KoopaTV's May 2022 Review Newsletter

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Reviewing May so we can generate the power to survive June.

Thank you for being here for KoopaTV's newsletter reviewing May 2022. I think it was a good month, looking back. Do you feel the same way?

Historically around this point in the year, we are supposed to be hyping ourselves up for the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), which often supplies us with many things to talk about that lasts us for the rest of the year. But... E3 2022 won't be a thing this year, even if the official E3 website still claims it will.

I vow to boycott Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest. I don't consider the upcoming events by two of the console publishers to be part of that, but rather Geoff Keighley is trying to absorb something they'd do anyway into his umbrella to make himself look more important. So we'll cover those. And if there is something noteworthy or important that comes out of the Summer Game Fest... we can cover that individual item separately.

Top Five Recommended Experiences of May 2022

KoopaTV's published articles are core to your experience here, and there were many fantastic experiences published during May 2022. Here are just five of them, presented in chronological order. Even if an article isn't listed here, it's worth reading.

1. The 2021 and 2022 20th Anniversary Ace Attorney Orchestra Concert Differences — There are two separate concerts taking place during two separate years that can credibly claim to be 20th anniversary orchestral concerts for the Ace Attorney series—this article has a table and associated analysis of the different songs played between them.
2. KoopaTV's Nine-Year Anniversary, and a Free Speech Commitment — KoopaTV turned nine during May 2022, and wrote about how the number nine is associated with free speech, and how free speech is very much tied to KoopaTV's core philosophies.
3. About Authority in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, and why Micaiah should've gotten Authority Stars — An in-depth view at the Authority Star mechanic in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn and how it ties gameplay and story together... except for the miss of not giving any Authority Stars to the (arguably) main character.
4. What Got the Maddest Turtle of All Time so Mad — KoopaTV's World Turtle Day 2022 article features a viral video of a tortoise headbutting a human leather shoe. We theorise on why that tortoise did so, and it aligns nicely with several key themes we've been communicating to you for years.
5. Mario Got Smashed in the Face by a Strike Ball — What initially appears to be satisfying gratification of a Strike Ball landing on Mario's face in a Mario Strikers: Battle League commercial reveals a key insight into the relationship between Mario and Princess Peach.

By the way, when that Authority Stars article was originally published, I mentioned that I was working on publishing a video featuring Skrimir (who has two Authority Stars) and his green unit forces clear the prologue map of the third part all by themselves, without assistance from the player's forces, the Greil Mercenaries. I've now updated that article with the link to that video.

Best Three Comments and One Worst Comment of May 2022

Now it's time for YOUR part in our story!

1. “I never understood the appeal of the Tomb Raider games. I hardly ever actually heard much about them, and what little I did hear indicated that even as technology advanced, their gameplay was glitchy and terribad.
   
   Not understanding why she was popular anyway, in hindsight, probably should have been a bit of a hint as to my being ace.” — Lheticus Videre
2. “Yes! I like these Miyamoto articles. He certainly has become a real character over the years. Wii play is neat, but the casual audience is more familiar with sports than any of the specific games in wii play. It’s easier to convince grandpa to play bowling than Tanks!
   
   It will be interesting to see how marketing goes in the future when the last generation to grow up without video games passes away. The casual game genre has a strong audience but it could very quickly become niche if even all the elderly folks are hardcore gamers. ” — Captain Stitch
3. “Now when people criticize Peach for refusing to marry Mario in Super Mario Odyssey maybe they will understand why in this article. Peach clearly sees the red flags of Mario being a spousal abuser. As for why Peach seems to also be against your dad, she is suffering from battered girlfriend syndrome. Mario does go through the honeymoon phase of abuse, making Peach think Mario will for sure change his ways and therefore be against your dad in protecting her by seemingly kidnapping her. It is very hard for victims to break out of this cycle of abuse and why battered girlfriends/boyfriends/wives/husbands stay in an abusive relationship.” — ShinyGirafarig

I blame Lheticus Videre for me writing more openly about sexuality and social/cultural issues last month than I normally would. ...Or maybe I do that anyway and I'm looking to attribute that to someone else. Regardless, I appreciate his openness in that regard, though I would recommend that he does go and finish Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (but play Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance first), because I'd like to know what he thinks of Ike.

Captain Stitch brought up an interesting thought experiment that even I haven't considered before. Today's senior citizens tend to play casual games like Solitaire, leaving “hardcore” titles played by the younger generations. What happens when today's Millennials get much older? Will casual gaming die out, or at least be significantly neutered from its dominance that is carried by older people? ...My personal thought here is that today's gamers will have their tastes and preferences change as they age, so I don't think the casual game genre will become significantly weaker in thirty years. You can already observe this effect in your own life if you were playing in your 10s and now you're in your late 20s or 30s.

ShinyGirafarig just totally and intuitively understood the point of that Strike Ball article, so props to her. And her follow-up comment after that connecting animal abuse to spousal abuse is also spot-on; Mario enjoys torturing animals, so it's little wonder he threatens women too. And with regards to other current events, animal cruelty might be linked to, say, being a mass shooter of schoolchildren. When Mario is cruel to Koopas, Goombas, and bovine, don't be surprised when he's cruel to Princess Peach as well.

And here is the worst comment I could find this month:

1. “Antirocketcloudy” — Anonymous

This anonymous person posts a comment that is just my Nintendo NSider Forums screen name from 2003–2007... and doesn't follow up when I ask them what's up. And the article has nothing to do with NSider or anything. So I'm wondering what they're after here. They have my attention... but they did nothing with it. So until they do, it's irrelevant and kinda SPAM. A bit of a shame. (By the way, on NSider, it was written as ANTIROCKETCLOUDY. All capital letters.)

KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program Round 44 Mid-Round Leaderboard

Here's a quick reminder before I show the point scores of everyone with a double digit point value: Because E3 2022 isn't real this year, there is only one prize instead of several: a 10 USD Nintendo eShop card code for the first place person by the end of June.

1. Lheticus Videre — 29 points
2. Captain Stitch — 24 points
3. ShinyGirafarig — 17 points
4. Samantha Lienhard — 10 points

For more information on the KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program, and activities you can do on this website to earn points, check out our page about it here. Underused activities include KoopaTV's Feedback Forms and Quizzes and using our Requests page (2022).

Corrections Corner; May 2022

As pointed out by Samantha Lienhard, I made a typo in that featured Ace Attorney concert article by writing, “The second concert had a big The Great Ace Attorney bias and almost entirely excluded Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney–Dual Destinies and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney–Spirit of Justice, along with the second Ace Attorney Investigations.” [Emphasis mine, right now, because that's the problem.]

The whole point of that article and its embedded table is that the FIRST concert was the one with the The Great Ace Attorney bias, not the SECOND. Fortunately, my point was clear enough that she recognised the problem. That written, I consider it to be a serious enough error given that accurately pointing out the differences between the two concerts was the entire purpose of the article.


Share KoopaTV to your pals. That's also something the KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program appreciates. ...And your pals would appreciate the thoughtfulness and high-quality content, too.


Last month's newsletter, if you want to keep looking back, is here, covering April 2022.
Next month's newsletter covers June 2022.
To look back even further, click here for May 2021's newsletter.
Look a bit ahead to next year's May 2023 newsletter.