Super Smash Bros. Ultimate In-Game "Tourney Score" is a Bad System

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - It's Global Smash Power, but temporary, not global, and somehow even less transparent.

Last week, Nintendo of America had its first official in-game online tournament with real prizes in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the NintendoVS Challenge Cup September 2020. (This is in contrast with the official out-of-game online tournaments with real prizes that, per the article linked in the previous sentence, I firmly believe will co-exist with these in-game tournaments.)

Now that we've gone through one of them, there are a lot more questions that we can finally answer and address that were mysteries in the first one. Chief among those are Tourney Score, since there was no explanation or documentation pre-start on what that was or how you got it.

My final Tourney Score was 23,652.
That was not enough to get a prize. (See results here.)
I would've been in the Top 100 if I didn't play/lose my last match against Krüger, who ended at 74th.
(I was at 24,481 before losing my last match.)

Tourney Score is basically Global Smash Power (GSP), which you may remember is the ranking used in the Quickplay online matchmaking mode, and is the basis for entering Elite Smash (which is a banlist for those who have too high of a GSP). Winning increases your Global Smash Power (and for this tournament, Tourney Score), and losing decreases it.

All players began the tournament with 15,000 Tourney Score, meaning there was no seeding or anything. You would just play matches and get it up or down, though you were asked between every match if you would like to change characters. While Global Smash Power is tied to a specific character, Tourney Score is the same across all of your character options. This also means that while Global Smash Power means “if your GSP is 8,000,000, that means you are better than 7,999,999 people,” Tourney Score is just an arbitrary number that doesn't mean anything. This means you don't know how well you're doing compared to everyone else, only after fighting opponents and seeing their Tourney Score. For example, I knew I had no chance of achieving top 20 after being beaten by top professional player Dabuz and seeing his Tourney Score at the time (and he was streaming this on Twitch):

2020 Presidential Debates: Trump vs. Biden, Night 1!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - A historical night and exchange?

I'm already supposed to have published KoopaTV's endorsement for president of the United States for 2021, but, you know, game-related stuff happened and I'm obligated to write about that first.

For now, you'll have to be in suspense for who we're supporting in the FIRST general election debate, between Republican Party incumbent President Donald John Trump, vs. Democrat Party challenger Joe Biden! Excluded from the debates, because it's a two-party racket, is Libertarian Jo Jorgensen.

Word on the street (which street? Not mine... someone else's) is that President Donald John Trump didn't even practice or rehearse for the debate, while Joe Biden has been studiously preparing. That's probably a disaster waiting to happen and I don't recommend taking the President's approach here for any upcoming important event in your life, even if he feels like he gets all of the practice he needs fighting the FAKE NEWS media. (He obviously doesn't, unless he thinks he comes across well to the voters after exchanges like these at the bottom half of the article?)

There's two ways to evaluate a debate performance. One, the candidates’ substance. If you remember the Democratic National Convention vs. the Republican National Convention, it's clear which campaign has the capacity to run on substance. The second is the candidates’ delivery/personality, which is unfortunately what many Americans make their decisions on. Practice and rehearsal can help both factors!

Phoenix Wright's Small Tokyo Game Show 2020 Cameo

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - ...Let CAPCOM know you want more than a cameo by filling out their survey!

In July 2020, I reacted to the news that Ace Attorney franchise director Takeshi Yamazaki left CAPCOM by stating that the seventh mainline Ace Attorney game (which has not formally been announced yet) must already have been in development for years, since Mr. Yamazaki has had no game credits since 2016's Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice. Therefore, he likely left after his role is done, and that CAPCOM will prove this right by announcing this “Ace Attorney 7” at the Tokyo Game Show 2020, which just concluded over the weekend.

“Ace Attorney 7” did not show up. It was never on the schedule to begin with, and it didn't make any surprise unannounced appearance. The most that the Ace Attorney series got was appearing on this shirt a CAPCOM presenter was wearing:

You can see Phoenix Wright in the O, short for, “Oops, there's no Ace Attorney!”

It's still a more tasteful shirt than, uh, this shirt that also appeared on stream:

The Nintendo Corporate Management Policy Briefing Questions & Answers, September 2020

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I've been hoping for good questions. Did we get them?

You probably don't care about the particulars, but Nintendo did something relatively unusual a week ago and held the “Corporate Management Policy Briefing for the Fiscal Year ending March 2021.” In prior years, Nintendo holds their Corporate Management Policy Briefings alongside a quarterly earnings result. This time, they just decided to make it its own random thing. And in September. Why? I dunno. But we're gonna hear about their six-months earning release in November. That's soon. But for some reason they just couldn't wait. We now have six questions and answers to play with, alongside a massive 56-slide document that explains Nintendo's corporate management policy. To anyone who knows about Nintendo already, there's not much new in there, besides stats like 26 million (unhappy) Nintendo Switch Online members.

Let's talk about the questions, then. Spoiler alert: They almost all suck, and this article will end remarking about that and the real questions that should be getting asked.

Question 1: Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit looks like it will be a unique integrated hardware-software entertainment title. Can you talk a little about the concept and how it was developed? Also, what is your approach to the Nintendo Switch software lineup going forward?

For those who don't remember, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit was the mixed reality title shown in the Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary Direct, with the racing happening in your room with Kamek and the Koopalings starring as your opposition. Obviously that got the attention of myself and Kamek, who were live-reacting in the log.

The Nintendo Switch, according to Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa in his answer, is in “the middle of its lifecycle,” and it's been out for 3.5 years so far, so look forward to more games to come. The only other interesting tidbits are that they're collaborating with a New York gaming/breakthrough technology company, Velan Studios, and Nintendo has a European development subsidiary called NERD (for Nintendo European Research & Development).

Rocket League: Now Free-to-Play. Is that a yay?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Free, as opposed to paid-for. Brought to you by Epic.

Once upon a time, in late 2017, I wrote an article on behalf of the whole KoopaTV staff asking if we should make Rocket League our go-to online multiplayer game. After all, even though not everyone at the time had a Nintendo Switch, it had cross-play, meaning we could all play together. Rocket League was all the rage back then. By early 2018, we all had picked it up. Then we never played it together, for various reasons. By the time it was the end of 2018, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate had released to fulfill many of our online multiplayer needs (still does to this day), and everyone forgot Rocket League existed.

Personally, I should've seen that I wouldn't like a car-soccer game coming. I'm not a car person. And I strongly dislike soccer and associate it with socialism. But that doesn't explain why the game never clicked with me gameplay-wise. I mean, something about this isn't riveting in long (>15-minute) stretches of time:

I had paid 15 to 20 dollars on Rocket League back then (and regret it), but starting yesterday—and likely due to the influence Epic Games has had on the game since acquiring developer Psyonix in 2019—Rocket League became a free-to-play game. It has micro-transactions (an in-game aesthetic item store with a very complicated system of “Credits” and “Blueprints” that I don't understand and never will personally interact with), but this contrasts with the previous model of a base fee plus a zillion DLC packages of aesthetics. Since it's now free-to-play and those DLC packages were discontinued, players get dumped the contents of those DLC packages for free the first time they start the game, along with “Legacy”-quality items and some other stuff. I'm not quite sure what that means, but my car looks like this now:

After TWO Years, Nintendo Switch Online is Still Unsafe and Anti-Consumer with Auto-Renewal Policies

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I think it's time we try to get some activist energy here, because this is terrible. They don't learn.

Congratulations to Nintendo. There are now over 26 million members for Nintendo Switch Online, and a lot of that has been driven by Animal Crossing: New Horizons. With somewhere around 61.44+ million Nintendo Switch consoles sold, that's a decent attach rate.

