Sony Interactive Entertainment Acquires Bungie for $3.6 billion... bungled?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - What do they get out of it?

In yet another unexpected morning announcement, Sony Interactive Entertainment acquired Destiny 2 developer Bungie. (You may also know Bungie for developing the Halo series... a long time ago. That's no longer a thing they do.) For $3.6 billion!

What does Sony say they get out of this deal? Both Jim Ryan, PlayStation President and CEO and Hermen Hulst, Head of PlayStation Studios say that Bungie's team are experts at building out game communities and maintaining games as a service. I mean, Bungie has been all about Destiny 2 since... 2017. And they have content planned all the way into 2024. That's all the company has been doing.

As for Bungie, they (and Sony) stress that Bungie will continue to have “creative freedom.” More importantly, they mention that Destiny 2 will continue to be multi-platform (Xbox and PC, along with PlayStation... oh, and Stadia) and that the non-PlayStation experience won't be degraded. There won't be any PlayStation exclusive content either, and cross-platform play will continue. Non-Destiny 2 games that Bungie will eventually develop will also be multi-platform. At least, that's what they're saying now! But there's some reason to believe it. Check out this trailer... or at least the first three to seven seconds of it:

Ring Fit Adventure Fitness Log Week 61: How many ab packs can you count on Dragaux?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Also, finally getting Garnet stones. It's a big deal.

I am not looking forward to being disappointed this week from playing Ring Fit Adventure's World 61: Fitness Master Lv. 344. (On difficulty level 30.) You see, this world is based on World 38: Extra Fitness Lv. 238, which doesn't sound like anything important, but THAT world is based on World 15: Quizton. If you're looking for guidance on navigating Quizton, click that World 15 link to KoopaTV's 2020-era Fitness Log. Because this week I'll be doing all of courses in the “wrong” order—my goal is 100% completion, and getting the right answers can lock out content, apparently. I'm not sure if that'll apply to Fitness Master, which is a mode that strips out location-based world-building that was established in the first playthrough. Which is what I find disappointing—my Extra Fitness log is mostly me lamenting that the game doesn't go deeper into how dysfunctional a society Quizton really is. And I'm expecting World 61 will not go deeper either. That's just the trend for Fitness Master, continuing off last week's World 60: Fitness Master Lv. 337 (Thankfully, fog isn't a gimmick in this world.)

...No. And I'm, like, four to five pounds heavier than I was last year.
I'm pretty sure I'm under-eating, though. ...Apparently not.

That was a lengthy preamble just to say that I'm expecting this week to be boring on the dialogue front. But let's actually play it and find out if those expectations meet reality! On Sunday I started... and got opening commentary from Ring about how I need to have a balanced diet and I need to eat enough proper meals throughout the day. Even if there's a lot going on in the day, I still need to eat! ...And off to the levels I go. Sheesh. He didn't even frame it as a quiz question. LAME. (But to answer his question... no, I'm not eating well.) In the interest of doing the wrong thing first, I pursued the Upper Road. The first monster group had a Cobalt Hoplin and a Blue Hoplin—reminder that as of World 60, there are new variations of the enemies that are stronger. But Cobalt only had, like, marginal more durability than Blue did. (Maybe 15–25%?) There was a Treasure Chest with 500 coins at the end, and... an interesting limited negation of the on-rails level design which you can view in this video clip:

China's Surprise at Beijing 2022 Olympics Diplomatic Boycotts when they Anally Swab Diplomats

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Ew?

In a week, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics will open. Koopa Kingdom has a full boycott of those Olympic Games, while several nations based on Earth—including the United States of America—only have a diplomatic boycott. Their athletes will still come.

China has said that those maintaining a boycott will “pay a price”... without saying what that is, but China considers it wrongdoing.

The thing about the athletes is that they will still get diplomatic security services, which apparently do not count as breaking the diplomatic boycott. But who will protect the diplomats? You see, China really does not want the Chinese Communist Party Virus (CCP Virus, also known as COVID-19) spreading around in their own country. They have a prior history of subjecting American (and other nationalities’) diplomats to “anal swabs” to test for the presence of the CCP Virus. Widespread anal swabs are still in effect as of this month, and surely going into the Olympics next week. The vast majority of people, with the exception of at least one weird KoopaTV one-time commenter, people don't like that experience.

I'd say the whole thing can be summarised with this meme I made:

HM Slave Bidoof's Big Stand (an original animation)

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I was rooting for the Staraptor.

