Gamers Playing Longer in 2020 vs. 2019... and other ESSENTIAL FACTS

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Plus, data-driven stereotypes about women who play games.

It is a new year, and our favourite gaming industry lobbying group, the Entertainment Software Association, is out with a new report: 2020 Essential Facts About the Video Game Industry. Like when I wrote the article from last year about the 2019 version, there are far fewer facts than 2020, but the facts that are there have some useful demographic information about the gaming scene in the United States. Of particular interest in this article is where there are wide variations between 2019 and 2020, likely due to how the Chinese Communist Party Virus has changed the landscape, obviously in more ways than just physical vs. digital distribution.

Back in 2019, my headline was that Millennial men dominated the console space, while pretty much every other demographic group focused on “casual” games on smartphones or games like Solitaire on the PC. This year, the ESA wanted to put some social media into female gamers, and we'll get into how that was not received well in a bit.

First, major differences:

The DonCon Experience, Part 2

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Four nights of... varying experiences, but a mix of mostly policy and just a touch of fear.

Disclaimer: I definitely have a strong political bias, but I still feel like I can present coverage of The DonCon Experience (Part 2, for 2020) in a fair & balanced way, at least according to my principles. Fortunately, there was a lot of substance presented from August 24 to August 27, so we have actual concrete things to discuss, as opposed to feelings-based, visceral affairs like DonCon 2016 and BideCon from a week ago.

The Republican National Convention of 2020 has just concluded, and I watched almost every bit of it, with the exception of the one or two times I fell asleep. They had lots of speakers, most of them on a stage, one at a time. ...Except for the closing acts on Wednesday and Thursday, where they said screw the CCP Virus, let's put everyone in the White House Rose Garden. Well, I hope that doesn't turn out to be like what happened to Herman Cain.

Anyway, I'm not going to do a play-by-play, but I will say that President Donald John Trump, and his surrogates, put on quite a show. There were cool features like a naturalisation (citizenship-granting) ceremony, a presidential pardon, and a round-table of former hostages freed by the United States. There were no awful live performance artists, but there were plenty of “real people.” Some other commentators might focus on the few awful speeches like Kimberly Guilfoyle's speech (the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr. and former Fox News personality shouted negative nonsense into the microphone) and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's bomb-throwing stupidity, but not here.

DonCon 2020 was, on balance, uplifting and focused on positive policies (which I'll cover below the page break) and the achievement of THE AMERICAN DREAM, which wasn't featured in BideCon. Most of the negativity was around the ongoing urban riots going on around America (and associating Joe Biden with them, which is partially true in that BideCon didn't address the riots at all), and mean things Joe Biden (or the people said to be controlling him) will do, like raising taxes and defunding the police. (The extra money won't go to lowering the national debt, for your information. Neither party cares about that.)

He May Be a Super Fighting Robot, but Mega Man Ain't a Math Robot

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - But there are math games on sale too.

You decide, readers of KoopaTV: Is this a case of false advertising, or is it just incompetence?

I speak of CAPCOM's Nintendo Switch Mega Man Franchise Sale, which began August 25, and ends at September 2, 2:59 AM Eastern time. It promises: “Get equipped with your favorite Mega Man games on sale up to 60% off for a limited time!” Here's the screenshot:

Let's take a look at those prices.

I've summarised the sale into the following table. See if you can spot the contradiction all by yourself before reading onto the rest of the article:

Game Title	Original Price	Sale Price	Percent Discount
Mega Man Legacy Collection	$14.99	$9.89	34% off
Mega Man 11	$29.99	$14.99	50% off
Mega Man Legacy Collection 2	$19.99	$9.99	50% off
Mega Man X Legacy Collection	$19.99	$9.99	50% off
Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2	$19.99	$9.99	50% off
Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection	$29.99	$22.49	25% off

The Rhythmic Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase | August 2020

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - There's an irony here...

Last month, Nintendo had the Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase | July 2020. It was widely disliked, if YouTube's Like:Dislike ratio is to be believed. If you read through my thoughts, I didn't think it was worth disliking.

Today, Nintendo tried this mini partner Direct thing again, with the Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase | August 2020. Click here for their press release, and if you really want, watch the embedded video below. ...There's also a very iffy YouTube Like:Dislike ratio on this one, and unlike the July version, I'm one of the Dislikers: 
 

I'll explain why over this quick summary of what happened:

Inkopolis Saved? The Chicken Still Predated The Egg!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Same result. Almost exactly the same way.

According to these KoopaTV notes, Inkling citizens participated in the sacred Splatfest ritual on March 2018 to determine which came first: the chicken or the egg?

Oh, sorry for the in medias res. This is Squidwig. Ludwig is out to pasture. ...For now. Watching some convention thingy. I decided to take over his KoopaTV administrative account to write an update on a concerning matter that's been afflicting Inkopolis Square: The rerun of Splatfests, but with no indication that the event is being repeated. It's happening like it's the first time ever. To everyone in Inkopolis Square who doesn't research historical accounts like KoopaTV, the Ketchup vs. Mayonnaise Splatfest a few months ago appeared to be the first Splatfest we've ever had.

Besides the issue of gaslighting, this completely subverts Inkopolis law, which dictates that the winner of the Splatfest is legally recognized as superior, and is given that very important legal status. In the case of Ketchup vs. Mayonnaise, the original winner was Mayonnaise. The new winner is Ketchup.

Last weekend, there was another one of these Splatfest reruns, asking if chickens came first, or eggs. The result? Team Chicken won. Which team won the first time around? Also Team Chicken. The original and new winners are the same, and, for now, the status quo is maintained.

Pearl references Article 3, Section 2 of Splatfest Law, stating that winning a Splatfest is proof of the victor's superiority over the loser.

In 2018, Team Egg won the Popularity vote with 58.70%, but Team Chicken won Solo wins with 52.66% and Team wins by 56.30%. In 2020, Team Egg won the Popularity vote with a slightly lesser 58.08%, but Team Chicken won Normal clout with 52.46% and Pro clout with 52.65%. Don't try to compare Solo/Team wins with Normal/Pro percents, because the clout-based system doesn't work quite like that.

The Popularity vote, however, is almost unchanged. I think that means that none of the Inklings knew that this was a rerun, or else it should've been dramatically different—which seems to be the intention. Why? I still don't know... Though we don't know the vote breakdown among the Octarians, which now are allowed to participate compared to the first time. Is that how they plan to remake civilization? Rerun old Splatfests with this new voting foreign voting group, and then have them take over? We voted to stop that already... but what happens if it happens again?


Squidwig dreads what further Splatfest reruns may occur in the future, and how they will reshape Inkopolis Square for the worse.


Need an explainer in KoopaTV-lingo on what gaslighting actually means? Click here!
The next and last Splatfest rerun was Trick vs. Treat, which did not have a changed result.
Squidwig next returns at the end of 2021, referencing Splatfest law again.

Ludwig Von Koopa Wins "A Most Regal Battle"

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - That's me! I'm a prince! And that comes with responsibilities.

Among several events from the past weekend was Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's A Most Regal Battle online event tourney. Here's a copy-paste of the description:

“This tourney features royal fighters, be they demonic or otherwise, duking it out on castle stages!

The further you advance, the better the spirit you'll win!” 

(Note that the use of the verb “duking” is a pun, since as a noun it means a male member of the nobility, while as a verb it means beating someone up.)

I don't know why they put emphasis on DEMONIC royal fighters, but the limited roster includes Princess Zelda of Hyrule; Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom; Princess Daisy of Sarasara Land; King Bowser Koopa, Prince Bowser Jr., Prince Ludwig Von Koopa, Prince Roy Koopa, Princess Wendy O. Koopa, Prince Lemmy Koopa, Prince Larry Koopa, Prince Iggy Koopa, and Prince Morton Koopa Jr, all of Koopa Kingdom.

I AM THE MOST REGAL BATTLER.
Well, besides King Dad, of course. He gets a screenshot, too, later in this article.

The BideCon Experience

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The number one message of the Democratic National Convention of 2020? Empathy...

In the tradition of 2016's ClinCon Experience, KoopaTV will be bringing you fair & balanced impressions of the 2020 Democratic National Convention that just concluded. It didn't really take place in a single location—thanks to the Chinese Communist Party Virus (and the CCP went basically unchallenged throughout the four nights of the convention)—so people spoke widely dispersed across the United States of America. In fact, every state and territory got some representation with the roll call segment.

True to the BideCon nickname, the first two nights were pretty much an irrelevant, painful waste of my time. (With the sole exception of me bring pleasantly surprised at Sally Yates's sweet Southern voice on Tuesday.) The action really picked up on Wednesday night and Thursday night.

Bide: “The user endures attacks for two turns, then strikes back to cause double the damage taken.”
By the way, anticipate several more videogame references throughout this article. This is KoopaTV, after all.

Wednesday was almost entirely dedicated to women, but they weren't just any women. They were some of the worst people in the Democrat Party. Keep this in mind, since there's a particular woman they didn't invite to the convention that I wish to complain about later in this article. (This probably comes across as sexist, but it's not my fault that the Democrats purposefully elevate the worst people of a particular gender, as opposed to the best.)

Included in the set of wicked people are former presidential candidate and videogame censorship crusader Hillary Clinton, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, and Fraudulent Elizabeth Warren. The last of those had a really interesting backdrop that was far more memorable than whatever she actually said:

Subnautica Surfacing to Nintendo Switch

By KAMEK - Explore while the world is STILL quarantined! 

It feels like it's been years since I splashed down on Planet 4546B. The survival game Subnautica has been one of my favorite recent gaming experiences (read my Subnautica review here). This is more impressive when you consider what it's competing against: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Stardew Valley, etc.

I've been very selective with my games as I've gotten older and each one has been important to me.

I'm pleasantly surprised and happy to announce from the Nintendo Switch Indie World Showcase that Subnautica AND its sequel Subnautica: Below Zero (in development) will be released on the Nintendo Switch in early 2021. You can add them to your wish list now.

There's tons to see and check out! Explore and discover what really happened on Planet 4546B.

I'm not sure how well it'll run in terms of on-the-go portable playing. Most Subnautica sessions of mine lasted one hour or more; even then I ended up turned around a bit remembering what I was intending to get done.

Regardless, this means that you can now play Subnautica on any current gen console AND PC (how I experienced it). This game has my personal endorsement and you can check out my deep dive (Hah!) HERE.


Kamek, an ever ardent explorer, has enjoyed all the games previously listed and recommends you try them all. ESPECIALLY since the world has clamped down on actual exploring lately.


Also from the Indie World Showcase was a wholesome-looking game called Garden Story.

Nintendo Switch will be (officially) “Coming Soon” to Brazil

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Though it certainly hasn't stopped Mario from making appearances in Brazil. Or unofficial Nintendo Switch consoles.

A long time ago, back in January 2015, I was going to write an article called “Custo Brasil Strikes Nintendo”, with Custo Brasil referring to the crazy cost of doing business in Brazil as a foreign company, thanks to import taxes (tariffs) that were well over 50%. There's a draft that's been sitting around but I never finished or published it that was going to make the point that government policy has a direct impact on people's ability to play videogames, since Brazil's taxes were the direct reason why Nintendo pulled out of directly selling Nintendo products Brazil in 2015.

But, hey, now it doesn't matter. The Nintendo Switch is officially coming to Brazil... “soon”, thanks to Brazil lowering their tariffs. Remember, tariffs hurt consumers (such as gamers), and in this case, they existed solely for Brazilian economic protectionism, without even a benefit of sticking it to hostile countries like China.

Source: The Nintendo Brazil Instagram account.
It's unclear why there is a Nintendo Brazil Instagram account that's been actively messaging about Switch news
when they haven't been directly selling the Nintendo Switch.

Now, there are definitely Nintendo Switch owners in Brazil already. I know and am friends with some of them, because you can import them from other countries. And if you go to Nintendo's Brazil site right now, it's not really about getting Nintendo hardware, but it is focused on getting digital software like Nintendo Switch Online and building a digital games collection, which you could do during the past few years. You know, if you happen to be enough of a Nintendo fan to acquire a Nintendo Switch already through other means.

Anyway, this is good news. Let's just hope that Nintendo's official presence puts an end to the post-2015 unauthorised visits by Mario into Brazil, doing things like burning turtles and capturing visiting heads of state. Personally, I don't want to go to Brazil ever again.


Ludwig wonders if he can get an interview with one of his Switch-owning Brazilian friends and if that would even be interesting content. He'll show this article around and see if it'll spark some interest from that. That Custo Brasil article is never going to see the light of day.

Garden Story Coming to Nintendo Switch

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - It's cute and has much-needed grape representation.

There was a 23-minute Nintendo Switch Indie World Showcase today. I didn't watch it live, but in the read-out of the more than 20 games mentioned in it, one stuck out to me: Garden Story, developed by Picogram (it's unclear to me if this is a small company or just one person's online handle with they/them/their pronouns) and published by Rose City Games. It caught my eye mainly because of the art/character design. Take a look:
 

Described in press materials (and one's own mind) as “wholesome”, Garden Story has you playing as the grape Concord, Guardian of The Grove. The community is “broken” and needs to be restored, which includes gardening, building, and fixing things. There is an invasive “Rot” that needs to be stopped, as well as inhabitants you ought to do favours for and fruity and froggy friends to make. It's actually a big theme that Concord helps others and others help Concord, and this isn't an individualist affair.

Concord is asking this Shore-guarding fellow, Maraschino, for help. (Or is sorry to bother them.)

Garden Story will be releasing sometime in 2021 for an unknown price. There's a demo on Steam that I haven't tried as of writing this. Perhaps I should get on that and report back my thoughts. But Garden Story has actually been developed for years (since 2018) and has been announced since last year, so it's good that Nintendo is giving space for people—including me, who otherwise hasn't heard of it before—to know it exists.


Ludwig has a highly favourable opinion of purple-coloured grapes, so that likely is a strong influence on why Garden Story captured his attention. He will either be a lazy Koopa and assume the demo will be on Nintendo Switch, or he'll go to Steam and play it through there. By the way, this probably won't be the last thing on KoopaTV you'll read about announcements from that Indie World Showcase, since there was one other announcement that another staffer is very interested in...!


Also in the Indie World Showcase: Subnautica is coming to the Switch.

Let's Talk About the Biased Media Smear Tactic: "Without Evidence"

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - And when they do present evidence, where's the credit?

You may have seen this headline/sentence format on news sites, assuming you're doing the right thing and are educated on what's going on in the world before heading over to KoopaTV:

“[Politician], without evidence, [makes claim presented as scandalous by outlet]”

And, let's be frank, unless you're on a politically right-wing site trying to parody the mainstream media (and you bet I've done that at least once on KoopaTV when I wrote, “The idiot moderators tried to start a gender war between Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren by claiming, without evidence, that Bernie Sanders told Elizabeth Warren that a woman can't win the presidency.” [emphasis added]), the politician in brackets is a member of your country's right-of-centre party. In the United States, that's the Republican Party. The purpose of saying someone says something “without evidence” is that you want to discredit them. It's a form of media bias, especially when not applied consistently.

I don't have any evidence indicating which outlet started this “without evidence” media trend started or the date it began, but I tend to associate it with the international news outlet Reuters. (KoopaTV does not recommend using Reuters as a source of information.) I have a list of Reuters article examples later in this article and why the phrase is absurd, but let's first get this video embed out of the way of the best example of a politician actually providing evidence and how spectacular that went (warning, video was edited—not by me, mind you—to make it an Ace Attorney reference):

Epic Games vs. Apple: Is Apple a Monopoly or Not?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I read the details of the lawsuit, and...

I am fairly excited for some EPIC DRAMA within our industry this week (August 13, specifically). This may change the dynamics of mobile gaming, and all applications—even console gaming, dramatically.

First of all, if you're just an ordinary Fortnite player playing from a console (Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One) or PC, you should be happy. V-Bucks are now priced at 20% off. Permanently, according to developer Epic Games, calling it “The Fortnite Mega Drop.” (A mega drop in price?) This might be the entire extent you care about this story... but if you stop reading here, you're short-sighted and foolish. Keep going.

Old prices:
$10 for 1,000 V-Bucks, $25 for 2,800 V-Bucks, $40 for 5,000 V-Bucks, $100 for 13,500 V-Bucks.
New, lower prices, after the Fortnite Mega Drop:
$8 for 1,000 V-Bucks, $20 for 2,800 V-Bucks, $32 for 5,000 V-Bucks, $80 for 13,500 V-Bucks.

Why is Epic Games reducing their prices on one of the highest-grossing most successful games in the history of the videogame industry? Well, the answer is related to the platforms I didn't mention in the paragraph above: Google's Android operating system and Apple's iOS. Google and Apple collect a 30% fee (which Epic Games refers to as a “tax”) on in-app purchases. Apple in particular requires that app developers who distribute their games through Apple's App Store—which is the only way you can distribute apps on iOS devices, so it's everyone—use Apple's In-App Purchases for any additional payments for digital products, like Fortnite's V-Bucks for cosmetic features or whatever you buy stuff in there for.

However, Epic Games has went ahead and added an “Epic direct payment” option to their Android and iOS Fortnite versions, which violates Apple's guidelines by bypassing the platform holder and giving the money directly to the developer, at a 10% profit to Epic (remove 30% fee at cost of 20% discount). (This violates Google's guidelines too.) Apple immediately—and Google soon after—removed Fortnite from the App Store and the Google Play Store. (You can still download Fortnite to an Android device here, though you're out of luck on iOS.)

Epic Games then filed a lawsuit against Apple on the same day, (August 13), which they've been planning weeks in advance (including citing documents “last accessed July 27, 2020.”). That means the answer for “why is there a discount?” is “to trigger a lawsuit.” The basis is that Apple is violating American anti-trust laws that prohibit monopolist unfair competition. (They later filed a similar lawsuit against Google, with slightly different details.) Is the lawsuit against Apple justified? Let's look at the details.

Pikmin 3 Deluxe Announced... dat ain't Pikmin 4

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Alright. Is it worth it?

I own Pikmin 3 on the Nintendo Wii U. I got it at full price ($60) way back in the day, and beat it. I played it 14 times for a total of 16 hours and 6 minutes. Some years after, it got a permanent price cut, making its price only $20. And now in the present day, Pikmin 3 has been removed from the Nintendo eShop (Wii U) entirely, because Nintendo announced Pikmin 3 Deluxe for Nintendo Switch to be released on October 30 for $60:

This nearly completes the obsolescence of the Wii U. What makes Pikmin 3 Deluxe different than an exact port of Pikmin 3?

• Story mode co-op multiplayer (online presence unknown)
• New difficulty modes and quality of life features making the game easier, if you choose to use them
• Previously purchasable downloadable content is included
• The encyclopedic Piklopedia content from Pikmin 2 returns (information, interestingly, not in the press release but on Nintendo's Twitter)
• Captains Olimar and Louie feature in brand-new side-story content (a prologue and an epilogue)

That second-to-last bullet point on the Piklopedia is one that I speculated would end up being the type of mobile offering that Nintendo would put out back in 2015 when Nintendo was announcing they'd get into mobile. You know, a mobile app Piklopedia companion. That never happened, but the fact that was on my mind indicates that the Piklopedia was a significant feature that they removed from the series for Pikmin 3. It not being there was actually a big reason that I didn't like Pikmin 3 as much as Pikmin 2. Now it'll be back.

Herman Cain's Mission Lives On: The Cain Gang

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Plus, my college entrance essay about Herman Cain.

Two weeks ago, I wrote a very personal article about former Republican presidential candidate, radio talk show host, business legend, and personal mentor Herman Cain, who had died that morning due to complications from the Chinese Communist Party Virus (COVID-19). There have been a number of things that have happened since then that I said I would follow up on.

Namely, the fate of Herman Cain's political commentary website (which KoopaTV owes its existence to), his memorial service, and the college essay about him I mentioned.

The Cain Gang

If you're wondering what happened to Herman Cain's website without Herman Cain, his daughter, Dr. Melanie Cain Gallo, has stepped up to run their website. She has previously contributed before, though very sparsely, and the records have disappeared. (I did compliment her three years ago, though.) Dan Calabrese, one of the founding staffers of the original CainTV, writes his side of the story here.

CainTV/HermanCain.com are now rebranded as The Cain Gang, though the URL will remain as hermancain.com because thecaingang.com is taken by some band. Herman Cain had come up with The Cain Gang name by himself, though I dunno what his intended purpose was for it. They have a new site logo, too. They'll continue to piggyback off the resources of iffy right-wing news site The Western Journal, because I doubt Dr. Gallo has the resources to pay a full staff.

Top: Herman Cain's website's previous logo.
Bottom: Herman Cain's website's new logo, The Cain Gang.
(Featuring Michelle Cohl [Dan Calabrese-affiliated editor], Robert Laurie [CainTV original staffer], Dr. Melanie Cain Gallo [Herman's daughter], and Dan Calabrese [CainTV original staffer].)
(Not pictured, the original CainTV logo that KoopaTV stole over seven years ago.)

Anyway, they're all really happy they're able to keep their team together, and I'm happy to since I find their commentary to be amusing. It makes me wonder about what'd happen to KoopaTV if I were to pass. Several staffers have already died in the time KoopaTV has been around—I could be next. Do I think the other staffers would stick together and make The Koopa Pack? ...Nah. They have a lot of trouble sticking together while I'm ALIVE.

Same Energy: Biden Vice President Pick and Smash Bros. Fighter DLC Picks

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - In ordinary circumstances, they're both useless, but junkies obsess over them.

What group of people have a lot in common with people who spend their days speculating about which characters will be chosen as Super Smash Bros. series downloadable characters? (Or, before a game comes out, who will be added to the base roster?)

Political junkies who have been spending the past several months speculating on whom presumptive Democrat Party nominee Joe Biden will select as his vice presidential running mate, after an exchange in the 1 vs. 1 March 2020 debate performance between him and Senator Bernie Sanders that KoopaTV didn't bother to cover because they excluded Tulsi Gabbard from it. By the way, Joe Biden did terrible in that debate (and denied ever saying what he said on “the YouTube”, as Bernie Sanders put it), but the mainstream media ignored that and dedicated their news coverage to Joe Biden's announcement that his decisions are based on immutable characteristics (someone's sex). In this instance, that his nominee will be a woman.

Anyway, so the speculators have spent the past four and a half months trying to speculate who is on Joe Biden's running mate “short list” and who his ultimate decision would be—often based on who they like most or who has the best set of identity politics, as opposed to anything policy-related. This is just like Super Smash Bros. fans, rather than talk about Super Smash Bros. as a game, spend months on end (or even years) trying to speculate who is on the short list to be next in the game, often based on inane theories. Those theories often line up with who they'd personally want, by the way. Reality itself is shifted to contort to their speculation.

I should note that, traditionally, vice presidential picks are pointless and vice presidents don't have actual defined responsibilities. (This may be different with Joe Biden for reasons we'll discuss in the future.) Similarly, most people play the new Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC character for a few weeks and then drop them for whom they were playing as before. Some people with extreme buyer's remorse may keep going, but with the exception of Joker, it's not sustained. (Compare Joker's usage in August 2019 to June 2020.)

For a few hours this morning, speculation (on the political side) went into a fever pitch as the Democratic National Convention (starting next week...which we'll likely cover in a summary article on the 21st) revealed its full speaker list:

Splatoon 2 Splatfest Encore: Chicken vs. Egg

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Chicken.

Got little to do on Friday, August 21 to Sunday, August 23 in 2020? Well, assuming you're caught up on your KoopaTV article reading by then, you can play a Splatfest on Splatoon 2. Here's the theme:

Look familiar?

Yes, this is a repeat Splatfest from March 2018, where I made a clear argument for why I'm on Team Chicken over Team Egg. Read that article for actual “PHILISOLOPHICAL” content. I haven't changed my mind at all. Plus, Team Chicken actually ended up winning.

There will be two additional “bonus Splatfests” (reruns) between September and the end of March 2021. These are worrisome, according to the locals, since it's totally redoing Inkopolis law and customs and even reality.

Additionally, today, Nintendo just announced another collaboration with Battlefy, bringing the Splatoon 2 North America Open September 2020, happening September 6. This comes right after the Splatoon 2 Turf War July 2020 and the Splatoon 2 North America Online Open June 2020. (Despite the lack of the word “online” in September's and July's, they're all online.)

If you and three to four other people form a team and are the best Splatoon 2 team in the tournament, you each get digital download codes for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Mario Tennis Aces, and ARMS. If you already have those games, you can still give away the codes to other people, perhaps even for a kickback. You'll play in a single elimination bracket of best-of-five matches, consisting of random Ranked Battle modes.

I bring this up not because I plan to compete in the Splatoon 2 North America Open September 2020 (I lack a team... and skills), but I just wanna mention that Splatoon 2 has had or will have three tournaments ever since the last time there was one for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.


Ludwig will be playing the Splatfest sometime that weekend as a Team Chicken member. Shout-outs to fellow Splatoon 2 player ShinyGirafarig, who very recently hatched a new baby from an egg. (Girafarig obviously came first.)


Click here for the first of these encore Splatfests, Mayonnaise vs. Ketchup.
Team Chicken won the encore Splatfest, maintaining Splatfest law.
The next encore Splatfest is Trick vs. Treat, for Splatoween!

Enjoy This Cute Wooloo Drawing by Momo

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - ♥

My photos of my new, sweet, adorable Wooloo plushie have made the rounds in the Pokémon community. I feel quite honoured to report that they have inspired other people to also create art of Wooloo. This sketch comes from an artist named Momo. She specifically asked me to publish her work on KoopaTV. Obviously I welcome that, so take a good look at the woolly adorable Sheep Pokémon:

Wooloo, by Momo.

Fun fact: Wooloo's name in French is Moumouton, which is pronounced “Moo moo ton”. Not only is this a great name because anything with “moo” is likely adorable, but Momo's own name is almost similar to it. There's some fate there.


There is also fate in that you will love Wooloo. KoopaTV staffer Kamek described this Wooloo as “unnaturally handsome”. As for Momo, she doesn't have any contact information she'd like to share, or other works she'd like to advertise. But Momo will be watching this KoopaTV comments section, so... this is the place for letting her know what you think of her Wooloo art. Maybe you have requests for more artwork?


Momo and her Wooloo drawing won KoopaTV's 2020 Best Guest Article Contributor and Best Guest Art Article awards!

June 30, 2020 Nintendo Quarterly Financial Update

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I WAS RIGHT.

Today, Nintendo released their financial results for the first quarter of their fiscal year (April 2020 to end of June 2020). While previous years may have an ugly name like “three months into the fiscal year ending March 2021”, for the first time ever, Nintendo is acting like a normal company and just calling it FY21 Q1. (Fiscal Year 2021 Quarter 1.) And the results were excellent. In fact, Nintendo's stock is the highest it's been in over a decade.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is now the second-most selling Nintendo Switch game of all time, at 22.40 million copies sold. (Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is at 26.74 million, while Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is at 19.99 million. Since these numbers are from June 30, I think by August 6, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is over 20 million.) Over 50% of all of the software sales during those three months were sold digitally, which is a record high. As for the physical console itself, 61.44 million Switch systems have been sold, total, which is 5.68 million units sold in the quarter. Still a lot of physical console movement. Over half of that was the traditional Switch, as opposed to the Lite.

Big Switch games for the second half of the calendar year include the just-released Paper Mario: The Origami King, the just-announced Pikmin 3 Deluxe for October 30 (I guess that should get a dedicated article later?), and the second half of the Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield DLC, The Crown Tundra. ...That...seems pretty weak, but there may still be surprises to come. (No promises. ...Where's No More Heroes 3 hanging out?)

Let's talk about those last three games on the ever-growing chart that I really should cull by now.

Small Battlefield Update (8.1.0) Implications for the Smash Bros. Scene

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Thanks for not abandoning us! Plus, a My Music investigation.

Last night, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate got updated from 8.0.0 to 8.1.0. 8.1.0's patch notes include:

    Stage
        •The Small Battlefield stage has been added. You can also set Small Battlefield as a Preferred Rule in Online battles.
        •You can now select any stage-specific music for the Battlefield, Small Battlefield, Big Battlefield, and Final Destination stages.
    Online
        •The online user experience has been adjusted.
        •The way matching is determined when using Preferred Rules has been adjusted.
        •Following a look at the current number of players eligible for Elite Smash, the threshold for entry has been recalculated to allow more players. Additionally, the way initial values for Global Smash Power are calculated has also been adjusted.
        •Further investigations and adjustments to Online mode are expected.
    General
        •Several issues have been fixed to improve gameplay experience.
 

What does this mean, and why does it matter? Let me start with the last bit under Online. Nintendo wants to go deep into what makes the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate online experience currently not the best it could be (and I previously thought the CCP Virus would prevent this investigation), and they expect to make fixes. These hopefully include input delay/lag issues.

They apparently improved matchmaking with Quickplay/Elite Smash, and made it easier to get into Elite Smash. This is of little importance, since people shouldn't be playing Quickplay/Elite Smash to begin with. It's a toxic environment, and Elite Smash is a ban list, not a reward.

Speaking of ban lists, let's talk about Small Battlefield.

Blue Koopa Troopas and Paratroopas in Mario Tennis Aces...and a brief history

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Let's talk about blue shells. I should know...

For only the third time in Mario Tennis Aces history (August 2019, February 2020, and now August 2020), you can get alternate colours on Koopa Troopa (Blue Koopa Troopa and Red Koopa Troopa) and Koopa Paratroopa (Blue Koopa Paratroopa and Green Koopa Paratroopa). This isn't article-worthy information by itself, but, you know, I have a renewed general interest in Mario Tennis Aces.

If you play and win, say, three matches, you'll get those 1000 Participation Points.
If you lose some, you'll still get them pretty quickly. Just not that quick.

The whole blue shell discussion is pretty interesting, especially given what's on my back right now. And just to get it out of the way, I was born with a green shell, and I still IDENTIFY as having a green shell, since the whole blue shell bit is all about trying to put a wedge between myself and the green-shelled royal pedigree of the Royal Koopa Family, as demonstrated by the green colour of King Bowser Koopa's shell. Let's talk about other instances we've seen Blue Koopa Troopa and Blue Koopa Paratroopa!

KoopaTV's July 2020 Review Newsletter

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Awful month, so we're making big site changes.

It is a popular sentiment that 2020 is a cursed year. Well, I think that July 2020 has been the most cursed month of all. Up until the end of July 2020, I've tried to avoid having KoopaTV be a mirror of that suck. Good, humourous, wholesome KoopaTV content.

...Well, there were some subversions there, sure. But that's part of the experience and keeps it interesting.

That said, I have some sitewide changes I'd like to announce. Before I start, I should announce that Google redesigned the Blogger content management system back-end that KoopaTV runs on. Like most user interface changes in the modern era, it's for the worse. I don't like it. That said, it's not as bad as some other site changes on other popular platforms. (Like DeviantArt Eclipse, the Twitter redesign of 2019, the beta Facebook redesign of 2020...)

Some of those updates are going to influence KoopaTV's changes. Here:

Site Layout and Comments Changes

I don't want to do this, but I think it's worth experimenting on to see what happens.

KoopaTV prides itself on trying to have as low a bar for you to express comments as possible. However, this has the side-effect of opening KoopaTV up to receiving spammy crap like this:

This all happened in very quick succession on the very important KoopaTV article about the Cars vs. Planes Splatfest.

We're therefore going to turn on comment moderation (requiring staff approval for a comment to appear on articles older than 60 days) and CAPTCHAs. I could also force people to have a Google Account in order to comment on KoopaTV (as opposed to being anonymous), but the spammers pretty clearly have Google Accounts, so that wouldn't do anything.