The Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Characters Used The MOST and the LEAST In September 2019!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I'M BANJO, WHOAAAAAA!

Earlier this month, Nintendo and Battlefy announced and then held the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate North American Online Open September 2019. I participated in it, and you can read the tragic story of how I actually performed in the comments section of that announcement article.

(But congratulations to Epic Gabriel [for winning two of these in a row...Region 6, Florida, R.O.B.], Tearbear [Region 2, California, Banjo & Kazooie], King Chris [Region 8, Manitoba, Zero Suit Samus], and Grayson [Region 3, Texas, R.O.B.] for getting a flight, hotel stay, gift card, and ticket to The Big House 9 tournament taking place this weekend in Detroit.)

One of the things I was most looking forward to was the usage statistics of the fighter characters in September vs. August, particularly how the Version 5.0 update at the start of September that added Banjo & Kazooie and some new Mii costumes (the fighter adjustments aren't worth discussing) would affect people's behaviour. I published the usage statistics from the Online Open August 2019 over here, so how did they change in September?

First, some caveats. One, the September tournament had significantly less entrants and players than the August one, so the sample size is much less and the capability of outliers affecting the total is greater. There were only 3,509 people who registered across all of North America, and only 1,953 actually played at least one set. There were 26,114 games played by those people. That's around a 71% overall decrease in activity month-to-month no matter what stat you look at. There's several reasons for why that is. Two common ones are that people would rather go to Japan (August's prize) than Detroit (September's prize), and Nintendo didn't promote this tournament through the Switch News application.

Second, the Battlefy character-selector (which exists for statistics purposes) didn't have Banjo & Kazooie as an option until a little over two hours into the event, for a four-hour event. They apparently forgot. This dramatically under-represents Banjo & Kazooie's usage. If it's double the amount than what's shown under Banjo & Kazooie's names, that would actually change the results quite a bit. Banjo & Kazooie players still had to pick someone, so that inflates other fighters’ numbers.

See for yourself in pie chart format, and then text format:

Little Town Hero Has A Town With Things To Do

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - You're fighting monsters in the town. ...Which we've known already.

Yes, I wrote yesterday's article title on Ring Fit Adventure to prepare for today's article title on Little Town Hero. Of course, let me be clear: a town-based game shouldn't be measured on the number of towns you get to explore, but what you get to do in those towns.

As far as I can tell, the only concrete thing we've learned about Little Town Hero since its initial announcement a year ago (besides that it'll be $25 and digital only) is that Toby Fox (of Undertale fame) is composing the soundtrack. GAME FREAK really, really, really wants us to know that. Here's a new trailer from them:

Nothing about that supposedly “amazing soundtrack” really stood out to me and makes me want to listen to it again. I will, however, venture out of the town and to GAME FREAK's slow-loading website for Little Town Hero in hopes of finding some useful morsels of information there...

Ring Fit Adventure Has Towns With Things To Do

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - And, for the safety of the users, isn't compatible with the Nintendo Switch Lite.

Two weeks ago, I published a rather popular article (among readers and among my personal opinion) about Nintendo's new announcement, Ring Fit Adventure. The headline gave away the main thrust of the article: the concept is brilliant, but it could easily be screwed up by design decisions that so many other games of its genre have made.

Namely, I really want Ring Fit Adventure's Adventure mode to be legitimately interesting, with an existing story that makes me care about the game world and incentivise me to continue playing.

Today, Nintendo released a gameplay overview trailer with some things to say about the Adventure mode:

There is a lot of information in this trailer that we already knew from the reveal two weeks ago. Fortunately, the entire video is overall much easier to watch because the creepy pair of presenters have been cut out of it.

REVERSE Away From Mario Kart Tour

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Wait, there's no reverse gear? THAT'S why it's auto-acceleration...

Unlike the previous Mario-sponsored Nintendo mobile game, Dr. Mario World, Mario Kart Tour doesn't have a deep, disturbing conspiracy under the hood. (I don't count Toad labour as deep, disturbing, or a conspiracy.)

It's just standard mobile fare of a subpar, diluted game experience combined with predatory pricing models.

Not that I follow the mobile space, but it certainly seems abnormal that Mario Kart Tour not only has gacha mechanics (a lottery funded by limited in-app currency or unlimited real currency where you hope to get new characters, gliders, and karts but are more likely to get ones you already have), but ALSO a monthly $5 subscription—the Gold Pass, which nobody even knew about before the game was released last night—that doesn't actually lessen the game's gacha. The Gold Pass just enhances the rewards from it. Oh, and there's the whole 200CC mode locked behind it, but why would you want to drive at an even higher speed with wonky touch controls?

ONE-HANDED CONTROL PHILOSOPHIES.

Playing for the Planet Alliance—and Nintendo's Absence?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I'm not complaining. Far from it.

I may need to explain yesterday's article about KoopaTV trying to appeal to climate change protesters. ...Well, I won't give a full explanation, but just know that I didn't talk about my own political views on climate change in that article. At any point. I just wanted to compare the ideal KoopaTV participant to the characteristics that one can deduce are present in a climate change activist.

Characteristics on an abstractable level. Not actual personal politics. Though it's absolutely fine if you disagree with my politics! That's arguably more exciting for me. You can have people who disagree with one another but otherwise have similar characteristics—like high attention to detail, interest in reading, et cetera. You're also probably not a horrible person for disagreeing.

With that out of the way, I'm not done talking about climate, because this time, there's videogame-related stuff to talk about. The United Nations Environment Programme at this week's UN Climate Action Summit got a bunch (21) of gaming-related companies together to join a “Playing for the Planet Alliance” and published a press release, “Video games industry levels up in fight against climate change”. With the force of so many gaming companies, including Microsoft and Sony, that's the best headline they could come up with? Correct me if I'm wrong (and this'd be considered a Corrections Corner contribution), but as someone that runs and writes for a gaming website, I've never written a headline saying “[noun] levels up to [do whatever]”. It's the most degenerate form of headline for a gaming-related topic, written by someone who wants to sound clever about games but doesn't actually play them.

What's this alliance actually do? They're all pledging to do something to reduce their carbon footprint. For less information (but not intended to be of no value by its creators, I'm sure), check out this trailer:

Why You, a Climate Change Striker, Would Enjoy KoopaTV

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - We're your Internet home for your psychographic.

This whole week (starting the previous Friday) there is a whole inter-generational climate change strike. Schoolchildren aren't going to school (and are thus just normal children). Working-class people aren't attending their jobs. If there's something normal that you do, you're not doing it anymore. Strike!

The reason is to draw attention to the failure of political leaders to collectivise their countries’ economies, stop economic growth, and drastically reduce carbon emissions in order to save the planet Earth, which is under siege by human-caused industrial activities.

As I'll explore extensively in this article, it takes a special type of person to go on strike for climate-related causes. It also takes a special type of person to enjoy and get the most out of KoopaTV.org, the website you're currently reading. It's a similar kind of person.

...I, at least, enjoy this imagery.

Not a Dream: Link's Awakening (Switch) and Nintendo Switch Lite Out

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - I wouldn't mind if it was a dream, though.

My first look and thoughts article on the Nintendo Switch Lite, out in stores today in Yellow, Grey, and Turquoise, is still my current impression. It's clearly not for me, so I don't care about it. I think it's obviously inferior to the normal Nintendo Switch (with new battery). The only personal benefit to me is that it's most likely responsible for the destruction of the Nintendo Labo, which has been a KoopaTV goal for a long time now. Of course, if after I publish this article there's a fifth Labo kit, then that benefit won't apply.

Meanwhile, the The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening remake is also releasing on the Nintendo Switch today—and it supports handheld mode, so you can play it on the Nintendo Switch Lite. It better support handheld mode, because it was originally a Game Boy title. Then it was a Game Boy Color title in the form of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX. That's how I played and beat the game—though in a non-handheld form, by using my GameCube's Game Boy Player. I think I played it in the early 2010s, sometime between 2010 and 2012.

My impression of Link's Awakening is that it was nothing special. Nintendo's press release deems it “one of the most beloved games in the Legend of Zelda series” and I don't know how anyone can really have that opinion. It's an average game in an above-average franchise. I think one of the issues is that it lacks a gameplay-defining gimmick, unlike most other The Legend of Zelda games with their oceans, time travel, season-changing, Kinstones, or whatever. All The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening has are those secret seashells (which I didn't know were optional when I was playing the game, and trying to get all of those without a guide or a way to keep track of where you found them already is horrible game design) and a bunch of cameos from other game franchises, since it's all a dream.

SECRET SEASHELLS ARE AN OPTIONAL SIDE QUEST.

The Switch remake does include some differences, mostly quality-of-life changes to the controls. Instead of only having two face buttons on the Game Boy, Link will always have his Sword, Shield, Pegasus Boots, and Power Bracelet equipped, plus two more items set to X and Y. The in-game map has also gotten an overhaul. There's also a Chamber Dungeon where you can build your own dungeon, room-by-room, and get some chambers with amiibo or collecting them in-game. ...No one cares about that, though.

The Nintendo Switch Lite is $200, while The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening is $60. You can also buy The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX ported to the Nintendo 3DS for $6. Just figured you'd want to know you can save $54 on the game if you want to save $100 on a console.


Ludwig's immediate attention is on tomorrow's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate North America Online Open September 2019, so... whatever, give your thoughts on the Switch Lite (again?) and on The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX. In terms of portable The Legend of Zelda games, he'd rather endorse Oracle of Seasons, Oracle of Ages, and The Minish Cap.


The Nintendo Switch Lite and Link's Awakening are being purchased together, frequently.
While Ludwig was mean to Link's Awakening, will he be consistent and therefore mean to Pokémon Mystery Dungeon for having the exact same buffs that Link's Awakening's remake brought?

Nintendo Switch Online Perception: One Year Later

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - It's not a time for celebration.

I don't care for or appreciate anniversaries. I wouldn't have noticed that Nintendo Switch Online has turned one year old today if Nintendo didn't send me an e-mail last week with the subject line, “It’s almost the 1-year anniversary of Nintendo Switch Online!” The call to action was “Check out all of the membership plans.”

Excuse me? You already know I know the membership plans, since I already have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription—I administer a whole Family Group. I even recently renewed it. 

And they sure seem to know that I'm using the online functionality. What, do they want me to just abandon my Family Group:

It's Mario with a party popper. He's the face of Nintendo Switch Online.
...Told you he's evil.

 
It's interesting that Nintendo is seeing this as a celebratory moment—bringing out a Mario party for it. For the whole year Nintendo Switch Online has been around, and the long build-up to it, it's been seen as a reviled monstrosity with massive dislikes on any YouTube video Nintendo uploads dedicated to it. A year ago, KoopaTV published a widely-circulated article documenting that, as well as methods to convince Nintendo to change Nintendo Switch Online to something of more value.

Meet Sirfetch’d in Pokémon Sword!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Hi Sirfetch'd. I'm Ludwig. Are you okay in the head?

Earlier this week, The Pokémon Company International (TPCI) was hacked by a Rotom. Here's what their website looked like while the hack was going on. It appears Rotom went into the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS—used to make websites stylish) and added a “data-scramble” element. While data breaches should sink any company's reputation and invite a class-action lawsuit, The Pokémon Company International dismissed the concern and went on to reveal a new Pokémon exclusive to Pokémon Sword.

...Seriously, they didn't even say if anyone's information got taken. What kind of transparency is that? Unacceptable. The CSS element has since been removed from the .css file, which I guess means they really did purge Rotom completely. ...Oh, right, reveal:

Meet Sirfetch'd, the evolved form of Farfetch'd that reside in the Galar region—no Galarian-specific look to Farfetch'd has been identified. That video thumbnail is as smug as TPCI's reaction to being hacked. Sirfetch'd is all about surviving many battles, being an honourable and noble knight, and using its leek as a lance. ...Which isn't a sword.

GameStop, Gaming Cultural Hubs, and Love

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - That headline is strictly hypothetical. (For now.)

Physical gaming retailer GameStop has been in big trouble. Their stock price is a disaster—it's fallen over 70% in the past year. They've cancelled their famously-generous dividend. Sales are declining year-over-year, as the gaming industry is embracing trends like streaming and digital purchases, which leaves GameStop, which derives most of their profit from selling (used) physical games, out. (Their collectibles business is doing well and I'm helping to contribute, and more on the importance of that in a moment.)

GameStop, looking to reverse their downturn, is seeking alternatives. Their GameTrust publishing unit is obviously a disaster. They haven't published anything since 2017, and the one remaining game they have, Star Child, hasn't had an update from their developer, Playful Studios, since 2018 where they apologised for accidentally cancelling people's pre-orders but promised the game is still being worked on. Not a good sign.

GameStop has presented these strategic pillars in their recent investors call, and I'd like to focus on the second one for the rest of this article:

“Our strategic plan is anchored on 4 key tenets: one, optimize core business by improving efficiency and effectiveness in everything we do; two, create a social and cultural hub of gaming within each GameStop store and online; three, build compelling digital capability to reach our customers wherever they want to do business and give them the full spectrum of content and access to the products they're looking for; and four, transform our vendor and partner relationships, unlocking additional high-margin revenue streams and optimizing the lifetime value of every customer.” [Emphasis added]