And they've managed to get all of these members while having one of the most anti-consumer, unsafe renewal policies. I'll go into detail in the article, but first, I'll note that starting today, Nintendo Switch Online members in the Americas are getting Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Mario's Super Picross, The Peace Keepers, and S.C.A.T.: Special Cybernetic Attack Team. In true Nintendo fan fashion, people are happy about getting Donkey Kong Country 2 since it's been on their beg list, but they're upset that there still isn't EarthBound. Also, they're now upset over the lack of Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, since Japan just got it. No one was asking for it before then. Americans just want stuff all the other countries have, like Super Famicom Fire Emblem titles and socialised medicine.

Anyway, speaking of other countries, let's talk about the Nintendo Switch Online renewal policies, which Nintendo has been under investigation for in the United Kingdom for almost a year and a half with apparently no public progress. KoopaTV regulars know that the KoopaTV staff are part of one Nintendo Switch Online Family Group that renews every October 1. (And if you win this KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program round, 34, you get to be part of it for a year starting November 1.) You already know that you have to set up automatic renewal by default, and with a credit card/PayPal that's automatically stored. You can turn off automatic renewal right after. But did you know that manual renewal is apparently not a thing? Observe the steps I have to go through to renew the family group membership:

What is the NintendoVS Challenge Cup September 2020, and what's it mean for future Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournaments?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I'm literally the leading expert on Nintendo-sponsored Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournaments, so here's what I know.

If you've turned on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate lately and gone online, or maybe you're looking at the right Nintendo social media account, you see there's a new tournament mode called the NintendoVS Challenge Cup September 2020. If you try to interact with it, it'll ask you to read a lengthy rules/terms and conditions document, and then you can join it.

What is the Nintendo VS Challenge Cup September 2020 tournament? How can you do well in it? What happened to Nintendo's prior Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournaments in partnership with Battlefy? And are there alternative tournaments if you wish for something with prizes but not ran by Nintendo? This article will answer all of those questions... and more.

What is the NintendoVS Challenge Cup September 2020?

The official description is as follows:

Get ready to test your Super Smash Bros. Ultimate skills in the NintendoVS Challenge Cup September 2020 tournament! Whether you’ve mastered the perfect shield or just prefer to stick to specials and smash attacks, hop online during the tournament and jump into the action. The top 20 players will receive My Nintendo Gold Points to redeem on Nintendo eShop.

Microsoft (Xbox) Buys ZeniMax Media (Bethesda and company)

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - What could this mean? ...You won't find the real answer to that here, not yet, but I have some other thoughts.

This morning, when Heavy Lobster posted in KoopaTV's private Discord server that “Microsoft bought Bethesda.” (the bolding is my doing, not its), I thought it was a bizarre joke. A morning giggle. But, no, it's real. Here's Microsoft welcoming Bethesda to the family, and here is Bethesda saying why Microsoft is the perfect fit. ...Perfect, as long as 7.5 billion dollars are exchanged.

My first question/thought is what happens to PlayStation 5 exclusives* (*also available on PC) DEATHLOOP and Ghostwire: Tokyo. The plans with those are going to remain, and then it's up to Microsoft on which Bethesda games get to see other consoles besides Xbox and Windows PC. Just want to note that last week, we saw Xbox Game Studios’s Ori and the Will of the Wisps go on Nintendo Switch, so, yeah. Microsoft is going to get the revenue even if they're sold on other systems, just not as much revenue as if it sold on their own.

My second thought was happiness that we no longer have to sit through a dedicated Bethesda E3 conference every year. Well, assuming the Electronic Entertainment Expo continues to exist. It sure didn't in 2020.

Smart people who know how to read press releases will know this has to do with getting Bethesda's games on the Xbox Game Pass, and giving them first-party Xbox Game Studios treatment of a day one release on said Xbox Game Pass. And as I briefly mentioned during the Xbox Games Showcase (which I'm referencing due to the lack of an actual article about Xbox Game Pass), “Xbox itself is just Xbox Game Pass now.” If that's the impression you have, that's the point.

