KoopaTV Turns Ripe: Five-Year Bananniversary!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The .org really does stand for dot organic?

Welcome to the KoopaTV fifth anniversary article! KoopaTV started our Internet existence on May 12, 2013. It's now five years later, and we're still around!

...Five years and two days. Yeah, we couldn't make the actual anniversary day because the article slipped on a banana and fell. After that, we decided to rewrite this entire article and make it about bananas. You could say that we “went bananas.”

I tripped over the bananas, too, so there's a possibility I'll end up with amnesia.

It's still about our anniversary, of course. You see, much like a banana, KoopaTV has a lot of layers to it. You need to peel a banana to get to its rich goodness, and similarly, you should look below the surface level of what you see on KoopaTV to appreciate this site. At the end of this article, we'll be announcing what exactly turning ripe means for KoopaTV. (Besides a colour change.)

In the meantime, we have some banana-related delicacies to share!

Thoughts on the new ARMS Demo

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - This is a new demo! But are my thoughts on it new, too?

Let's get one thing out of the way: Nintendo just released a new demo for its failing fighting game, ARMS. This is completely different than the ARMS Global Testpunch, a dreadful experience that I wrote about here. Unlike the ARMS Global Testpunch, the ARMS demo is based off the game's current (and final?) build. That means all of its balance patches and new characters are in, though you can only play as a handful. On the other arm, you can potentially fight all the new characters, controlled by weak CPUs.

The main menu of the ARMS demo, with some interesting options.

The very way this demo is set up is worth talking about, but first let me explain what's in the demo. You can play with one player or two players. I assume the latter is local multiplayer, but I haven't tried it and never will. The Basics (1 player) gives you a mandatory brief tutorial on the game's controls, and then pits you against two matches of low-level computer players. I assume it's an excerpt from the game's Grand Prix mode.

The last option is “View Full Version Menu”, which gives you insight on what options are available in the retail version of ARMS. Trying to do anything from there will tell you it's only available in the full version of the game, which you can buy. The option's verb IS “View”, after all.

What did I do in The Basics (1 player), then? Well, take a watch:

Nintendo Switch Online — Features NES and Cloud Saves

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Oh, and family groups... but that'll get its own dedicated article later. STAY TUNED.

Though I failed to specifically mention it, Nintendo mentioned a week ago in their financial Q&A that they would be providing more details on Nintendo Switch Online in early May. Well, it's early May. Here they are.

There is a features table that we took a screenshot of back when Nintendo Switch Online was announced in January 2017. (Wait, what? That was over a year ago!) It's pretty interesting to compare that table to this new one:

This table is dated May 10, 2018.

Besides the fact that they now find it necessary to say that everyone will get system and software updates for free, there's a new feature. But, first, keep in mind that some of the features got renamed from January 2017 to June 2017. They used to have “Monthly Game Download” and then renamed it to “Classic Game Selection”. They have now settled on “NES - Nintendo Switch Online”, and the specificity of that name change (classic games to specifically NES) implies something about the scope of the free games you'll get.

I Cared About Miitomo

By RAWKHAWK2010 - "#MiiToo", said Miitomo to Miiverse.

"Miitomo? Ending?! HEAVENS NO!!!"

Before it was announced that Miitomo would be put out to pasture, I hadn't played Miitomo in almost two years. That doesn't mean my Mii didn't at one time get something out of it, though. It enjoyed a fascinating journey through Nintendo's first mobile app, and, unlike Ludwig's, made memories from it that will last a lifetime.

Something important: Miiverse may have had our Miis already doing video game commentary, but Miitomo encouraged them to voice their opinions on literally everything that exists.  That was no doubt the most important aspect about Miitomo. Your Mii wanted attention and was gonna find a way to get it.

Rawk's Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All Experience

By RAWKHAWK2010 - Colon Cancer.

Do you ever get tired of typing "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All"? I do. That's why I almost said fuck "Rawk's Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All Experience" and was gonna opt for "Rawk's Gyakuten Saiban 2 Experience" instead. Ludwig proceeded to call me a weeb for that, but would a weeb play Xenoblade Chronicles 2 for over 400 hours with English VA enabled and not bitch? Didn't think so. (And yes, there are people playing in Japanese who bitch constantly about how their gameplay experience is ruined because they can't understand the flow of combat due to the fact that spontaneous battle cries and taunts aren't subtitled as if that's a thing that ever happens. I say they've made their futon and can lay in it.)

Oh, and Ludwig also claimed subtitles > numbers because the former are easier to remember, but I assure you I'd have a far easier time processing the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series if the numbers hadn't ended at Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis. Since then we've had Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!, Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!, Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move (which sounds like a gastrointestinal problem), and Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars. I can't tell you which of those are mainline games and which aren't. They might all be but I can't tell you that either. The whole thing's a maelstrom of confusion.

Oh yeah, so about Gyakuten Saiban 2 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All. Funimation's English dub for the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All anime is officially released today (I'm not sure if it's called "Season 2" or "Part 2" since either a "Season 2" or a "Part 2" refers to the recently-announced Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations anime which means Ludwig may have a point), and to celebrate I have some pics from my Miiverse-ing of the game. Warning: They're not as good as last time (likely because I was rushing to get to Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations since I had been told Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice for All was the weakest in the series), but here you go anyway:

(Warning: Spoilers for Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All ahead.)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Splatfest Part 2: Michelangelo vs. Donatello!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I'm still sighing, but we DO have an exclusive, timely photograph to go along with this.

If you participated in Round 1 of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Splatoon 2 that was last weekend, you ought to go and collect your Super Sea Snails. Right now. Before Tuesday morning. Or they'll go away, because Off the Hook will announce the next Splatfest: Round 2. Yes, I'm writing this article before Off the Hook officially announces the Splatfest, but I know what they'll say anyway.

No Off the Hook commentary,
just the cringe-worthy official artwork of Michelangelo vs. Donatello from Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Pearl will side with Mikey, and Marina will side with Donnie.

And like Round 1 where I sided with Leonardo (and lost — we'll talk more about that in Round 3's article) and got shoved to Marina's team, I'll be siding with Marina again with Team Donatello as my preferred Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. I can explain!

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is released. Again!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - You can still get the game on the Wii U. Though you should have done that four years ago.

I wanted to write something about déjà vu, but it turns out that while we wrote a lot about Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze before its release, and a lot about Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze after its release, we never published a release article for the game on the Wii U. KoopaTV's infamous February 2014 hiatus prevented us from doing that.

Nintendo is generously offering us the opportunity to make up for that unfortunate dark stain on KoopaTV history. So, let's do that.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze was released on the Wii U on February 21, 2014 for $50. Fantastic game, developed by Retro Studios and composed by David Wise — David Wise's work won KoopaTV's Best OST of 2014.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is released on the Nintendo Switch today, on May 4, 2018 for $60. It's just as fantastic as four years ago. But NOW it features Funky Mode, which is where all of the marketing for the Switch version is going into. I'll dedicate a whole article to Funky Mode later, since I think it's fascinating.

For now, I want to address two interrelated issues: The game has been removed from the Wii U eShop, and people's general upset reactions.

Yoku's Island Express isn't Yoshi's Island... or is it?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - ...Nah. It's something completely different, but that could be good!

You may be watching some of Nintendo of America's videos on YouTube. Perhaps you're watching the mass of Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze videos they're uploading, since that comes out tomorrow. Whatever you're doing, you see something catch your eye on the video list, or the related videos on the right sidebar... What is that? A Yoshi's Island game?!

See? Second on the left, second row? Yoshi's Island! Let's click on it!

 
Once we get to the video, we're greeted with an ESRB rating of Everyone 10+, and a descriptor of Animated Blood. Yoshi...? What happened to you? ...But it turns out that this isn't Yoshi at all. It's Yoku's Island Express.

...If you look at the YouTube comments, all of them are about Yoshi. That's...not an exaggeration:

Kimishima and Furukawa Team Up to Answer Investors’ Questions

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - We learn some things about Shuntaro Furukawa, the next president of Nintendo.

To the sub-title's point, we're not just learning some new things about Shuntaro Furukawa, but we're also learning about current Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima. Quite frankly, we still don't know much about him, though that'll soon be irrelevant.

...Just to back up, if you missed last week's article, that was about how current Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima is retiring at the end of June, in favour of this guy that no one knows about, Shuntaro Furukawa. This was announced as part of Nintendo's annual reporting to the financial people, and now the transcript of their questions & answers has just been translated into English for us to dissect. You can read it here. The Q&A were handled by both Kimishima and Furukawa. (I'm still having trouble remembering the guy's name, by the way. ...Both of them.)

They were mainly asked about what the investors usually care about: mobile stuff, and geographic expansion. The partnership with Cygames to develop Dragalia Lost, a game we don't know anything about, was of particular interest. (But they loved it.) From the way Furukawa answered the questions, it's clear that he really wants to continue and expand Kimishima's push into putting more Nintendo stuff on mobile trash.

KoopaTV's April 2018 Review Newsletter

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - It's coming... sooner than you think...

At the same time last year, we were announcing that KoopaTV will be returning to a full, five articles a week schedule, up from three articles a week. We are most definitely doing better now than then, and April 2018 was a great April. 

As you'll see in this newsletter, there are multiple ways that April was great for KoopaTV. Between the rich content, the great comments and participation from you guys (the readers that participate — alternatively known as the players in the KoopaTV game of the KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program), and even some site infrastructure updates.

We'll turn five years old in less than two weeks. (And we don't have any plans yet for exactly what we're going to do with that anniversary...)

KoopaTV's Top Five Recommended Articles of April 2018

Part of that bit about rich content gets down to if our articles are wonderful or not. In April 2018, they were. (Well, every article on the site is worth reading, so... they're all varying degrees of wonderful.)

Here are the top five recommended articles of April 2018, chosen by the KoopaTV staff. Presented in chronological order: