First Thoughts on Paper Mario: The Origami King REVEAL!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Let's be clear on what's speculation and what's confirmed.

My very first thought was, “A new trailer for a Paper Mario game? Am I looking at the official Nintendo YouTube channel, or is this a fake look-alike?” Upon confirming it was real, I watched it, and here's what I saw:

Now, understand that Paper Mario is on a small list of videogame franchises made up of four or more games that I've bought every game for (others include Ace Attorney, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon—if you discount the remaster and those WiiWare things, and Super Smash Bros. ...That might be exhaustive, actually), which makes this a very important reveal.

I'm something of an expert in analysing the first trailers of Paper Mario games, and my findings are that people can be very easily fooled by trailers. In fact, there were a lot of contemporary positive responses (that I quoted in that article) to the first trailer of Paper Mario: Sticker Star, back when people were upset over Super Paper Mario's genre shift and people thought Sticker Star represented a return to form. Now everyone's priorities have also shifted since then, but the fact that first trailers are inherently untrustworthy remain true.

Ah, still, what did I think of it?

Steam Midweek Madness Sale, Featuring Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Here's your May for Mia Fey opportunity. (Eh, there might be others in this month.)

As recently as...well... yesterday, during something as important as KoopaTV's seven-year anniversary, I wrote:

“KoopaTV expresses love very often, such as reverently praising the Ace Attorney series at any possible opportunity. In doing so, we're not only expressing love, but we are spreading it. We've found that people who take our recommendations and experience the Ace Attorney franchise for themselves then become Ace Attorney lovers. It's spreading love. That's a very positive thing.”

AND, BEHOLD, RIGHT AFTER I WRITE THAT, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy becomes on sale on Steam, via the Steam Midweek Madness Sale. (Triple homophone in that sentence.) Since all of the glowing praise I gave myself and KoopaTV was all accurate information, I'm obligated to stay true to my word and tell you to buy Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy for $15 on Steam, with the sale ending 13:00 Eastern on Friday, May 15.

There are literally over 1,400 games also on sale on Steam right now, but Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy is the most worthy of your interest. It's a collection of THREE games that are fantastic adventure games (linear story and character-driven narratives with some gameplay inputs on your part needed to progress it, such as investigating crime scenes, interviewing possible witnesses, and cross-examining court testimony) that everyone who plays ends up loving.

It's an adventure game as opposed to a visual novel.
Don't underestimate the gameplay content in Ace Attorney. After you open up the Court Record, you have to make decisions that can get you into a fail state, like other games.
(It's also opposed to an RPG.)

If you want a character witness (heh) for how great the Ace Attorney series, just go to the comments section and discuss the matter. In all likelihood, the game will be on sale for the Switch later this month (or June), so if Steam isn't your thing, you can be a little patient and it'll be 50% on the system of your choice. The screenshot is from the Switch version. KoopaTV will probably write an article when it's on sale later, because this happens consistently enough that it's a reliable source of filler article material. And Ludwig deserves taking a free day off after that epic piece from yesterday, being the anniversary article.


It was on sale on the Switch as recently as the end of April 2020!
It was on sale on Steam at 50% off as recently as last week (May 6).
In May 2021 for KoopaTV's anniversary, CAPCOM again put the Ace Attorney games on sale, except as a dedicated sale just for Ace Attorney on the Nintendo eShop.

KoopaTV's Seven-Year Anniversary: Seven Star Stamps for SUPERSTAR!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - KoopaTV is everything. And more.

Today, May 12, is known as the day that KoopaTV was founded. That happened in 2013, so this is our seven-year anniversary. That's a lot longer than my expectations for how long this was gonna be going, so I originally had plotted an awesome cruise ride for everyone (staff members and KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program past winners), paid for by Koopa Kingdom. Then we got in trouble with President Donald John Trump's administration, since we would have to go to Earth and pick you Americans up. We ultimately had to cancel the KoopaTV Loyalty Cruise Program because it was too dangerous (not because of any pandemic, but because of Earth-government response) to proceed with it.

However, we always have other plans and things going on. Multi-narrative activity. Parallel processing. Walking and chewing gum at the same time. Whatever you want to call it. You see, KoopaTV has spent these past seven years doing many things, and among them, we have collected the Millennium Star's seven Star Stamps... making us the SUPERSTAR OF THE UNIVERSE! Sure, one stamp a year might be slow, but that pacing would make for a good anime. Or a cartoon. Here's the opening:

KoopaTV's Stamp Card:
Wit, Kindness, Strength, Love, Courage, Beauty, Mischief.

For the rest of this article, I'm gonna talk about what we've done over the past seven years to acquire each of the seven Star Stamps.

Are You Still Washing Your Hands For 20 Seconds, and Thoroughly?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - (Or if you're like me, washing your claws?)

