Ring Fit Adventure Fitness Log Week 25: Learn to recognise a joke!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I once more begin going through Adventure Mode, while Ring has to go through humour training.

Ah hah! I wrote last week (Week 24) that I'd be back on Friday with Week 25, and here we are. Welcome to KoopaTV Fitness Fridays! It's been a bit of a while, so let's recap. I've already beaten the main Adventure Mode... back in April 2020. That unlocked Extra Fitness mode, a pseudo-New Game+/harder difficulty. This repeats the same 23 worlds as Adventure Mode, but it's streamlined and with different dialogue, because you and the antagonists are all friends now. (I'm hoping the different dialogue will make everything worth playing again.) The enemies have all gotten buffed to accommodate that you're carrying over your level, unlocked Fitness Skills, your inventory, and everything else.

Sunday (January 24, 2021) is apparently the 100th day of me playing Ring Fit Adventure's Adventure Mode (the 99th day, again, being in April 2020), which got me the “Consumed by Fitness” Title. Tipp is concerned that I haven't played in a while, so he recommended to lower my difficulty level. I agreed, so now it's gone from 30→28, which means I'll have less repetitions to do on the Fitness Skills. It's time for World 25: Extra Fitness Lv. 182, which is based on World 2: The Land of Night, featured back in Fitness Log Week 1. My own level is 216.

The first level is still Nightcloak Pass, with its swampy terrain you need to knee lift to wade through. The Hoplin generic enemies are one-round-KO pushovers. (Blue) Kennelbell is a scrub, too, though it can only be two-round-KO'd with my strongest Legs Fit Skill (Thigh Press Lv. 3). Still, it can only do a fraction of 1/4 of a heart of damage in retaliation, so nothing in this early game is a threat.

The treasure chest above Nightcloak Pass contained yet another Citrine stone, used for crafting/buying items. The next level is Dashalong Tower, and the first (and only) Hoplin fight there gave a Citrine as a droppable item, so... I'm sure we'll need a bunch of these for the upcoming shops. As a reminder, I only have 33% of the fashion catalogue filled out, meaning there is 2/3 of that still locked, to be more complete in this playthrough.

While the overworld maps and treasure placements in Extra Fitness are identical to previous worlds,
the contents of the treasure are different. This one had a Citrine, an ingredient that did not appear in normal Adventure Mode.

There's my first Game Gym of the Extra Fitness playthrough: Robo-Wrecker (Novice). Getting an A rank or higher will net me the Royal Green Smoothie recipe, which isn't what the original reward was. The original minimum reward rank was also B rank or higher. Still trivial to achieve. I got the recipe, and the Royal Green Smoothie is brand new. 2 Chard + 2 Basil + 2 Ashitaba = 12 hearts of recovery, and your Fit Skills get recharged, AND negative status effects are cancelled. That's an all-around beneficial clerical drink, and it's a very marginal improvement over the endgame-quality Green Basil Smoothie. ...And it's also way more recovery than what I'll need in this world, and probably most (or all) subsequent worlds.

I'm noticing that there's only two levels left in World 25: Extra Fitness Lv. 182, so... I guess I gotta space this out to be a week's worth of content? How will I do that? Keep reading to find out...

NEVER AGAIN: Mario's Koopa Genocide in Super Mario Bros. 35's "1st World Count Challenge"

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Don't let there be a second one. Or a thirty-fifth one.

The past ten days have been really difficult for us, due to mob activity. No, I'm not talking about the millions of GameStop stock trades. I'm talking about the millions (though we don't know the true count) of murderous, destructive Marios (him and his clones) that appeared as a direct result of Nintendo inciting them to violence:

The first #SuperMarioBros35 World Count Challenge starts soon—running from Jan 18 11pm PT to Jan 25 10:59pm PT!

Team up with players worldwide to defeat 3.5 million Bowsers! If achieved, all participating players defeating at least 1 Bowser get 350 My Nintendo Platinum Points! pic.twitter.com/6dO7yiSSUF

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) January 18, 2021

The result of this incitement of insurrection? (And for a worthless currency, in-line with what LEGO Mario has already poisoned the minds of many children with.) A mob unlawfully breached King Koopa's castles, and engaged in violent, deadly, destructive, and seditious acts. These include attempts at regicide, as well as massive genocide:

Here are the results for the 1st World Count Challenge in #SuperMarioBros35!

A total of 5,363,696 Bowsers were defeated!

