is nice, but because that $250 was priced way too high for the market and the 3DS was failing as a result. (It was such a famous price cut that back when KoopaTV staffer RawkHawk2010 was in college taking Intro to Macroeconomics, he used the 3DS price cut as the basis for his project on supply & demand. He got a C.) Same thing with a Wii U Deluxe price cut (remember when the Wii U released at two different price points?) and individual permanent game price reductions.

Is the Nintendo Labo that toxic and knowingly dangerous that they refused to mention the Robot Kit's 25% price reduction?

Kwanzaa is Cultural Appropriation

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Kwanzaa should bother you. Here's some food for thought.

Have you ever heard of Kwanzaa? It is a holiday that starts today. I have a lot of problems with it.

I (and the rest of the KoopaTV staff) recently came back from our quarterly meeting taking place at our Sierra Leone headquarters. If you're geography-challenged, Sierra Leone is a great, small country in West Africa.

Those two paragraphs have a lot to do with one another, so let me explain what Kwanzaa is, what I take issue with, and how my experience having our headquarters in Sierra Leone influences my perspective.

Kwanzaa Basics

Kwanzaa was started by controversial American Black Power activist Maulana Karenga, a guy who is still alive since he was born in 1941. When he was born, his name was Ronald Everett. He invented Kwanzaa as an alternative to Christmas during the Civil Rights era, in 1966. (Then he got arrested for domestic violence/torture five years later and went to prison, but hey, that's off-topic.)

Every year, Kwanzaa begins the day after Christmas on December 26, and lasts for seven days until January 2. Kwanzaa has seven different principles — Unity, Self-Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity, and Faith.

Kwanzaa days are celebrated by lighting candles on the seven-pronged Kinara. Then families discuss the day's principle in I assume is an unscripted dialogue.

Ludwig's Order of Unlocks in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Random? Not random? Let's see. Either way, marvel at me!

As much as I would've liked it, the idea that you could use amiibo to instantly unlock characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was FAKE NEWS.

Therefore, you're going to have to unlock over 60 characters legitimately through fighting them, since you begin with only Mario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Kirby, Link, Pikachu, Fox, and Samus. I know that my mains aren't in that batch of characters, so unlocking is very necessary for me. But how are characters unlocked in this game? It appears by completing VS. Mode matches, Classic Mode outings, playing the Spirit Board... basically doing anything where you pick one character from the selection menu and do one fight. (But not online play, or something like Squad Strike.)

From what the staff has shared amongst one another, and from what I've been reading from others, the process first appeared to be semi-random but people came up with a flowchart I haven't looked at since it makes me feel bad for writing this as content. I figure it would at least be somewhat educational and informative (and hopefully interesting) if I document my unlock order for you, and under what circumstances.

You can note the date I unlock things, and you can figure out which characters I used in my first weekend against the other staffers.

Unlocks with pictures are characters I'll play as. As of July 21, fixed incompetent list item HTML to make the list render correctly.

Holiday Season: Family or Friends? A Splatfest

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - A... “Frosty Fest”? Mind if I don't refer to it as that?

We just had a Splatfest article two weeks ago, I know. Blame Nintendo for this. Don't worry, I'll make this brief.

In almost two weeks from now (the entire weekend of January 4–6, 2019... yeah, it's a 48-hour Splatfest), Inkopolis Square residents will fight about who they want to spend their holidays with. It's taking place after the holidays so people won't have to remember what they did last year — they can use very recent memory to make their decision!

“Who do you get most excited to spend the holidays with? Your family or your friends?”

This is the conversation that went on in the KoopaTV private Discord between Rawk and I when I was trying to decide which team to be on. It's a pretty good summary of the whole situation:

Giving UPS A Second Chance To Give Sennheiser Headset A Second Chance

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - As you'll read, their shipping practices may have improved, but their cardboard boxes? Dangerous.

Ever since my famous article a year ago chronicling my experience with the shipping company UPS and how they kept my amiibo hostage, I've been trying to avoid them both personally and professionally. Especially now during the November–December holiday season when they hire a bunch of clueless temporary employees—which was apparently the cause of the problem I had a year ago.

Unfortunately, bad timing struck me. I didn't mention this in another throwback to an article from a year ago, but along with my new (at the time) gaming PC, I also bought myself a Sennheiser GSP 300 gaming headset. It's served me well for the past year, with great-quality audio (and it's relatively effective in shutting off the world around me) and an okay microphone.

Well, the microphone doesn't work anymore, which just makes the headset a bulkier-than-normal set of headphones. Not great if I want to, say, record audio or voice chat with others while gaming. (And believe me, I do want to record audio. Let's just say there's a voice-acting-related project coming up for KoopaTV before 2018 ends.)

The Sennheiser GSP 300 features a 2-year warranty. I decided to use it and ship it to Sennheiser via their service portal. One slight problem: in order to ship to their Connecticut office, they provide people with a UPS shipping label. The fact that shipping will be conducted via UPS is even in their warranty conditions document. What am I going to do?

Saving the World with Kirby! - A Smash Ultimate Stream

By WENDY O. KOOPA - Lazy Streamer

So I did a stream. On Smash Ultimate. I've been thinking of doing this more regularly. I had to think about it for a while and possibly my own goals as well. Expect more stuff from me and not just streams! :D

We could assume that we're jumping right off the stage...

Watch Wendy trying to fumble her way across the World of Light x)

Overall, I had a lot of fun with the stream. I usually do these at least once on the weekends with extra streams during weekdays if I have time. I have plans to finish my offline screen but definitely expect more Smash!

In other content from me, I'm hoping to get some more entries and possibly more art. (I mean, that's what Ludwig hired me for!)

Here's where you can find me:

I stream mainly on Mixer.

But if you find that you don't like Mixer, or you prefer Twitch, don't worry I stream there too!

I also found another streaming service, called dLive! Pretty neat little (on-stream and off-stream) chat and stream all in one! I would try it out!

Don't be pressured to try all or only one. Rest assured, I will be streaming on all three at once!

Please comment as to see what you want to see next after I finish my World of Light run! Any feedback is very much appreciated!


Does this means we get to see more of Wendy in action? Stay tuned to find out!

The CAPCOM Winter Sale, 2018

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - We're going to plug Ace Attorney AND something else!

We didn't even talk about Black Friday or Cyber Monday on KoopaTV this year, because of that bad publishing schedule we had in November because Ace Attorney didn't have a presence in terms of discounting.

I'm happy to announce that from a couple of days ago to pre-noon on January 2, 2019, CAPCOM is hosting their CAPCOM Winter Sale for 2018! And Ace Attorney has big discounts for three of the games on the 3DS:

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice, and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies.

In terms of discounts, the deals are exactly the same as the Ace Attorney Franchise Sale back in October. Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is $9.99 (50% off); Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice is $11.99 (60% off), and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies is $8.99 (70% off).

This time, Ōkami HD is also being discounted at 25% off, or $15 total. I highly recommend it so you can play a real The Legend of Zelda game on the Switch instead of the fake one currently there. (And I'm not even referencing Hyrule Warriors.)

There are a bunch of Monster Hunter games on sale but not Monster Hunter Stories. For that, you'll need to have your birthday in December so it can be a Just For You offer, at a 30% discount.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy on 3DS got snubbed in this CAPCOM sale. Perhaps CAPCOM doesn't want to discount it now, since the trilogy will be released on home consoles in “early 2019.” They're holding the details about that rather closely, but we'll bring you any news whenever it happens. We love Ace Attorney that much.

As for you, don't be like Franziska von Karma and dismiss what is on sale. Buy all of the Ace Attorney games you can at this amazing discount, because you never know if it'll happen again!

“Don't you Americans enjoy doing whatever you like and then simply say, 'Whatever!'?”
Be a better American than what Franziska takes you for. Alternatively, don't be an American at all.

Maybe Ludwig should actually buy some of the Mega Man Legacy Collection games, since he notably hasn't played Mega Man 8, Mega Man 9, Mega Man 10; or any Mega Man X game after X3. He also hasn't bought Mega Man 11 but he has a specific reason for that. Go lobby him in the comments section.


The previous Winter Sale was in... 2016? Where'd 2017 go?
It turns out that CAPCOM would immediately discount Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy after the Winter Sale ended.
CAPCOM declares a CAPCOM Publisher Sale in May 2019.
Here's the CAPCOM Winter Sale of 2019. Ludwig has bought Mega Man 11 by then.

Mario Brutally Murders Petey Piranha (and people still play Mario Tennis Aces online)

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - This brutality is so shocking that even I'm stunned enough to write about it.