Months ago, health organisations across Earth invested in a campaign telling people to WASH YOUR HANDS. And for twenty seconds (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will tell you the actual recommendation is between 15 and 30 seconds just for the hand-scrubbing, and THEN you rinse your hands with water), which, if you time yourself, is quite likely much longer than how you've been washing your hands in normal times. And hopefully you have already been washing your hands pretty often throughout your life, especially since it's a message KoopaTV has been promoting for a long time. Hyperlinked receipts for that a little later in this article.

That public health campaign started months ago, but you don't see hand-washing song memes all over social media anymore in May 2020. (Those were song lyrics that last for 20 seconds to help people keep track of the time. I'm personally partial towards the Team Rocket motto, though the meme-maker doesn't know how to correctly spell Jessie. People get that more wrong than Butch.)

Knowing you weak humans, you've probably become complacent. If you're not constantly reminded of something, you'll fall back into your old ways, and not be washing your hands for as long as you should be. Sad. Anyway, KoopaTV isn't here to deliver a public service health announcement, but I am interested in helping you for another reason.

Nintendo Can't Fix Super Smash Bros. Ultimate During CCP Virus Lockdowns

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - China doesn't have to deal with having Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

One thing I didn't mention on KoopaTV yet—which Nintendo put in their first paragraph in their “Description of Operating Results” section (management's commentary) in the consolidated financial statements for the year ended March 2020 (discussed on KoopaTV here)—is that Nintendo has successfully teamed up with Tencent to launch the Nintendo Switch in China. It is, however, to a very limited software library: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Odyssey, and New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. However, Nintendo intends to release non-plumber titles as well, such as Kirby Star Allies and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Absent from the list of current and future releases is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which probably has too many communist-violating aspects and franchises in it to pass Chinese Communist Party ideology. However, even if the Chinese Communist Party won't let Super Smash Bros. Ultimate into China, the Chinese Community Party allowing this COVID-19 out of China to the rest of Earth is affecting the development of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Super Smash Bros. series producer Masahiro Sakurai said as much, and common sense indicates that as well.

This not only impacts the scheduling for future downloadable characters—and I'm very fine with that, because it's not like I'm eager to deal with a new character from ARMS—but it'll also impede new game balance patches, along with development of things like improving the online experience.

And even though I think Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is one of my favourite games of the past decade, the metagame, especially playing online, is far from perfect. Check out these recent matches in a world where tournaments are happening only online now (as opposed to locally):

Nintendo's Results For Fiscal Year Ending March 2020

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Writing about March results in May is gonna trigger my historical month-writing confusion.

This article is all about the financial results that were released today as part of Nintendo's report on their fiscal year ending March 2020. Now (starting April 1—these kinds of reports take over a month to prepare, so you know) they're on their way towards the fiscal year ending March 2021.

I promise not to be very boring, since this is not a financial/markets blog. It's a gaming blog, and there are a few key (or irrelevant but amusing) discussion points and quotes I want to bring up.

First, here's a graph of sub-top-10 titles (except New Super Mario Bros. U at 10) from the start of the Nintendo Switch until now. The games with the longest streak of having sales numbers reported means they were stronger at being evergreen titles:

Ring Fit Adventure continues to have supply constraints. YOU CAN DO IT! PRODUCE AND SELL EVEN MORE!

Meanwhile, Splatoon 2 has now cumulatively sold over 10 million copies, and it's officially doubling the number of copies sold of Splatoon on Wii U. As for the Nintendo Switch, it has sold a total of 55.77 million units, while the 3DS is at 75.77 million units. They pwned their stated goals for the Switch. For the 3DS, that's .06 million units more than three months ago, while the Switch sold 3.29 million units more than three months ago. That is to say... the 3DS is a joke number at this point, and Nintendo even realises it, declaring,

The “This Game Is Now Retro” Line

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Where is it now?

Back in 2003–2007, much of KoopaTV's staff were using the official Nintendo NSider Forums ran by Nintendo of America. That was the era of the GameCube (and a little bit of the Wii). In those times, we considered the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES—1985 to around 1994) and Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES—1991 to around 1997) to be “retro.” Basically, if you're 12 or so years back, you were retro.

Per Wiktionary, retro is defined as “Of, or relating to, the past, past times, or the way things were.”

According to game developer Mega Cat Studios, it's 20+ years back, but their idea of nostalgia is the NES and SNES, and all of their games reflect that. According to the untrustworthy folks at Man Crates (though that links to a good article), “retro” and “nostalgia” are inherently intertwined concepts.

Logically, the line for what's considered retro has moved since 2007, right? It's 2020. We're at least two to three generations ahead of where we were back then. That means the 64-bit consoles are retro. The PlayStation 2-GameCube-Xbox trio is certainly retro as well. I mean, if you consider the SEGA Dreamcast retro, it only follows you would also consider the consoles that came out around then to be retro, too. It also means the big three console manufacturers (Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft) have at least one “retro” console in their history.

