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Friday, December 31, 2021

Ring Fit Adventure Fitness Log Week 57: Why did Dragaux cross the roads?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - To find his lost chocolate protein drink.

It is time to put recess aside and get to real fitness action in this week's Ring Fit Adventure-themed KoopaTV Fitness Friday. And, hey, when this is published, I can put 2021 aside, too. ...Mostly. We'll have some Game of THAT Year 2021 nominations and awards going on, so be sure to stick around the site next week. (And every week afterwards for the foreseeable future.)

Anyway, on Sunday we're back as usual—except for those weeks I took off because I'm in hip pain, which I still have troubling remnants of—to a new world, being World 57: Fitness Master Lv. 323. That's a sizable increase from last world's 316. This world is based on World 34: Extra Fitness Lv. 217, where I made my log themed around Fire Emblem: Three Houses because three of the Four Masters appear in the world and want you to choose among them—Allegra, Armando, and Abdonis. Of course, you don't actually get to make that choice, because this game isn't structured like that. As for how World 57 actually starts, it's just Ring saying variety is the spice of life and if I feel like I'm plateauing, then I should switch up my favourite Fit Skills. Gee, thanks, Ring. Unfortunately, there are a lot of Fit Skills (exercises) that I'm actively avoiding because they would greatly strain my left hip, like Warrior III Pose and many Fit Skills that require you to lay on the floor and do things with your legs, such as Boat Pose, Knee-to-Chest, and Leg Scissors.

That's relevant because the first level is Rumbling Road, which definitely wanted me to bring those kinds of Yoga Fit Skills with its green enemy composition. And I'd love to, but I'm just not able to now with my physical ailment. Of course, in this game's combat, you can do whatever you want, really. It just might take an extra turn, or you might have to drink a smoothie, but maybe I shouldn't hoard those anyway. As for the level design, it's full of spiked logs to manoeuvre around. An enemy group at the end gave me a Citrine stone, and I thought we were so over those, though I'm happy to sell them. A Treasure Chest had one Dragon Fruit. Before reaching Town to sell my Citrine and buy things, I cleared the Dreadmill (Advanced) Game Gym for another 500 coin reward—wearing the Sunset Runner outfit to make jogging easier, because otherwise I can't run in real life. I got a perfect score (7500 points), because I exploited a trick where if you're jumping on the Dreadmill, you stay at the same X-coordinate and aren't being moved backwards. That saves effort on your legs that would otherwise need to jog in place to maintain the same position.


Ring Fit Adventure Town Man dialogue sneezing strain work core muscle toughen back
Can confirm that while I have bursitis, laughing and sneezing is physically painful.
This is particularly a problem when I think my writing is funny enough that I laugh at my own jokes.
So if you think I haven't been funny lately, I'm actually protecting myself!


Not being able to run in real life also posed a problem for the next level, Sunset Road. It might sound like based on that name that most of the level would just be running (and despite the name and that assumption, I didn't wear the Sunset Runner again). ...And while that's true, there is also the one-minute Slinkbug segment, where you need to hold a Tree Pose for 60 seconds (on difficulty level 30, which I'm on) to cause Slinkbugs to scatter. It's a good thing that had me stand on my right leg, because I'm not able to stand on just my left leg for 60 seconds. Can't put all that weight on it! Sunset Road also has an unprecedented (or very rare) THREE enemy waves, when the vast majority of levels only have two. But the third group was not anything special... just a Yellow Megaphauna and a Belldog.

Thursday, December 30, 2021

The Madden Curse Struck John Madden, RIP

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Plus, some questions for the future.

You may have heard that American football legend John Madden died on December 28, a couple of days ago, at the age of 85 years old. His actual coaching feats earlier in his life became eclipsed by his name being the name of the Electronic Arts-published best-selling game franchise, Madden NFL. As a result, you can get a quick summary of what kind of fellow John Madden was from his memorial tweet:

John Madden commentated in the Madden NFL games until Madden NFL 09, eventually being replaced by Cris Collinsworth. That was a while ago, but his name was still on the games, and he always seemed happy about being synonymous with football. Madden NFL extended the appeal of the sport to a vastly wider audience than what would've been without it, and he's a cultural icon that way.

Here's how the market responded to the last Madden NFL game released before his death, Madden NFL 22:


Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Paper Mario: The Origami King Review. How does it compare to Color Splash?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I try to unfold this Paper Mario game.

Once upon a time, a game called Paper Mario: The Origami King came out. I was asked to write a review on it. After sitting on the request for ten months, I've decided to now do so.

Unlike its prequel, Paper Mario: Color Splash, there wasn't a big gap between Paper Mario: The Origami King being announced (May 14, 2020) and when it was released (July 17, 2020). Just two months, really.

I 100%ed the game a very long time ago. As in, around August 29, 2020. (I have a date because I publicly bragged about it.) That's given me a long-term perspective on Paper Mario: The Origami King that isn't influenced by a honeymoon period. ...Well, the real reason I didn't write this review in a more timely fashion is because I don't like writing reviews, but it's also given me time to think about what I think about Paper Mario: The Origami King. If you read the following review and want to know even more, please comment in the comments section!