Now, consider this theory...

Super Mario 3D All-Stars has Launched...and...

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - ...and I don't care, though Kamek does, at least.

You would think, from KoopaTV's live reactions to the Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary Direct, that no one on the staff would bite on Super Mario 3D All-Stars. I mean, despite playing all of them (and probably BECAUSE I've played all of them), I have no nostalgia for Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and/or Super Mario Galaxy. In fact, I notoriously dislike 3D platformers.

Seriously, it's a rookie mistake to think a site that's operated by Koopa Kingdom and has Koopas all over it would be fans of the plumbers’ games. Anyway, here's the launch trailer, though it's nothing special:

However, despite Kamek claiming just two weeks ago that $60 for Super Mario 3D All-Stars is “a little exploitative, especially during a pandemic. AND it's a limited release [until March 31, 2021]? [...] My emotions... yeah the price ruins it.” He went and bought it anyway today, physically, as well as a “Super Mario 3D All-Stars: Skin Set” for his Joy-Cons/grip. ...Yeah, tell me more about being exploited... Maybe he REALLY wants that My Nintendo Super Mario Bros. collectible pin set, too, which requires you to buy Super Mario 3D All-Stars. (It also suggests that you ought to participate in that mobile game Mario Kart Tour, which is on a whole other level of exploitation. And unlike the entirety of Super Mario 3D All-Stars, I'm unfortunately in Mario Kart Tour as a gacha pawn.)

Actually, as I was writing this, Kamek insists the skin came free with his purchase, which is bizarre and doesn't make sense to me because the manufacturer likes to sell these things for $20. Now I don't know what's going on.

Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase | September 2020: The MONSTER HUNTER Direct!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - This was much more interesting than what I was anticipating.

We have had a July 2020 Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase, as well as an August 2020 Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase. We know what to expect from these: Third-party companies (non-Nintendo) showing upcoming Nintendo Switch titles and making announcements.

However, we (...or, at least, I) didn't expect the twist from today's Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase | September 2020. It was immediately followed up with a dedicated Monster Hunter Direct!

I'll write about all of the non-Monster Hunter stuff first, and then get to the real part of the article.

KoopaTV's Live Reactions to the PlayStation 5 Showcase

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Scroll to the end if you just wanna know the release date and price.

After Sony's embarrassing PLAYSTATION 5 THE FUTURE OF GAMING conference from three months ago, which was big on grandiose statements and light on details, the company is trying again with the less risky title of “PlayStation 5 Showcase”, which will be our big view into the company's release for PlayStation 5, this holiday season.

Join myself and Heavy Lobster as we watch and critique Sony's second try at convincing us that the PlayStation 5 is the console to buy.

What happened to Shinzō Abe? Who is Yoshihide Suga? Does Cappy have to do with it?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I'll address all of those questions, but only answer some of them!

You may be paying attention to politics in the United States of America, as well as the many nasty things China is responsible for, but don't let that distract you from what's going on in other parts of Asia. Namely, Japan. I'll fill you in with information you could've gotten yourself with a quick search (or maybe you're here BECAUSE you did a quick search), PLUS exclusive information you won't find anywhere else.

What happened to Shinzō Abe?

Shinzō Abe has resigned as Japan's Prime Minister after being in power from 2006 to 2007, and then 2012 to...well, now. Note that 2006 to 2007 length—Japanese Prime Ministers are supposed to be in power for four years. However, Shinzō Abe resigned then, and has resigned now, due to health issues with lifelong ulcerative colitis, an autoimmune disease. That's a scary way of saying, “your bowels are inflamed with breaks in the intestines, and your immune system attacks your own body and food instead of malicious pathogens.” (Other autoimmune diseases include Celiac Disease, which I have. Obviously, if your body's disease-fighting system is busy attacking itself, instead of actual diseases, you're weaker for it. Bad during a pandemic.) It's usually not fatal, but it can be a very inconvenient condition for a world leader to have due to bloody symptoms that are gross to describe here. (You can bet I'm not including a picture of this in the article.)

