The Last of Us: TV Series and Remake

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I don't know the business value of this.

I'll be very upfront about this article's gimmick: This article is a low-effort remake of my 2014 article, The Last Of Us: Movie and Port. I believe this is appropriate because Naughty Dog released a low-effort remake of their 2014 remaster of their 2013 original game, The Last of Us.

When people were talking about there being a The Last of Us remake, I thought they've been referring to The Last of Us Remastered on the PlayStation 4 the whole time. But, no, they really went and remade it to something called The Last of Us Part I, releasing this Friday (September 2, 2022). Why does this exist? I don't know. You can currently get The Last of Us Remastered, which was the subject of KoopaTV's 2014 article, on (or playable on) the PlayStation 5 for $20. Meanwhile, The Last of Us Part 1 is a full $70. Both claim to feature improved graphics and improved gameplay over the 2013 version. There are no discounts or data transfers for going from one version to another.

I grasp that the left and right are different, but I don't accept that the right picture is better.
Like, Joel's shirt looks like it has more texture on the PlayStation 4 here.
But regardless of the differences, I don't care.
And if you care enough about the graphic differences to pay $70 for the right in addition to the left, yes, that's your money, but I think you're an idiot.

The movie in my original article got cancelled, but instead they're working on an HBO TV series. I don't have any extra information on it besides that the first episode should be in 2023, but I figured I'm obligated to follow up on that. Maybe it'll have better production values than this remade game:

Watching Yong’s review for Last of Us “Part 1” showing this tiny moment of Joel kicking open a door. The original kick is impactful with screen shake and a bursting open sound effect. In “PART 1” you hear a gentle doorknob turning sound and have no screen shake. Very immersive.🤭 pic.twitter.com/EwWx4vDigR

— Suzi Hunter (@TheSphereHunter) August 31, 2022

Ludwig still has never played The Last of Us, but it's not like he needs to. He's definitely not going to watch the HBO series. This remade article actually has more effort put into it than initially scoped, which also means there was more effort put into it than The Last of Us Part I.

PlayStation 5's Price Should Increase in the USA, Too!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - C'mon, man. Who are you trying to impress by making it seem like America doesn't have an inflation problem?

A week ago, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced an effective immediately price increase in basically every region that matters—with the exception of the United States of America. It's even in Canada and Mexico! They blame high inflation rates. These price increases are around 10-ish percent, depending on where you are. This is on top of premium PlayStation 5 titles already being more expensive than previous generations.

Apparently, Sony doesn't believe that the United States is suffering high inflation rates right now. I can tell you that the United States Dollar has a higher inflation rate right now than several of the countries that are facing a price increase due to high inflation, especially Japan, and the dollar's inflation is about on par with the European market. It doesn't make sense.

It's also bad economics. Sony in the same announcement said their “top priority continues to be improving the PS5 supply situation so that as many players as possible can experience everything that PS5 offers and what’s still to come.” And I can confirm that supply problems continue to be an issue with a bit of quick research I did:

Splatoon 3: Splatfest World Premiere Gameplay and Splatfest Impressions

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I had a really good time and am looking forward to the game!

Last week, I wrote about the “Splatoon 3: Splatfest World Premiere” demo/online stress test that would take place at the end of the week—it was a pre-release Splatfest for Splatoon 3 revolving around its new three-way Splatfest mechanic (as opposed to the two-way Splatfests from the previous two Splatoon titles). You basically couldn't do anything besides play the Splatfest after choosing a team and playing a very short controls tutorial. The vast majority of my article was dedicated to why, of the three sides you could choose, you should pick Team Paper over Team Rock or Team Scissors. It turns out—predictably—that Team Paper was the least popular of the three teams. I'll get into my thoughts on the Splatfest and its mechanics a little later in the article, but first I want to write about my impressions of the base Splatoon 3 gameplay.

Splatoon 3 Gameplay Thoughts

At first glance, you might say that Splatoon 3 is very similar to Splatoon 2. But after spending most of my Saturday playing Splatoon 3 and then going back to Splatoon 2 right after, it feels quite different. Splatoon 3 has tighter (motion) controls and more fluid movement. You might not think much about Squid Surge (hold down the jump button while on a wall to unleash a charged jump with minor armour on the way up) or the Squid Roll (while swimming through ink, jump in the opposite direction to do a slightly armoured flip in the air and shift momentum) on footage, and I'm still not sure about the competitive applications of these, but when playing, they're just fun to do as movement options. Splatoon is a third-person shooter that historically has had great movement feel and expression (like action platformers like the Mega Man Zero series), but Splatoon 3 improves that even more.

