Ring Fit Adventure Quick Play mode to get your Core Into Shape... Sorta says my Chiropractor?!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - ...Well, the Ring Fit Adventure part is all me.

Along with emotional pain (not to mention events in the Super Smash Bros. community), the month of July has also been one of a lot of physical pain. Specifically in my lower back (back bone), neck, and shoulders. Having a shell complicates a lot of things. Therefore, I started seeing a chiropractor for the first time in my life.

Basically, since I've been so sedentary, my brain kind of stopped sending any activity to my spinal cord, and my body has just been deteriorating, and that causes pain. I'm also a natural stiff, and my muscles aren't relaxed.

Along with doing “adjustments” or “spinal manipulations” (making really loud cracking sounds as my joints are moved in dramatic ways, though it's not painful) via regular visits, the chiropractic doctor says I should regularly be doing exercises in my “core” so my brain remembers it exists again, and then I'll be able to help myself. He suggested consulting YouTube for examples. But I noted I have something better: Ring Fit Adventure!

Going up and down a flagpole is what passes as viral core exercise content right now in the Mushroom Kingdom.
I don't think that's the best approach! (Especially since that evil Mario apparently suggested it.)

By the way, the only reason that I've been so sedentary is because I STOPPED playing Ring Fit Adventure by the end of April 2020 to save the Extra Fitness post-game content for 2021 (the year when the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will actually be held—I'm participating as a member of Team Koopa), and you people should've told me in the comments section that was a bad idea. Instead, that article got zero comments and no feedback, so I've basically undone all of the benefits of months of playing Ring Fit Adventure to get in shape, and ended up worse than when I started.

Rest in Peace, Herman Cain

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Aw, shucky ducky...

I don't know how to really start this off, so let's who-what-where-when-why it.

Former Republican presidential candidate (2011–2012), businessman, and media personality Herman Cain, 74 (born December 13, 1945), died today (July 30, 2020) from the Chinese Communist Party Virus (COVID-19) in an Atlanta hospital, after being hospitalised and diagnosed at the beginning of July 2020. This was less than two weeks after attending President Donald John Trump's rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It's not officially confirmed that rally is where he got the coronavirus, but it did represent a big opportunity to get it.

KoopaTV cares because this website would not exist if it were not for Herman Cain. On a personal level, Herman Cain has been the single most influential figure in my life over the past nine (nine nine) years, serving as a pro-social, pro-human father figure that lifted my life from a direction that would probably end up being in a much darker (or... non-existent by now) place. I don't say that lightly. I'm not one to attach much, if any value, to celebrities or to others in general. Herman Cain was different.

To anyone who knew and witnessed Herman Cain, they'd find him to be an extremely smart but jovial man. Some people underestimated him because of his warm demeanor and propensity for jokes, but he was sharp and in command of the facts. That influenced KoopaTV's truth & levity approach to our content, alongside the fact that KoopaTV is a direct parody of CainTV, Herman Cain's whacky political commentary site established after he dropped out of the race. I still follow and read it to this day, though I don't know what'll happen after its namesake has passed. (Hence archived web links in the second paragraph.)

Herman Cain back in 2011–2012 enamoured me with his personality and genuinely good policy instincts (the 9-9-9 plan and FAIRTax advocacy that I continue to this day)—I actually printed out his 9-9-9 tax plan details and had a kitchen table discussion with my family about it. First time I ever did that for something on politics... or any subject, actually. Herman Cain actually got me pro-actively following American politics.

But it's not just his politics and personality that was appealing. It was also Herman Cain's backstory.

Pokkén Tournament DX Full Version/Sale Available for Limited Time

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Alright...

You always could, and still can, download a limited demo of Pokkén Tournament DX for the Nintendo Switch. It features a tutorial and the ability to play 15 battles—with a computer player and/or a local friend. Once you pass that, your demo is useless. The demo only has the ability to play as (normal) Pikachu, Empoleon, and Charizard, with the only support sets being Snivy+Lapras, and Reshiram+Cresselia. (Lady Cresselia is fantastic, of course.) You could see me having this tutorial early on in my Switch-owning career.

But now Nintendo is making available, for less than seven days, the full version of Pokkén Tournament DX, where everything is selectable for as many battles as you want. This even includes things like a full title screen animation, minor character customisation, and story mode. You just need to be a Nintendo Switch Online member.

It also features an advertisement for buying the DLC before you can actually start playing anything.

Nia, for your information, is the in-game tutorial lady. She has really nice hair.
But her constant repetitive commentary is irritating.
I wouldn't give her any Levity points in the KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program.
Why does Blastoise have such long limbs?

Super Smash Bros. 4's Free Four All in Ultimate

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Or, an excuse to look back at Super Smash Bros. 4.

Last weekend, when I wasn't competing in a massive tournament for a game more adrenaline-pumping than the subject of tonight's article, there was the lackadaisical Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Event Tournament called Free Four All, where the stages and fighters were based on those originating in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. For Wii U, collectively known as Super Smash Bros. 4. (By the way, this confirms what I've figured all along, that the seemingly uncreative title Super Smash Bros. for “console name” is supposed to read as Super Smash Bros. 4 “console name”.)

It was so lackadaisical that I actually won it. Here's proof:

Just a reminder: I was added to the Super Smash Bros. series with Super Smash Bros. 4, though Sakurai was very rude about it.
...Well, I was a sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

One other bit about the tournament name: Super Smash Bros. For Wii U and Super Smash Bros. For 3DS definitely weren't “free” for anyone. Buying two games is more expensive than buying one, which is especially a problem because Super Smash Bros. For 3DS preceded the better version by a couple of months, and should've never been made since it hampered how good Super Smash Bros. For Wii U could have been, as evidenced by resource constraints and design decisions that had to occur across both versions, like the removal of the Ice Climbers.

Back in 2015, I actually considered Super Smash Bros. For Wii U to be my favourite game ever made. This is going to seem really inconsistent, but the existence of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has not only topped my best game rankings, but Super Smash Bros. For Wii U isn't sitting at #2 instead. It's somewhere... else, further down on the list. It's like Ultimate's existence retroactively makes a bunch of flaws in Super Smash Bros. 4 readily apparent, and I can't just keep it at the top anymore.

I Played in the Mario Tennis Aces North American Open July 2020. Here's What Happened

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Plus, if you want to continue being in the Mario Tennis Aces scene...

A large portion of my Saturday afternoon was spent playing Mario Tennis Aces, as were some of the days preceding. Why? As I wrote about last week, there was the BIGGEST EVER Mario Tennis Aces tournament to play, the Mario Tennis Aces North American Open July 2020! It was administered by eSports tournament platform Battlefy and officially sponsored (and funded) by Nintendo of America.

How big is big? 1,328 players registered for it (and 774 of them actually checked in, for a 58% participation rate). That dwarves the 100-on-the-best-day-sized tournaments that the Mario Tennis Aces community has managed to put on by themselves. More on that community later on in this article. 

Just to be a bully (and KoopaTV staffer and ARMS fan Heavy Lobster specifically told me, “Stop trying to shit on ARMS.”), compare that to the largest ARMS tournament ever held, also from a Battlefy-Nintendo collaboration: 880 players registered and 620 showed up. It's an impressive 70% participation rate, but a much smaller tournament. Also consider that ARMS was being distributed for FREE during the tournament, while Mario Tennis Aces was full price with no special promotions going on.

The ultimate winner of the tournament was Angie, also known as the best Mario Tennis Aces player in North America, who had a winning streak that went on for over a year. I should note that is a big difference between the Mario Tennis Aces community and, say, the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate community: The Mario Tennis Aces community, as niche and small as it is, was very open and welcoming of this tournament. It actually had a lot in common with their actual rulesets, so the top players did almost all go and participate. But when Nintendo sponsors Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournaments, the vast majority of the competitive community doesn't bother to show up. 

Anyway, the whole top 8 got 2500 My Nintendo Gold Points. Was I in the top 8? ...Well, of course not. But I had a pretty interesting journey through the tournament that wildly exceeded my expectations, and it probably will exceed your expectations as well:

CAPCOM and Square Enix Summer Sales of 2020

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Get Ace Attorney.

Summer sales, (wo)man. If you want more games to add to your library, now is a good time to do it. Especially with two great Japanese companies, CAPCOM and Square Enix, offering many of their products at discounts.

Here's a table of the sales right now on the different platforms:

	Nintendo eShop	PlayStation Store	Xbox Live	Steam
CAPCOM Summer Sale	Yes (ending July 31, 2:59 AM ET)	No	No	No
Square Enix Sale	Yes (ending August 2, 11:59 PM ET)	Yes (ending August 6, 2:59 AM ET OR ending August 20, 2:59 AM ET)	No	No

There are some peculiarities here. Dragon Quest XI is 50% off on the PlayStation Store, but Dragon Quest XI S is not on sale on the Nintendo eShop. (Dragon Quest XI is the August 20 item.) Meanwhile, Dragon Quest XI S just got announced for release on December 4, 2020, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam. If they had announced it yesterday during it, it would've been the highlight of the Xbox Games Showcase. It's really good. You can try the demo for yourself if you have a Switch.

But, yeah, if you want Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy for $15, right now, the only platform that's an option on is the Nintendo Switch. (You can also get it for $12 on the Nintendo 3DS.) And if you don't want that, what's wrong with you? In addition to that, you can get Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney for $10 on the Nintendo 3DS, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney–Dual Destinies for $9 on the Nintendo 3DS, and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney–Spirit of Justice for $12 on the Nintendo 3DS. Those are the fourth, fifth, and sixth games respectively, with the Ace Attorney Trilogy being the first three. That's incredible levels of high-quality content at bargain bin prices.

Plus, your purchases will help go to making sure CAPCOM doesn't kill off the Ace Attorney series because the director left, if you're concerned about that.

Square Enix games include the Final Fantasy ports, Trials of Mana, and others. Not all of their games, though. CAPCOM pretty much has their whole portfolio at a discount, however. There is so much goodness there, so take a look.


Ludwig just finished playing Mega Man Zero 3 from the also on-sale Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection (25% off) as he was waiting for his copy of Paper Mario: The Origami King last weekend. He'll be spending at least some of his weekend not starting that, but instead playing in the Mario Tennis Aces tournament. Let him know if you're curious why he is so insistent on being a fan of the Ace Attorney games. The comments section is open!


CAPCOM last had a sale at the end of June.
The next CAPCOM sale is at the end of August, but it only applies to Mega Man. Things aren't as they seem, however.
Ace Attorney becomes on sale on the Switch again at the start of September, but only for a weekend.
CAPCOM and Square Enix would have another sale together early 2021.

Xbox Games Showcase—KoopaTV's Live Reactions!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Stick to your Xbox One?

It has been over a month AND a half since the start of FakE3 2020. We have seen Sony present their PlayStation 5. We...uh...haven't seen one, formal coherent thing from Nintendo.

And today, it's Microsoft's turn as they present the Xbox Games Showcase. Note that the showcase is named after the Xbox brand, as opposed to their next-generation, confusing Xbox Series X. 

I could've watched this myself, and perhaps I could've even watched it as it was happening LIVE. However, I know my own limits and knowledge gaps, so I specifically waited for Kamek to be available so he can use his better Xbox awareness for a more...wholesome reaction log.

Unfortunately, I opened the log by providing a Twitch video-on-demand, so there is a side plot in our reactions of random advertisements. Why has Microsoft enabled advertisements...? Here is the YouTube embed instead, which Ludwig should've provided to Kamek during the log.

There's a LEGO NES Now? ...Am I Interested?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I'm theoretically the target audience...

Last week, Nintendo and the LEGO Group had yet ANOTHER joint press release announcement of a new LEGO set: The LEGO Nintendo Entertainment System, otherwise known as the NES Building Kit. Here's a quote from the press release that should catch you up to speed on what they've been working on up 'til now, but with added KoopaTV article hyperlinks:

“The LEGO Group and Nintendo announced their partnership earlier this year, bringing a fun-packed LEGO Super Mario universe to life through a Super Mario Starter Course set that exclusively features a LEGO Mario figure who displays a wide variety of instant reactions to movement, color and various action bricks. This entry point set was followed up on in May with a series of Power-Up Packs and in June with the announcement of a range of Expansion Sets and collectible Character Packs. All have been designed to build out the world of LEGO Super Mario, letting players unleash their creativity by building exactly the levels and challenges they want to see LEGO Mario and friends compete in.” 

You count those? There have been three announcements. You know what is obfuscated in the press release? ALL of those Super Mario LEGO products and packs are coming out August 1, which is the same day this LEGO NES is coming out. In other words, literally no product has been released yet, but both companies are acting like they're building off great successes and continuing a venerable product line.

Remember: No one has actually spent money on these yet. All of these LEGO sets could be a disastrous flop, but they keep announcing new stuff since they seem REALLY sure it's massively appealing. And they're all coming out on the same day.

Well, is the newest NES Building Kit appealing to me? What's it look like? Let's take a look:

Check Out the Mario Tennis Aces North American Open July 2020

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - This game always deserved more!

Between December 2018 when Mario callously murdered the innocent Petey Piranha, and July 2020 with my article about how great Bowser Statues are and how they should be all over the United States of America, I haven't touched Mario Tennis Aces. There have been several balance patches and character additions since (including fellow KoopaTV staffer Kamek, a tricky Koopa with very curvy top-spins), but I haven't gone and experienced them for myself. Getting good at Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, to this day, continues to take up a lot of my online multiplayer attention.

However, Nintendo wants to adjust that. Adding Mario Tennis Aces to their list of “Nintendo Versus” games to keep players occupied over the summer months (along with Mario Kart 8, Splatoon 2, and...so far, suspiciously absent of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate), they are teaming up with eSports tournament platform Battlefy for the Mario Tennis Aces North American Open July 2020! It's happening this Saturday (July 25, 2020) at 1:00 PM Eastern. 

Register HERE!

I got the image of the tournament logo WITHOUT Mario's hideous figure in it.

And since I'm writing an article about it, you can bet I'm going to personally participate. The top eight players, though I don't expect myself to be among them, get 2500 My Nintendo Gold Points! (Or the equivalent of $25 in eShop credit that expires.) Here are the rules:

What Happened in the Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase | July 2020

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Not sure why this got ratio'd.

I obviously missed the opportunity to do a “live reaction log” to this, since I'm now watching it approximately 12 hours after it aired. I blame Nintendo for announcing at July 20 at 00:00 that “On 7/20 we'll debut the first #NintendoDirect Mini: Partner Showcase, a series focused on titles from our development & publishing partners. We'll share a few updates on a small group of previously-announced #NintendoSwitch games. Check out the full video release at 7am PT.”

Turns out I already had plans for 10:00 Eastern today. Made last week. You can't just expect everyone to have a clear calendar when you announce things 10 hours in advance. Sheesh. Anyway, it's clear from the tweet to expect announcements that are NOT from Nintendo's own studios, but from random third-parties. Personally, I expected more information on No More Heroes 3. Instead, we got this (with promises of more presentations like this throughout 2020):

I guess I'll go headline-by-headline here. Note: Unlike a reaction log, I've seen plenty of people's opinions on this before actually getting to watch it, including that I shouldn't bother watching it. Based on the Like:Dislike ratio (81k to 65k) I'm expecting that Nintendo announced another partnership with another communist Chinese company or something... (And we're against that.)

Paper Mario: The Origami King is Out Now!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Check it out. If you dare.

Since Paper Mario: The Origami King was almost silently announced by Nintendo just a mere two months ago, it's felt like the game has been under a constant barrage of scrutiny that you usually wouldn't see from a just-announced Nintendo title. That goes to show just how passionate the Paper Mario fanbase is... and how divided we are.

Then we got a closer look in June where we learned more about the characters and the battle system. It was rather obvious to me that this wouldn't be in the vein of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, though a few people continued to think it would be despite no evidence of that.

By the way, quick correction: According to the official website, I apparently misheard Kamek being into cleaning as Kamek being into cream. Alternatively, he likes cream and cleaning. Multiple interests, you know.

Hey, I'm getting Captain Vul (Events of Star World) vibes from this.
Even if pretty much no one reading this caption will get that reference.
By the way, Kamek's getting married soon. Cleaning makes sense.

After that, we saw a semi-dedicated Nintendo Treehouse: Live... well, just last week. It wasn't very interesting.

Now the game is out and we get this scenery-filled trailer:

I would tell you my own personal impressions of Paper Mario: The Origami King, except my copy is going to be delivered on Monday, after the retailer claimed that it would arrive today. That's the only reason I ordered it instead of physically going to the retail outlet and getting it myself. Regardless, I don't want to keep contributing to the digital slide of the new normal.

I guess I'll use the rest of tonight's article to discuss an interview that gaming outlet VGC had with Nintendo EPD and Intelligent Systems. It's certainly making the rounds.

Tear Down the Statues—Replace With Bowser Statues Instead!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Superior monuments.

Once upon a time, in KoopaTV's first month (so expect Early Installment Weirdness), I wrote an article about people keeping Confederate States of America-era flags up. I made the point that the United States of America is guilty of many of the sins (plus more!) that the Confederacy was, yet people proudly fly the USA flag but disapprove of flying the CSA flag. My point was that it's either okay to fly both flags, or it shouldn't be okay to fly either. My intention was the former—but the latter is also logically consistent, so that is also acceptable.

At the time and for a while since, I've been bashed for this line of thinking, but it turns out that horseshoe theory is real and many years later, people have come to agree with me. Not only are protestors/rioters (inspired from the death of George Floyd) removing Confederate/pro-slavery statues and monuments, but they are also destroying American ones as well; even pro-Union/anti-slavery monuments. Even George Washington! They also tried to topple the Emancipation Memorial featuring Abraham Lincoln, and I'm infamous for my dislike of that guy, in a famous article comparing Abraham Lincoln to Mad King Ashnard. For the same reasons, by the way, that the protestors dislike Lincoln.

I also support the destruction/removal of the Mario-featured Mt. Rushmore, like some of these protestors (and Native Americans) do.

Therefore, I'm actually supportive of tearing down those American and Confederate statues. People against that claim that statues are necessary for people to learn history, as if the presence of a statue has a knowledge-boosting area-of-effect on the population of whatever town it's in. If the town doesn't have a statue about a given topic, then I guess the residents will never be able to know about that topic? Not like Wikipedia exists. Probably does a better job of teaching than looking at a statue and reading a plaque, anyway.

However, there are much better alternatives in statue manufacturing out there. Take a look at what Koopa Kingdom has accomplished with our momentous monuments:

Ludwig Got the Wooloo Plushie!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Wooloo is so fluffy...!!!

You may remember that I am among the thousands (or millions) of people who adore Wooloo, the Sheep Pokémon native to Galar. It should therefore be little surprise that The Pokémon Company has produced multiple types of Wooloo plush, and also little surprise that they've been sold out instantly whenever there is new stock. All of the e-commerce is on their Pokémon Center site.

However, before the start of last weekend, things were different. The smaller Wooloo Poké Plush had its listing adorned with an “ADD TO CART” button as opposed to, say, the Wooloo Squishy Plush's “UNAVAILABLE” unclickable button. Immediately I went into action to get the Wooloo Poké Plush! For whatever reason, there were uncharacteristic technical difficulties and even 404 errors, which for some reason gets you on the wrong side of a violent electric rodent.

What if Wooloo isn't actually available and the website is just glitching in a way that makes it look available?
What a cruel world that would be.

But I persevered and hoped my order would come through.

The Pokémon Company really wants everyone to know that you can buy Wooloo. Wooloo restocks aren't a secret.
This is from their newsletter.
(Act quickly or it'll be sold out again. As of publishing, it's not sold out.)

And...behold... it has!

The Black Knight Finally Gets His Own Spirit Event

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - As himself, not as a Mii Swordfighter.

Over the weekend (and for some residual days after, including today), the Square Enix Japanese RPG Octopath Traveler is celebrating its Nintendo Switch two-year anniversary with a Spirit Event in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, with four spirits based off its eight main characters.

Starting from the top left and then clockwise...
Olberic & Primrose as the Black Knight and red Bayonetta.
H'aanit & Ophilia as blonde Pit and Palutena. (They also have a small pet Wolf, not shown.)
Alfyn & Therion as black-coat Dr. Mario and black outfit Sheik.
Tressa & Cyrus as pink Villager girl and Robin.

Why am I bothering to write about a game I've never played (despite the free and extensive demo featuring Olberic and Primrose) getting new spirits in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? Because something very special happened: The Black Knight, previously recognised on KoopaTV (with a whole memorial article) as “an absolutely amazing soldier”, finally gets his time to shine in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Note that he appears in the artwork above!

Ace Attorney's Takeshi Yamazaki Leaves CAPCOM... But That Doesn't Mean Ace Attorney is Dead!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Evidence and logic suggest the series has no reason to disappear.

Boy, do I hope this article does not age poorly.

CAPCOM's director for the DS-era and 3DS-era Ace Attorney games (think the two Ace Attorney Investigations games as well as Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney–Dual Destinies and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney–Spirit of Justice), Takeshi Yamazaki, is retiring after 15 years on the job. He's not leaving the industry, but he does want to do some other things besides work at CAPCOM. Pretty much his whole résumé, according to Giant Bomb, is around the Ace Attorney series.

Popular coverage and speculation are saying things like, “Takeshi Yamazaki has left! Ace Attorney is cancelled!”

A few reminders. One, Yamazaki has been employed at CAPCOM all of this time since the release of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney–Spirit of Justice back in 2016. CAPCOM, if they ever intended to continue the Ace Attorney series (and they've provided indications that they do), probably has the whole “Ace Attorney 7” already written and well into production. If that is the case, then “Ace Attorney 7” should be revealed at the Tokyo Game Show 2020 ONLINE (thanks, CCP Virus) at the end of September 2020. Takeshi Yamazaki has had to be working on SOMETHING for the past several years, right? Or else he would've left some time ago.

Two, Yamazaki is far from the only guy writing stuff. Sure, he's the director, but unlike previous director Shu Takumi who wrote the first four games basically by himself, Yamazaki had staff and a lot of help (both in and out of CAPCOM). See a list here. For example, Masakazu Eguchi was the main guy who worked on Turnabout Storyteller in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney–Spirit of Justice.

This is the note we found when trying to get further answers about the future of the Ace Attorney franchise.
I guess we'll have to come back on this topic in two and a half months.

Let me know in the comments section if you've found any contradictions in my logic. The Ace Attorney series will live on. It isn't tied to one man. If you need proof of that within CAPCOM, see Takeshi Yamazaki being Ace Attorney director to begin with after Shu Takumi, and see the existence of Mega Man 11 after that imbecile Keiji Inafune left. (Thank you, Koji Oda.)


It's sort of nice to write something about Ace Attorney besides advertising that CAPCOM has once again put the series on sale. ...By the way, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy is on sale for the next 7 days on the Xbox One at 50% off. That's three great games for $15! While Takeshi Yamazaki didn't direct those (Shu Takumi did), he does still have credits “planning” their DS incarnations.


It turns out that there was no Ace Attorney announcement at the Tokyo Game Show 2020.
Though CAPCOM did randomly—not at an event or anything—announce that The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles would be a thing.
If you look at the timeline for The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, it's clear that CAPCOM was working on it while this very article was being written in 2020.

KoopaTV's Live Reactions to Nintendo Treehouse: Live | July 2020

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Are they acting like they normally do this?

We haven't seen a Nintendo Treehouse: Live since E3 2019, and that one was an error. With E3 2020 cancelled and us getting a FakE3 2020 instead (but with no Nintendo presence), I suppose this event is the closest we're gonna get.

Nintendo of America is going to show us some gameplay of Paper Mario: The Origami King, as well as “a first reveal and gameplay for a title in a franchise new to developer WayForward”, which doesn't appear to have anything to do with the main event. (Spoilers: It's called Bakugan: Champions of Vestroia.)

By the way, I'm the main KoopaTV staffer here reacting, because I'm kind of the only one looking forward to Paper Mario: The Origami King. Hmph. Few others wanted to show up. Check out the replay below and follow along with our log:

What's the deal with Deadly Premonition? 2 Is Out

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Explain it to me like I'm fiv-... like I'm 17+. ESRB, you know.

On July 10, Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing In Disguise releases exclusively on Nintendo Switch, priced at $50. It's a sequel (and prequel) to the 2010 cult classic Deadly Premonition, which got a $30 re-release on the Nintendo Switch last year. Who is in the cult? Well, there's former KoopaTV staffer RawkHawk2010. That's sorta all I know.

My impression is that the Deadly Premonition games have poorly-executed gameplay, lopsided production values (there's voice-acting but not much effort put into...other aspects of the game, such as graphics and technical performance), and bizarre plots and cutscenes, featuring a dude named FBI Special Agent Francis York Morgan. I wonder if that makes it like a combination of the Ace Attorney series (my favourite ever) and the No More Heroes series (which I also like). Though if I like them individually... that doesn't necessarily mean I'd like them together.

I also read that it's an open-world survival horror game, which I believe, since this dog terrifies me.
(I don't like open worlds or surviving horror, so...)

I don't know if this whole thing is some kind of inside joke/meme and I'm just not in it, or people genuinely enjoy their Deadly Premonition experiences. Like, there is part of the former with No More Heroes since a lot of it exists to satire other games and media. They both share being the result of the eccentricities of their oddball Japanese developers—Swery65 for Deadly Premonition and Suda51 for No More Heroes.

(Though since I mentioned it, Ace Attorney is fantastic and you can like it in an entirely legitimate manner on its own merits.)

But even my liking of No More Heroes has limits, given my disgust with Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes.

Is Deadly Premonition worth looking into as a series? Convince me one way or the other.


Ludwig has never watched Twin Peaks, so comparing Deadly Premonition to it doesn't help Ludwig's understanding of it at all. He's looking for your comments.

Donkey Kong Country for Nintendo Switch Online... isn't enough...

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Remember when you were happy with what you had?

I wasn't going to write an article about this—and if I was, I was going to wait until next week—but Nintendo put out a whole press release and everything today so I suppose I'm obligated to cover it. Starting next week, you'll be able to play Donkey Kong Country with your Nintendo Switch Online subscription, on top of Natsume Championship Wrestling and The Immortal. As you may expect, Nintendo's focus is on Donkey Kong Country.

My first reaction to hearing about this? “Alright now everyone can move on to begging for EarthBound, I guess.” ‘cause that's what everyone does on all of Nintendo's videos in the comments section. Take a look at this screenshot of the top comments from February 2020's update:

Nintendo Question & Answers: 80th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Didn't they just ask these questions?

Back in May 2020, for Nintendo's annual report, president Shuntaro Furukawa answered several questions from investors and shareholders about the state of the business, mostly about COVID-19 and its implications.

Then a few days ago (around June 26, 2020), Nintendo held THE 80TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS. They took more questions and delivered more answers, many of which continue to be about COVID-19 and its implications, or about mundane things that you should already know about if you're investing in Nintendo. Like, if those guys read KoopaTV (and knew English), they wouldn't waste time asking these. 

Here were the 11 questions, of which few are worth me commenting on.

1. Since it currently costs nearly 5 million yen to purchase one minimum trading unit of Nintendo's stock, making it difficult to invest, we would like you to consider splitting your stock. In addition, what is your stance on the fact that Nintendo is not yet included in the Nikkei225 Index?
2. Nintendo Switch is in short supply due to the huge success of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. I feel that Nintendo was not able to support this sudden increase in demand, which led to a major opportunity loss. Please tell us about your future plans for handling the production system, sales methods, and predictions for demand.
   

Fortnite's Black Lives Matter Event Experiment

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - They were doing it for clout, but it's also an interesting social experiment.

Did you have a nice Independence Day? Here at KoopaTV, we wanted to focus our independence energies towards Hong Kong. Epic Games, the developer of the uber-popular Fortnite, put their just-as-valid independence energies towards a We The People event in Fortnite's Party Royale mode, hosted by CNN FAKE NEWS contributor Van Jones, along with Jemele Hill, Elaine Welteroth, Killer Mike, and Lil Baby. They wanted to talk about systemic racism in media, culture, and entertainment, and unfortunately, Fortnite is a big player in all of those.

Just for a little background, Party Royale is a pretty new Fortnite mode that's being used to feature live shows/broadcast content, such as concerts and movie showings. Players get to sit back and watch, stripped of distractions like weapons and goals. Creative people have a big interest in wanting to showcase their work in front of the massive audience that Fortnite can bring. Previous showcased things include deadmau5, Diplo, Inception, and Batman Begins.

Videogame academics and researchers interested in games as social spaces will be very interested in how the Party Royale develops, if it continues to. It's definitely still an experiment, and I'd consider this specific We The People event to be... a failed experiment. You can watch the whole thing for yourself here if you want—I did to prepare for this article—but you can also skip it and just keep reading my thoughts and a complication the event faced. Warning: Contains some really awful (but safe-for-work) rap music:

KoopaTV Advocates for Hong Kong Independence (香港独立)

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - KoopaTV supports 香港独立!

You are supposed to pronounce the Chinese letters as “Xiānggǎng dúlì.” It means Hong Kong Independence. How did “Xiānggǎng” get romanticised to Hong Kong, I dunno, but what I do know is that the Chinese Communist Party is severely mistreating the Hong Kong region and the millions of people that live and work there. The only way to resolve this is for Hong Kong to have independence.

To be clear, when we covered the Hong Kong Liberation controversy back in October with Activision-Blizzard and Hearthstone (and the broader reasons why Hong Kongers wanted liberation and what that meant), there were tons of protests over an awful extradition treaty that'd violate Hong Kong's autonomy. It wasn't for people wanting Hong Kong to actually be an independent country.

Then the Chinese Communist Party Virus was inflicted upon the world, including Hong Kong, and the protests were stopped. During that time, China was plotting measures that would further deteriorate Hong Kong's autonomy, to the point that now United States policy is to no longer consider Hong Kong and China separate entities. Those measures include banning treason and subversion, which is code-word for “you will be arrested for protesting.” And many examples of arrests and police brutality have taken place over there.

Tencent and Nintendo Announce a New Pokémon Game

By OLI KANG - Finally, a MOBA for Pokémon fans!

Tencent, a multi-billion dollar Chinese conglomerate, has been partnering with successful gaming companies for years and is now planning a move with Nintendo. Tencent entered the console gaming sector by collaborating with PlatinumGames and Marvelous. This turned out to be a wise strategy as it helped Tencent create games based on popular game franchises.

On June 24th, 2020, Nintendo announced that it would partner with Tencent Holdings to create a new Pokémon game. The partnership is Tencent Holdings' latest attempt to enter the console market and consolidate its partnerships with Japanese firms. This new Pokémon game is a real-time, 5-on-5 multiplayer game (or MOBA to be exact) called Pokémon UNITE.

Photo by Jay on Unsplash

Pokémon UNITE Features

For the most part, Pokémon UNITE looks a lot like Tencent's other well-designed multiplayer games, especially League of Legends. The new game will have a familiar screen arrangement and will feature popular Pokémon characters. Pokémon UNITE will allow mobile and Nintendo Switch players to work with teammates to take down their opponents.

KoopaTV's June 2020 Review Newsletter

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Featuring progress!

In normal times, the KoopaTV June 2020 newsletter would be reviewing the month of June with a heavy focus on the events of that year's Electronic Entertainments Expo (E3). Unfortunately, there was no such conference this year—not a legitimate central one—so June was more like any other month of the year.

That said, in terms of KoopaTV, that still makes for an excellent experience, so let's talk about it. There's a brand-new opportunity starting today, as well.

KoopaTV's Top Five Recommended Experiences of June 2020

Core to KoopaTV is our published content that you get to interact with (and get rewarded for). Every month, we highlight the top five. That said, there are other pieces of content—they are all works of art, really—that doesn't get to be in the top five, and they're still absolutely things you should check out.

1. Not All Cops Are Bad. This One Stomped on Mario! — It's super-important to note the relationship between us Koopas and your Earth cops. It's bad. We therefore generally support measures to take the police down at least one notch... but this one guy on footage did a good thing. We think it's worth checking out.
2. A Closer Look at Paper Mario: The Origami King — We learned a lot more in June about the battle system and characters in Paper Mario: The Origami King, and Ludwig has some thoughts and analysis on it.
3. What or Who is a BOOMER BILL? — A KoopaTV exclusive investigation into what or who a Boomer Bill is, after the rest of the Internet is confused by the LEGO-Nintendo partnership.
4. Pokémon Smile's “Let the camera see your face!” Made Me Pokémon Frown — Ludwig initially complained that Pokémon Smile doesn't even work and the camera feature is a fail, but it got updated, so now read his thoughts on it as an experience! (Further elaborated on later in this newsletter in the next section after the page break.)
5. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate June 2020 Fighter Usage Stats: Last Before the Min Min Era! — As Super Smash Bros. Ultimate enters a new day in its metagame, Ludwig caps off version 7.0.0 with the final usage stats, as well as a data-driven rant about Nintendo's foolish politically correct (and detrimental) decisions around delaying their own tournament out of respect for Black Lives Matter.