Who is Yoshihide Suga?

Yoshihide Suga was Shinzō Abe's Chief Cabinet Secretary from 2012 to now. The Chief Cabinet Secretary, among other things, holds meetings with the media, as well as coordinates the other cabinet members/functions in the government. Shinzō Abe himself was a Chief Cabinet Secretary prior to becoming Prime Minister, so it's apparently a powerful position. (Note it's different than the Deputy Prime Minister, though that's even more useless than an American Vice President, since they don't get to automatically become Prime Minister if they're...out.)

Not much is actually known about Yoshihide Suga. He's portrayed by fans as the son of a farmer, which doesn't mean anything. He's also a hard worker, like... everyone else in Japan. Also like everyone in Japan, he has ties to the yakuza (Japanese equivalent to the mafia). Like Shinzō Abe, he's a right-winger who likes deregulation and is upset about slow government bureaucracy. His stances on foreign policy are a question mark, since Chief Cabinet Secretary is a domestic duty that doesn't do much with other countries.

That last bit is important, because Shinzō Abe was doing big things in foreign policy, namely trying to be President Donald John Trump's best friend for a close United States of America relationship, and trying to disassociate from China. That last bit includes incentivising businesses to specifically move manufacturing operations out of China, as well as expanding what self-defence means for the Japanese Self-Defense Forces.

Does Cappy have to do with it?

Well... that's unclear. Yes and no. Let's talk about together.

End "National Video Game Day"... Both of Them!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - These “_____ Day”s are scams.

I do not respect the celebration of anniversaries (including birthdays) or reoccurring special events on the calendar. Over the weekend, September 12th was celebrated as “National Video Games Day” in the United States. I saw a conversation between two people that went as, “Happy national video game day!” “Wow, has it really been a year already? It feels like video games day 2019 just happened.”

The reason it feels so recent is not because you remember 2019, but, in fact, you remember “National Video Game Day” from July 8, which is another day “celebrated” in the United States.

Why are there two of these days? Well, there's some ill-explained explanation out there, but it's not important or interesting and it doesn't make sense. According to Calendarr.com, some dude named David Earle submitted it to the Chase's Calendar of Events, which is a publication (founded 1957) that puts among its buyers “thousands of libraries” and the media. They have a Wikipedia article that only has a few total edits on it, but I guess they meet a notability standard to have been not deleted for over ten years. They describe themselves this way:

Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo: Profiting off Chinese Forced Labour (Uyghur Internment!)

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Will anything ever change?

The mainstream media has not been reporting this as loudly as they should be (and you can speculate in the comments section for the reason why, though there will be many other things you'll find yourself wanting to comment on by the time you read through this whole article), so I'll do it: China has transferred tens of thousands (some sources say a million—it's hard to have exact counts on anything when it comes to China) of ethnic minorities into “re-education camps”, including Uyghur/Uighur Muslims—where the humans are locked up and are forced to labour in factories that produce familiar products.

KoopaTV shouldn't normally be your source for anything relating to human rights, since we tend to care mostly about Koopas and not humans, but this actually directly impacts the videogame industry. ...Though even if it didn't, we'd want to talk about it, if only because we're sick of, and disgusted by, the actions of the Communist Chinese Party.

For this article, I'm going to summarise the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's lengthy and dense report on the topic. (If you're wondering what that is, the ASPI was founded by the Australian government and partially funded by their Department of Defence. See their full list of funding sources here, which includes some of the companies with problematic supply chains.) Refer to the source if you want more detail, but I'm gonna try to make it more approachable for the audience that reads the site, just so you can understand what's going on. There's also a complete list of companies that benefit from the labour camps in that report, but since this is KoopaTV, the names I'm writing here are familiar entertainment giants like Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Oculus, Amazon, Apple, and Google.