Originally I was going to write a light article about how Mario Tennis Aces was nice while it lasted, but now it's completely dead after the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and no one cares about the latest content patch from the end of November (version 2.1.0) — a shame because if you look at the patch notes, you'll see that the update actually overhauled the game.

However, it turns out that the game sold over two million copies, and at least some of those people are still playing it. I found matches in the online tournament mode within 1–3 minutes, including the entire new doubles class tournament from round 1 to final. (Even if it featured what appeared to be one player controlling two characters simultaneously, one per Joy-Con, and that particular player was on both sides of the bracket.)

I also found a match in the single player tournament, which enabled me to unlock Petey Piranha!

Petey Piranha is giggling now, ready to prove his worth on the tennis field in normal non-boss-fight matches.
“You can now use Petey Piranha, who was a participation bonus for the online tournament!”

 
Petey Piranha, after seeing Piranha Plant get a lot of attention in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, wanted to preempt the availability of that DLC with some tennis action. After all, Mario Tennis Aces is designed as a fighting game to help prepare Nintendo Switch players for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, so Petey Piranha is appearing in Mario Tennis Aces to help prepare Nintendo Switch players for a playable Piranha Plant (with a Petey Piranha Final Smash!) in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Makes perfect sense until something truly grotesque occurred.

Discuss: A Year Since the FCC's Net Neutrality Vote

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - KoopaTV was the only site not trying to fearmonger.

I am not big into the whole anniversary thing, and I've supported an article questioning the concept of time itself. That said, a year (and a weekend) is generally enough for people to consider the consequences of an action, and know if it was good or bad, right? I know KoopaTV's audience isn't “generally” but... well, more on that shortly.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States voted a year ago on December 14 to eliminate Title II regulation of Internet Service Providers. KoopaTV supported the action and wrote a long, detailed primer as to why you should support it, too. Pretty much every other gaming site out there, along with nearly every other media outlet, was writing articles and even producing videos and comics (a bit outside my budget) about how you had to “save the Internet” by sending death threats or signing petitions against FCC chairman Ajit Pai and the other FCC members.

KoopaTV, of course, received quite a bit of ridicule from members of the general public who read that article. According to them, we were acting against our own interests. We were supporting the destruction of the Internet. We'll have to pay ISPs to play online games. (No, we're just paying the console manufacturer instead.)

My Nintendo Birthday Offer, 2018

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I didn't take advantage of previous years. How about 2018?

Hot tip: Right now, you can go, without logging into anything, to birthday.nintendo.com and download this delicious Kirby wallpaper in four different sizes, including a mobile-looking vertical one.

(There are also wallpapers for Super Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 2, and
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but this is the only one made especially for birthdays.)

 

As you should know, December is my birth month. Nintendo wants to make people feel like they care about your life, so when you register for a My Nintendo account, they take information like your birthday (which they ask for to see if you're an underaged child) and then sometimes use that information to personalise communications to you. That said, how personalised was this e-mail they sent to me?

Kirby Star Allies Review — Complete Version

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The allies may be stars, but is Kirby Star Allies a shining star of the system?

We made a fairly big deal about the release of Kirby Star Allies when it released for the Nintendo Switch back in March of this year. Since then, Kirby Star Allies has had three substantive updates, adding new game modes, experiences, and content.

I think it's now worth writing a full review of the entire Kirby Star Allies game experience, since I initially refused to write a review until the game was actually complete.

Between the game's release and now, I've accumulated over 105 hours in the game, and have 100% completed everything (100%'ed Story Mode, gone through all the characters in Guest Star mode, all the hearts in Heroes in Another Dimension, completed all of the puzzles in the gallery) with the exception of the very final difficulty mode in The Ultimate Choice. I've gotten... close! But I don't feel that finishing that would impact the rest of this review.

My review won't have spoilers in it, but I also count anything in Nintendo's marketing materials as not a spoiler. Be careful of that. 

The title screen of Kirby Star Allies on its final version: 4.0.0. I'll be reviewing this version for you.

Fast Facts

Name

Kirby Star Allies

Console

Nintendo Switch

Publisher/Developer

Published by Nintendo

Developed by HAL Laboratory

Genre

Action Platformer

Space Required

3.9 GB via game download

1.0 GB via physical game with updates

ESRB rating

E10+, featuring cartoon violence

Number of Players

Minimum of one, supports co-operative play of up to four players. Local multiplayer only

Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price

59.99 USD

Demo?

Demo available on the eShop with two levels. Read a write-up of that here.

How Nintendo Labo Is (Almost Literally) A Trainwreck

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - And you thought the Labo would stick to cars, planes, and submarines?

At the end of December 2017, Kamek wrote (yeah, Kamek wrote) about why Amtrak should not exist, providing KoopaTV an expansion of our transportation philosophies by describing trains as one of the worst modes of transportation out there.

Afterwards, the Nintendo Labo decided to test our transportation ideals by announcing the Nintendo Labo: Vehicle Kit. We immediately geared up for war. Things were quiet afterwards... even after the Nintendo Labo: Vehicle Kit hit store shelves. It was really a stealth launch.

Don't mistake quiet for benign, however. Just recently, days following the great American tradition of Thanksgiving, an Amtrak train stopped right after leaving the station. ...It not only stopped, but it was stuck. For six hours.

To be specific, it was an Acela Express going from New York's Penn Station (around 9:40 AM) to Massachusetts's South Station. Amtrak markets the Acela Express as:

Heroes vs. Villains: The Ultimate Splatfest

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - It's about the very questions of morality this whole site is about.

Is it okay if I take some time off discussing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? Alright, let's go back to talking about Splatoon 2. In fact, there's a Splatfest happening this very weekend! Always a popular topic. Alright, what's the subject?

...Oh, the Splatfest is about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Yesterday's article is all I really want to talk about for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in the near future. For now, let's talk about Heroes vs. Villains.

More specifically, let's make this really clear up front. This is KoopaTV. Team Villains literally is fronted by King Bowser. Regardless of how right or wrong it is that Lord Bowser is defined as a villain, he's KoopaTV's primary focus. We must stand by him. There's really no debate about that.

But KoopaTV is all about arguments and debates and opinions, so I guess I gotta present something to you. Allow me to weigh the legitimacy of Off the Hook's arguments, and clue you in about who is likely to win.

First Weekend Thoughts On Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - That was a fun KoopaTV staff meeting!

As we've been alluding to for some time now, KoopaTV just concluded a big staff meeting at our Sierra Leone headquarters. We all got together and discussed the site's future and progress, including what to do with our publishing schedule.

We also played a lot of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and ate a lot of chips with salsa. (But not homemade salsa donated by our readers. Store-bought's still pretty good, even in Sierra Leone.) Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a game our whole staff was looking forward to.

I have a lot of things to share about my thoughts, so I'm going to tell you what's on my mind. I'm also giving the opportunity for the other staff members to do the same!

Ludwig's Thoughts

First of all, in case you're wondering about the result of our play, I'm the best Super Smash Bros. player on the staff. It's not even close.

I've only played VS mode, Online, and Classic Mode as of writing. Yeah, I'm going to save Spirits for another time, but it's obvious that the game's in-game prizes and stuff revolve around Spirits. Spirits look to be Trophies, Stickers, and Equipment all put into one collectible.

The game feels incredible to play. It's very smooth. After I unlocked King Bowser (I have a whole article dedicated to my unlocked characters that I'll publish after I actually unlock all the characters), the universal 3-frame jump squat (which, in normal words, means “how much time passes between when the character prepares to jump and when the character is off the ground”) is a huge improvement for my dad, and he feels much faster and better. His work-outs from Wii Fit Trainer for Super Smash Bros. 4 have intensified for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and he's so flexible for someone with a giant shell!

A Smashily-Smashy Smash Bros. Retrospective

By RAWKHAWK2010 - Final article of the week, I wring thee forth.

Unlike with the fourth one, I can say I'm really feeling Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. I complained for years that Smash 4's myriad of assets had no actual application in terms of single-player content ('tis a similar complaint I have with Mario Kart 8), and it looks like Ultimate will be addressing that concern thoroughly.

To celebrate the game's release I thought hey, why not look back on the series from perspectives relevant to fellow staffers and my interactions with them over the years? (Sound güd? Sounds güd!)

KoopaTV's Live Reactions to The Game Awards 2018

By RAWKHAWK2010 - Brought to you... GLOBALLY! Around the WORLD!

#TheGameAwards are almost here! Make sure you tune in tomorrow night at 5:30pm PT to watch it all live before the launch of Super #SmashBrosUltimate!https://t.co/gZdCzcdHch pic.twitter.com/43AAaq3ybj

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) December 5, 2018

We are joined today by Ludwig, Kamek, Witch, friendly-neighborhood non-staffer Ryudragon, and myself. (Wendy's not dead but was eating dinner or something.) Nintendo hyped The Game Awards 2018, and I got almost all of the staff to watch the whole thing even though I was the only one who wanted to. (Ryu did too, if only for Metroid, which you'll have to read the log to see if that happened.)

