How Team Koopa Escaped Rio — Part 5

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - With three groups of Koopas, which group will be the most productive?

Last week, I wrote that the red-hatted plumber and his blue hedgehog friend, Sonic, were goofing off somewhere in the Novotel Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont hotel, while myself, Wendy O. Koopa, Roy Koopa, Larry Koopa, Bowser Jr., and King Bowser Jr. were sitting like suckers in the Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport. (Did you know that place has, like, several different names?) If you don't know Brazilian locations, they're on totally different sides of Rio de Janeiro, home of the 2016 Summer Olympics.

So, last week's iteration, Part 4, of the How Team Koopa Escaped Rio series, was about how we're going to split up to hunt down the plumber, along with trying to see if the Santos Dumont Airport could get us out of Brazil.

You can click that and see links to Parts 1, 2, and 3 in the intro, or see the bottom of this post. I recommend reading this series in order. Makes sense, doesn't it? Anyway, let's go:

KoopaTV: Three Years of Bringing the Fire!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - We're great, unable to be stopped, and burning the world to the ground. (In GLORY.)

Today... KoopaTV is three years old. May 12, 2013 was when KoopaTV was made, and now it's May 12, 2016.

I know I've written that I don't personally care for anniversaries, but the rest of you do. And we're a site for the people. (Just not by the people.) I've written about what KoopaTV is and what it means a bunch of times before this, and it really ain't different now. We take a significantly different approach to the gaming industry than any other roughly comparable website or publication.

Not everyone is even remotely comfortable with that approach, but for those folks that it clicks with? We hear that you love it. And us.

*confetti*
(Marvel at our creativity.)

And our influence has gone global. Whether it be contributing in Japan's war against ISIS (and being internationally recognised for it), helping out the local economy in Sierra Leone by putting our Earth-based headquarters there, or being in Brazil to participate in the Olympics.

But our greatest contribution may be currently going on and you may not even be aware of it. But hey, that's what we're here for: Imparting important information to you!

The Social Activity War: Fancy Party vs. Costume Party

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Worldwide party time?

Last week, it was announced that we're going to have another Splatfest. For the first time ever, the Splatfest will have all three regions competing simultaneously in the same Splatfest. So while Splatfests before were a way to have regional matchmaking in a game normally without it, this Splatfest will match people in America with those in Japan, like you'd normally get.

The Splatfest will start this Friday night and end Sunday morning. That's Friday the 13th to Sunday the 15th.

The theme?

It's another sponsored Splatfest, this time brought to you by Miitomo.

 
Yeah, I was just writing a few weeks ago about how the sponsored SpongeBob SquarePants Splatfest bothered me, partly because it was sponsored. The simultaneous, yet different Splatfest in Japan was also sponsored. We had a sponsored Splatfest before the Splatfest before that, too. So, for the majority of the Splatfests this year, they're being sponsored by something instead of the whimsical (yet deep) innocent kind of fun activity.

But it's not just any sponsor. It's from another department at Nintendo, since it's presented by the mobile game Miitomo. I was pondering what the goal of Miitomo was and if Nintendo was meeting it, but the most obvious conclusion is to bring the hollow mobile user space to Nintendo hardware. So what the hell is happening here? Why are you trying to get your dedicated console guys to Miitomo? We're already at the desired destination!

Well, whatever. We have subject matter to discuss. Would I rather go to a FANCY PARTY or to a COSTUME PARTY? 

And the truth of the matter? 

Pokémon Sun/Moon's Starters, Region, Release Date

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - KoopaTV's staffers take initial sides.

Though it wasn't a Direct, we got two trailers for Pokémon Sun Version and Pokémon Moon Version! We last had news of it back in February with the 20th anniversary Direct, where people thought it'd take place in a Singapore-based region.

WELL, IT'S CALLED THE ALOLA REGION. I DUNNO ABOUT YOU, BUT THAT SOUNDS LIKE HAWAII. (At least it's not Brazil. I'm sick of that place.) 

So. Those are the three starters. Read about them here. For a picture that's coincidentally the thumbnail:

Left-to-right:
Photobombing guy in shorts, Rowlet, Litten, Popplio.

It's releasing this November 2016. When, exactly, depends where you live:

Europe gets November 23, and North America gets November 18.
Apparently, the ESRB is slacking while PEGI already rated it.