This review avoids spoilers as much as possible.

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Larry Koopa and Marge Simpson vs. Sunset Express and Monorail

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I think Larry Koopa and Marge Simpson share a similar sense of style!

Some hours ago, one of my brothers, Larry Koopa, was bashing my hair. He said, “What beautiful hair? I thought you just had wings growing on your head” and then he was figuratively laughing his... tail off. I don't tolerate those kinds of remarks towards my hair, so... Here's what I think about Larry's hair!

Larry Koopa and Marge Simpson tall tower blue hair side by side
And their colour schemes share a lot of yellow scales/skin, too. Green, too.


Larry, if you have any objections, maybe you can help the KoopaTV cause and write your own comeback. (Or maybe the cause would be better served if we didn't fight in public?) But I have more even more evidence that I put a lot of effort into. Take a look at these following images:

Monday, December 27, 2021

Squid Erasure in Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain Update 1.1.0

Squidwig KoopaTV avatarBy LUDWIG VON KOOPA - This is an outrage!

Hey KoopaTV readers, it's Squidwig. Been a while, hasn't it? Ludwig is busy doing something... weird, but he's not in the best physical shape for that, so he's not able to stop me from taking his administrative account and publish something that you really need to know, but would otherwise never be written about since it goes against the usual KoopaTV narrative.

Nintendo—right before Squidmas Eve—updated their big December 2021 release, Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain, with a version 1.1.0. The main feature of this update is to restrict the display of pictures of beings called “Creepy Crawlies” from the minigames (Super) Fast Focus and (Super) Speed Sorting.

Big Brain Academy Speed Sorting Fastest turtle car bicycle plane
An example of Speed Sorting, which asks a question and provides four possible choices using realistic photography.
(Not cartoon characters from the demo's different minigames.)
In this case, it's asking for the fastest option. Big Brain Academy states the answer is Plane, but since Team Car won its Splatfest, this is incorrect.
You can also observe the photo representing Ludwig, who is the slowest of them all.
Image credit to Donut Toys and Games.


Creepy Crawlies for Speed Sorting are defined as Snakes, Butterflies, Spiders, Octopuses, Squids, Starfishes, Frogs, Ants, Flies, Grasshoppers, Praying Mantises, Caterpillars, and Snails. Significantly less Creepy Crawlies appear in Fast Focus, with Dragonfly being the only one not in Speed Sorting. I've bolded the problem I have with the designation. For example, the following quiz would apparently not appear if someone has set Creepy Crawlies to Remove:

Friday, December 24, 2021

Ring Fit Adventure Fitness Log Week 56: My Bad Recess

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I struggle to get through recess. SAD!

Welcome to KoopaTV's Fitness Friday series, where we document our quest for a better physical health. If you've been keeping up with the latest entries (like last week's), you'll know that I'm trying to overcome an actual physical issue right now (bursitis at the left hip, which is another way of saying my bones are rubbing into my muscles whenever I move my hip... which is painful). I've had this issue for a whole month now, so I probably need to see a physical therapist. In any case, you're... not really supposed to be doing a lot of physical exercise while injured like this, but fortunately for me, World 56: Fitness Master Lv. 316 of Ring Fit Adventure is based off of World 33: Extra Fitness Lv. 211, which is a minigame compilation that itself was based off of World 10: Grandminion Gauntlet. In other words, it's the breather world I've needed. There's a lot of Game Gyms and not much running around courses.

Ring Fit Adventure World 56 Fitniss Master Lv. 316 best offense is a good recess intro
I think a good recess makes for the good defence, actually.
By the way, as you read this fitness log, keep in mind I once wrote an article advocating for cancelling recess altogether.


The world intro even acknowledges it's a breather level. Before, the Grandminions—annoying children—would chime in about the Game Gyms, but they're nowhere to be found. So let's start clearing these. First is Gluting Gallery (Advanced)—a minigame where you Overhead Side Bend into incoming tokens for points and avoid bombs—which offered me a Topaz stone for A rank or above completion. (The same minimum rank requirement found in Extra Fitness.) After scoring that, by my calculations, I'll only need one more Topaz stone to have enough for all of my General Store needs... though I'm well short on actual funds to do so. I got a pretty painless perfect score on that. Next is Robo-Wrecker (Advanced)—a minigame where you rotate the Ring-Con to control a set of robot-squishing tools between an inner ring and an outer ring and you push to squish in and pull to squish out—which gave me one bottle of Pear Juice (which changes all Fit Skills to Green-coloured, and then further increases all Green-coloured Fit Skills attack power by ↑↑) for a satisfactory A rank. And then there was Squat Goals (Advanced)—a minigame where you must propel yourself from a trampoline contraption with squats to jump and grab tokens while avoiding bombs—which gave me 500 coins when I earned an A rank. It's really a trick to squat about 30 times in quick succession.

Thursday, December 23, 2021

Pokémon Evolutions Episodes 5–8 Impressions

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The first half, or Generations 4, 3, 2, and then 1. ...Well, their remakes.

Two months ago, I wrote about the first four episodes of The Pokémon Company's eight-part miniseries, Pokémon Evolutions. The series went on a hiatus until the start of December, and then since then, they have rolled out the second four episodes, with the last one releasing today. These are quite popular and high-budgeted affairs, and it's to cap off the 25-year anniversary of the franchise.

As a warning... these episodes spoil the games they are based on. Since the last four episodes focus on Sinnoh, Hoenn, Johto, and Kanto, their stories and lore shouldn't surprise you, because all of those games are quite old. However, if you're going through them for the first time (such as with the recent Sinnoh or Kanto remakes—and note that the Hoenn and Kanto episodes are specifically based on their remakes from the 2010s), then... that's just something to keep in note before watching. Without further ado:

The Rival | Pokémon Evolutions Episode 5—Sinnoh Region




Sinnoh's episode focuses on the rivalry between Barry (the protagonist's rival) to his father, the Battle Tower Tycoon Palmer, and Team Galactic Commander Jupiter. The latter evolved at Lake Acuity (incidentally, I'm at the Snowpoint City Gym in my Pokémon Shining Pearl playthrough right now) and then finished at the Spear Pillar. Barry notably picked Piplup in this canon... and I guess it's Diamond, given Dialga's appearance. Somewhat like the game it's based on, the episode leaves a lot of aspects of Barry's character to be subtle, and doesn't go into the “annoying” parts of his character (fining people for being late or getting in the way).

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Rosen Law Firm Got a Victory From CD Projekt

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I must admit that they got something resembling a result.

Remember Cyberpunk 2077? Quite frankly, I only remember its poor and glitchy launch on then-current generation consoles, which got publisher CD Projekt sued by ambulance-chasing lawyers for defrauding their investors, because the company made Cyberpunk 2077 out to be the best game ever that their company's future was tied to. CD Projekt knew that their game would be buggy... or they should've known.

As a result, the stock plummeted, and a whole squad of law firms sprang into action to join together for a class-action lawsuit on behalf of investors. One of those was the Rosen Law Firm. You might remember them because they file lawsuits all of the time, including against other gaming companies like Activision Blizzard. While I like to pick on them, they are just one of several of these parasitic law firms that scan the landscape for companies with noticeable stock drops... and then pounce. Their involvement tends to make the stock drop even further.

CD Projekt SA OTGLF stock price chart 2020 2021 Cyberpunk 2077 class action lawsuit settled
You can see on the chart the big fall as a result of Cyberpunk 2077's release...
...And then the continued falls thanks in part to these annoying lawyers. (Which is bad for investors who continue to hold!)
But they don't care about that part.


But what became of Rosen Law Firm's involvement?

Tuesday, December 21, 2021

Don't forget Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack has SEGA Genesis games, too!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Well, I don't personally care if you forget, but...

It might seem like there is only one benefit to subscribing to Nintendo's additional subscription service, Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack: the slowly added Nintendo 64 games like Paper Mario. And while Paper Mario is fantastic, it's not really worth an $80 per year subscription for the KoopaTV Family Group. However, what if I reminded you that there's more than just the Nintendo 64? SEGA Genesis games are a part of the package as well, and there are five additional titles to the service, increasing it from 14 to 19. Here are those five:



I'm not saying any of these are great or are the tipping point to get you to want to subscribe, but they... do exist. It's just not many Nintendo fans seem to care. According to my Nintendo Switch friend list's Trending tab (and for context, my friend list is at or almost at the cap), 25 friends have played anything on the Nintendo 64 Nintendo Switch Online emulator. By comparison, 121 friends have played something on the SNES emulator, 115 on the NES emulator, and to demonstrate my point... only 11 have played anything on the SEGA Genesis emulator, with eight of those being “played for a little while” and three being “Played for 1 hour or more”, meaning no one's touched these for five or more hours. The other emulators have much meatier play times.

You could say I'm not friends with SEGA fans, and maybe that's true, but I don't pick my friends based on knowing whether or not they like SEGA games. I'm more convinced the average person who gets the Expansion Pack just doesn't care about the SEGA part and they are subscribing to Nintendo Switch Online for the Nintendo portion. But there are some takeaways, or at least, things I don't want you to take away from this.


Monday, December 20, 2021

An unobjectionable game on sale for the CAPCOM Holiday Sale 2021

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - TAKE. THAT.

Since it continues to be the HOLIDAY SEASON, that means that there are many interesting videogames on sale. Yeah, it's not THE GAME AWARDS sale or anything, but some more respectable companies (like CAPCOM) are now taking the opportunity to put their games on sale in relation to the traditional important time of this year: CHRISTMAS. ...And other holidays. Christmas being the most important, really. (And Monster Hunter Rise, which WAS on sale for The Game Awards, is one of the CAPCOM omissions for being on sale right now. And it's still got The Game Awards 2021 nominee banner.

Anyway, CAPCOM has the CAPCOM Holiday Sale right now on the Switch. And some of their games are also on sale right now on the PlayStation Store until December 23, but this Switch sale goes on until January 4, 2:59 AM Eastern. However, ONLY on the Switch eShop is Ace Attorney Turnabout Collection on sale right now. That is the not-very-discussed compilation between Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy (which itself is on sale right now for both 3DS and the Switch) and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (which is individually not on sale right now and has not yet been).

Nintendo Switch eShop Ace Attorney Turnabout Collection CAPCOM Holiday Sale 2021
Here's a question I don't know the answer to, even after looking:
What does Ace Attorney Turnabout Collection look like after you download it?
Is there a title screen that looks like this that has you choose which game you want?


Of course, those two components are themselves compilations, for a grand total of five videogames. It's on sale for $45 (down from a normal price of $60). That's extremely good pricing for well over 100 hours worth of VERY high-quality adventure game content. You can also look at it this way: The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles alone is $40. You can get Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy for just $5 more. That's ridiculously good value. (Normally, it's $30, though right now it's on sale for $15 on the Switch and $12 on the 3DS.)

It's so good a value that I'm not discounting the possibility that this is a typo or a mistake on CAPCOM's part. But before they correct it, you should buy it. Binging the Ace Attorney series over a Christmas break sounds like a magical way to end a year. ...Though I'd recommend spacing it out more than that or you might go nuts. Just make sure to get to the fourth case on the first game (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney of the Trilogy portion) around late night of December 24.



There are more than a thousand other games from many other publishers on sale right now, but KoopaTV is an Ace Attorney fan site, so they're not going to get mentioned right now. If you do get the collection, Ludwig would really like to see what the in-game menu/title screen looks like.


The last time the Ace Attorney series was on sale was for the 20-year series anniversary two months ago. Those games still hold up very well today!
Ace Attorney games were also on sale last year in December 2020, which coincidentally was when Simon Blackquill was convicted of murdering Metis Cykes.
Finally, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is individually on sale a few weeks later, at 25% off.
The Ace Attorney Chronicles is on sale for 25% off again just one month later.
There's a broad-based CAPCOM Publisher Sale for March 2022.
To no one's surprise, the Holiday Sale returns in 2022.

Friday, December 17, 2021

Ring Fit Adventure Fitness Log Week 55: The S.W.O.L.E. System

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - F.L.E.X. is retired, but I'm back!

Hooboy, it's KoopaTV Fitness Friday again! And I think I have some explaining to do before we get to the Ring Fit Adventure content.

I published the previous Fitness Log two weeks ago: Ring Fit Adventure Fitness Log Week 54: Damaging My Body For Content. The title of that is pretty clear: I've been... injured for several weeks, and by the end of the log, identified my issue as bursitis at my left hip area. As of writing this... that still hasn't gone away. It's lessened, but not totally gone. Still, I don't physically feel great lying around and not doing exercise. So I'm trying this week to see what happens if I play Ring Fit Adventure's World 55: Fitness Master Lv. 313. Besides, it's based off of World 32: Extra Fitness Lv. 207, a world devoted to working out your arms. How much of a pain can it be? ...Well... scrolling to the bottom of that fitness log... there's... actually a lot of distance traveled... like... substantially more than World 54's that focused on the abs. I need working hips to run. ...This may be an issue.

Ring Fit Adventure World 55 dialogue Dragaux Armando work hard for their beefiness
Why do they call it beefiness, anyway...?


Ring said some stuff about how Dragaux and Armando didn't become beefy overnight but through hard work, and it's off to the mines for me. ...Well, the No-Brakes Mine, to be exact. (Before going there, I bought out all of the Onyx-requiring outfits from the General Store Number 49 since I won't be getting more Onyx in the playthrough, probably. Managed to do so with three Onyx stones to spare. Yay.) Between the Overhead Side Bend trolley, using Overhead Press against the Red Belldog enemy, and using the Overhead Pull pulley... lots of lifting the Ring-Con above my head. Deep in the mine was a Treasure Chest with Pomegranate Tea (excellent drink that increases Arms Fit Skill power by ↑↑ and changes all Fit Skills to red-coloured).

Thursday, December 16, 2021

Marvelous's No More Heroes 3 Soundtrack Upload Coming Down Soon...

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I don't know why.

Since August 19 2021, No More Heroes series publisher Marvelous Inc. has been copyright claiming swathes of No More Heroes III (alternatively No More Heroes 3) soundtrack uploads on YouTube. Save for their own upload, which I'll hyperlink to but won't embed for reasons that should become clear. The game itself has been released since August 27, 2021.

There are two problems. Number one, the 56:07 video only has “twenty handpicked tracks”... not all of them. (They trend towards the first half of the game, presumably to avoid spoilers?) Number two, the video will only be available until 11:59 PM Japan time on Sunday, December 19 2021... which is Sunday morning in the United States. After that... it will apparently disappear. You might ask why. I don't know. Will Marvelous upload the soundtrack elsewhere, like on a paid streaming service? Don't know. Will they stop copyright claiming other people? Uncertain. Would I like to listen to the No More Heroes 3 soundtrack? Yes.