Ever Notice How Indeedee are Similar to Teletubbies?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Cursed content warning...

You can go ahead and blame serebii.net's Pokémon of the Week series being of Indeedee over the weekend for this. Otherwise, I wouldn't pay Indeedee, from Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield—games that I refuse to buy—any second thoughts. But man, look at those hips...that shape... they're so familiar. Something is welling up inside of me, repressed from decades past.

Indeedee is the Emotion Pokémon. Its horns give it special empathy powers, and they are extroverts that gain energy from others being happy. Male Indeedee are said to be good valets (or butlers), and female Indeedee are allegedly good babysitters (or maids). Do I think, say, King Dad would leave Bowser Jr. in the care of an Indeedee and feel confident about it? Nah.

But millions of Earthlings have left their kids in the care of these things called Teletubbies that highly resemble Indeedee. I've seen their work on television a few times. (I'm implying usage of television as a babysitter.) They're really dumb, but they physically resemble Indeedee. Like Indeedee, the Teletubbies’ horns have special powers and are actually antenna for receiving broadcasts. Teletubbies also say their own name a lot, much like many other Pokémon. Indeedee are Psychic types, and those are commonly associated with aliens (which the Teletubbies are). They all got big bellies/wide hips. See for yourself:

No More Heroes 3: Now "shooting for a 2021 release date"

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Even Travis Touchdown didn't think it'd be released in 2020, pre-CCP Virus!

A wise man at the end of 2019 once said, “2020 release? Huh, good luck.” That was Travis Touchdown when No More Heroes 3 for Nintendo Switch was announced, still developed by SUDA51 of Grasshopper Manufacture. It turns out that Travis Touchdown (the series protagonist) and his sentiment were spot-on, according to a just-published tweet by Grasshopper and Suda51.

Here is the statement in text form:

This is Goichi Suda from Grasshopper Manufacture, with an announcement regarding the postponement of the release of No More Heroes 3.

Reading through the comments of fans on social media, we know 2020 has been a very tough period for many of you. To everyone who has been waiting for further news and release date confirmation ever since the reveal of the trailer for No More Heroes 3 at TGA at the end of 2019, I would like to offer my sincerest apologies.

All staff members at Grasshopper have been working as hard as possible on developing the game in hopes of releasing it in 2020, but the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have unfortunately proven to be a real body blow to our schedule, causing unforeseen delays in development. Now that we have managed to get back on our feet with development, we have decided to focus on prioritizing quality, and to therefore push back the final release date.

Very sorry once again. We hope that everyone who has been waiting patiently for No More Heroes 3 can understand and accept this decision, and we will continue to put every effort into the title’s development as we shoot for a 2021 release date.

In other and hopefully better news, we are extremely pleased to announce that Darick Robertson — of The Boys fame, and of whom I am personally a huge fan — will be joining the project to provide illustrations for the game. We will be posting some original illustrations, so please be sure to check them out. Please stay tuned for key art from Darick himself, as well as further announcements and news regarding No More Heroes 3.

SUDA51 [NO MORE HEROES 3 Director]

A few things to point out there. One, I would think that SUDA51 wouldn't have to read fan comments on social media to know that 2020 has been a very tough period for many people, unless he's one of the aliens that are apparently in No More Heroes 3's antagonist squad. Two, he is “prioritizing quality”, as opposed to, say, finishing the game at its original scope. I wonder if that indicates that No More Heroes 3 will be smaller than originally intended, but what remains will be of better quality. (This will likely manifest as a fourth-wall breaking joke in-game.) That... should be a net positive, especially given my reservations on the No More Heroes series in general after the last game.

And three, they say they are shooting for a 2021 release date. ...I just want to note that leaves it open for being delayed to 2022. Or beyond!

That Japanese apparently translates to the
“2020 release? Huh, good luck.” Though with another question mark.