Surely there are some great announcements here, right? We bring you our full reaction log to The Game Awards 2018, hosted by Geoff Keighley, and guest-starring Donald Mustard. Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to host it the night before the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate?

MONADO EXPOUND!

By RAWKHAWK2010 - Might as well give the influencer their due.

If you've been paying attention over the course of the past...half-week, you will have noticed that Day 1 was Ludwig being uncertain about KoopaTV's future via the November 2018 newsletter and Day 2 was me publishing three articles in one day without telling anyone. You could say December 4th was a prolific day in KoopaTV history. Someone in the newsletter comments thought it was because I felt guilty for not publishing anything on three "Rawk Tuesdays" in a row (and that I had actually written all three in a little over 12 hours as if I was even capable of doing that), but naaaaaaaaah. Here's what I commented in response:

Massive Melee Mythra is a Marvelous Meta Miracle

By RAWKHAWK2010 - MMMHMMM.

I never did write that article about Xenoblade Chronicles 2. ...Sorry to keep you waiting?

Mythra sent shockwaves across the internet last week after a picture of her Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Spirit was leaked wearing leggings. It's understandable. Images directly datamined from the game apparently have this awful dark contrast to them (apparently the engine itself has to come in and "correct" the lighting) which literally made it look like Mythra's legs were colored in with the Microsoft Paint fill tool. So yeah at first it kinda just looked...well, not great. We saw it in better quality later, but there were still many arguments against it to be had. Did it really do the Aegis of Light any good to lose her leg game? Would white leggings have been more appropriate as to not diminish her color contrast with the opposing Aegis (who also happens to be the best-voiced Nintendo villain of all time)? Was "Leggings Mythra" something that made any sense at all?

In Malos's voice: You. Tell. Me.
(Also the cleavage window is missing.)

Insight into the World of Light; What Happened to Wendy and for Whom Does She Fight?

By RAWKHAWK2010 - I... I'm seeing something!

If Shulk had cared more about Wendy O. Koopa during his World of Light omnicide Vision, then the above is what he would have seen. Wendy, who wasn't present onsite, would have been seen at home playing MapleStory 2. I know because *I* saw it and with my own two present-day eyes. Plus that would have been a good guess to make anyways.

Unfortunately, what happens to Wendy at the end is kinda sorta officially her fault. Yes, there's almost no chance she could have escaped regardless when not even Bayonetta or Palutena could (and for reasons (allegedly) put forth by Sakurai that I still can't comprehend), but we'll never be 100% sure because of how impressively-focused Wendy was on things that weren't the pressing matters and the signs that pointed to them. The sky was unusually bright. Bowser hadn't been home in days! But Wendy's priorities still laid elsewhere.

Mii

By RAWKHAWK2010 - Yeah, those.

After suddenly remembering Mii can be made on the Switch (no joke, for months I thought Mii Maker was retired and that the Mii in people's Switch avatars had either come across on amiibo or were just already affiliated with the Nintendo Accounts in question. Don't ask me how I expected Switch-only owners to acquire one.), I recently began drafting a Mii Fighter army for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. I've had a pretty good time, and with only three days 'til release I figured I'd show some of them off.

Now then, less words and more pictures!

Kasandra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2

KoopaTV's November 2018 Review Newsletter

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The newsletter that's the most review-iest of all-time newsletters.

As much as I like treats, I don't like tricks, so I'm not going to sugarcoat this newsletter by acting like our November 2018 was as good as it could be.

November 2018 was defined by KoopaTV's new publishing schedule that began on November 12. Let's get right into what happened.

Ludwig May Have A Green Shell But He Knows How To Change Direction

Since Monday November 12, each of the five KoopaTV staffers were given a weekday to publish something. That was three full weeks in November, so there should have been 15 articles. What happened?

• Kamek (Monday) — 1 article
• RawkHawk2010 (Tuesday) — 0 articles
• Wendy O. Koopa (Wednesday) — 0 articles
• Ludwig Von Koopa (Thursday) — 3 articles
• Witch Princess (Friday) — 2 articles

Six out of fifteen isn't good. 40%!

Back when former KoopaTV staffer Vortexica was still alive (rest in peace), he had a saying that as long as he did more in a year than Kamek, he felt he was doing his work as a staffer. That's a cheeky way of saying that Kamek is a very low bar to pass. (Uh, can we just have all the KoopaTV staffers be productive for your benefit?)

Well, two staffers failed the “Kamek test.” Everyone has their reasons (well, one staffer has no reason) despite everyone agreeing to the schedule. Rather than me blaming the other KoopaTV staff members (although you are all more than welcome to do so in the comments section!) in this newsletter, here's what we're going to do to fix things and finish the year strong in the most anticipated time period for a Nintendo fan since E3 2018.

September 30, 2018 Nintendo Quarterly Financial Update

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Halfway through the fiscal year ending March 2019! (Plus, Kirby Star Allies version 4.0.0!)

To be clear: The data in the financial disclosure is current up to September 30, 2018... but it was released to the public on the last day of October 2018. These things take time to process! (And this article is being published a month later. Hm, we really need to review this KoopaTV new schedule thing.)

Nintendo has revealed their six months financial results for the fiscal year ending March 2019. Here is their financial results presentation.

Take a look at the newly updated sales chart, which has an omission on Nintendo's part that I'm particularly proud of:

Witch Princess and the Potion

By WITCH PRINCESS - I had work to do, so you're welcome!

Well, today marks my first day of publishing short stories each week on Friday. As I said before, I should have enough time in between to come up with new ideas, because I'm that creative.

Without further ado, I present to you Witch Princess and the Potion, which stars only me. Don't worry, fellow staffers! Next week will be your time to shine! I mean, is Ludwig's story from Rio de Janeiro the only one on here so far?

...Enough of the questions! Let's begin!

All Finals Division Picks: GameFAQs Character Battle X

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The rest of the tournament. In one article.

Starting on the night of Monday the 26th of November, the GameFAQs Character Battle X contest — a massive Internet popularity contest for the best character in videogames — will be entering its second and final phase: The Finals Division.

(Vote here when it starts, as well as all the days after!)

(Catch up on all prior and current coverage of the Character Battle X on KoopaTV with our index, including the original 128-character bracket!) 

Quite frankly, the schedule from here on out is a bit of a confusing jumbled mess. The main bracket had 128 characters, and in the Divisional Finals, it went from 16 to 8. Those 8 winners of the main bracket are now facing 8 historically very strong characters (Character Battle X means there have been 9 previous character battles, so we know who is very popular already) — Link, Mega Man, Cloud Strife, Crono, Solid Snake, Sonic the Hedgehog, Samus Aran, and that awful plumber Mario.

Because there is now a Loser Bracket (double-elimination), the bracket will be a lot longer than what it would otherwise be. Some days will have two matches. Some days will have one. Because it would be a nuisance to have my weekly Thursday article keep covering this contest (I have other things I want to write about before the year ends, you know), I'm just going to put everything into this article. You can give me THANKS for that.

Therefore, anticipate this article to be continually updated between now and December 14. I've already created headings for the different sections of the Final Division that matches the GameFAQs schedule. (All matches start one calendar day before what GameFAQs says, unless you don't live in the Western hemisphere.)

KoopaTV Presents: Witch Princess's Short Stories!

By WITCH PRINCESS - Surprised? Stories brought to you by me!

How in the world am I supposed to adjust to this new schedule? I guess it's for the best. It is I, The Witch Princess! I've decided to give you all more content! One article is unacceptable.

I must say that Vortexica's KoopaTV Adventures was very weird, but charming. I thought I'd show off my writing talents by creating a sort of...successor to that. Believe me, we miss him and his work. We wish he'd come back. However, if he suddenly does, I guess we'll have to figure something out with both of our series.

...Anyway, I was planning on posting a story today, but I hate rushed content with no quality. Sorry, that's just not me. Since these are short stories, a week is all I need to work on them. (Gotta balance my time—I have a job casting spells!)

All of the staff will be in the stories, of course! Enjoy!

You'd better read my stories!~♪

Look forward to the short stories starting next Friday! Oh yeah, maybe Witch made this article too anticlimactic...sorry!


Here's the first short story... Witch Princess and the Potion. Look in the related article section (where you're looking now) of that article to find the second one when it's out!

The Best Chip Dip From A Guy With Teeth Not Made For Crunching Chips: Splatoon 2 Splatfest

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - It's obviously salsa.