Over two weeks ago, The Pokémon Company International published this original animation featuring a Pokémon trainer and a scrubby, sickly Bidoof he caught and raised:

The premise is that there is a wild Bidoof that is a screw-up menace to the local Bidoof colony, so the Bidoof wanders away (or is exiled) and ends up stealing an Oran Berry from a Starly flock lead by a cool Staraptor. Unfortunately, Staraptor isn't able to retrieve the Oran Berry from the rodent Bidoof, as a young Pokémon trainer and his Lucario rescue Bidoof. This wild Staraptor is so cool that it's able to dodge an Aura Sphere, which shouldn't be possible, but Staraptor is that cool. The trainer catches Bidoof with a Nest Ball (which specialises in catching low-level weak Pokémon), and Bidoof is in love with the idea of high-fiving (or high-threeing for Bidoof) the trainer like he did with his Lucario, but the trainer is oblivious to this and just keeps feeding Bidoof Oran Berries instead.

I continue to really like that they show Poké Ball varieties that player-controlled trainers would actually use in that situation.
The Nest Ball is the most appropriate one!

Joe Biden Lifts Weight Restrictions from Bridges; Mario and Wario in bridge collapse "accident"

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Unfortunately, the desired roles were reversed.

According to @POTUS, the Twitter account currently operated by President of the United States Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., it's apparently a bipartisan proposal (well, not just a proposal—it's law now) that “when bridges don't have weight restrictions [...] that's how [America] resolve[s] supply chain problems and gets goods to people quicker and cheaper.”

When we move stuff faster through ports, when bridges don’t have weight restrictions, when there’s less traffic on our roads — that’s how we resolve supply chain problems and get goods to people quicker and cheaper.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is helping make it happen.

— President Biden (@POTUS) January 24, 2022

“Bipartisan” may sound sweet and nice, but what's it matter when both parties involved are idiots not acting in the best interest of their constituents? ...I'm not really sure how this benefits the politicians, either.

Listen, I'm a fan of deregulation and reducing government. Less restrictions usually mean more freedom. I get it. But in this specific circumstance, regulation is actually a good thing. The governments (federal and state/local) have, for decades, established weight restrictions on bridges and has worked with the trucking industry to establish standards. Basically, if you're going to be driving a big (heavy) vehicle going over a bridge, they'd rather your vehicle have several axles and be a longer truck (more space between axles) so the weight is spread across a bigger span than have it all concentrated in a smaller space. Otherwise, the bridge will wear down, crack, and eventually collapse. You might not see a collapse immediately, or even within President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.'s term, but damage will be done. Alternatively, truckers might ignore the lifting of weight restrictions out of concern for their own safety, and pretend like all is normal and regulated.

However, elsewhere, some bad actors are deliberately taking advantage of frail bridges with their massive weight to cause harm to others. At least, that's our theory. Take a look at this footage captured by a Koopa Kingdom operator:

CAPCOM Starts Year of the Tiger Early—With Capcom Lunar New Year Sale 2022

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Untimely sale? Why, it celebrates the BBC appearance!

Hey, listen, I know I just wrote that The Ace Attorney Collection and most other CAPCOM games were on sale just last month for a CAPCOM Holiday Sale 2021. But CAPCOM wants to celebrate more. So they're putting all (?) of those games on sale AGAIN for the Capcom Lunar New Year Sale of 2022. If there is a CAPCOM-published game in mind for the Nintendo Switch or 3DS that isn't The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (you should've gone for that earlier this month) or a Monster Hunter game released in 2021, it's probably on sale.

That includes The Ace Attorney Collection, which itself is a compilation of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. It's 25% off (or $45), just like it was a month ago. All of the CAPCOM-published Ace Attorney titles on the 3DS are also on sale—and I'll mention now that if you've heard about not being able to add funds directly to your Nintendo 3DS, that's currently a Japan thing and doesn't apply to the United States of America. (But you can just add them via your Switch.)

If you buy and play this, you'll be able to answer advanced questions on British trivia shows (at around 24:23):

The Lunar New Year 2022 doesn't begin today. It begins on February 1. CAPCOM's sale started today (January 24) and ends January 31 2:59 AM Eastern. There was a CAPCOM Lunar Sale of 2021 and that actually occurred during Lunar New Year. It also had only selective games instead of nearly CAPCOM's whole catalogue, notably ŌKAMI HD, which is VERY related to the Lunar Year and the Zodiac animals. It's also 50% off right now.

This will be the year of the tiger. Unlike last year, that's not an animal I'm... super excited about. But you'll find tiger action in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy, and if you're gonna get that, you might as well get The Ace Attorney Collection and have the Game of THAT Year 2021 added to your buy.

Ace Attorney is not only the answer to this University Challenge question,
but it's also a great game series that's on sale right now. It deserves your play time and purchase.

Despite appearing on the BBC, Ace Attorney is not currently on sale in the United Kingdom.


Maybe CAPCOM will have another sale once the Year of the Tiger actually begins? Let KoopaTV know in the comments section if you think you could've answered the University Challenge question. If you can take on that question, then maybe you stand a chance at taking on KoopaTV's own series of quizzes! (Currently on season 34!)


Ludwig did publish something more specific to tigers once the Year of the Tiger began.
CAPCOM returns for more discounts in the Capcom Lunar New Year Sale of... 2023!

Ring Fit Adventure Fitness Log Week 60: I haven't the foggiest idea why there's a fog mechanic

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - It's my third and final time through the fog world, so you get my fog rant again.

This week's KoopaTV Fitness Friday has a lot of potential, as I'm documenting my fitness and wellness activities throughout the week. This week, we're primarily covering Ring Fit Adventure's World 60: Fitness Master Lv. 337. Only 1000 levels away from 1337, which is a joke I already made back in Week 46 when I got to level 337. I'm overlevelled in the meantime at level 395, from the opportunities afforded in last world.

Anyway, World 60 is based off World 37: Extra Fitness Lv. 231, and the log for that happens to be award-winning thanks to the Abs Song. Really, it did win an award. The world is also notable for being the last time the enemies will scale in power and durability, with the dark influence growing stronger and having enemies change from red, blue, green, and yellow to garnet, cobalt, malachite, and ochre. In the normal adventure mode and in Extra Fitness, your player character can scale up with the enemies by purchasing new outfits from the General Store, which progressively get better and better stats. In Fitness Master, that's not the case, since the whole clothing catalogue is available from the start and everything has the same stats. That SHOULD make World 60 the start of a difficulty spike...?

I wrote all of the above without turning the game on first. Let's do that. On Sunday! Ring gave me a short speech about how I need to have good posture both when doing physical training, as well as in every day life. And I shouldn't slouch. ...That's important wisdom for writers in particular, who may often slouch on chairs when trying to type or handwrite things. ...And I have many years of personal experience with that.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land to release March 25, 2022 (and isn't open world)

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Let's watch a trailer about it together!

I admit, looking back to when Kirby and the Forgotten Land was announced in the September 2021 Nintendo Direct, that I shouldn't now be surprised that Kirby and the Forgotten Land has a release date of March 25, 2022. After all, the original release timing was “Spring 2022”, and late March definitely qualifies. I dunno, I thought it'd be in April or May. But here it is, March 25, as said in this short, but information-filled trailer:

My initial impression is that it's fairly linear-looking despite being in three dimensions, like a level you might find out of Super Mario 3D Land or Super Mario Galaxy. I maintain that impression with this new footage, but while you might fault me for not paying attention to the meaning of spring, other gaming websites don't understand the meaning of the footage they look at. For example, Kotaku (an awful outlet) and writer Ari Notis, described Kirby and the Forgotten Land as being “open-world-styled” and having “the BotW treatment: wide-open areas, a post-apocalyptic vibe, and an impressively deep toolkit.” It's yet another example of gaming journalists comparing any three-dimensional game to being akin to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. There is absolutely nothing to support that—and a fair bit of footage to believe the exact opposite—in any of Nintendo's marketing for the game, other than them using the word “explore” as a verb Kirby can do in these 3D stages. I mean, there's clearly an overworld map traversable via Warp Star (much like in Kirby Star Allies), which wouldn't be a thing in an actual open world game.

Thoughts on the Pokémon Legends: Arceus Gameplay Preview Trailer

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - There's a similar game already out you can try...

While we got some new story and world-building bits around Pokémon Legends: Arceus last month, some people thought we still don't have enough of an understanding of the gameplay. So The Pokémon Company International released this over 13-minute gameplay preview trailer last week... with information that we pretty much already knew. But, hey, people can claim greater understanding now that it's consolidated in one place, so go ahead and watch if you're interested:

As far as I'm concerned, it's just a Pokémon form of the already-out Monster Hunter Stories 2, also on the Switch, so if you want to get a feel for how Pokémon Legends: Arceus might play, just download the excellent and lengthy Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin demo.

I kind of just want to make that the whole article and end it there. But you probably want more content than that. Fine. I'll go over the trailer bit by bit. Note that if you're avoiding Pokémon Legends: Arceus spoilers that are wandering out there on the Internet right now, you won't find any of them in this article (especially because I don't know anything about those “leaks”). This article is entirely based on the above trailer.

According to traditional Pokémon RPG stat spreads,
the maximum HP a Luxray can have at level 50 is 187.
So how is this 197 HP possible?
...Oh, I guess I ought to mention that this screenshot is inherently cool.

Live Reactions to Microsoft-Activision Blizzard Acquisition Webcast for Investors and Media

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - This certainly wasn't what I was expecting to talk about today!

Hopefully you aren't hearing it here first, but Microsoft just announced their intentions to acquire Activision Blizzard, to close by the end of this year/sometime next year. The deal hasn't been fully approved, but it seems they're confident in it. Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, blogged about it here, and there is a Microsoft press release here. Near the end of the Microsoft press release was a link to a webcast hosted by Microsoft and Activision leadership intended for investors and the media, so I decided to join and live-react to it. I don't have a video on-demand of it because they apparently will make their recording (accessible only via... phone? Or Microsoft Teams?) disappear around January 28. Still, my reaction log below should do a good job both summarising what they discussed, as well as letting you know my own thoughts as they formed.

[9:00 AM] Ludwig Von Koopa: I'm listening to the conference call between Microsoft and Activision.
[9:00 AM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Satya Nadella (CEO), Bobby Kotick (CEO, Activision), Amy Hood (CFO Microsoft), and Phil Spencer (Xbox Gaming Head).
[9:01 AM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Largest acquisition in Microsoft's history.
[9:02 AM] Ludwig Von Koopa: This makes the Zenimax acquisition look like a test run.
[9:03 AM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Satya is excited about "three billion people playing games" with 4.5 billion expected by 2030.
[9:03 AM] Ludwig Von Koopa: But it's still too complicated to play games, apparently.
[9:03 AM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Too many distribution constraints.
[9:04 AM] Ludwig Von Koopa: And Satya is saying "metaverse" multiple times.

No new Spirit Events in Smash Bros? Evil Ryu calls that FAKE NEWS!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Sorry about that.

A month and a half ago, KoopaTV published an article called “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: New Balance Patches, Spirit Events, and Event Tourneys are OVER!” At least one of those three items is incorrect reporting, because there is, going on right this moment as of publishing, a brand new Spirit Event for the Street Fighter 35th Anniversary that features a brand new Legend Spirit, Evil Ryu:

The actual fight is scary because Evil Ryu keeps getting Final Smashes.
...I won by exploiting his poor recovery.

I don't find the particular details about the fight or the spirit all that interesting (and I'm wondering why nothing happened for the Ace Attorney 20th anniversary), though there notably isn't reduced jump power unlike many other Street Fighter spirit battles. (Though it's still a stamina battle on an Omega form stage.) Evil Ryu has slightly more attack as a spirit than Akuma (which actually makes him the strongest spirit in terms of raw attack power in the game), but far less defense. Neither have slots for support spirits, but Evil Ryu has a Fist Attack ↑ ability while Akuma has nothing. I guess there's a sense of final-content privilege/power creep going on.

But the real thing to consider here is that just because Nintendo said that old events would be repeating—and they have been—that didn't exclude new content. They never said anything about new content. However, in his presentation featuring Sora, Masahiro Sakurai repeatedly said things like how the game is now complete and how the October content would be the very last downloadable content, and that included a summary at the end of all of the content in the game, including the number of Spirits (listed as 1,496 as of the end of September 2021, to be increased with the the Metroid Dread spirit event and then Sora's October 18 DLC... now it's 1,513). ...Spirits added to the game afterwards counts as downloadable content, so clearly Masahiro Sakurai continues to be an unreliable source, since Evil Ryu contradicts this.

OCTOBER 18. FINAL DLC.
Final DLC means all downloadable content. Paid and free.

KoopaTV is far from the only outlet that put two and two together and concluded that, yes, new content would be done for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. But the difference between us and other outlets is that we already have recognised that Masahiro Sakurai is not a reliable source of information. We should have already learned this lesson from when I apologised before! And I'm personally disappointed in myself that my December 2021 article never brought up the point that just because content will repeat, that doesn't prevent new content from joining. It's such an easy caveat to make, and normally I like to write in caveats, but I just didn't do it.

I'm sorry.


Ludwig will not speculate if Evil Ryu will be the sole exception to there being new content, or if Evil Ryu will be the start of a new trend. You're free to think about that in the comments section, and if you accept or reject Ludwig's apology for publishing what would later become incorrect information.

Ring Fit Adventure Fitness Log Week 59: A Non-Vegan Cast

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The vast majority of players wouldn't get this far to know this about Ring and Dragaux.

Hello, and welcome to a KoopaTV Fitness Friday! Where I log my fitness adventures for everyone to read. In the name of good wellness.

When I entered World 59: Fitness Master Lv. 331 on Sunday, Dragaux was saying that I look pretty trained right now, and it seems like the Four Masters have done their job in getting me more buff. So he's just going to wait in one of the six Dragaux Stadiums and not tell us which one he's in. While Ring doesn't remember which one Dragaux is in (the bottom left), I do remember (and I pointed it out the last time we were in El Dorago, World 36: Extra Fitness Lv. 225, and I also want to 100% the world anyway, so I'm going to go to all of the wrong Dragaux Stadiums first. Just a note: Each of them are basically a miniboss fight, but with some minor level design (enough to fit three EXP Medals) and standard monster fight music.

I believe you were actually depressed about your stolen chocolate protein shake.
That's the real reason why you made no appearance in the last world, right?

I first went to the Dragaux Stadium on the far right, which has a level design of two long stairways you need to Knee Lift through into one Mini Dragaux Statue at the end. Even with a ↑↑ power smoothie, I barely miss out on 4RKO-ing the Mini Dragaux Statue, so maybe I need to wear an outfit that further boosts my attack? (Specifically, smoothies last for three turns, and then I did one and a half turns without smoothies to demolish the statue.) I focused on Chair Pose and Revolved Crescent Lunge Pose for that one. For the next course, I went all the way to the Dragaux Stadium on the far left, this time wearing the Volt Contender to boost the attack of my Abs Fit Skills. Of course, this Dragaux Stadium's level design packs all two of the ways Yoga Fit Skills are incorporated into a course: TWO Chair Pose Hold-powered cart segments (for maybe a minute each, depending on how well you hold it), and TWO Slinkbug segments where you must Tree Pose Hold for one minute each—one per leg. The fight at the end is a Mini Dragaux Statue and, surprisingly, two Gold Hoplins positioned in a way where you need to use a five-range Fit Skill to hit everyone at the same turn. I 4RKO'd the Mini Dragaux Statue with two five-range Fit Skills and two one-range Fit Skills (Flutter Kicks) and a rush attack that luckily activated, so... that messes up my damage experiment entirely. As a result, I went south to tackle the Rare Hoplin overworld fight (with two of them). I tried Planking them... too difficult. Apparently, Ring Fit Adventure asks for my butt to be higher than what a plank should actually involve. How Ring Fit Adventure wants you to plank (30 reps on difficulty level 30 for about 5 seconds each) is actually very antithetical to how you're supposed to do planks (a few of them per day but held for about 30 seconds each).

Applying to Capcom Creators, and their unique terms and definitions

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Want to help my application? Let's see how welcome they are...

Last week, game publisher CAPCOM (maker of fantastic videogames like The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, which is currently on sale and was KoopaTV's Game of THAT Year 2021) announced a new programme: Capcom Creators. It's designed to help foster CAPCOM's fan community with support and resources, including beta access, merchandise, and other things. Well, I make CAPCOM content fairly often, especially for Ace Attorney. So let's look into this...

They have a multi-page Code of Conduct, with the pages all being variations and elaborations of this theme:

Capcom is dedicated to creating an inclusive environment for everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, parental status (including pregnancy), marital status, national origin, age, disability (physical or mental), genetic information, political affiliation, socioeconomic status or background, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, body size, computing experience, or clothing. Consider that calling attention to differences or making jokes about them can feel alienating.

Compare this to the Xbox Ambassadors Terms of Use:

CEO of (FAKE NEWS) Bloomberg leaves to start new media venture "Project Coda"

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - A new source of FAKE NEWS or will it be a legitimate source?

According to the KoopaTV Game of THAT Year 2021 awards, exposing the FAKE NEWS media throughout 2021 (particularly as it related to the Nintendo Switch and hardware revisions) was KoopaTV.org's best article series. A lot of that was about Bloomberg Media Group, a FAKE NEWS media company of which Bloomberg News is a part. Now it turns out that Justin B. Smith, the CEO of Bloomberg Media Group, has stepped down in order to create a new media venture with New York Times media columnist and former BuzzFeed News editor-in-chief Ben Smith. (The two Smiths are unrelated.)

Justin Smith recommends reading this Wall Street Journal report, while Ben Smith recommends reading this FT report. So let's examine those.

It appears their new venture, called “Project Coda” for now, will be a very multimedia publication aimed at general topics (as opposed to just business topics), with modern digital reporting besides just written articles, but also videos, podcasts, and other things you might expect nowadays from sleek, modern websites (not like this one). Certainly a higher budget and a bigger team than what KoopaTV has, though I strongly disagree that the written word is antiquated and obsolete. Their target audience are “200 million college-educated, English-speaking professionals” throughout Earth. This is apparently a big differentiator from other media outlets, which target mostly one country (like the United States), or they don't care about the education level of their audience. (KoopaTV, for example, targets Koopa Kingdom readers and mostly United States-residing English-speakers 13 (preferably 18) and up, without regard to education. As long as you appreciate our excellent writing quality.) This makes it have an “international focus”, though how they plan to do that differently than already-existing publications with regional offices and reporters is a mystery.

Nintendo New Year 2022 Sale, featuring The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Only on the Nintendo eShop.

You have checked out KoopaTV's Game of THAT Year 2021 series of awards published yesterday, right? Spoiler alert: The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles had a clean sweep of all of the gaming-related awards, being the best in everything for 2021. If you want to find out what you're missing, and you want to do that sooner rather than later, you're in luck: Exclusively on the Nintendo eShop right now (and not on any other platform's game storefront), The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is 25% off. It's $30 instead of its usual $40. In the United States, this sale lasts until January 17, 2:59 AM Eastern.

In the United Kingdom and Europe in general, it lasts until... uh... imminently, apparently, where it's also 25% off. (January 12.) I better publish this quick, then. Buy The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles at its discounted price. It's the first time the game has been individually discounted, since I am not counting when the Ace Attorney Turnabout Collection was on sale for $45 for the CAPCOM Holiday Sale 2021 that just happened. That collection, normally $60, contains both The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy, and I considered it a 50% discount on just the Trilogy part.

Right now, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is the only Ace Attorney game on sale. There are many other games on sale for the Nintendo New Year 2022 Sale, ranging from crap like ARMS to otherwise solid titles (and somehow Shin Megami Tensei V is already 30% off despite coming out only two months ago), but The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is all that really matters.

Don't be like Ryunosuke.
With just a little money (less than usual if you act now!), you can entertain yourself for many tens of hours (or 100+ like me) playing The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles!
...And if you are gonna stare at something, you could stare at KoopaTV articles, at least.

KoopaTV owes several people money that could go into purchasing The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, as part of the rewards portion of the KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program Round 41. Apologies for the wait. The gift card codes should be delivered via email before the sale ends. Ludwig just needs to get Kamek to follow through on the purchasing!


Just two weeks later, CAPCOM put the rest of their catalogue on sale.
Congrats to The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles selling over 500,000 copies worldwide.

KoopaTV's GOTY 2021 Awards!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Game of THAT Year 2021... and other categories.

After a weekend has passed since we published our Game of THAT Year 2021 nominations, plus other categories, KoopaTV's staff have decided on our Game of THAT Year 2021 winners. ...And I may or may not have ignored their choices in favour of pushing my own agenda. I won't tell you those details of how this got made, but you can feel free to take your best guesses.

While 2020 sucked, 2021 wasn't much better! So let's get right into the awards and not dwell on the year as a whole, since it's better to just forget it overall. At least the following all represent highlight(s)!

Videogame-related Awards for 2021

Best New Character

The winner of KoopaTV's 2021 Best New Character award goes to Magnus McGilded, of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. Magnus McGilded is a spectacular character that should be a role model.

I can see Magnus McGilded as a PragerU speaker or something.
This is also a lesson that today's capitalists ought to consider.

Magnus McGilded is a London philanthropist who has made his fortune through honest and morally righteous means. Unfortunately, just like with today's wealthy and upstanding upper class, a lot of lower people are jealous cretins and want to besmirch Mr. McGilded's name. Those include the game's new prosecutor, Barok van Zieks, whose first introduction to the player, as Ryunosuke Naruhodo, was prosecuting Mr. McGilded for murder. Yet Mr. McGilded proved himself to be the most capable defendant in Ace Attorney history, and he actually made van Zieks out to be quite incompetent. That's an amazing feat, especially considering that Barok is actually a top-tier prosecutor when compared to other Ace Attorney prosecutors. Mr. McGilded actually did research and helpfully contributed in advancing the NOT GUILTY goal. He also didn't sabotage his own case, unlike many other defendants throughout the franchise (and in other cases in The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles).

I don't want to spoil the case or the game, but as long as you remember that Magnus McGilded did nothing wrong, you too should find him worthy of Best New Character of 2021.

Ring Fit Adventure Fitness Log Week 58: If you eat me now, you'll get triglycerides!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I went to the doctor, shared my results, and avoided becoming a monster meal.

Hello again. Welcome to the first KoopaTV Fitness Friday of 2022! This log is based about Ring Fit Adventure's World 58: Fitness Master Lv. 328 at difficulty level 30 of 30, which is based on the map for World 35: Extra Fitness Lv. 222. Last week at World 57, we fought Allegra, Abdonis, and Armando after Dragaux got depressed from having monsters steal his chocolate protein shake. This week, it seems like we'll fight the last of the Four Masters, Guru Andma. ...Dragaux is still sad, I guess.