Ludwig always figured something was suspiciously going on with the No More Heroes 3 development after it failed to appear in the July 2020 Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase, as well as the August 2020 one. He has no issues whatsoever about the game being delayed, but figured it's newsworthy. He does not know who Darick Robertson is, but hopefully he has cool art.


No More Heroes 3 released August 27, 2021.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity: The Breath of the Wild DLC That Should've Been?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Now they can focus on the storyline.

After much searching on KoopaTV, I've noticed I've never really put much effort into writing my thoughts on KOEI TECMO GAMES's Dynasty Warriors series, which extends to Hyrule Warriors, other than me not caring for their gameplay. At all. That said, with all of the ports of Hyrule Warriors, the most a Hyrule Warriors game has ever gotten from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild were costumes for Link and for Zelda. That leaves a big gap.

Similarly, there isn't KoopaTV content about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's expansion pass, besides this article written before The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild even released denouncing the expansion pass (which, despite the thrust of it being that expansion passes being on sale before you even know what's really in them is a bad thing, turned out to be prescient that it actually was a bad deal, content-wise). We did at least have a guest article from early 2018 that was tangentially upset about the lack of content in The Champions' Ballad from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's DLC Pack 2. (Though the article was FAKE NEWS in that the writer promised to talk about it further at a different date. Still hasn't happened yet.)

I mentioned those two topics above because today, Nintendo announced not only the next Hyrule Warriors game (this time, it's new and not yet another port), but it's ALSO the prequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The real prequel. The one that The Champions' Ballad was supposed to be but wasn't. Here's the announcement trailer plus developer commentary, followed by MY commentary:

Don't Put Multiplayer-Required Achievements in Games

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - These are the worst kinds of achievements, besides that one Super Smash Bros. Melee trophy requiring Pikmin save data.

Last week, I accomplished an amazing achievement: A 249/256 Heroic Rank in Team Kirby Clash Deluxe!

Heroic Rank: 249/256.
Total High Score: 115075. (Without use of Attack Potions.)

The difference between that heroic rank and the one portrayed in my very popular The Optimal Way to Play Team Kirby Clash Deluxe guide from 2017 (Heroic Rank 237/256)? In the years since, at a rate of 14 Gem Apples every 12 hours (and I was definitely not optimal at picking up my apples, especially since the game tries its best to be a pain in conveying information) I bought out all of the weapons from the shop AND upgraded all of them to their deluxe version. This requires needing a lot of Gem Apples (the wait-to-play mechanic), as well as Rare Fragments, though Rare Fragments you'll get from normal gameplay.

All that is left are seven missions. One of them is “Complete all of the Heroic Missions.” The other six?

Kamala's Continuous Californian Corrupt Cop Culture

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Enabling criminality among prosecutors’ offices across California.

It is the duty, by Californian law, for the Attorney General of California to “see that the laws of the State are uniformly and adequately enforced.” The Attorney General directly supervises all district attorneys, sheriffs, and other law enforcement officers in how they do their duties, including investigations and prosecutions.

Kamala Harris, whom is currently running for Vice President of the United States, was California's Attorney General from 2011 to 2017, and was also the district attorney of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011. She has years of experience as a prosecutor of great authority... but is it a good record?

Tulsi Gabbard memorably and succinctly summarised Kamala Harris's record as a “top cop” prosecutor in this debate clip from the second primary debate. Watch this if you get nothing else from the article:

In the span of this article, I'll cover what Tulsi Gabbard was referring to in some more detail, plus some additional facts and Kamala controversies that even Tulsi couldn't cover in her limited response time! That includes a story that KoopaTV has been following for years: the SL-9 incident.

Remember, the information in this article is Kamala Harris's record. This is the majority of her experience as a public official. This is why she believes she should be president of the United States, and what she is “proud” of:

KoopaTV's Live Reactions to the Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary Direct!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - A lot is happening, and then it all ends March 31, 2021!

After (privately) believing that anything around a Super Mario Bros. 35-year anniversary had to be FAKE NEWS, Nintendo pwned me by suddenly, without warning, uploading a “Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary Direct” this morning.

Kamek said early in the morning that he wanted to live-react to it with me, which meant that I had to go through the whole day and avoid other people and social media and whatever so I wouldn't be spoiled. I tried to also get my sister, Wendy, on this live-viewing party, but she kept giving me weird excuses like wanting to raid and “might be heading out to eat in a bit”. Hmph. So it's just me and Kamek reacting to this today:

While this Direct's existence pwned my expectations, will its contents end up pwning my wallet as well? In other words, do we care about the products mentioned in this? Find out from our live reactions!

There's a Mario Tennis Aces North American Open September 2020!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Though I dunno if I can actually attend it. (But I'd like to.)

Recall the Mario Tennis Aces North American Open July 2020? Then remember that I played in it and it was really fun (and I did relatively well)?

Well, if you have Mario Tennis Aces already (and maybe if you and your friends enter the Splatoon 2 tournament this weekend you'll win that and get Mario Tennis Aces as a prize?) and want to do something fun with it, check out the just-announced, Nintendo-sponsored (and administered by eSports platform Battlefy) Mario Tennis Aces North American Online Open September 2020, taking place Saturday, September 19:

Click here for the direct link to the sign-up and tournament information.

The ruleset is the exact same as before. You'll be randomly seeded in a single-elimination bracket playing best-of-three (first to two set wins) tiebreaker mode games (first to win seven rallies as long as you have two more rally wins than your opponent = winning the set) on one of four randomly-selected Marina Stadium courts, which have no hazards on them but have different properties affecting ball speed and bounciness. You may use any character. The prize for getting in the top 8 is 2500 Gold Points, or the equivalent of $25 in the Nintendo eShop.

I just have a bit of a timing conflict...

KoopaTV's August 2020 Review Newsletter

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Good-bye, summer. Hello...uh...well...

There is a lot going on in the world... and it's moving faster and faster. August just went POOF, and the rest of the summer with it. That means that whatever transpired on KoopaTV has also passed... in a blink of an eye! I mean, it's hard for me to wrap my own head around it, so it's probably harder on you. (Or maybe you just aren't thinking about these things.)

KoopaTV's Top Five Recommended Experiences of August 2020

Every article on KoopaTV is worth reading (or in one instance on this list, gazing at), even the many not featured in the following list. But if you need focus and an emphasis, here are the top five recommended KoopaTV experiences published on August 2020, presented in chronological order:

1. Small Battlefield Update (8.1.0) Implications for the Smash Bros. Scene — Super Smash Bros. Ultimate got a new update in August 2020, and Ludwig actually put in research that no one else has done. That's respectable.
   
2. Enjoy This Cute Wooloo Drawing by Momo — We love showing off guest art... who is a cute Wooloo...yes you are...♪ Please check the Wooloo out here.
3. Epic Games vs. Apple: Is Apple a Monopoly or Not? — The Epic vs. Apple lawsuit is going to have huge ramifications for the entire gaming industry, and I doubt this'll be the last time we'll write on it. Given that, read up on the background of the case and potential interesting paths it may take.
4. Let's Talk About the Biased Media Smear Tactic: "Without Evidence" — KoopaTV continues to detest biased media outlets trying to present themselves as down-the-middle fact-providers, and provides a bunch of receipts about the insidious “without evidence” phrase you'll find among media outlets.
5. Ludwig Von Koopa Wins "A Most Regal Battle" — Ludwig got REALLY excited about being included in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's A Most Regal Battle event tournament, and he goes on a whole thing about how important being a noble is to his identity, and why Shigeru Miyamoto is trying to take that away. 

You should probably anticipate the ratio of articles containing American political content to all KoopaTV articles to increase in September 2020 and October 2020. There's just so much to say and so very little time to say it. We have a country to influence! Please understand. (And try to enjoy it.)