Apparently, we need more than one Splatfest about condiments. You may remember the first official Splatoon 2 Splatfest was about Mayonnaise vs. Ketchup. I sided with Ketchup. Ketchup lost.

This time, the Splatfest for this weekend (November 17; I highly recommend participating in it instead of playing, or buying, a Pokémon: Let's Go game) is about Salsa vs. Guacamole, in a battle about which chip dip is superior.

“What's your favorite chip dip? Salsa or guacamole?”

 
Strangely, Pearl is siding with Salsa and Marina is siding with Guacamole. Yet in Mayonnaise vs. Ketchup, Pearl sided with Mayonnaise and Marina sided with Ketchup.

Reminder that Salsa is made from tomatoes. Guacamole is made from avocados. Mayonnaise is made from eggs. And ketchup is also made from tomatoes.

You'd think you'd keep siding with tomatoes for the consistency, but I suppose in terms of consistency, ketchup and salsa are quite... different. Unlike Pearl and Marina, however, I'm sticking with tomato-based condiments and I'm on Team Salsa. Quite frankly, I don't even remember what guacamole tastes like. But I know salsa very well. Because it's the only way I can effectively get something from chips. Observe:

Kamek is Saving the People of New York in Spider-Man PS4!

By KAMEK - We're Live!

As promised. Tonight Kamek is proud to present to you a small adventure into Spider-Man (for PS4).

I've been making personal progress with the game when it comes to story mode. I'll be doing my best to avoid plot and stick to what the game has to offer in terms of the city.

Watch the video on demand here:

Watch Kamek Saves New York from kamekkoopatv on www.twitch.tv


(RIP Stan Lee. And Spider-Man. Multiple times.)




Kamek displaying a rare side of him we don't see often:



Kamek once wrote an article about why Amtrak shouldn't exist and why trains are bad. Well, here's his point being proven:



Kamek will do his best to continue to produce gaming content while compositional pieces such as articles are being worked on!

Round 3 & 4 Picks: GameFAQs Character Battle X

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Once this is done, there will be the Finals Division.

As of publishing, Round 2, Division 7 is still happening in the GameFAQs Character Battle X, which is the GameFAQs semi-frequent popularity contest about who the best videogame character is. (And if you want to know all about Round 2, click here.)

Vote here: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/

The main bracket began with 128 characters, but by the time Round 3 starts, it'll be down to 32 characters. Then for Round 4, it'll be 16 characters — Round 4 is alternatively known as the Divisional Finals.

After that, it's the final stretch of the contest: The Finals Division, where eight of the historically strongest characters battle the eight divisional winners. But that'll be covered in a later article.

Due to the scheduling of the contest (Round 3 has four battles in one day, and Round 4 has two battles per day), I'm grouping Round 3 and Round 4 in one article. That means you should check back to this article once the Divisional Finals happen to read my opinions about who should advance, and who I'm voting for. That's free DLC!

Welcome Piranha Plant and Koopa Paratroopa to the Spotlight!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - You're both looking fantastic in your respective roles.

I wish to continue the themes that I started mere weeks ago about Non-Playable Characters (NPCs). I think that the NPC meme is no longer something that is dominating any narrative or conversation, so KoopaTV's article going after this NPC bashing must have been rhetorically effective. Furthermore, it was proven correct a week ago in two different ways, which I'll write about in this article.

Piranha Plant was announced to be an additional playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Koopa Paratroopa (henceforth mostly referred to as Paratroopa) became a playable character in Mario Tennis Aces. Here are my generous, love-filled thoughts on both of them:

With Nintendo Deciding Smash Ultimate DLC Characters, Will Fortnite Get In?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Reminder of Nintendo's priorities.

Apparently in the past, character selection in the Super Smash Bros. franchise was just up to the series director, Masahiro Sakurai.

I'll get to my thoughts on a certain new character that appeared in the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct at the beginning of the month in a later article (I'm thinking tomorrow), but right now I want to address the five unannounced DLC characters that the Fighters Pass will comprise of:

Only those who are confident in its value should purchase the Fighters Pass.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s DLC line-up is now complete. This time the selection was made entirely by Nintendo. I decide if we can create a fighter based on their selection, then come up with the plan.

— 桜井 政博 (@Sora_Sakurai) November 6, 2018

If Nintendo is calling all the shots for the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC, what do you think Nintendo's decision criteria is? And by Nintendo, think the executive-level team. Well, Nintendo just put out a commercial two weeks ago that should illuminate their thinking: