KoopaTV's 2018 GOTY Awards!

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

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

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

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

Videogame-related Awards for 2018

Best PC Game

There were not any games published by KoopaTV in 2018, so without an obvious choice (because obviously our games are better than anything else on the market—and free), we have given the Best PC Game of 2018 award to Monster Hunter: World!

Monster Hunter: World was a major release from the beginning of 2018, and then it got refined later for a PC release in the second half of 2018 for PC optimisation. We see Wendy playing it often in our Discord channel. It's a super best-seller and it's worth it.

Best 3DS Game

Will the Nintendo 3DS have a category next year? You might notice we took out the Wii U category, so don't think we're afraid to remove games. Well, anyway, we gave the winner of Best 3DS Game of 2018 to WarioWare Gold. I didn't actually buy it or anything, but the WarioWare Gold demo was quite enjoyable. Best demo of 2018.

Plus, it brings Ashley's theme back. And, well, since Ashley isn't a playable character in the next category's winner, she has to settle for this appearance—she's obviously bored of being there, but it still beats the rest of 2018 on the 3DS:

Best Nintendo Switch Game

It wasn't unanimous, but the end result shouldn't be surprising: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the Best Nintendo Switch Game of 2018. Far above the mere expanded port it could've been. The game already makes its predecessor, Super Smash Bros. 4, a very distant memory that no one wants to come back to. And it's full of content that we are having as much of a blast playing now as we did in its opening weekend. (Happy one-month anniversary!) And we're looking forward to playing it for years to come. The gameplay is significantly improved and the physics engine is probably the best in the series.

Best New Character

I didn't expect this coming in, but it turns out that KoopaTV has decided to give the Best New Character of 2018 award to Yoku, from Yoku's Island Express! I mean, Yoku is cuter than Yoshi:

Congratulations, Yoku! (And to developer Villa Gorilla.)

Maybe I should try and get a review copy of the game. Or just... buy it. ...Or perhaps just look at Yoku being cute and consider that the pinnacle of his influence on KoopaTV.

Best OST

The Best OST of 2018 comes from Kirby Star Allies! Yes. While the other soundtracks nominated are great in their own right, Kirby Star Allies has made fantastic efforts with paying tribute to beloved and universally-great Kirby game music, while advancing original music. Really, the year's Kirby game is always a serious competitor for Best OST.

Why Kirby Star Allies over Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a game that has a lot of Kirby music in it already, along with hundreds of other songs? Well, I'll provide this one example. There is a song from Kirby Star Allies in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, being the boss music. It was ported from the game. That same song was actually already remixed (in a superior way) within Kirby Star Allies thanks to its free DLC.
 

Kirby Star Allies has an amazing accomplishment in that its sizable volume, there aren't any duds. While the soundtrack of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is four times larger, many of its songs are ported, and not every remix or ported song makes sense being in the game to begin with. “Everyone is here” applied to music, just like it is applied to characters, means you have unwelcome guests. Plus, the OST is very, very poorly implemented in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. My Music is a disaster. You can spend hours customising the settings for all of the 100+ stages, and then you'll have to go back and repeat that exercise after you actually unlock the songs. Those aren't hours that should be used for that purpose.

Game of THAT Year

The games eligible for Game of THAT Year 2018 are Monster Hunter: World, WarioWare Gold, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Yoku's Island Express, and Kirby Star Allies. This was actually the least controversial category of the entire exercise: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is 2018's Game of THAT Year! Congratulations to Masahiro Sakurai and his team yet again. You may remember that they also won 2014's Game of THAT Year for Super Smash Bros. For Wii U.

KoopaTV-related awards for 2018

Best KoopaTV Guest Article Contributor/Best Guest Commentary Article

I'm not very impressed by the fact that we got a total of three guest commentary articles in the whole 2018. You guys are supposed to do my work for me. You know that it helps big-league with the KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program, right? Realising that, and having a decent point, we have this guest article Reviews in Review: Get Rid of the Number Score? by Little Fruini. It's a philosophy that I've been following the whole time, in terms of the flaws of modern—and quite frankly, ancient—reviews. It's articulated nicely, too, so good job to Little Fruini. Hope we see you in 2019. ...And more than once.

Best KoopaTV Review

Coming off of a guest article about reviews, which was the best review of 2018 from KoopaTV? There's little doubt that it was my Kirby Star Allies Review — Complete Version article. It was the one full review all year of a full game that went into a lot of depth and covered everything non-spoilery about Kirby Star Allies that you need to know (and more) to figure out if it's worth the purchase price for you. It might have also foreshadowed Kirby Star Allies winning Best OST of 2018. It's a top-quality read for anyone who has played Kirby Star Allies and wants to read an interesting take on it, or for anyone who is interested in purchasing it but doesn't yet know if they should. (You should try the Kirby Star Allies demo for yourself either way.)

Best KoopaTV Reaction Log

For Best KoopaTV Reaction Log of 2018, we selected the article that called itself the most important Direct ever, KoopaTV's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate November Direct Live Reactions. This was the best reaction log of the year due to the attendance of all of the staff members, all undergoing their own sideplots. It was also the most impactful Direct of the year, since it directly resulted in Wendy O. Koopa buying her own Nintendo Switch! Anyway, great reaction log from our part, with great content from Nintendo's part.

Best KoopaTV Artistic Corner Contribution

I hope this doesn't cause a small controversy, but the winner of this year's Best KoopaTV Artistic Corner Contribution wasn't even in the Artistic Corner category. It's KoopaTV Turns Ripe: Five-Year Bananniversary! Our Bananniversary had staff-wide contribution from the staffers who were all alive at the time, and was important and notable from both a KoopaTV perspective, as well as an artistic one. You had things from banana recipes to international banana trade discussion, all woven rather brilliantly.

If the article didn't also discuss our transition from a gaming commentary website to a gaming commentary story, along with explaining our more-yellow colour scheme than before, it would've been classified as Artistic Corner instead of KoopaTV. That said, I hope you all have noticed the story part for KoopaTV, more than before. If not, maybe it'll become more clear in the next article category.

Best KoopaTV Enlightenment Movement Article

The Enlightenment Movement — an article category all about discussing the very real truths and realities surrounding the evils of Mario and his many associates — had its most popular year in KoopaTV history, with eleven articles. Now that is proving ourselves to be a story — much more than just a website. Our winner for the Best KoopaTV Enlightenment Movement Article of 2018 is New Years Celebration in New Donk City!

This article, from the very beginning of 2018, references a vast array of articles that you may have thought were one-offs, never to be referenced again. No, instead, we supplied those 2016–2017 articles to build up for this moment. (And built off this article for the ultimate conclusion about what happened to our staffer, Vortexica... though we didn't know it'd end the way it did ahead of time.) It's the story of what happens when Vortexica made a deal with the Crazy Cap retail chain for 2017's big hit and electoral endorsement video, New Donk, New Donk. (And winner of Best Artistic Corner Contribution of 2017.)

The Crazy Cap group grew too powerful and took over New Donk and its New Year's celebration after Pauline's re-election... and things don't go well for the world. Or Vortexica. Or the United Kingdom, in the end.

New Years Celebration in New Donk City proves the point that if you're just coming to KoopaTV to read just one random article and you make your impression of this story based off that, you're doing it very wrong. Just like you shouldn't just read one page of a random book to get an impression of the book. It all builds and cascades. Such is the flow of KoopaTV.

Best KoopaTV Game Stream Experience

The Game Stream category just very recently came into existence on KoopaTV, as some of our staff members (not me) are getting more into streaming games and streaming them consistently, sometimes wanting to share with you all. This time, the Best KoopaTV Game Stream Experience of 2018 is Wendy is Live-Streaming A Hat In Time: Seal the Deal Right Now. While it's no longer happening right now, that stream of A Hat In Time is worth your time to watch. Wendy even incorporated KoopaTV into an in-game text field slot, to positive results.

Plus, “egg.” And the famous elevator moment.

Best KoopaTV General Article

Sometimes KoopaTV publishes content that doesn't directly relate to gaming. So we call it General. Sometimes there are allusions to something related games, because, hey, we like to make metaphors and gaming is our reference pool for things. However, in this case, I refrain from any gaming metaphors and go right to it with the Best KoopaTV General Article of 2018: Is Sierra Leone A Shithole? The Great People There! I addressed President Donald John Trump's “shithole countries” remark (that he allegedly made but we treat it as true since he didn't really deny it) regarding countries in Africa, including Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone is important to KoopaTV since our Earth-based headquarters is over there, so believe me, I wasn't happy when I heard what he reportedly remarked. So I let him have it. And it looks like the other KoopaTV staffers agreed that it's worthy of an award. Well, alright, I'll take it. Thanks. Moving on...

Best KoopaTV Gaming Commentary Article

The Gaming Commentary category is KoopaTV's (gluten-free) bread-and-butter. Most of our articles in a year come from this category, so it's highly competitive. Given that, it's only fitting that the winner of this year's Best KoopaTV Gaming Commentary Article of 2018 is about a highly competitive event. Congratulations to Super Smash Bros. at EVO 2018: A Mysterious Destiny!

This article was about the many events that transpired during EVO 2018, a prestigious fighting game tournament. In particular, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U and its Bayonetta-influenced grand finals match, filled with time-stalling and silliness. My take is the best take on the whole Internet, given that it examines how completely in-character the whole thing was for Bayonetta players, as well as the many references throughout the article to the lyrical songs from the Bayonetta games that sweeten and authenticate the whole piece. Plus, there's some side stories included, like Plup's health. Wholesome thing that isn't a total rant on my part.

And if you don't know what happened, I took the time in the article to explain everything for you, and why it's relevant.

Best KoopaTV Article Series

I was clearly outvoted on this one, but it's my job to present everything with a smile, so the Best KoopaTV Article Series of 2018 was “Rawk publishes six articles in a row.” 

For background, in the month of November, we instituted a new publishing schedule where KoopaTV staffers would each have a dedicated day and they'd publish something. Rawk's day was Tuesday. Tuesday didn't get any articles published. In other words, Rawk didn't participate. Big fail there, and I called him out in the newsletter published on Monday, December 3.

In response to that, Rawk dominated the rest of the week in a highly prolific fashion, all in the name of irony...

1. December 4: Massive Melee Mythra is a Marvelous Meta Miracle
2. December 4: Mii
3. December 4: Insight into the World of Light; What Happened to Wendy and for Whom Does She Fight?
4. December 5: MONADO EXPOUND!
5. December 7: KoopaTV's Live Reactions to The Game Awards 2018
6. December 7:A Smashily-Smashy Smash Bros. Retrospective

(Nothing was published on December 6.)

Technically, I feel like the whole thing was done to spite me, but I'm also a little happy that Rawk's name is on The Game Awards and not me. That's such an inferior event compared to KoopaTV's Game of THAT Year Awards. Anyway, being pointlessly prolific in the name of irony is a very KoopaTV thing to do, so props to Rawk.

Best KoopaTV Article

All of the article winners are now competing to be crowned the Best KoopaTV Article of 2018. And the winner?

Give a round of applause for KoopaTV Turns Ripe: Five-Year Bananniversary! The staff naturally all agreed to this article, probably because everyone has really fond memories working on it. Hope you have fond memories reading it... and if not, go make those memories right now!

Alright, this section started with highlighting you guys (in the readership) and your contributions to the site. Now I'll end with the best and worst comments of the year. Without commentary on my part. You guys can speak for yourselves.

Best KoopaTV Comment

“All I learned is all politicians hate families with children even if they say they are for families. My daughter has not adjusted yet to the new times and her body still operates as if it was still an hour later. She gets cranky an hour earlier which is a sign she is tired and she still wakes up an hour earlier meaning her parents have to get up earlier too.” — ShinyGirafarig

Worst KoopaTV Comment

“I said I liked the article, At least I actually came to read these old articles,Roleplayer and I'm not actually into Minecraft like you said on your match review crap, I'm into Fortnite and better gamez” — SonnyTMG//TheMinecraftGamer

Winners Reference List of 2018

Best PC Game

Monster Hunter: World

Best 3DS Game

WarioWare Gold

Best Nintendo Switch Game

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Best New Character

Yoku from Yoku's Island Express

Best OST

Kirby Star Allies

Game of THAT Year

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Best KoopaTV Guest Article Contributor/Best Guest Commentary Article

Reviews in Review: Get Rid of the Number Score? by Little Fruini

Best KoopaTV Review

Kirby Star Allies Review — Complete Version

Best KoopaTV Reaction Log

KoopaTV's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate November Direct Live Reactions

Best KoopaTV Artistic Corner Contribution

KoopaTV Turns Ripe: Five-Year Bananniversary!

Best KoopaTV Enlightenment Movement Article

New Years Celebration in New Donk City

Best KoopaTV Game Stream Experience

Wendy is Live-Streaming A Hat In Time: Seal the Deal Right Now

Best KoopaTV General Article

Is Sierra Leone A Shithole? The Great People There!

Best KoopaTV Gaming Commentary Article

Super Smash Bros. at EVO 2018: A Mysterious Destiny

Best KoopaTV Article Series

Rawk publishes six articles in a row

Best KoopaTV Article

KoopaTV Turns Ripe: Five-Year Bananniversary!

This article represents the best of gaming and KoopaTV (the best gaming story) in 2018. That makes this article a phenomenal source for locating and reveling in excellence, so feel free to benefit from the high concentration of awesome in this article and share it with your friends!


The KoopaTV 2017 GOTY Awards are over here.
Find KoopaTV's 2019 GOTY nominations here.
More importantly, find KoopaTV's 2019 GOTY Awards here. Much of the format is plagiarised from 2018.