Are the Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 retro?

Gaming Localisation: Think and Act Locally or Globally?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Or...universally?

At the tail-end of 2019 I was asked by KoopaTV reader ShinyGirafarig (on our requests page that has so many comments that direct links to comments don't even work anymore—though writing comments themselves still work):

“When localizing games, should localizers change the location to help players feel more connected to the lore of the game as the Ace Attorney series did changing the location in Japan to California or should localizers keep countries of origins in game like how "The World Ends with You" kept its Japanese location which may allow foreign players to get more familiar with other cultures?” 

And for almost half a year I've been wondering why anyone would ask that question of KoopaTV, which is ran by people who don't even reside on Earth. I decided I'd finally attempt to answer the request, but with that disclaimer up front.

(By the way, even if I don't reside on Earth, there is cross-universe travel, and I dunno what she's talking about with games and stuff. I visited Phoenix Wright in California! In-person! Nothing to do with Japan.)

Earth-based game makers shouldn't make games based on Earth.

Three Plus One Working Conditions to Look Out For When Looking for a Job

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Toilet paper, hand dryers, dual monitors. Bonus: open office spaces.

You might have been laid off your job in the past two months. Rough. Or perhaps you've been working from home and haven't been in the office. Regardless, in many areas around Earth, people are going back to work. All of this time away may have stunted your perceptions on what a good workplace environment looks like, so I'm writing this evergreen thought-piece on it. This'll be as relevant now as it will be for years to come!

Some of this article is directed towards the class of office-bound knowledge workers who do their tasks on computers. Others apply to every kind of job, since every workplace has to at least have a bathroom. (And if yours doesn't, that's obviously a big problem!)

This article is based on Frederick Herzberg's two-factor theory, which separates out motivating factors that can only increase job satisfaction, versus hygienic or maintenance factors that can only decrease job satisfaction. This article focuses on key maintenance factors in the form of working conditions. You'll be more likely to want to leave your job if some or all of these factors are at your work environment, so if you keep these in mind at the job interview stage, you can avoid that inevitability ahead of time.

Toilet Paper Quality

There is little that's worse than going to your job's bathroom and having to deal with bottom-tier toilet paper. There is some toilet paper that is just of such bad quality, you may as well be wiping your behind with your hands. Or you'll need to roll many squares more than what should be necessary and bunch it together.

Truly, try to imagine it. If your workplace is willing to try to save a few cents on buying terrible-quality toilet paper, it's easy to extrapolate off of that for what other things they may be willing to cost-cut on. Any company that does this will leave you miserable and it isn't one you'll want to work for. Bad-quality toilet paper is also a public health hazard, coupled with the next factor...

KoopaTV's April 2020 Review Newsletter

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - New, official enemies getting in the way of fun.

Welcome to KoopaTV's April 2020 newsletter, coming at you on the first of MAY. Spelled M-A-Y. Sometimes I spell that as something else. Just gotta get the muscle memory in my claws. May. It's May 1. Today. But we'll be talking about April. April 2020. Good month for KoopaTV. Probably a bad month for you. Sorry, we can't carry you all by ourselves. ...Though you'll get decently far!

Actually, significant portions of this newsletter are covering future-facing information, and that incorporates May. Let's begin.

KoopaTV's Top Five Recommended Experiences of April 2020

April 2020 had a number of excellent articles. Here are just five (under a quarter) that you absolutely ought to read, presented in chronological order. Note that an absent article is still worth your time and adoration:

1. ARMS North American Online Open April 2020 Recap — April 2020 featured the largest ARMS tournament in history, and KoopaTV's Heavy Lobster entered it. How did he do, and what are the implications for ARMS as a franchise?
2. Super Mario's LEGO Debut: Teaching Kids to Murder — There are some sick, horrible things going on with that plumber and his newly announced LEGO set releasing this summer. Read this before your children get caught up in that awfulness.
3. Two Years Later, We Won. You Are Avoiding Cardboard! — For two years, KoopaTV has been waging a war against the malevolent cardboard forces of the Nintendo Labo, and now we're ready to declare VICTORY. The whole public is fully convinced about the dangers of cardboard boxes!
4. Human Doctors Are Getting Laid Off; Dr. Mario Hires Dr. Goomba Tower — KoopaTV is also continuing our investigation into Dr. Mario's practice, as he seeks to stuff everyone's faces with dangerous Megavitamins. He's hiring dubious folks to assist him.
5. Game Review: Calculation Castle: Greco's Ghostly Challenges —Math-based edutainment games (featuring the sacred art of DIVISION) are important for Ludwig, and thus he wrote a full review of Calculation Castle: Greco's Ghostly Challenge "Division". When you're keeping your kids safe from propagandist LEGO, murderous cardboard, and dangerous Megavitamins, is this math game worth exposing them to?