I understand the logic of copyright claiming everything and saying you should buy the game to listen to the music. (Which is more of an understandable position if your game has an in-game listenable soundtrack... especially when that in-game soundtrack is actually complete, as opposed to an incomplete in-game soundtrack. By the way, No More Heroes 3 doesn't have an in-game soundtrack.) Or maybe you're also selling the songs separately, be it in streaming services, as CDs or individually, or in concerts. I also understand the logic of being totally permissive—you can see it as free advertisement and a lure to buy the game the music is from.

But I don't understand only having the soundtrack (but only part of it) available for a limited time close to the game's release, and then remove it after altogether. If anything, you might want to do the other way around to try to stoke continued interest in the game in the long-tail of its relevant life.


Ludwig will be keeping an eye on this game's music and where it's posted... and for how long. There's a certain song he really wants to hear by itself, but it hasn't been uploaded by anyone anywhere. ...It's FU's throne room discussions cutscene theme. This kind of behaviour from the game's publisher could jeopardise No More Heroes 3's ability to win the KoopaTV Best Original Soundtrack of 2021 award coming up in early January.


No More Heroes 3 did not win the KoopaTV Best OST of 2021 award.
By comparison, The Pokémon Company is putting up the OST of their 15-year old game indefinitely.
Nevermind, that was also only up for about four months.
The Kirby 30th anniversary music fest was only up for about three weeks.
Marvelous has brought two additional No More Heroes 3 soundtracks, both of those are also very incomplete. But they're not time-limited.

Wednesday, December 15, 2021

New faces (and ball) from the Hisui Region

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Samus might like the Voltorb, I dunno. I'm more interested in the lore.

While The Pokémon Company International isn't putting its...full efforts into marketing the upcoming (Friday, January 28, 2022) Pokémon Legends: Arceus, it's notably getting several news bits this week, so I guess I should write something on them. That's the game that takes place in the Hisui region, which is an ancient name for Sinnoh. While people think it's the Pokémon version of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (like they do with everything else), it's closer to Monster Hunter Stories. Anyway, here are those news bits:





With regards to Voltorb and Hisuian Voltorb, modern Voltorb looks like modern Poké Balls (and are unnatural in origin) and roll around with a constant >:| face. They often will blow up, making them a favourite of Jihadist militant groups. According to the Pokédex, Voltorb might be a Poké Ball come to life... or it might be a creature that intentionally disguises itself to be a Poké Ball. Why would it do that if it clearly isn't concerned about its own vitality since it enjoys blowing up? Don't know.

But Hisuian Voltorb isn't >:| and is more... E:|. I'm not sure how else to write that. Regardless, it's described to be friendly and not self-destructy. Instead, it'll electrocute the area around it, possibly including people and Pokémon. That might make it more of a nuisance than regular Voltorb, because at least regular Voltorb will faint afterwards. Therefore, people will kick out Hisuian Voltorb from settlements by plugging the hole on its head, which is where the electricity comes from. This probably will leave Hisuian Voltorb defenseless in the wild... but... that's its problem. Maybe that's why they evolved (in a Darwinian sense) into Voltorb where they don't have that weak point.

As for the other trailer...


Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Is Sonic Frontiers ACTUALLY the next "Breath of the Wild"?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - “I have no idea!” (Say that in Sonic's movie voice.) But that's the point.

Remember this announcement trailer of Sonic Frontiers that was world-revealed at The Game Awards 2021? What did you think about it?



The entirety of my whole reaction was, “This doesn't seem like a Sonic game trailer though. It's all choir singing noises. Well that told... us nothing about it.” And... well, that's really all there is to it for me. But to... lots of other people (I won't link to this, but you can... look this up and easily find examples), they instantly thought that this is Sonic the Hedgehog meets The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

The official SEGA website has that trailer and the marketing buzzwords,


Monday, December 13, 2021

Why did Zelda and Splatoon 2 get on the Nintendo "Game Awards 2021 Winners & Nominees" eShop deal?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - There's an answer, but that opens up another question.

I continue to question why Nintendo keeps prominently promoting The Game Awards 2021, even after the whole thing happened and they didn't really show up to it. The event is terrible and bad enough every year. Nintendo skipping makes it worse, and even worse than that is the fact that Nintendo was directing people towards it like it's a legitimate event that we should pay attention to, with stuff like eShop sales that take up full-banner space on their digital properties.

Nintendo eShop The Game Awards 2021 Winner and Nominee deals December
I'm pretty proud of the fact that I changed the class name on Nintendo's Sales & Deals page to fit
eight columns on the page instead of four, so you can see much more at a time in the screenshot.
I should do that more often. It's actually my accomplishment of today!


You may be wondering... why are the games that are there... there? Well, I looked into it, and everything on that list was indeed nominated in The Game Awards at some point. Be it 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, or 2017. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild outright won their Game of the Year in 2017, as Nintendo's first (and as of 2021... only) Game of the Year award. Splatoon 2 was nominated but lost.

However, it's not all of the games Nintendo has ever had nominated. 2020 could have given Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Paper Mario: The Origami King. While it's clear Nintendo will never put Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on sale, they could have easily put the likes of Super Mario Maker 2, Dragon Quest XI S, or Yoshi's Crafted World up for sale. You can't tell me that Yoshi's Crafted World is selling well enough without a sale. You probably don't even remember it ever existed! It didn't actually win anything (and it wouldn't have deserved to), but maybe games “previously honored at The Game Awards” should also include Super Mario Odyssey, which got an orchestra bit, and Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which won the 2019's Player's Voice award. Besides Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Super Mario Odyssey, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Luigi's Mansion 3 is the only other Nintendo-published Switch game to have also actually won an award.

But Nintendo is also totally cool with non-Nintendo-published games being on sale if they were also nominated, as you can see from the present sale. But if Supergiant Games wouldn't want Hades on sale, for example, then that's outside the scope of this article, which is why Nintendo specifically is promoting The Game Awards like this, or at all. Quick scans at the current Xbox and PlayStation website home pages—consoles that were FAR better represented at The Game Awards 2021—shows no references to The Game Awards 2021, unlike Nintendo's. It makes no sense!



Ludwig was... supposed to write something much more substantial today, but... he's too moody to succeed in typing out his thoughts coherently on a complicated topic (one that was name-dropped in this article), so you get this article complaining about an easier topic instead.


While this Game Awards sale ended, by next week, Ludwig was writing of holiday sales. This is okay because the Ace Attorney franchise was included.

Friday, December 10, 2021

To be fair to the NSO + Expansion Pack, Paper Mario by itself is worth $50

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I'm not ADVOCATING for this or anything, but...

Have you recovered from last night's The Game Awards 2021? Nintendo is still positioning it prominently. On the front page top banner of their site. As a news release with the very small list of winners. And even on their in-console Nintendo Switch Online home menu page:

Nintendo Switch Online news app Game Awards sale Paper Mario expansion pack
The Game Awards is front and centre... but it should be swapped with the top right.


You can now play Paper Mario if you have access to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, which is way more interesting than The Game Awards 2021. You already know that KoopaTV's own Family Group doesn't have access to that because it's a poor value and we won't stand for that. That said, we are huge Paper Mario fans on the staff—this website would at least look very different without Paper Mario's existence, if it'd even exist at all—and in my view, the first Paper Mario game is both the best game in its own franchise, as well as on the Nintendo 64. The Nintendo 64 has... a comparatively weak and otherwise obsolete library. But the first Paper Mario still stands that time test. It's worth $50 in today's (inflation-eroded) money; though Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack isn't a one-time payment by default. (Note that I'd have to pay $80 a year for the Family Membership... Ehhh.)

All that said, you can still get Paper Mario for a one-time $10 purchase on the Wii U's Virtual Console. That's... probably a better idea than going into the Expansion Pack, which can only go downhill from here. In January there'll be Banjo-Kazooie. (...You might read that and think very positively of it, but I see everything as “inferior to Paper Mario.”) And to be fair to Nintendo, this would be the only way to play Banjo-Kazooie on a Nintendo console that isn't the Nintendo 64 itself, so that's actual progress that isn't immediately invalidated by something else. ...Let's ignore the fact that Rare Replay exists... and if you want to play Banjo-Kazooie on a subscription, you can get it with Xbox Game Pass... Ahaha...



Ludwig won't write a review of Paper Mario or anything because he's supposed to write a review of the other Paper Mario game available on the Switch, but he did once do a Let's Play of Paper Mario badgeless. He even did as much non-linear activity in that as he could... which isn't anywhere near what you can do in Paper Mario: Sticker Star, but still more than the other games in the series. If he wants to go play it, he still has it on his Wii's Virtual Console. Ludwig thinks that the Expansion Pack is actually less bad than The Game Awards, though maybe he's only saying that as someone who doesn't have it but did watch The Game Awards.


Ludwig discusses that The Game Awards eShop sale in more detail.
A week after, they added five Genesis games to the Expansion Pack... but no one is subscribing to play those.
Ludwig wrote a review of Paper Mario: The Origami King a couple weeks later.

Thursday, December 9, 2021

KoopaTV's Live Reactions to The Game Awards 2021

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Hate-watching.

After KoopaTV's readers commented to us asking us to skip The Game Awards 2021... well, here we are. If you want to know why, it's because of this exchange between myself and Kamek:

Ludwig Von Koopa — 11/30/2021
So wot am I doing the night of December 9?
Working out in Ring Fit Adventure? ...Or watching The Game Awards? <_<
Kamek — 11/30/2021
Hmm
Ludwig Von Koopa — 11/30/2021
Keep in mind that I dunno wot content to produce on Dec 9 that wouldn't be related to TGA.
But it's very likely that it's a bad experience as it is every year with little interesting content.
Kamek — 11/30/2021
Perhaps that in and of itself is good content
The celebration of bad content
Ludwig Von Koopa — 11/30/2021
It is, though it's less a celebration and more moaning for hours.
Kamek — 11/30/2021
I believe that's the past time of the generation
Complaining and nitpicking
Ludwig Von Koopa — 11/30/2021
That is a hobby of mine, yes.

So he tricked me into concluding that this terrible three-hour+ rigged award show is just engaging in a hobby. With that said, please try to enjoy me not enjoying my Thursday night (with a cameo by Heavy Lobster at the end asking if there was any noteworthy Nintendo announcement... spoiler alert: there ain't):

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Smash Bros. fan here. I'd be pleased if the roster got smaller!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Well, Masahiro Sakurai was wondering, so I figured I'd let him (and you) know.

In an interview published this morning between Super Smash Bros. franchise director Masahiro Sakurai and the media outlet The Verge, the two parties discussed many things now that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is done with new content. Masahiro Sakurai is happy to have finally received some time off working... allegedly he has “more free time now than [he has] probably ever had since [he] started working in game development[.]” As he already said back at Harada's Bar, his hobby is driving around. It took seven years after I wrote “Masahiro Sakurai's Day Off”... and he's FINALLY getting those now. I guess he hasn't been started working on his next project yet.

Other than him justifying “DLC Privilege” (the notion that Fighters Pass characters and their associated franchise content have much more effort put into them than returning characters or base game newcomer characters) because he needs to justify their additional cost to players, people's main takeaway from the interview was the last question, where Masahiro Sakurai said in order for the Super Smash Bros. series to live long and healthy, someone besides Masahiro Sakurai needs to be able to successfully direct it. In addition, any future titles “would have to shrink the roster, but we need to think about whether fans would be pleased about that.”

As a fan, I'd like that.


Tuesday, December 7, 2021

United States to "diplomatically" boycott the Beijing Olympics

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - But it's not a relevant boycott.

I ask you to compare this article, “Koopa Kingdom to boycott Beijing 2022 Olympic Games (with no videogame version)” with this article by CBS News, “U.S. announces diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics”. ...Compare the messages in those. Not the writing style (because the KoopaTV article, while technically a news report, is still written in an editorial style), but the message from the Koopa Kingdom official (well, me) and the American official (White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki).

If you don't get the distinction, Koopa Kingdom will not have ANY representation in the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games. No diplomats or politicians. No athletes. Not one Koopa will step foot in China during the Olympics. Or before. ...And hopefully not after, at least not until after the Chinese Communist Party loses control over it. Taiwan will be okay, of course. But while no diplomats or government officials from the United States will attend the Olympics in-person, their athletes will still be there.

For context, even for the Pyeongchang Olympics of 2018 (that's South Korea, with North Korea in notable attendance), Vice President Mike Pence (and his wife, Karen Pence) as well as Ivanka Trump (Advisor to the President) was there in person. Though Koopa Kingdom couldn't come to that either for... multi-universe reasons. But we didn't boycott them. They banned everyone from our world. Still, none of this have-it-both-ways actions of the Americans. Really, how do you justify this quote from Jen Psaki?


Monday, December 6, 2021

PlayStation Network Sr. Vice President George Cacioppo fired for alleged pedophilia

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - This whole story is upsetting, as is the need for groups like this.

I have noticed it's becoming fairly common for people to accuse their enemies of being a pedophile, sort of like how it's common to accuse your political opponents of being Russian assets. I've tended to treat those claims with equal veracity... which is to say, I believe it's a made-up obsession, focusing on getting people upset over very bold claims. (No one wants their children preyed on... and almost no one wants their country's voting system in the hands of a foreign power.)

Well, there are (mostly) faked reports about people being on the dole from the Russian government, and there are... some more credible-looking reports of people being pedophiles who want to solicit sex or sexual relations with minors. (Catching predators is apparently a whole GENRE of video content that you can binge-watch.) Of course, everyone is innocent until proven guilty (which is why I'll keep spamming forms of the word “allege” in this article), but it is a fact that the alleged subject of this video, who is allegedly George Cacioppo, got fired from Sony. He was formerly a Senior Vice President of Engineering of PlayStation Network since 2013 according to his (alleged) LinkedIn profile, which notably has many less connections on the live version (actually, within the couple of hours I spent researching and writing this article, it's been deleted entirely!) than the archived version.




In a statement made to CNET from Sony, they have said “[w]e are aware of the situation and the employee in question has been terminated from employment.” It seems like Sony has cut through the mountains of allegations and made a decision already.

Friday, December 3, 2021

Ring Fit Adventure Fitness Log Week 54: Damaging My Body For Content

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Why I took a week off... which I should have kept doing.

Hello, and welcome back to KoopaTV's Fitness Fridays. If you're reading these live as they're published, you'll notice that there was a two-week gap between this and Week 53. Let's talk about that, especially since it falls within what the fitness logs are about.

On Sunday the 21st, I had a fair amount of the day dedicated to moving and lifting a big, bulky leather (RIP) recliner out of a castle with my own bare claws. Then on Thursday the 25th, I moved that same recliner up into another castle. With stairs and vehicles and everything. Basically, that's not only already physically tiresome, but it does a number on one's wrists and being able to grip things. Since Ring Fit Adventure is dedicated to gripping the Ring-Con, having sore arms/claws/wrists is quite disadvantageous! And physically unpleasant and painful. On top of that, I had persistent pain on my left hip for basically the whole week starting on the 22nd to the 26th. It's terrible.

At first I thought I'd be playing Armando's story arc, but World 54: Fitness Master Lv. 309 is actually based on World 31: Extra Fitness Lv. 204, which is solidly part of Abdonis's story arc. That means the world is focused on my abs, not my arms. Still... I mean... my back could be better, too (and it certainly wouldn't be a good experience for my hip!), and the fact remains that arms are a critical part of interacting with the game since they're still gripping the Ring-Con. SO I TOOK A BREAK FOR A WEEK. I just wish I could've used that break to play Pokémon Shining Pearl, but nooo, that couldn't happen either. (Well, not counting the weekend.)


Finally, I went to play Ring Fit Adventure again on Sunday the 28th. My arms are fine. My hip isn't perfect, but it probably will never be. Unlike, say, Americans, I didn't eat inappropriate food portions during the week I wasn't exercising. I definitely put focus and effort into the dynamic stretching to start things off, if only because the game expects me to be in pretty good shape. Apparently. Oh, and stupidly enough, I'm insisting on having the game at the highest difficulty level of 30 despite my body being a disaster, which will be a reoccurring theme in this log.

Ring Fit Adventure Fitness Master World 54 Lv. 309 strike while muscle's hot sprinkle dialogue
My muscles aren't hot at all. They've been cooled for over a week.
(This is the only line of dialogue to start the world.

Thursday, December 2, 2021

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: New Balance Patches, Spirit Events, and Event Tourneys are OVER!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The only new stuff left are future amiibo.

If you were hoping that a renewed sense of importance in the Super Smash Bros. series going into 2022 would have Super Smash Bros. Ultimate continue to get content updates... you'd be wrong. Spirit events and event tourneys are now repeating. And the final balance patch, 13.0.1, was released last night. It supports some new amiibo and has these fighter adjustments, summarised in the following Beefy Smash Doods video:



I must admit that I'm happy to once again receive some buffs. Well, less me and more my Koopa Clown Car. The Grinder that appears with my dash attack is stronger and more consistent, along with the car's tongue (well, it's not stronger, but it's more likely to KO due to its new angle). My Up Smash's propeller blades are even stronger now, and one of my favourite tricks, the Kart Dash's spin-out, is more powerful as well in terms of how far it'll send my opponents! That's on top of the buffs from 9.0.0 where the side-b got more armour on it.

Ike (the same Ike who isn't gay) got some buffs too, but I don't find them notable compared to that time his Aether got drastically improved.

I like that Steve, Min Min, and Pyra and Mythra all got nerfs, but I'm upset that some other characters, like that electric yellow rodent Pikachu, didn't get a thoughtful nerf even once and has been considered top tier since the game came out. I'm not really sure who would be forward-smashing with Mythra to begin with instead of just switching to Pyra, but I'll establish my superiority regardless:


Wednesday, December 1, 2021

KoopaTV's November 2021 Review Newsletter

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I don't like this coming month, you know.

The next of these newsletters I publish, it'll be 2022. That's WEIRD. I don't like it.

Anyway, this newsletter is all about making sure you're caught up with what happened with KoopaTV (your favourite website, surely?) during the month that just passed—November 2021! We'll cover the top articles, the top reader commentary, a leaderboard notice to the current KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program round, and our Corrections Corner that (unfortunately) isn't empty this time.

Top Five Recommended Experiences of November 2021


In chronological order...
  1. The Evolution of the Fire Emblem Soldier — This is a rather in-depth article examining the humble (and disrespected) beginnings of the Soldier class in Fire Emblem... and how they've achieved parity and even equality with other classes in the latest games.
  2. Ring Fit Adventure Fitness Log Week 52: Fighting Super Pet Contest Rejects — This is my compromise for excluding the actual Super Pet Contest article from this top five, but this really is the best Fitness Log of Fitness Master mode so far because it's brimming with actually interesting game info, fitness info, and... some aspects of my personal life.
  3. Yeah, Activision is Dumb for Having In-Office Alcoholic Drinks — While this isn't the... typical take people and companies are having from what's going on with Activision Blizzard, it's a topic I feel rather strongly about and I've yet to hear any justification for it.
  4. Riot Expands League of Legends Lore with Indie-Developed Spin-offs — I may not be a fan of League of Legends (and that's an understatement), but I very much respect the Riot Forge initiative and think it's a model for other publishers to follow.
  5. Habit-Forming Game Comparison: Ring Fit Adventure vs. Pokémon Smile — I've been vocal in my support for Ring Fit Adventure on KoopaTV for the past couple of years, and I've also done things with Pokémon Smile. Using a framework from an author specialising in how industry hooks customers on developing habits, I evaluated and compared the designs for those two games.

There are several articles I ended up snubbing in this top five (including those with interesting gimmicks to them that I would really like everyone to see), so what you should REALLY do is consider every KoopaTV article worth reading... and then go check them out.