Plus, with the Squid Spawn, instead of having the same spawn location every time, you can select where you'd like to land (within a certain range in your base) and there's a short little momentum boost right at the start. It feels great.

Listen to the Kirby 30th Anniversary Music Fest Before it Disappears August 31!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - More limited-edition listening.

As part of the Kirby 30th anniversary, Nintendo brought a live Kirby 30th Anniversary Music Fest to existence on August 11. Its video-on-demand is available until August 31, when it will disappear. (If you don't, say, save it yourself for non-infringing purposes.) Supposedly, this is time-limited all because Nintendo will make the concert available on Spotify after it's taken down, where you can pay for it there. It doesn't make much sense to me why they'd do it this way.

Feel free to skip the first 94 minutes of this. It's just a generic filler (but still very nice) jazz loop, with trailers for currently available Kirby games like Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Kirby Star Allies, Super Kirby Clash, Kirby Fighters 2, and Kirby's Dream Buffet.

The stream then goes to the performers getting on stage and warming up their instruments, and then playing the Green Greens theme to start things off, going to the Kirby and the Forgotten Lands theme. Most of the songs are medleys of some sort, going through much of Kirby's history.

Rock, Paper, Scissors: SPLATFEST! Our best option is...

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I think my choice is... obvious.

I am super excited to be writing about Splatfests again! If you haven't been around KoopaTV for several years now, we've been writing about and covering Splatfests for quite a long time now, since the first Splatoon.

The dedicated Splatoon 3 Direct earlier this month had a big highlight: you can now download (and be guaranteed to play since a seven-day free trial of Nintendo Switch Online is included) the “Splatoon 3: Splatfest World Premiere” and get a feel for Splatfest gameplay and excitement on the following question, which is now, for the first time, providing three options:

This article will give an answer to WHICH OPTION IS THE BEST.

Reviewing "Catland: The Soft Power of Cat Culture in Japan"

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I'm on Team Cat, after all.

Reviewing books isn't normally what I do on KoopaTV, but a fan of mine provided me a copy of Catland: The Soft Power of Cat Culture in Japan. This individual asked me how I liked the book, and I refused to actually answer this fan's question directly. Instead, I said I'd review the book on KoopaTV, and they can wait and read that to get the answer. ...Somehow, that didn't go over poorly. And here we are! I mean, the book is about cats and about Japan, and I think those are two topics that the participants and lurkers of KoopaTV like.

Fast Facts

Title

Catland: The Soft Power of Cat Culture in Japan

Author

Sarah Archer

Publisher

The Countryman Press

Year Published

2020

Subjects

History, cats, Japan

Page Count

180, plus bibliography, credits, and index

Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price

19.95 USD

It's very important to note upfront that Catland is a very quick read—it took me about two nights to get through—because a very large chunk (perhaps even a majority) of its pages are cat photos or reproductions of cat art. Here's an example of a given page:

The unclear story of the Sonic Frontiers story trailer

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Allegedly the highlight of gamescom 2022.

To be upfront, I didn't watch the to-consumer developer presentation stream portion of gamescom 2022, which is a large and annual videogame tradeshow in Germany that stylises itself with all-lowercase letters, which means I already have a bad impression of it. I was doing some more important and entertaining things with my time, and it was also hosted by horrible human being and hype-killer Geoff Keighley. According to two random GameFAQs users, the highlight of the presentation was this story trailer for Sonic Frontiers, which stood out among a whole bunch of boring and generic content (and Hideo Kojima apparently plugging a podcast he's doing—in unrelated news, Masahiro Sakurai now has a YouTube channel that I should write about separately). Let's watch this trailer, then:

I suppose my problem with this story trailer is that there isn't much story in it. “A mysterious stranger” for sure, that calls Sonic the Hedgehog someone who does reckless actions that endangers the world. Sonic taps a mysterious panel and warps away, and ends up seeing his friend Amy Rose (or someone who looks like Amy—Sonic had to ask if it was Amy, and he never got an answer from her, so maybe it's an impostor), who is trapped in a red crystal. There are lots of robots for Sonic to fight that seem pretty easy to dismantle, but when he tries to jump up and punch the mysterious stranger, it kinda just puts up a shield and warps away. And, um, that's the story. There are missing Chaos Emeralds and Cyber Space involved somehow, too, as well as a mysterious voice in Sonic's head that sounds different than the voice of the mysterious stranger that wants Sonic to shoo.

It's unclear if, as Sonic is being accused of being a reckless person, Sonic actually knows the nature of that red panel that he's touching. I mean, he looks pretty confident. Or maybe it's bluster and he is, in fact, actually reckless.

Sonic the Hedgehog doesn't seem to mind endangering the world. Just look at him.
That mysterious being (I'll call it cyber-Rosalina) can only see out of one eye anyway; they might not have the best judgment.

Sonic Frontiers is releasing November 8, 2022. That's a similar release timing of also open-world (or open borders) Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet. (November 18, 2022.) Neither of those I'm interested in for gameplay reasons, though I wouldn't say the stories of these are riveting either. You'd think a story trailer would do that, but no. I see comments on the YouTube video gushing over the production quality of the cutscenes presented in the trailer, but that doesn't do anyone any good if what's being produced is nonsense.


Ludwig's never actually watched gamescom streams or content in his life, and he sees no reason to start. gamescom itself continues for several days, but as far as Ludwig knows, that's it for streamed game announcements. And if there are more, they probably won't be interesting.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet “Competitive” Play Trailer... and Cyclizar

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I just wanted two articles in a row with “competitive” in scare-quotes.

At the end of the Pokémon World Championships (VGC 2022), The Pokémon Company showed us this trailer of Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet that it claims caters to competitive players... though there's clearly things here that every Pokémon fan will want to see:

That trailer doesn't represent everything they had to share, however. To be specific, what we learned about yesterday was:

1. Cyclizar, the Mount Pokémon. A common form of transportation among Paldeans for many generations
2. Shed Tail, a move Cyclizar learns, which sets up a Substitute and then Baton Passes with it on the same turn. Unlike a normal Substitute's 25%, the user loses 50% of its max HP
3. Mirror Herb, a new held item that acts as a one-use Psych Up upon the opponent using a stat-boosting move, such as Belly Drum or Quiver Dance
4. Covert Cloak, a held item version of the Shield Dust ability, which protects the holder from extra effects of moves like flinching or Body Slam's paralysis
5. Loaded Dice, a held item version that makes multi-strike moves like Bullet Seed and Fury Swipes “be more likely to hit more times.” A chance-based item version of Skill Link
6. Tera Blast, a new TM move that is normally a Normal type, but when used by a Terastallized Pokémon, becomes the same type of move as the user's Tera Type, using Attack or Special Attack depending on which is higher, like Photon Geyser
7. The Battle Stadium exists, and there are Ranked Battles, unranked Casual Battles, Online Competitions, and Rental Teams.

“Competitive” Multiplayer Discovered in Super Punch-Out!!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Nintendo isn't in a hurry to acknowledge it, and I don't blame them.

On August 8 earlier this month, news broke out that shocked the gaming world: A series of debug codes were discovered for the first time for Super Punch-Out!! (which released in 1994). These work on all releases of Super Punch-Out!!, including the SNES release and the Nintendo Switch Online emulation. This makes Super Punch-Out!! go from a single-player action puzzle game to a player vs. player fighting game.

Instructions screenshot from zallard1's August 8 Twitch stream.
(He's a Punch-Out!! series speedrunner.)

First, hold Y+R on the Player 2 controller, while Player 1 advances the title screen. You can get to the above menu where you can pick to fight any of the sixteen characters. If you're playing on Nintendo Switch Online, you should make a save state at this screen. Second, the second player holds B and Y on their controller as the first player picks their character. Then it'll go into one fight with Player 1 vs. Player 2, and Player 2 has 12 possible inputs. (A, B, X, Y and neutral, up, or down on the direction pad.) After that is over, it'll go back to the title screen. (Which is why you'll want a save state at the fighter select screen to skip having to do the first debug code.)

These... clearly aren't fair and balanced fights, like the multiplayer head-to-head Little Mac vs. Little Mac fight of Punch-Out!! Wii. For example, the fighters in this game can dodge infinitely with apparently no active hurtboxes in-between dodges. Narcis Prince auto-blocks any attack and the only way to deal damage to him is to counter-attack. But if Narcis Prince never attacks under control of a human, or any character just spams dodges, Player 1 can't win. Because there is a three-minute timer to every match, and Player 1 will automatically lose the match once this timer reaches the three minutes, regardless of whatever happened leading up to that. And Player 2 can buffer their attacks so they come out, uh, instantly:

Embracer Group to Acquire Limited Run Games, LotR, and way more

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Hey, they've now earned the right to be in a headline without quotes around their name.

You may remember the Embracer Group back several months ago this year when SQUARE ENIX sold off Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Interactive to them. Read KoopaTV's article on that if you want a quick premier on what they are.

Per Embracer Group's press release from August 18 for their first quarter financial disclosure, they are giving a “happy” “welcome” to their new from-SQUARE ENIX acquisitions, and the transaction will close soon. They then described a “strong funnel of [merger & acquisition opportunities]”, but also said they are “increasingly selective” on who they choose to invest. Otherwise, their press release was all about “organic growth” and their projection of an impressive (but widely varying) 20–35% “overall organic growth” for the rest of their fiscal year.

If you don't understand what “organic growth” means—maybe you don't read financial reports often—it's a concept that means how much a company would grow in a time period by itself. As in, without having the growth rate of an acquired company added to it. Growing by acquisition would be “inorganic” growth. Of course, eventually the acquired company's growth becomes part of that organic growth base. But Embracer wants you to know that they don't HAVE to keep acquiring companies to be impressive. ...And yet on the same August 18 day, they announced all of these new acquisition agreements:

Kirby's Dream Buffet rolled to the Nintendo Switch!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I really just wrote that it rolled to the system? How unoriginal and cliché.

Today, Nintendo released Kirby's Dream Buffet as a $15 download-exclusive title on the Nintendo eShop. Here's the overview/launch trailer that goes into a lot more depth than the initial announcement a month ago:

I need to address some incorrect information that was in my original article. When Nintendo first announced Kirby's Dream Buffet, they said that the number of players that can play were “Single System (1–4)”. This resulted in me writing that the game does not support online multiplayer. However, now that Kirby's Dream Buffet is actually out, Nintendo changed that number of players to read “Single System (1–2) | Local wireless (2–4) | Online (1–4)”. That's totally different. That means that Kirby's Dream Buffet only supports two-player split screen multiplayer as opposed to four-player split screen multiplayer (which may be a dealbreaker for you). It also means that there is online play for up to four players, as well as local wireless for up to four players (four different Nintendo Switch systems in a room).

This incorrect info was entirely Nintendo's own fault and I take no responsibility for commenting on official (but wrong) information.

Anyway, like other Kirby games, Kirby's Dream Buffet will end up being nominated for Best OST of 2022 at KoopaTV. Not saying it'll win (and it'll also compete with Kirby and the Forgotten Land in the process), but there is a lot of good music here. That includes the Battleship Halberd (Meta Knight's Revenge) theme from Kirby Super Star that had an unofficial remix win a Grammy award earlier this year.

Take a Look at the Capcom End of Summer Sale 2022

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - TAKE THAT!

Starting yesterday up to August 29, 2022 at 02:59 Eastern (which is NOT the end of summer—this makes the third example that CAPCOM very demonstrably does not know when summer begins and ends in 2022 alone) is the “Capcom End of Summer Sale” on the Nintendo eShop. It's given the marketing blurb of “Don't miss the chance to grab iconic games from Capcom before summer wraps up! Up to 67% off on Switch, and a whopping 83% on 3DS!”

That whopping 83% savings on the 3DS represents how the 3DS titles Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney–Dual Destinies and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney–Spirit of Justice are only $5, down from a standard $30. Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, also on the 3DS, is 75% off as well ($5, down from a normal $20).

That August 29 date is also the date when you will no longer be able to directly add money to your Nintendo 3DS or Wii U wallets using Nintendo eShop card codes, but you still could indirectly if your 3DS or Wii U accounts are linked to your Switch wallet like mine is. But if you lack a Switch, these next less-than-two-weeks are the last time you can add funds to the 3DS eShop to go buy things. You know, like those Ace Attorney games. (There aren't any on the Wii U and there are no Wii U games on sale now.)

As for Ace Attorney games on the Switch, there is Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy at 50% off ($15) and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles at 38% off ($24.79 from $40). You can get an extremely minor discount by getting the Ace Attorney Turnabout Collection bundle at 34% off ($39.59), which gives you both of those compilations in one compilation.

You may wonder how you can justify getting Ace Attorney when this sale is sandwiched between the likes of LIVE A LIVE (and, uh, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, I GUESS) and Splatoon 3. Well, if you want to hype yourself up for Splatoon 3's Splatana weapon revealed last week, why not acquaint yourself with another katana-using generic anime swordsman like Kazuma Asogi?

They're pretty much mirror images.

You'll improve your wits and logical thinking, which are critical in any Turf War, by playing through the Ace Attorney games. And since they're on sale... now's a great time to buy them. Plus, you'll hone your truth and levity abilities, which are important when reading KoopaTV articles! You'll also be able to participate in this article discussing what appears to be a plothole in the second case of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles.


Don't regret missing out on this sale before dangerous things happen to the eShop. Keep in mind that KoopaTV also offers Nintendo eShop gift cards as prizes in the KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program, and that after this sale ends, you will only be able to use those through a Nintendo Switch eShop account.


The Ace Attorney games were on sale and at these same prices just a month ago for The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles one-year anniversary.
Much of the eShop, including CAPCOM's titles, go on sale a month later in September 2022.

Ludwig's Delayed but Unspoiled Reaction to the Splatoon 3 Direct

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - This is all pretty exciting!

Hey y'all, I'm back. And while I was on my previously announced vacation last week, Nintendo went and had a Splatoon 3 Direct that clocked in at over half an hour long! I knew there was a Direct while I was away, but I didn't watch it or interact with much of Internet society on my vacation—so I didn't know what was actually talked about. ...But I figured that if I wanted to re-integrate myself with Nintendo-based civilisation, I definitely needed to watch the Splatoon 3 Direct first. And so here it is, and you can follow along with my “live” reactions (from Sunday). Remember: Splatoon 3 is releasing this summer on September 9:

[3:59 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiuIZN0KDFQ
[3:59 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Okay, I'm... late on this, but I really gotta watch it to reintegrate myself with society.
[3:59 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: snap
[4:00 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: I had a dream that there were three-way Splatfests announced for the first week of the game's launch, and it was, like, Giraffes vs. Hippopotamuses vs. Dogs or something.
[4:00 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: And they had Addition vs. Multiplication vs. DIVISION as a sample Splatfest in the video and I wished that was a real Splatfest.
[4:01 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: No offence to giraffe fans.
[4:01 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: I'm just now realising that's the cast of Lord Winklebottom Investigates.
[4:02 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: As for actual content in this game, they're showing 4v4 Turf War in Splatsville. I mean, that's not new.

June 30, 2022 Nintendo Quarterly Financial Update

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Finally! Negative numbers!

Just to be clear, I'm not rooting for Nintendo to have a worse performance than before. But at least it's something new to talk about, and it finally disproves the idea that this company can just infinitely grow.

How bad are we talking? 4.7% reduction in net sales compared to the June 30, 2021 update. ...Now, to be fair, the June 30, 2021 update itself had even more negative numbers than this one. But that's because June 2021 was comparing to June 2020, which means it was comparing to Animal Crossing: New Horizons being a cultural icon at the start of the Chinese Communist Party Virus pandemic. That's a tough compare. But the reason 2022 is lower than 2021 is because of “the global shortage of semiconductor components, resulting in a decrease in hardware shipments and subsequent decline in overall sales.” While Nintendo didn't outright say this, I think it's implied that if there wasn't a semiconductor shortage, then Nintendo Switch demand would still be quite robust and high. (And, you know, not necessitating a major new 4K-based hardware revision.)

Nintendo isn't changing their FY23 (or fiscal year that ends March 2023) forecast, since they acknowledged that semiconductors would be in short supply when devising it. Nintendo only shipped 3.43 million Switch family systems (1.32 million normal Switch, 1.52 million (OLED model) Switch systems, and a paltry 0.59 million Switch Lite handhelds) from April 1 to July 30 2022. This is the second time that the Nintendo Switch (OLED model) has outsold the normal Nintendo Switch in a quarter—it was 1.81 OLED versus 1.77 regular in the last quarter of last fiscal year (or January 1 to March 31 2022). I wonder how much of that 1.81 number would be added to the 1.77 number if the (OLED model) didn't exist. (Reminder that Nintendo says the (OLED model) has a lower profit margin compared to the other Switch models.)

How about some software?

I had to chop off some of the games from appearing on this chart, or else the new titles wouldn't appear.
Ring Fit Adventure is still the 10th best selling Switch game.

Games Media Now Says Nintendo Will NOT Reveal a Nintendo Switch Hardware Revision in 2022

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Eight months late, but, hey, glad they're on board.

I think I'm becoming known as a gaming media critic with regards to their perpetual FAKE NEWS about an alleged Nintendo Switch hardware revision. Our whole series of articles throughout 2021 was determined to be the Best KoopaTV Article Series of 2021. And as recently as last month, I roasted the likes of GameXplain for clickbaiting about an “imminent” “Switch Pro reveal”. (There was an imminent reveal... but for a Splatoon 3-themed Nintendo Switch (OLED model) instead of a whole hardware revision.)

However, in the interest of being FAIR AND BALANCED, I figured I should also report on mainstream gaming media sites—including ones I distrust—saying that there WON'T be a new Nintendo Switch hardware revision (or new Nintendo system) in 2022 (or the first three months of 2023). Now, since they're FAKE NEWS, you could say that this means that there really will be a new hardware revision... or maybe it's a “broken clock is right twice a day” scenario. But as a result of comments made by Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa to Japanese business news outlet Nikkei (which has its actual article paywalled and in, you know, Japanese—so I can't verify this), Nintendo is too busy with production on their current Switch models (hampered by semiconductor shortages) to have the capacity to manufacture a new product line anyway.

Furukawa was quoted (and translated) by these outlets as saying, “Normally, we stockpile inventory in the summer to prepare for the year-end sales season, which is at its peak. This summer, we are not able to produce as many as usual.” I've always thought that it's a logic leap beyond clueless and business-illiterate media personalities and “journalists” to go from “we don't have the inventory we need for our existing product lines” to “there is just no way we can make a new Switch hardware revision with 4K and all that other stuff you think will be there”. MAYBE THEY'RE LEARNING. At least this SHOULD mean that we're safe from these idiotic rumours for another eight months or so, especially since the media moves in lock-step. Here's a media montage:

Pokémon Presents August 3, 2022 Reaction

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - OPEN BORDERS.

This morning, The Pokémon Company put on a new Pokémon Presents, with updates on Pokémon apps and video games, including Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet. Of course, I didn't watch it live. I wasn't able to. But most people who watch it didn't watch it live. And what matters is that I wasn't spoiled on the contents of the presentation before watching it, which means that it didn't make any impact to how I reacted. It's like... time was frozen!

But because of the unscheduled and uncoordinated viewing, you'll only get to read my live reactions. I hope that's fine with y'all.

[5:00 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojiBuA97rdc
[5:01 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Chris Brown of The Pokémon Company International giving updates on the Pokémon World Championships in London.
[5:01 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: The stock footage features 3DSs still.
[5:02 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: ...and there's a Pikachu trophy.
[5:03 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Ultra Beasts are gonna ruin Pokémon GO Fest 2022.
[5:03 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Literal alien invasion at the end of August.
[5:05 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Pokémon UNITE anniversary segment, which is a China invasion of your Switch.

w00t! I got a Nintendo Switch Icon Element!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I'm happy, and no one can take that away from me. (...Right?)

You may remember two weeks ago I wrote an article complaining about how my brothers got Nintendo Switch icon elements—the Switch's most exciting new feature of 2022—from the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe set (exclusive to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers) but I did not get any such icon elements. (Neither did my sister, Wendy.)

As of last night, Nintendo listened to and directly addressed my complaints and has now implemented a brand-new Mario Kart 8 Deluxe set of five icon element waves to go on until September 5. Nintendo is saying that this is to promote the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass DLC, but it's not a separate set from the first set of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe icon elements featuring the other Koopalings. One of the annoying things about icon elements is that you cannot mix and match them between different series—you can't use a background from Kirby and the Forgotten Land with a character image from Xenoblade Chronicles 3. But this new set of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe icons is compatible with the old set with the other Koopalings (and several other characters).

Anyway, to my utter joy, wave 1 of this August set has an icon element of... me! Yeah, it's not a whole scene like Morton's, Iggy's, or Roy's, but I think that's better in terms of fitting with a background.

Look! It's me!
Plus a generic Koopa shell, which is good for letting people know I'm taking a nap.
...And the Eiffel Tower as a background photo.
(Maybe I need to increase the brightness on my camera.)

This probably means that I'm going to be all set in terms of my Nintendo Switch profile picture's design. The background or frame might end up changing, or maybe I might get a SECOND icon element (hey, Link and Mario have a bunch). But I'm content with this feature. ...I'm sure Wendy O. Koopa will get an icon element within this month as well! Right?!

Ludwig likes purple and King Bowser's Castle,
but maybe a more visible background image might be better if it becomes available. (Not the Eiffel Tower.)
And maybe he might want to use a more fancy non-solid-colour frame if there's a good one for download.

I'm just hoping that we get to keep these icons and Nintendo won't take them away for whatever reason. (According to Nintendo, even if your Nintendo Switch Online membership expires, you will still be able to keep the icons.) I worked hard to make this happen. The life lesson here is that sometimes, when you ask for something of a multinational corporation, you actually can get that something. So don't be afraid to share your thoughts!


What's your number one dream icon element? Let KoopaTV know in the comments section below! ...And if you see that image above and decide you are going to send Ludwig a friend request, you should let him know you're doing that in the comments section, because he probably has to delete someone else from his friend list to make room for you, given that he's at the Switch's cap on the number of friends. Unsolicited requests aren't welcome requests.

KoopaTV's July 2022 Review Newsletter

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Stay inside and read KoopaTV!

Unless you're in the southern part of Earth (or not on Earth at all), you've probably been experiencing some very hot temperatures. KoopaTV's staff recommends that you stay inside from the heat and humidity, drink water, and keep yourself entertained with KoopaTV-published content. ...And I guess play some videogames.

Every KoopaTV month, in terms of absolute value, is great and better than what you'd see from our non-existent comparable competitors. We've been doing this for over nine years now, and I still haven't found anyone like us. ...But if they are out there, I wonder if they know about KoopaTV? Well, the important part is that YOU know about KoopaTV, and even if you're in a relatively mediocre month like July, it's still better than basically anything else.

Upcoming Vacation for a Week in August

I know that me taking a vacation is very very rare, but that's what I'll be doing next week, so no articles (or responding to comments or social media) the week of August 8. ...I'm not telling y'all where I'll be, since I don't want to see you. Please understand. I'll respond to everything when I'm back!

Top Five Recommended Experiences of July 2022

I said July 2022 was a relatively mediocre month on KoopaTV. But are you really able to tell that with these five highlighted articles, listed in chronological order?

1. Took Me Over 21 Years to Learn Zero Wing's Voice-Acting is Fan-Made — This is the closest I got to subscribing to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack since they announced its existence. But then I learned a dark truth...
2. Dynamo Pictures Acquired; to be Nintendo Pictures — You might think this isn't an important story, and we don't know if it is yet, but did you know that Dynamo Pictures made an Ace Attorney Virtual Reality game? (Did you know that VR game existed?)
3. LEGO Super Mario: Character Pack 5, Iggy Koopa, and THE MIGHTY BOWSER — Oh, hey, the first two of these come out today. THE MIGHTY BOWSER comes out in two months. Anyway, I wrote about Koopa-filled LEGO stuff. Was nice.
4. LIVE A LIVE Relives on the Nintendo Switch; Out Now — I feel a special obligation towards LIVE A LIVE since it was the subject of a KoopaTV guest article a year ago, so I played its demo and gave my thoughts.
5. How did the Russian newspaper get on the SS Burya on Jan 9, 189X? — Fantastic article on what I believe to be a plothole in the second case of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. I thoroughly use in-game evidence to prove my point.

That last article about the newspaper is easily the best article of the month. ...But you should really play The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles before you go and read it. Fortunately, that's an excellent idea even if you don't intend to read that article.