Congratulations, everyone! All participants who defeated at least one Bowser will receive 350 My Nintendo Platinum Points gifted to their accounts! pic.twitter.com/K6AzrxJqvw

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) January 28, 2021

Yes, Nintendo announced a death toll of 5,363,696 Bowsers at the gloves/boots/fire of the Mario mob. In the span of one week.

Why I Don't Drink Alcoholic Beverages

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - You don't have to live like me, but here's why I live like me.

I often receive a lot of unhappy, negative-toned comments when I tell people that I choose not to drink alcoholic beverages. It's not a hit at parties. Society is ingrained, like the fermented grains used to produce alcohol, into believing something is wrong with you if you're not a drinker. Big Alcohol has been all too happy to turn the word “drink” into having a meaning exclusive to consuming an alcoholic beverage. (“Hey, do you drink?”) Governments putting arbitrary restrictions on when one is allowed to drink alcohol has turned it into an exciting rite of passage... and a lifelong habit thereafter. Prohibition was an enormous mistake, but this is a worldwide issue, and has been a problem happening long before the modern era. (Annoyingly enough, voting, which is also gatekept by age, is something you have to drag people out to do.)

Personally, my main reasons for not wanting to drink alcoholic beverages is that I like to maintain control over my own body, it's not healthy to do so, and I think they taste very inferior to non-alcoholic beverages. I'll address those reasons (in reverse order) in this article:

Console Wars Roundtable: Reggie Fils-Aime, Robbie Bach, and Jack Tretton (Live Reactions!)

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I talk through former gaming console executives talking about the videogame industry for an hour.

Today there was a semi-rare opportunity for former gaming executives from Nintendo of America, Microsoft, and Sony Computer Entertainment America to sit in the same event and talk about the videogame industry for an hour. It was sponsored by the mainstream gaming journalists at The New York Game Awards—so KoopaTV wasn't invited—and streamed by Twitch Gaming. Still, even though we weren't invited to the event, I still watched the stream and provided my reactions below. In case there'd be anything interesting.

The theme is supposed to be about the “console wars”, a fun topic that KoopaTV was supposed to be built on. Back in the day, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony totally went at one another's throats, always trying to pwn one another at E3 events and the like. Nowadays, the companies are seen as much softer and more friendly in their competition. The executives present talk about this.

Specifically, there was Reggie Fils-Aime, the former president and Chief Operating Officer of Nintendo of America, around from the early-mid 2000s with the GameCube to after the Nintendo Switch, leaving in 2019; Robbie Bach, who was part of Microsoft back way before the Xbox was a thing, eventually leaving 2010; and Jack Tretton, who was part of Sony's original PlayStation team back in the mid-1990s, and he was President of Sony Computer Entertainment from 2006 to 2013. Also, it was moderated by some streamer named Okaydrian.

[6:29 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: https://www.twitch.tv/twitchgaming
[6:30 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Reggie's talking at "The New York Game Awards", along with Robbie Bach and Jack Tretton.
[6:30 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Apparently representing Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox.
[6:30 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: And not to be confused with "The Game Awards".
[6:31 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: If I don't care about The Game Awards, I won't care about a New York one. But maybe the roundtable thing will be of interest.

President Donald Trump's Fourth Year Reflection

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - If I wrote “Last Year Reflection”, there'd be a non-zero chance that'd age poorly!

If you thought KoopaTV's Game of THAT Year 2020 Awards closed out the year of 2020... you'd be right. Technically, January 2020 to January 2021 isn't a time period that's exclusive to just 2020! Yes, KoopaTV is reflecting on our fourth year coverage of the Donald John Trump presidency. He wasn't re-elected, so this is the last of this multi-year series... unless he runs in 2023 and wins election in 2024. I... don't recommend that he goes and does that, however.

KoopaTV is doing this list because we're a reason that President Donald John Trump got into power to begin with. We won't be doing this sort of recap list next year for President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. because we didn't endorse him. That means we don't feel like we have to be accountable for whatever actions he does in office, since we never said a good word for him! But with the 45th President, we want to be responsible and accountable.

In KoopaTV's first year of coverage, we wrote 19 articles where the main topic was about President Donald John Trump, with 9 articles with positive coverage, 1 article of neutral coverage, and 9 articles containing negative coverage. However, KoopaTV's second year of coverage was not only reduced with only 9 articles in that year, but only 2 of those were positive, 2 were neutral, and 5 were negative. Likewise, in the third year of coverage, we also wrote 9 articles, but 3 were positive, 1 was neutral, and 5 were negative.

In this article, I'm concluding what we've done in previous years with a tabulated list of KoopaTV's coverage about former President Donald John Trump from January 2020 to January 2021. I've judged whether that coverage was positive, neutral, or negative. For an easy summary, there's a table at the end.

Articles that mention President Donald John Trump in passing, but aren't about him, are excluded from this. Same goes for articles that are dedicated to trashing his political opponents, since those are not a reflection on him!

For fun, try guessing what the ratio will be before getting to the end.

All dates in this article are in mm/dd/yyyy format.

Ring Fit Adventure Fitness Log Week 24: Featuring the Fitness Boxing 2 Demo

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I'm back to get fit!

A not-so-secret: I haven't been staying fit. In terms of weight, I'm a bit over where I was in November 2019. Body mass index-wide, it's still “normal weight”, but if I'm doing nothing, that could change, and that's not what I want. I made the stupid, public decision in April 2020 to stop playing Ring Fit Adventure until 2021 because the 2020 Olympic Games got delayed to 2021, and the Olympics being in 2020 was why I was playing Ring Fit Adventure to begin with. (In case you're wondering, Team Koopa is competing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. ...I'm also assuming it's not getting cancelled in 2021.)

I was supposed to course-correct in the second half of 2020 (at the recommendation of my chiropractor, no less), but anyone who has been on my Nintendo Switch friend list knows that I haven't actually been playing Ring Fit Adventure since I wrote that. It turns out that I'm not good at self-improvement, and documenting things on KoopaTV helps me actually do things. Also, since I wrote that article in the second half of 2020, my back has been relatively decent (not needing big chiropractic adjustments), but my shoulders and neck are the tension areas.

Before I get into what I did this week, note that there will be no Ring Fit Adventure story/adventure mode content this week. We last left off completing the final world of the game, World 23: Finalia, and then going through World 24: Extra Fitness Lv. 181. It's a good idea for, uh, search engines to have the week # in the article title to be the same # as the world featured in the article itself, so... You'll get other content for the fitness log comeback.

This Custom Fitness List was generated with shoulder-helping exercises.
(Ring Fit Adventure doesn't break out exercises that help the neck.)
Bow Pull x28; Fan Pose x28; Back Press x20; Overhead Squat x20; Standing Forward Fold x16; Robo-Wrecker (Novice); Aerochute (Novice).

Super Nintendo World Osaka Opening Delayed Until Coronavirus Shoos

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - This surprises no one.

Once upon a time, KoopaTV wrote a headline (and an article to go with it that maybe you should read), “Super Nintendo World Set to Open February 4, 2021”. A few weeks later, Nintendo's lead on the theme park, Shigeru Miyamoto, toured the area and trespassed on Lord Bowser's property. Everyone throughout the process was wondering how opening a theme park in the middle of (well, it's probably middle-end of) a global pandemic is a good idea, and the answer has been that Japan hasn't had it as bad as the rest of the world.

Back in April or so, Japan got headlines like, “What Japan Can Teach the World About the Pandemic” and “What Lies Behind Japan's Successful Management Of The Pandemic”. Nowadays, the headlines are “Why Japan, Once a COVID-19 Success Story, Faces the Prospect of a Dark, Deadly Winter” and “Japan hospitals slammed after underestimating third COVID wave”. The Japanese have gone from competent to complacent, and now they're all getting pwned by the Chinese Communist Party Virus.

As a result, Universal Studios Japan has announced that Super Nintendo World's opening has been postponed until sometime after the Osaka prefecture state of emergency has been lifted. (The ANNOUNCEMENT of when it'll be opened will be made after the state of emergency is lifted, as opposed to the opening happening right after.) Nintendo hasn't added much of anything to the discussion, though they did edit into that Shigeru Miyamoto tour video description,

Joe Biden: Inauguration Day

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - A new chapter in history indeed.

I should've published this hours ago, but it's just so boring and blah that I really have to push myself to get it out. But I ate some fiber in-between the live inauguration and... tonight, so here we are. Uh... this is a live reaction log with just myself, by the way.

Get used to hearing “President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.” from now on. He follows the KoopaTV tradition of President Barack Hussein Obama and President Donald John Trump for getting the full name treatment.

[11:23 AM] Ludwig Von Koopa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-qYgs_yOXA
[11:23 AM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Amy Klobuchar is talking for some reason.
[11:23 AM] Ludwig Von Koopa: I'll pay attention when someone with "president" in their imminent-future job title talks.
[11:32 AM] Ludwig Von Koopa: They're doing some sorta prayer thing.
[11:36 AM] Ludwig Von Koopa: They're doing a Color Guard thing, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the National Anthem.
Reminder that the United States has a bottom-tier National Anthem.
[11:37 AM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Anthems are one of the few things the Soviet Union pwned America on, and if the new Administration really is going to bring communism to America as right-wing commentators proclaim, then hopefully they get a better anthem too.

Welcome to the Fódlan Senate, Raphael Warnock the Warlock

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I'll take you through Raphael's epic journey.

There once was a boy named Raphael Warnock, born in the Commoner class, who cared deeply for his commoner family. He was far from privileged, and had to work hard for his opportunities.

Young Raphael Warnock was disappointed in only getting HP and Magic on his first level-up.
...But little did he know that learning Magic would set him up very well for the future.

Through resolve and grit (and a little luck), Raphael Warnock had the opportunity to attend a prestigious school with a religious tradition. Leaning into skills he didn't know he had (and thought he had a bane in), Raphael Warnock actually excelled and graduated.

Raphael Warnock graduated as a Warlock!

Raphael Warnock the Warlock wanted to aspire to something more, more than himself, so he dedicated his life to helping other people. He was going to be an activist for the lower classes that he himself was rising out from, preaching for justice with compassion.

This led Raphael Warnock the Warlock to fight for social justice against the forces of oppression. He started off with a bottom-up approach, protesting in the ebony street trenches for justice and liberation against the selfish government, keeping himself alive with the brute force of his signature Warlock Punch, the Pneuma Gale.

It's Math: There Was No Steal of the Clout-Based Splatfest Super Star Vote

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - There's no steal to stop.

We got some highly unfortunate results from last weekend's Super Mushroom versus Super Star Splatfest in Splatoon 2, in which I told you to support Team Super Star:

Landslide results. Look how successful KoopaTV was in persuading you: 68.20% of participants voted for Team Super Star!
(Unfortunately, they didn't actually win.)

While my own personal results were mostly fantastic (10 wins and 4 losses—and one of those losses was inevitable—versus Team Super Mushroom in Splatfest Battle Normal... and a 13 win/8 loss record against other Team Super Stars), the 53.41%–46.59% and 54.12%–45.88% clout split represents the widest margin since the clout-based system was implemented. That article I just hyperlinked explains the clout system fairly well, and it also states that it's pretty much fair.

However, many of my Team Super Star colleagues are out on social media and promoting conspiracy theories that the Splatfest was rigged and stolen. And while I wouldn't put it past the forces of the Mushroom Kingdom to do underhanded, illegitimate tactics (for example, Team Super Mushroom members could make fake Octolings to join Team Super Star and lose on purpose), the actual reasons I've seen for why the Splatfest was unfair is due to the number of mirror matches that Team Super Star had to deal with. (Here are a few examples.) In other words, since KoopaTV was too successful in convincing the population that you should prefer having Super Stars over Super Mushrooms, most of a Team Super Star member's Splatfest experience was facing other Super Stars, as you can see in my 14-game non-mirror match to 21-game mirror match experience in the paragraph above.

This article will explain why population-size/mirror match-related reasons aren't valid complaints as it relates to clout results.

The Nintendo eShop New Year Sale to Open 2021 (Two Weeks In)

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - First-party games... and Ace Attorney. And much more.

Did you know that it's now 2021? Nintendo didn't seem to realise until now. Meanwhile, KoopaTV already capped off 2020 with our Game of THAT Year awards. Anywho, Nintendo is doing a big New Year Sale ending January 22, 2021 at 2:59 AM Eastern. Yeah, there was just a big sale at the end of December 2020. But it's the new year!

Meanwhile, over on PlayStation, their holiday sale literally started when Nintendo's did (end of December) and has gone on for almost a month now, ending Tuesday. So Nintendo has had two separate sales in the span Sony has done one.

This isn't an ordinary sale. Nintendo has put up some of their own games at a 30% discount. First-party games on sale include:

• Splatoon 2—$42 (30% off)
• Kirby Star Allies—$42 (30% off)
• Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics—$28 (30% off)
• Super Mario Maker 2—$42 (30% off)
• BOXBOY! + BOXGIRL!—$7 (30% off)
• Yoshi's Crafted World—$42 (30% off)
• Snipperclips—$14 (30% off)
• Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker—$28 (30% off)
• ARMS—$42 (30% off)

Some of these videogames I forgot even exist (like Yoshi's Crafted World and Snipperclips), so it makes sense that these games would be on sale because now I just mentioned them and gave them attention. Over 1250 games are on sale on the Nintendo eShop right now. I particularly recommend Splatoon 2 (which has a Splatfest going on right now, though maybe it's not friendly to newbies if you gotta fight teams like this) and Kirby Star Allies. ...And if I'll have people to play Clubhouse Games with, that'd be interesting, too.

You know, whenever there's a major sale, CAPCOM is there to follow. If there's an Ace Attorney game on the 3DS or Switch (well, the Switch just has Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy at $15, or 50% off), it's on sale. Ace Attorney, if you somehow haven't gotten into it yet, should be your first priority. Other CAPCOM games include 50% off Ōkami HD ($10), 34% off Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection ($19.80), and 40% off Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition ($12). Oh, and just to giggle, Ubisoft has extremely deep discounts, like 75% off Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle. But I'm still not going to buy it.


Buy Ace Attorney. There's nothing else to say. ...Well, if you've already done that, maybe share what other sales you're interested in. And if you're interested in obtaining funding for those sales (or future sales), try winning the KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program. You'll get an unused eShop card code from Ludwig if you do.


Ludwig was just complaining the article before that certain Nintendo games aren't worth spending $60 on, so this is a nice counter.
No one should be surprised by this Nintendo sale, since they did the same thing in 2020.
CAPCOM puts Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy on sale, again, next month. It's also now a million-seller.
There would be another major CAPCOM-wide sale in March 2021.

Telling You Now: New Pokémon Snap Shouldn't be $60

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Nostalgia trap.

After yesterday's decidedly non-game-related Pokémon news item, The Pokémon Company International followed it up today with a trailer and information for New Pokémon Snap, which we first heard about mid-2020. They also opened up pre-orders for the $60 game, releasing April 30.

There's a lot of generic chatter out there about how the game looks much more vivid and detailed in the Pokémon animation and personality (look how Torchic roasts the fluffruit!) than the likes of fellow Nintendo Switch title Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield, and that was always going to be the case for a game that is entirely based around photographing Pokémon doing detailed animations.

You can check out Pokémon Snap (originally released on the Nintendo 64) on the Wii U Virtual Console right now for $10. I personally experienced it for $10 on the Wii's Virtual Console. Still, I couldn't imagine paying $60 for a game that's, say, three times bigger than that. (Over 200 Pokémon in this one versus slightly over 60 in 1999. You won't just be taking one picture of each Pokémon, though. You'll be taking several, because they'll have multiple poses and multiple gradings.)

If you're an Aipom fan (or a completionist), you'll want to document all of Aipom's poses in the Photodex.
And you'll probably have to trigger them by doing different things, some unlockable as you progress.

A lot of Millennials (myself not included) have fond memories of playing Pokémon Snap on the Nintendo 64. Even Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went to her cousin's house to play Pokémon Snap, since she didn't have her own Nintendo 64. (Just like how she doesn't have her own money, but she wants to spend yours.) Thanks to a marketing collaboration Nintendo did with Blockbuster, players could print out their in-game photographs to be real life stickers. Despite many people claiming to have those memories, I've yet to actually ever meet anyone showing off their Pokémon Snap stickers, be it in 1999 or 2019. I guess they gotta exist somewhere, though.

If not for that marketing push, Pokémon Snap (and its sequel) wouldn't be as successful/anticipated as it was. I'm sure New Pokémon Snap will sell more than the Nintendo 64 version. I'm also sure that you won't get $60 out of it, just by the nature of what kind of game it is. It also had the advantage of being the first (with Pokémon Pinball) Pokémon spin-off videogame, back in the Pokémon late 1990s craze. That helped.


Ludwig doesn't want to downplay the appeal of observing and interacting with Pokémon in their natural environment, but if you found the Glimwood Tangle live camera to be boring... well. Pokémon Snap isn't wholly uninteractive like that, but it's not that far off. There's apparently some kind of plot thread called the Illumina Phenomenon, but who cares?

Pokémon 25th Anniversary Promotions Begin... Katy Perry?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - A look into their celebratory plans. (Not game announcements.)

I told you all I'm not a fan of speculation when The Pokémon Company International (TPCi) announced at the end of 2020 that they want 2021 to be a big Pokémon year: The 25th anniversary.

...And, I mean, did anyone speculate that they'd start with this? I think not:

That Rube Goldberg machine chain reaction took them a month to get right. It's impressive and very referential to each of the generations/regions in order, like the giant mountain half a minute in being Sinnoh's Mt. Coronet.

As for the ending, I was just trying to learn what a Beyoncé was a few years ago, and now there's this Katy Perry character? I'd think Beyoncé at least has the same é as Pokémon, but TPCi is promising music collaborations with multiple other unnamed artists, not just Katy Perry. I think they should've gotten native musicians that integrate Pokémon into their performance, like Virbank City Gym Leader Roxie and her punk rock band, Koffing and the Toxics. Here's hoping. Anyway, take a look at this:

1. Pokédex
2. Pokémon Egg
3. Pokéblock Case with Pokéblocks inside
4. Explorer Kit for the Sinnoh Underground
5. Pokémon Musical Dress Up props
6. Mega Evolution Key Stone
7. Electrium Z Crystal
8. Pokémon Curry cooking set

Cute picture, right? TPCi plans to do regional revisiting every month starting in March with Galar. They should be in Kanto by the end of 2021. There will be other monthly events too, and fun (?) sellable merchandise like oversized underpowered Pokémon cards. I guess they'll get articles if I have nothing else to write about. And who knows, maybe there'll be a game announcement at some point.


Ludwig wished that every region had their own musical sensations, but apparently that's not the case. Are you looking forward to the 25th anniversary promotions? Do you care about this Katy Perry person or her music? Ludwig isn't impressed with her as a person after reading her Wikipedia article. Comment in the comments section!

Bowser's Furious that Bowser Jr. is Teaming with MARIO!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Also, don't trust trailers.

We know back from September 2020's award-winning Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary Direct that there will be a game releasing exactly one month from now called Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury for Nintendo Switch.

We know all about Super Mario 3D World, since it was a best-seller on the Wii U, being the second-most-selling game. (In raw numbers, that's not saying much, but...) Lord Bowser has a great car in that, and Mario snatches bodies of dead Goombas. There's also a LOT of fursuits, since the game has a fixation with cats. However, you don't know anything about Bowser's Fury. (I happen to have experience with it... in my personal life, not as a game mode.) Nintendo put out this trailer today, with an accompanying press release with little information contained:

Let's be clear: Nintendo hasn't given a clear, written definition of Bowser's Fury. Not on the website (“Stay tuned for more details about this action-packed addition to the game!”). Not on the eShop page (“Additional details about what fun things this game has to offer will be revealed soon!”). Not in the press release, though that had many details about other things, like a Cat Mario and Cat Peach amiibo, and that the original adventure will now have online multiplayer. Plus, there will now be a Mario-coloured (blue and red) Nintendo Switch system, which will never be allowed into my castle.

KoopaTV's GOTY 2020 Awards!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Game of THAT Year 2020... and other categories.

You have been trying to influence KoopaTV's staff all weekend since we published our Game of THAT Year 2020 nominations, plus other categories. And we have been debating them all weekend... and today, right up until this was published. You can imagine how much work that forces on me, since I have to write things for every category, but the categories aren't decided until late...

Anyway, 2020 really sucked, for a variety of reasons. One of them is that a lot of the videogames that we played during the year were released in other years. 2020 was a backlog-clearing year. That has big implications for how we approached the Game of THAT Year 2020 award.

Fortunately, most of the awards aren't going to videogames, but are going to ourselves—stand-out KoopaTV articles. While game developers slowed down in 2020, we kept going at the same pace as always, so there's a lot of content!

KoopaTV's 2020 GOTY Nominations!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - And other categories.

The following nominations were decided and talked about in our Koopa Keep Discord server. Behold! (See the bottom of this article for the link to the actual AWARDS.)

The déjà vu from years past is intentional. (To be eligible, those running have to start their existence in the United States of America from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020.)

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

But yeah, this isn't just about gaming, but also ourselves. ‘cause KoopaTV is art to be recognised and applauded, too.

This article is such a rehash of the 2019 one
that I just took the first 20, and copy-pasted it to make a second 20!

Videogame-related Awards for 2020

Best New Character

• Galarian Slowbro (Pokémon Sword/Pokémon Shield)
• Wilbur (Animal Crossing: New Horizons)
• Detective Cross (Murder by Numbers)
• Bobby (Paper Mario: The Origami King)
• FBI Agent Aaliyah Davis (Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise)
• Terrako (Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity)
• Constance (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

Fact Check: Joe Biden's “We'll have another 200,000 Americans dead by the end of the year” Coronavirus claim

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - He was wrong, and you shouldn't trust Joe Biden with numbers.

Do you remember the second (and final) presidential debate between then-President Donald John Trump and opposition candidate Joe Biden on October 22, 2020? It was less than two weeks away from Election Day, but many voters had already cast their ballots. Still, many Americans hadn't yet voted, and both men really wanted to earn their votes... be it by the virtues of their own policies, or by spreading fear about the other guy's.

This meant that candidates and their surrogates would spout the occasional mistruth, misinformation, or outright lie. While KoopaTV made an effort to fact check some of these in our debate write-up, some of them were future-facing, which means you technically can't say someone is wrong, since it hadn't happened yet.

Among the claims made by Joe Biden (which I deemed “absurd” back in October) was the one he said in this clip in the first debate segment, which probably meant that most people watching heard it, as opposed to being tuned out by the end:

Here is a transcript of the specific clip from the above video, and then I'll go into the actual facts of the matter, and the implication of those facts versus what Joe Biden's affirmatively stated belief was:

CAPCOM Video Policy Analysis

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - It's pretty reasonable.

Say what you will about CAPCOM USA, and I generally like them (even when it wasn't cool), but they have immaculate timing. They went and published a new Video Policy (archived here) that they knew would be controversial... at 3 AM. Besides the stealthy time of day, they published the policy on a good date, because today the news has been paying complete attention to mostly peaceful protests (with very notable rioting/an insurrection) in Washington D.C.! That's way more controversial than any video policy, so not only are people not paying attention to CAPCOM right now, but everything else looks better in comparison to the disaster going on in the Capitol. Excellent work all around, CAPCOM USA.

That said, you won't get past KoopaTV and my beady eyes, and this policy will likely be relevant to people far into the future, even if it's ignored today in favour of current events. To the few people who were paying attention to the CAPCOM Video Policy's existence (but might not have actually read it), they were saying it's the second coming of the Nintendo Creators Program. (Which I praised because I don't like YouTubers, but putting barriers on making a living off YouTube gaming videos didn't have the game design impact I was hoping for, since the game design implications of pleasing game watchers have since gotten much worse than 2015.) I've read CAPCOM's document. It's... not like that at all.

Why Nintendo is Buying Next Level Games, and What it Means

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - They must be psyched.

Today, Nintendo announced their intention to buy out 100% of game developer Next Level Games, known for developing various games for Nintendo such as Luigi's Mansion 3, Super Mario Strikers, Metroid Prime: Federation Force, and my favourite, Punch-Out!! Wii. This will make Next Level Games an official Nintendo subsidiary, as opposed to an independent developer that Nintendo frequently contracts projects out to.

File image of a very hard-working Next Level Games employee (right).

Nintendo bought out Next Level Games because some of the owning shareholders of the developer wanted to sell and make some money, and Nintendo was concerned enough that they bought out the whole studio, rather than risk being bought out by another company.

This also gives Nintendo a subsidiary to acquire talent in the non-trivial Canadian game development pipeline, allowing them to join other Vancouver-area game industry companies like Battlefy, Electronic Arts Vancouver, Relic Entertainment, and The Coalition (the Xbox Game Studio that makes Gears of War). ...And there's wherever the CAPCOM Vancouver people went to after that got shut down. Don't underestimate the importance of having a location there. You might think, and hope, that everyone is just going to work remotely forever from now on, but that's probably not going to happen.

None of this means, “Oh, [game series I like] sequel is confirmed!” Next Level Games have proven themselves talented enough to really work on... anything. You shouldn't cast them as being specific loyalists to any given franchise. That said, I think Punch-Out!! Wii is unarguably the best one in that series, while you could still argue the original Luigi's Mansion is better than its sequels. ...And lots of people disliked Federation Force, though maybe not for the best reasons.

And maybe Nintendo will have them work on a net-new franchise.

By the way, Nintendo rarely goes out and acquires other companies like this. The last notable one was Monolith Soft over a decade ago. It's sort of touching that they care about a Western game studio so much that when an owner says, “let's get bought by someone”, Nintendo is all, “Yeah, no, you're staying making games for us.” (I'm assuming Next Level Games is happy about being acquired by Nintendo, because that's probably anyone's dream scenario. Right?)


What are your feelings on Next Level Games being acquired? Were you aware that Vancouver is a hip-and-happening gaming place? Besides Vancouver, several other Canadian areas have a gaming scene, though many are affiliated with Ubisoft.

Would You Rather Go Big, or Be Invincible? Super Mushroom vs. Super Star Splatfest!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Off the Hook are a bunch of Mario fans? I knew the Squid Sisters were better.

As it was foreshadowed four months ago, there is a new Splatfest in Splatoon 2, and this one is highly relevant to the world that I live in. Much more so than the world YOU live in. (Unless you're part of KoopaTV's Koopa Kingdom audience.) It's a 48-hour Splatfest happening from January 15 to January 17:

Would you rather go big and have Super Mushroom power?
Or would you rather have Super Star power and be invincible?

Quite frankly, the Off the Hook banter from Pearl and Marina is worthless in terms of helping you come to a decision. All they do is point out that Pearl is short and therefore wants to be bigger, while nothing about the benefits of invincibility are pronounced. It's more that Marina likes the sparkle aesthetic, and how Off the Hook are musical stars (of the famous celebrity type) of culture.

Interestingly, Marina says, “Hold up, though, Pearl. Wasn't the Splatocalypse the FINAL Splatfest?” (What does that mean for the Splatfest encores that happened and changed the result?) To which Pearl says, “It was, but... It's Mario! We gotta throw a party!” (Quick reminder that no Inkling did anything for that plumber at any previous point in time, including the 30th anniversary. The closest was Heroes vs. Villains, but that sure wasn't for or about him, he wasn't mentioned by name, and it misattributed his role in the destiny of the universe.)

Since Pearl and Marina didn't bother with providing actual reasons behind their decisions, I'll tell you my team choice, and why:

KoopaTV's December 2020 Review Newsletter

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The last month of 2020 is over.

If you are reading this (or if you're that one guy who is writing this...), congratulations: you have officially survived 2020. Now you can die in 2021 instead!

...Though I don't recommend doing that, unless you don't have any other choice.

Anyway, to summarise 2020, I've composed this haiku:

Two-thousand twenty
was the introverts’ dream year.
We miss Herman Cain.

This specific newsletter is about the last month of 2020: December 2020. It would've also been Herman Cain's 75th birthday on the 13th day of the month. Instead, there was just my own birthday of indeterminate years on that date. Fortunately for my views on the month sucking, December 2020 went by pretty quickly. AND there was quality content all over the place on KoopaTV, so let's go into that.

Top Five Recommended Experiences of December 2020

I think December 2020 had great content for you to experience, but if you had to only check out five of the published pieces from the month, it should be these chronologically ordered articles:

1. What is "gaslighting"? See: Jelly-Filled Doughnuts vs. Riceballs — Gaslighting is becoming an increasingly popular term, which means that it's being misused a lot. KoopaTV explains the meaning with an example.
2. Ludwig Von Koopa's Holiday at the Moomoo Milk Bar — After a tough week (and a then-upcoming bad weekend), Ludwig decompressed at Miltank's Moomoo Milk Bar, and took some pictures.
3. KoopaTV's Murder by Numbers Game Review — What do you get when you mix an Ace Attorney-esque adventure game with Picross puzzles? Read KoopaTV's Murder by Numbers review so you can learn if that worked out or not. ...By the way, the game is still on sale on the eShop, but not for much longer...
4. Steam and GOG (Valve and CD Projekt) Are Pawns of the Chinese Communist Party  — While nearly the whole gaming industry is fine with propping up the Chinese Communist Party regime, Steam and GOG.com are particularly willing to bend the knee over to their authoritarian censorship demands, per what they did to Devotion.
5. Shigeru Miyamoto's Created Cruel Koopa-Killing World — Shigeru Miyamoto stirred some controversy in the Nintendo fanbase over comments he made in a recent interview, but KoopaTV is focusing in on comments that are otherwise extremely contradictory to the game designer's actual record, which affect the livelihoods of the Koopa race.

There's still more content than just that from the month, of course. Everything on KoopaTV is worth reading and putting time into. What else are you doing this weekend?

Anyway, the good content doesn't just come from KoopaTV's staff (and an occasional guest post), but there's also stuff from you when you participate on the site.