This is all of the exposition for the world that we're going to get until the boss fight with Guru Andma.
I feel like Ring is referencing something, but I don't know what.

To test our... brain, I dunno, the first course is Clever-Trick Temple. Within the first half a minute as the level is reminding us about pushing and pulling blocks around, there's a Treasure Chest with two Mixed Chard drinks that are superfluous. But a valuable Treasure Chest later on had 500 coins. Unlike the level this one is a clone of, Pushpull Temple, there's no Treasure Chaser segment. I won't be accessing World 58's Town/General Store for quite some time, it seems, so let's just go to the next level— Mt. Fearmenot, infamously the first course in this playthrough that uses Ring's Wings, which replaces running for repeated abdominal presses to fly through the air. Not much else to say, besides a Treasure Chest had a Peridot stone and I got triggered by the presence of one Pinwheel Door. (At least it's only one as opposed to dozens from the last level of last world.)

Actually, clearing Mt. Fearmenot gave me access to the Town, as well as many other parts of the world. I went to the Town and went on a shopping spree, using all of the Peridot stones I've accumulated thus far since it seems like we're done with Topaz... and I need four more to clear out the General Store's Peridot-requiring inventory. Hmm. Perhaps I'll find them in the Monster Den. ...No, but I found a Defense Drink in a Treasure Chest and a Topaz from an enemy drop. (By “done with Topaz” I meant story fights and Gyms will drop Peridot now... random chance may still have generic enemy groups drop whatever.) At the end of the course I had acquired the “Righteous Warrior I Poser” and “Threefold-Squat Ascendant” Titles, for doing a total of at least 2000 Warrior I Poses and doing at least 300 Squats, Wide Squats, AND Overhead Squats. Yeah, I brought the Overhead Squat to the Monster Den and wore myself out doing so, but at least I'm physically capable of doing it again. While I've maxed out on Warrior I Pose Titles, the next Title for those squats are doing all of those at least one thousand times each. Not going to happen. ...And I'm done for the day because doing Overhead Squats is exhausting, and I want to take a shower.

KoopaTV's 2021 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, 2021 to December 31, 2021.)

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 2021

Best New Character

• Ayumi Tachibana (Famicom Detective Club)
• Magnus McGilded (The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles)
• Raven Beak (Metroid Dread)
• FU (No More Heroes 3)
• Cutie The Elephant (It Takes Two)
• Kazuma Asogi (The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles)

I don't have a problem with LEGO Luigi's mansion renovation projects

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Koopas aren't really involved, so...

You can be forgiven for watching this trailer and think that this is the only new LEGO + Nintendo set that just came out:

But here's the full list of new LEGO Super Mario items for purchase, and these don't include the new bundles they've devised:

1. LEGO® Super Mario™ Luigi’s Mansion™ Haunt-and-Seek Expansion Set ($79.99)
2. Luigi’s Mansion™ Entryway Expansion Set ($39.99)
3. Luigi’s Mansion™ Lab and Poltergust Expansion Set ($29.99)
4. Big Urchin Beach Ride Expansion Set ($59.99)
5. Dorrie’s Beachfront Expansion Set ($29.99)
6. Bowser Jr.'s Clown Car Expansion Set ($9.99)

Plus, you can (but shouldn't) try your luck with these $4.99 Character Packs, Series 4. You could get one of any of the following ten possibilities, with no guarantees which you might pull:

Give KoopaTV Your Requests in 2022 and (Half of) 2023!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Do you have a topic or prompt for us? Tell us here!

You might be reading existing KoopaTV articles and think to yourself, “I'd like to experience the KoopaTV opinion or creative spirit on THIS topic!” And then if you go through our site's search bar and can't find anything about it, maybe you'll wait a few weeks... and nope, we're just not talking about it. It's possible that we never will discuss the topic you devised through organic means.

In that case, comment on this page with your request and we'll consider it! We used to have an existing Requests page from 2014–2021, and there have been many articles that only exist because people spoke up and said they wanted to hear about something. (...And if we haven't already taken you up on anything from the old 2014 Requests page, we're just never going to get around to it. It's a clean slate now!) In that article, I likened KoopaTV to your “intellectual mercenaries”, which is a pretty cool line that I think still applies. And if you're not just purely interested in our thoughts, you should also note that besides just outright producing your own guest article (which you're always welcome to do), requests are a very direct way of influencing the narratives and plot lines that go on at KoopaTV.

But with this 2022 and 2023 requests page, I'd like to be more transparent about the status of requests. Rather than leaving you to scour through the comments section for things, I plan to edit in the status of requests into this article.

Oh, but there are some things we won't cover. We won't cover anything illegal. We won't write about “leaks” or “rumours” unless it's to denounce them. (But we'd rather not call attention to those.) We'd rather not comment on the meme of the day or other very passing fan works no one will care about a week later. If we have to spend money in order to complete your request, we probably won't do it. (Unless you fund it for us.) ...And we won't accept your request if we already covered the topic, or if we're about to cover it anyway. (Not that you know if we're about to do something we haven't done yet, but...)

So let us know in the comments section below what you want! ...It's free!

Note that KoopaTV stopped production of new content after July 3, 2023, so you're best looking elsewhere for requests for new content—assuming one of our existing thousands of articles doesn't fit your needs.

List of Active (but will never be completed) Requests in 2022 and 2023

Can we get something about NFTs?

Requester: Insider

Date Requested: January 18, 2022

Assigned KoopaTV author: Kamek

Nintendo franchise sales on Switch vs. previous systems

Requester: Captain Stitch

Date Requested: June 12, 2022

Assigned KoopaTV Author: Ludwig Von Koopa

List of Completed Requests in 2022

I request that you finally write an article that involves pictures of Samus surrounded by spherical objects to finally get her to smile.

Requester: ShinyGirafarig

Date Requested: January 5, 2022

Assigned KoopaTV author: Ludwig Von Koopa

Outcome: Samus Will Smile in the Presence of Round Things

Date Published: March 30, 2022 (~85 days)

Take a look at mariokart 7 multiplayer and how sweaty it is?

Requester: Okipullup

Date Requested: September 3, 2022

Assigned KoopaTV Author: Ludwig Von Koopa

Outcome: About Mario Kart 7 Multiplayer and How “Sweaty” It Is

Date Published: December 29, 2022 (~118 days)

Did you know that you can get points in the KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program for submitting an accepted request? Check the page for details on how that works. The article title implies that KoopaTV will make another one of these at the start of 2023 (assuming the website is around), but it continued into 2023. However, KoopaTV ceased content production midway through 2023.

KoopaTV's December 2021 Review Newsletter

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Featuring reward results!

Last year's December 2020 review newsletter (link at the bottom of this current newsletter) suggested that since you survived 2020, you can instead die in 2021.

Yet if you're reading this now, you clearly are alive after 2021. I'm curious what you think of 2021 overall. From a videogame and KoopaTV perspective, we'll be looking into that with our Game of THAT Year awards, with nominations to be published later this week. The actual awards will be published next week. KoopaTV always waits for the year to end before talking about the whole year that ended. Super simple concept, but some outlets and media personalities don't do that.

Either way, what you're reading now is just looking at the month that just ended: December 2021. But a lot happened in that month. Plus, I have some additional announcements!

Top Five Recommended Experiences of December 2021

We can (and will) pat ourselves on the shell at whatever opportunity, but that's meaningless without good content. ...Uh... so here's me patting myself on the shell for writing these five experiences in December 2021, listed in chronological order:

1. Ring Fit Adventure Fitness Log Week 54: Damaging My Body For Content — December (and the end of November) has a whole plotline going on about how I'm physically unwell thanks to great pain at my left hip area. But I'm making fitness-related content anyway. This particular log documents how the game is pleading with me to stop playing it while I have this condition.
2. Is Sonic Frontiers ACTUALLY the next "Breath of the Wild"? — While it's not clear the answer to that headline is a yes or no, that's really the point. There's a big trend of everyone calling everything the next Breath of the Wild based on a gameplay-less trailer, and this article hearkens back to other deceptive Sonic trailers...
3. Pokémon Evolutions Episodes 5–8 Impressions — I wrote intelligent-sounding reactions to the Pokémon Evolutions episodes covering select Sinnoh, Hoenn, Johto, and Kanto lore and events.
4. Squid Erasure in Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain Update 1.1.0 — I'm hesitant to list this here, but the notorious and controversial Squidwig hacked my KoopaTV admin account again to complain about a new update to Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain that he sees as highly unfair towards squids.
5. Paper Mario: The Origami King Review. How does it compare to Color Splash? — After it was requested from February 2021, I finally wrote my review for Paper Mario: The Origami King, retaining the format from my previous review of Paper Mario: Color Splash. It's an in-depth review.

You'll also want to stick around for this week's Fitness Log to hear a resolution to that plotline. Also, while that Paper Mario: The Origami King review avoids spoilers, this month's Corrections Corner entry goes into some of that game's finer plot details, so be careful, I guess. Anyway, there were several good KoopaTV experiences that didn't make the above list—they're all worth reading regardless.