Japan has this beautiful marketing video following this shy little Asian kid who moves into Hawaii or something and makes friends through playing Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon with the local kids. It's apparently going to be the first of a series:

Bubble Burst Bernie? Sounds Like Something We'd Make

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - *snicker* I'd do it better, though.

You'd think I would have some level of respect for Stephen Colbert and his career. We're both political satirists, right? Well, you'd be wrong. I'm not a fan of him, his previous show, or his new gig at The Late Show. Though he did help (sort of?) Herman Cain out, once.

But, I guess we cross paths sometimes. Like this:

Play Bubble Burst Bernie! Just try to avoid landing in the top 1% of players. That URL again is https://t.co/aCjQU8HHpF. #LateShow #LSSC

— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) May 6, 2016

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert made a game? Yeah, even Gamasutra is reporting on it. Though their angle isn't on Colbert or Bernie, it's “lapsed game dev returns” to do something. Said developer is Darius Kazemi, who apparently spent a week working on the game. Other credits include The Late Show animator Tim Luecke, Bernie Sanders's voice, and The Late Show music guy Ballard C. Boyd. Produced (I guess?) by Late Show writer Rob Dubbin, who we apparently have to thank (?) for not having in-game purchases:

@GODMODEINTERNET the world is fortunate that in-game purchases were out of scope for the project

— Rob Dubbin (@robdubbin) May 6, 2016

So... want to play it?

How Team Koopa Escaped Rio — Part 4

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - We finally encounter our traditional foe, one way or another.

The epic story last had Larry Koopa looking at the TV monitor in a different part of Rio de Janeiro International Airport (otherwise known as Galeão International Airport) than where Team Koopa was in Parts 1 and 2. I guess all of our activities were suspicious to the humans. You should read all three of those parts (in chronological order), because it's a great read and easier than me explaining all of the zany stuff that's happened in the story so far.

Anyway, Larry seemed excitable but unnecessarily vague. Fortunately, his weird behaviour functioned as a decent cliffhanger for KoopaTV article publishing purposes. Let's continue with the story for Team Koopa's escape from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after our Olympics training!

Everything Revealed in the Humble Friends of Nintendo Bundle

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Great deal. YUGE deal. Go get the deal. I did.

Over a week ago, the folks at Humble Bundle revealed the Humble Friends of Nintendo Bundle. It lasts less than five days as of today's publishing. (If you've read any other Nintendo site, you've probably already seen it advertised there by now. I'm just characteristically slow.) This is a collection of mostly-independent companies' games on Nintendo systems. Humble Bundle says it's “$224 worth of awesome games”, so I'll take their word on their addition skills. (I don't know if all the games included are awesome, though.)

It'll probably be over 130,000 bundles sold as of publishing, and over 1.25 million in dollars.

 
I haven't talked about Humble Bundle on this site before, but that's because they usually have their game bundles for Valve's PC Steam service and this is nominally (...isn't it?) a Nintendo site. It's quite well-known. But I'll give an explanation anyway. Basically, you get to choose the amount you're going to pay, and you get more stuff if you pay above a given price tier. There's also charity involved. You can choose what money goes to the companies and what goes to the charities, and you can give money as a tip, too.

Halfway through the bundle's duration, they added Swords & Soldiers II, Nano Assault EX, and Runbow to the “pay more than average” price tier. This joins Freedom Planet, Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure, and Citizens of Earth (you choose between the Wii U version and the 3DS version) in that tier. The >$1 tier has Retro City Rampage: DX, Affordable Space Adventures, and Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (you get both the Wii U version AND the 3DS version). The >$13 tier is Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition and Darksiders II.

Someone tell me if it's actually bad strategy to wait for that halfway mark to see what the remaining games are and THEN pay for it, or if it's better to pay for that average at the beginning of the bundle and get those games included later, even before you know what they are.

Well, if you were trying to cost-cut as much as possible, you'd just pay the minimum amount for all of these games, right? $13? Well...

Make Koopa TV Again

By RAWKHAWK2010 - “Sorry to keep you waiting!”

Some time ago, I lost something of a bet. I claimed that Donkey Kong Countries 1, 2, and 3 would not last half a year on the Nintendo eShop, and if wrong my penance would be to dance in the streets with ethnic minorities. Well, for the past eight months that's exactly what I've been doing. I found the experience to be so surreal that I decided to remain with the ethnic dancers indefinitely, traveling far and wide as we shared the gospel of Gō Ichinose's Pokémon Diamond and Pearl compositions across the lower east coast. (Along with making choreography my canvas in ways that Ludwig could only hope to understand.)

But you know what they say, a thing isn't beautiful because it lasts. And this is no exception, because a short while ago my troupe of ethnic dancers was slaughtered in cold blood by wrathful beasts from a foreign land...... Also known as: The Illegal. And I'm 100% wholly dedicated to creating a future in which no one has to bear witness to the same unspeakable horrors.
 

#BuildThatWall

Super Contest Debate Primaries 2015–2016 Rankings

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Since Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are now their parties’ presumptive nominees...

I meant to do this, but I guess I never did. Okay, so back several months ago, KoopaTV endorsed treating the presidential primaries as a SUPER CONTEST from Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. That meant grading each candidate in their debates according to Beauty, Cool, Cute, Smart, and Tough. So, we had some degree of coverage: We had articles on eight Republican debates until we got sick of it, and articles on two Democrat debates before we got sick of it. I think you all in readership land got sick of it, too, since those articles got less (or, zero) comments and views compared to the gaming-related ones.

But hey, I tried to connect it to gaming whenever I could. 

Anyway, today in Indiana, Ted Cruz suspended his presidential campaign. After, Donald Trump referred to Ted Cruz as “smart” and “tough” — Trump must have been reading KoopaTV. Now there are only two Republicans left, but one of them is just there because he doesn't know how to do math despite him claiming he's a genius because he's balanced budgets.

Bernie Sanders won the primary, but he's not going to be the nominee unless his wicked witch of an opponent drops dead or gets indicted by the FBI.

So. Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton. (Versus a Libertarian Party candidate, and that's very likely the person I'll personally endorse. Not KoopaTV as an entity, but just me personally.) One of those will be the next president of the United States.

But... how did they actually do in the debates? Well, according to KoopaTV... 

KoopaTV's April 2016 Review Newsletter

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - An awkward April, but WE'RE BACK.

If we still had alliterative titles for review newsletters, it'd be KoopaTV's Awkward April for sure. Our April got hit with a forced hiatus by the folks at Rio de Janeiro. This ruined a lot of things. We had a whole week of articles wiped out, and there was no Loyalty Rewards Program round running during April as a result.

For May, we want to get back on solid ground. After all, KoopaTV is turning three years old in less than two weeks.

But of the three weeks of articles that we had, they were still pretty good. So we can still do a Top Five Recommended Articles List (chronological order):

1. How Team Koopa Escaped Rio — Part 1
2. The Music of the Game & Watch Octopus
3. How Team Koopa Escaped Rio — Part 3 
4. REVIEW: Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge
5. Nintendo's E3 2016 Might Be Good!
   

That's just my opinion, though. You're welcome to fight me over it, and it's pretty cool if you do because that's a testament to our article quality.

We're re-instituting the KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program. Round 8 will run from May 1 (well, guess that passed without anything happening) to June 29, 11:59 PM Eastern. We're still deciding on the prizes, but because this will include E3 and our three-year anniversary, it will be MORE than just one $10 Nintendo eShop code. (As of 5/4/2016, it's going to be some combination of Amazon gift cards and game codes for Nintendo systems.)

Accordingly, there is now a KoopaTV Feedback Form Part IV and a KoopaTV Quiz Part IV. That particular page has also been updated to have clear, different sections for what's current and what is previous. Not that I think it was confusing before or anything.

By the way. If you want to help shape KoopaTV's legacy in a big way, check out ways (positions) you can join our staff, here! If you just want to marginally shape it, we encourage you to submit a guest article. 

KoopaTV turns three years old in ten days. That's sort of a big deal. Help KoopaTV's continued growth by sharing KoopaTV articles to folks you know! Or random people. Just try to keep it topical.

March 2016's newsletter is here.
May 2016's newsletter is here! It's a lot better than this one.
For last year's April newsletter, click here.
For next year's April newsletter, click here. It has headings.