Nintendo release proves everything old can feel new again in splatterific fun

Shoot… and SPLAT! Your favorite little squid game (the one released by Nintendo, not Netflix) is back. Splatoon 3, the latest edition to the legendary series, has sold over 3.45 million copies worldwide. 

Back in 2015, on the Wii U, Splatoon was released. It felt bizarre to have Nintendo, a company that primarily focused on family-friendly games, release a third-person shooter. Regardless, this newest game was unlike all others. Bullets were replaced by colorful ink and kills were replaced with transformations into squid. Despite how strange the game may have sounded, 4.95 million copies have been sold as of March of this year.

In 2017, Nintendo took this popular game and transferred it onto the newest console of the time, the Nintendo Switch. Coming with this change of consoles came a brand new game: Splatoon 2. Just like the original, this game was a massive hit, with 13.3 million copies sold, ultimately surpassing the original. 

But after five years, the community formed from the series was begging for a third installment. Finally, on February 21, 2021, Nintendo released its first teaser trailer. Weeks before the actual scheduled release of the game, Nintendo brought one last surprise to fans by announcing a ‘Splatfest’ that would serve as a demo of Splatoon 3. Splatfests were a tradition started in the original game where players would choose one side of a debate (some included cats or dogs, the chicken or the egg, trick or treat, and many other wacky ideas). Through this demo, fans were able to quickly get a feel of a game they’ve become so familiar with, or are experiencing for the first time, and were able to test out new features, such as practicing with different weapons or using new special abilities that were achieved by inking a certain amount of turf. Although some of the weapons were new to the gameplay, Nintendo had changed the lobby players were sent in while waiting for an online battle to begin: no more were the endless lists of player names, but now there was a practice arena to test items and perfect skills.

One of the most popular online battles that was introduced to the Splatoon franchise was Salmon Run, a game where a team of four players would team up and defeat the creatures known as Salmonids while collecting eggs. These “Golden Eggs” gave players a raise depending on if they completed the quota set in place by the boss of Grizzco Industries, Mr. Grizz, the talking bear statue. This battle mode was essentially the main feature that made the sequel feel more unique, and since it was widely enjoyed by fans, there was no doubt that it would also be accessible in Splatoon 3. Though to improve this extra online mode, Nintendo included more boss Salmonids to be a threat to players, a new feature to throw eggs to other players or to the goal to achieve quota, and allowed this gamemode to be accessible 24/7 instead of limited time slots as the sequel.

Following the tradition of the past two games, there is the single-player mode that has a storyline of the player being a hero to save the world, along with the help of Callie and Marie, also known as a pop duo in the Splatoon universe: The Squid Sisters. Splatoon 3 has dramatically improved the story mode, taking inspiration from the Octo Expansion released back in 2018. The player can now choose more weapons to complete missions in the story mode, and the maps and levels are larger with more challenges and enemies to defeat. Along with more weapons, there are fun collectables players can find in the maps.

The one major improvement to the game, and a fan favorite among the community, is the addition of the new pop group: Deep Cut. These pop groups not only play as major characters in the story modes, but they provide news broadcasts to present major news (such as Splatfests or the maps for each turf battle) and also perform the music for Splatfest battles. These new characters in the pop group each represent different regions in the world. For example, Shiver has a very East Asian style and Frye has a South Asian style. The final member of Deep Cut is a stingray by the name of Big Man who only says “Ay!”.

Despite the new edition to the series having almost the same modes or features as the sequel, Splatoon 3 seems to lack something new. All the features were very familiar to a game released five years ago, even though many aspects were improved to better the gameplay. Though there were minor changes made to differentiate the new one from the games of the past, players can now customize lockers to show off their personalities online, and there is a card game version of turf wars, and now the customization choices of Inklings and Octolings are no longer restricted to gender. This game was definitely worth the five years of waiting and is a wonderful addition to the franchise. Although sharing similar aspects to past games, it was able to improve on features and make the game feel completely different and more fun. It feels familiar, yet brand-new and very engaging, making it hard to put down the console. 

By Ruby Pluchinsky

Published October 3, 2022

Oshkosh West Index Volume 119 Issue 1