The Nintendo eShop New Year Sale to Open 2021 (Two Weeks In)

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - First-party games... and Ace Attorney. And much more.

Did you know that it's now 2021? Nintendo didn't seem to realise until now. Meanwhile, KoopaTV already capped off 2020 with our Game of THAT Year awards. Anywho, Nintendo is doing a big New Year Sale ending January 22, 2021 at 2:59 AM Eastern. Yeah, there was just a big sale at the end of December 2020. But it's the new year!

Meanwhile, over on PlayStation, their holiday sale literally started when Nintendo's did (end of December) and has gone on for almost a month now, ending Tuesday. So Nintendo has had two separate sales in the span Sony has done one.

This isn't an ordinary sale. Nintendo has put up some of their own games at a 30% discount. First-party games on sale include:

• Splatoon 2—$42 (30% off)
• Kirby Star Allies—$42 (30% off)
• Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics—$28 (30% off)
• Super Mario Maker 2—$42 (30% off)
• BOXBOY! + BOXGIRL!—$7 (30% off)
• Yoshi's Crafted World—$42 (30% off)
• Snipperclips—$14 (30% off)
• Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker—$28 (30% off)
• ARMS—$42 (30% off)

Some of these videogames I forgot even exist (like Yoshi's Crafted World and Snipperclips), so it makes sense that these games would be on sale because now I just mentioned them and gave them attention. Over 1250 games are on sale on the Nintendo eShop right now. I particularly recommend Splatoon 2 (which has a Splatfest going on right now, though maybe it's not friendly to newbies if you gotta fight teams like this) and Kirby Star Allies. ...And if I'll have people to play Clubhouse Games with, that'd be interesting, too.

You know, whenever there's a major sale, CAPCOM is there to follow. If there's an Ace Attorney game on the 3DS or Switch (well, the Switch just has Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy at $15, or 50% off), it's on sale. Ace Attorney, if you somehow haven't gotten into it yet, should be your first priority. Other CAPCOM games include 50% off Ōkami HD ($10), 34% off Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection ($19.80), and 40% off Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition ($12). Oh, and just to giggle, Ubisoft has extremely deep discounts, like 75% off Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle. But I'm still not going to buy it.


Buy Ace Attorney. There's nothing else to say. ...Well, if you've already done that, maybe share what other sales you're interested in. And if you're interested in obtaining funding for those sales (or future sales), try winning the KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program. You'll get an unused eShop card code from Ludwig if you do.


Ludwig was just complaining the article before that certain Nintendo games aren't worth spending $60 on, so this is a nice counter.
No one should be surprised by this Nintendo sale, since they did the same thing in 2020.
CAPCOM puts Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy on sale, again, next month. It's also now a million-seller.
There would be another major CAPCOM-wide sale in March 2021.

Telling You Now: New Pokémon Snap Shouldn't be $60

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Nostalgia trap.

After yesterday's decidedly non-game-related Pokémon news item, The Pokémon Company International followed it up today with a trailer and information for New Pokémon Snap, which we first heard about mid-2020. They also opened up pre-orders for the $60 game, releasing April 30.

There's a lot of generic chatter out there about how the game looks much more vivid and detailed in the Pokémon animation and personality (look how Torchic roasts the fluffruit!) than the likes of fellow Nintendo Switch title Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield, and that was always going to be the case for a game that is entirely based around photographing Pokémon doing detailed animations.

You can check out Pokémon Snap (originally released on the Nintendo 64) on the Wii U Virtual Console right now for $10. I personally experienced it for $10 on the Wii's Virtual Console. Still, I couldn't imagine paying $60 for a game that's, say, three times bigger than that. (Over 200 Pokémon in this one versus slightly over 60 in 1999. You won't just be taking one picture of each Pokémon, though. You'll be taking several, because they'll have multiple poses and multiple gradings.)

If you're an Aipom fan (or a completionist), you'll want to document all of Aipom's poses in the Photodex.
And you'll probably have to trigger them by doing different things, some unlockable as you progress.

A lot of Millennials (myself not included) have fond memories of playing Pokémon Snap on the Nintendo 64. Even Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went to her cousin's house to play Pokémon Snap, since she didn't have her own Nintendo 64. (Just like how she doesn't have her own money, but she wants to spend yours.) Thanks to a marketing collaboration Nintendo did with Blockbuster, players could print out their in-game photographs to be real life stickers. Despite many people claiming to have those memories, I've yet to actually ever meet anyone showing off their Pokémon Snap stickers, be it in 1999 or 2019. I guess they gotta exist somewhere, though.

If not for that marketing push, Pokémon Snap (and its sequel) wouldn't be as successful/anticipated as it was. I'm sure New Pokémon Snap will sell more than the Nintendo 64 version. I'm also sure that you won't get $60 out of it, just by the nature of what kind of game it is. It also had the advantage of being the first (with Pokémon Pinball) Pokémon spin-off videogame, back in the Pokémon late 1990s craze. That helped.


Ludwig doesn't want to downplay the appeal of observing and interacting with Pokémon in their natural environment, but if you found the Glimwood Tangle live camera to be boring... well. Pokémon Snap isn't wholly uninteractive like that, but it's not that far off. There's apparently some kind of plot thread called the Illumina Phenomenon, but who cares?


The game is out now, and Ludwig still isn't for it.

Pokémon 25th Anniversary Promotions Begin... Katy Perry?

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - A look into their celebratory plans. (Not game announcements.)

I told you all I'm not a fan of speculation when The Pokémon Company International (TPCi) announced at the end of 2020 that they want 2021 to be a big Pokémon year: The 25th anniversary.

...And, I mean, did anyone speculate that they'd start with this? I think not:

That Rube Goldberg machine chain reaction took them a month to get right. It's impressive and very referential to each of the generations/regions in order, like the giant mountain half a minute in being Sinnoh's Mt. Coronet.

As for the ending, I was just trying to learn what a Beyoncé was a few years ago, and now there's this Katy Perry character? I'd think Beyoncé at least has the same é as Pokémon, but TPCi is promising music collaborations with multiple other unnamed artists, not just Katy Perry. I think they should've gotten native musicians that integrate Pokémon into their performance, like Virbank City Gym Leader Roxie and her punk rock band, Koffing and the Toxics. Here's hoping. Anyway, take a look at this:

1. Pokédex
2. Pokémon Egg
3. Pokéblock Case with Pokéblocks inside
4. Explorer Kit for the Sinnoh Underground
5. Pokémon Musical Dress Up props
6. Mega Evolution Key Stone
7. Electrium Z Crystal
8. Pokémon Curry cooking set

Cute picture, right? TPCi plans to do regional revisiting every month starting in March with Galar. They should be in Kanto by the end of 2021. There will be other monthly events too, and fun (?) sellable merchandise like oversized underpowered Pokémon cards. I guess they'll get articles if I have nothing else to write about. And who knows, maybe there'll be a game announcement at some point.


Ludwig wished that every region had their own musical sensations, but apparently that's not the case. Are you looking forward to the 25th anniversary promotions? Do you care about this Katy Perry person or her music? Ludwig isn't impressed with her as a person after reading her Wikipedia article. Comment in the comments section!

Bowser's Furious that Bowser Jr. is Teaming with MARIO!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Also, don't trust trailers.

We know back from September 2020's award-winning Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary Direct that there will be a game releasing exactly one month from now called Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury for Nintendo Switch.

We know all about Super Mario 3D World, since it was a best-seller on the Wii U, being the second-most-selling game. (In raw numbers, that's not saying much, but...) Lord Bowser has a great car in that, and Mario snatches bodies of dead Goombas. There's also a LOT of fursuits, since the game has a fixation with cats. However, you don't know anything about Bowser's Fury. (I happen to have experience with it... in my personal life, not as a game mode.) Nintendo put out this trailer today, with an accompanying press release with little information contained:

Let's be clear: Nintendo hasn't given a clear, written definition of Bowser's Fury. Not on the website (“Stay tuned for more details about this action-packed addition to the game!”). Not on the eShop page (“Additional details about what fun things this game has to offer will be revealed soon!”). Not in the press release, though that had many details about other things, like a Cat Mario and Cat Peach amiibo, and that the original adventure will now have online multiplayer. Plus, there will now be a Mario-coloured (blue and red) Nintendo Switch system, which will never be allowed into my castle.

KoopaTV's GOTY 2020 Awards!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Game of THAT Year 2020... and other categories.

You have been trying to influence KoopaTV's staff all weekend since we published our Game of THAT Year 2020 nominations, plus other categories. And we have been debating them all weekend... and today, right up until this was published. You can imagine how much work that forces on me, since I have to write things for every category, but the categories aren't decided until late...

Anyway, 2020 really sucked, for a variety of reasons. One of them is that a lot of the videogames that we played during the year were released in other years. 2020 was a backlog-clearing year. That has big implications for how we approached the Game of THAT Year 2020 award.

Fortunately, most of the awards aren't going to videogames, but are going to ourselves—stand-out KoopaTV articles. While game developers slowed down in 2020, we kept going at the same pace as always, so there's a lot of content!

KoopaTV's 2020 GOTY Nominations!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - And other categories.

The following nominations were decided and talked about in our Koopa Keep Discord server. Behold! (See the bottom of this article for the link to the actual AWARDS.)

The déjà vu from years past is intentional. (To be eligible, those running have to start their existence in the United States of America from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020.)

And just so you remember, GOTY stands for “Game of THAT Year”. That's the KoopaTV touch.

But yeah, this isn't just about gaming, but also ourselves. ‘cause KoopaTV is art to be recognised and applauded, too.

This article is such a rehash of the 2019 one
that I just took the first 20, and copy-pasted it to make a second 20!

Videogame-related Awards for 2020

Best New Character

• Galarian Slowbro (Pokémon Sword/Pokémon Shield)
• Wilbur (Animal Crossing: New Horizons)
• Detective Cross (Murder by Numbers)
• Bobby (Paper Mario: The Origami King)
• FBI Agent Aaliyah Davis (Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise)
• Terrako (Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity)
• Constance (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

Fact Check: Joe Biden's “We'll have another 200,000 Americans dead by the end of the year” Coronavirus claim

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - He was wrong, and you shouldn't trust Joe Biden with numbers.

Do you remember the second (and final) presidential debate between then-President Donald John Trump and opposition candidate Joe Biden on October 22, 2020? It was less than two weeks away from Election Day, but many voters had already cast their ballots. Still, many Americans hadn't yet voted, and both men really wanted to earn their votes... be it by the virtues of their own policies, or by spreading fear about the other guy's.

This meant that candidates and their surrogates would spout the occasional mistruth, misinformation, or outright lie. While KoopaTV made an effort to fact check some of these in our debate write-up, some of them were future-facing, which means you technically can't say someone is wrong, since it hadn't happened yet.

Among the claims made by Joe Biden (which I deemed “absurd” back in October) was the one he said in this clip in the first debate segment, which probably meant that most people watching heard it, as opposed to being tuned out by the end:

Here is a transcript of the specific clip from the above video, and then I'll go into the actual facts of the matter, and the implication of those facts versus what Joe Biden's affirmatively stated belief was:

CAPCOM Video Policy Analysis

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - It's pretty reasonable.

Say what you will about CAPCOM USA, and I generally like them (even when it wasn't cool), but they have immaculate timing. They went and published a new Video Policy (archived here) that they knew would be controversial... at 3 AM. Besides the stealthy time of day, they published the policy on a good date, because today the news has been paying complete attention to mostly peaceful protests (with very notable rioting/an insurrection) in Washington D.C.! That's way more controversial than any video policy, so not only are people not paying attention to CAPCOM right now, but everything else looks better in comparison to the disaster going on in the Capitol. Excellent work all around, CAPCOM USA.

That said, you won't get past KoopaTV and my beady eyes, and this policy will likely be relevant to people far into the future, even if it's ignored today in favour of current events. To the few people who were paying attention to the CAPCOM Video Policy's existence (but might not have actually read it), they were saying it's the second coming of the Nintendo Creators Program. (Which I praised because I don't like YouTubers, but putting barriers on making a living off YouTube gaming videos didn't have the game design impact I was hoping for, since the game design implications of pleasing game watchers have since gotten much worse than 2015.) I've read CAPCOM's document. It's... not like that at all.

Why Nintendo is Buying Next Level Games, and What it Means

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - They must be psyched.

Today, Nintendo announced their intention to buy out 100% of game developer Next Level Games, known for developing various games for Nintendo such as Luigi's Mansion 3, Super Mario Strikers, Metroid Prime: Federation Force, and my favourite, Punch-Out!! Wii. This will make Next Level Games an official Nintendo subsidiary, as opposed to an independent developer that Nintendo frequently contracts projects out to.

File image of a very hard-working Next Level Games employee (right).

Nintendo bought out Next Level Games because some of the owning shareholders of the developer wanted to sell and make some money, and Nintendo was concerned enough that they bought out the whole studio, rather than risk being bought out by another company.

This also gives Nintendo a subsidiary to acquire talent in the non-trivial Canadian game development pipeline, allowing them to join other Vancouver-area game industry companies like Battlefy, Electronic Arts Vancouver, Relic Entertainment, and The Coalition (the Xbox Game Studio that makes Gears of War). ...And there's wherever the CAPCOM Vancouver people went to after that got shut down. Don't underestimate the importance of having a location there. You might think, and hope, that everyone is just going to work remotely forever from now on, but that's probably not going to happen.

None of this means, “Oh, [game series I like] sequel is confirmed!” Next Level Games have proven themselves talented enough to really work on... anything. You shouldn't cast them as being specific loyalists to any given franchise. That said, I think Punch-Out!! Wii is unarguably the best one in that series, while you could still argue the original Luigi's Mansion is better than its sequels. ...And lots of people disliked Federation Force, though maybe not for the best reasons.

And maybe Nintendo will have them work on a net-new franchise.

By the way, Nintendo rarely goes out and acquires other companies like this. The last notable one was Monolith Soft over a decade ago. It's sort of touching that they care about a Western game studio so much that when an owner says, “let's get bought by someone”, Nintendo is all, “Yeah, no, you're staying making games for us.” (I'm assuming Next Level Games is happy about being acquired by Nintendo, because that's probably anyone's dream scenario. Right?)


What are your feelings on Next Level Games being acquired? Were you aware that Vancouver is a hip-and-happening gaming place? Besides Vancouver, several other Canadian areas have a gaming scene, though many are affiliated with Ubisoft.


Next Level Games was then set to work on Mario Strikers: Battle League, the third game in that series.
Nintendo's next relevant acquisition is of a CG animation company.

Would You Rather Go Big, or Be Invincible? Super Mushroom vs. Super Star Splatfest!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Off the Hook are a bunch of Mario fans? I knew the Squid Sisters were better.

As it was foreshadowed four months ago, there is a new Splatfest in Splatoon 2, and this one is highly relevant to the world that I live in. Much more so than the world YOU live in. (Unless you're part of KoopaTV's Koopa Kingdom audience.) It's a 48-hour Splatfest happening from January 15 to January 17:

Would you rather go big and have Super Mushroom power?
Or would you rather have Super Star power and be invincible?

Quite frankly, the Off the Hook banter from Pearl and Marina is worthless in terms of helping you come to a decision. All they do is point out that Pearl is short and therefore wants to be bigger, while nothing about the benefits of invincibility are pronounced. It's more that Marina likes the sparkle aesthetic, and how Off the Hook are musical stars (of the famous celebrity type) of culture.

Interestingly, Marina says, “Hold up, though, Pearl. Wasn't the Splatocalypse the FINAL Splatfest?” (What does that mean for the Splatfest encores that happened and changed the result?) To which Pearl says, “It was, but... It's Mario! We gotta throw a party!” (Quick reminder that no Inkling did anything for that plumber at any previous point in time, including the 30th anniversary. The closest was Heroes vs. Villains, but that sure wasn't for or about him, he wasn't mentioned by name, and it misattributed his role in the destiny of the universe.)

Since Pearl and Marina didn't bother with providing actual reasons behind their decisions, I'll tell you my team choice, and why: