Splatoon: 10 years of Nintendo’s joyous, messy squid game

Nintendo can often seem a company led by contradictions. For every fresh trail the Kyoto giant blazes, there’s an example of them being stubbornly stuck in the past. 2015 was the age of the Wii U, their ambitious but flawed follow-up to the mega-successful Wii. Somewhat of a stepping stone between the beginner-friendly accessibility of the Wii and the hybrid console features of the Switch, the Wii U struggled commercially and failed to produce the genre-defining hits that Nintendo had become known for. Except for one crucial exception…

Ten years on since its trailer debut during E3 2014, Splatoon saw Nintendo enter the world of the online shooter without sacrificing their family-friendly appeal. It proved that Nintendo could both innovate and stay true to their roots.

The mid-2010s had no shortage of online shooters. Players were blasting their way through the galaxy in the reboot of Star Wars Battlefront, continuing Master Chief’s epic saga in Halo 5, and racking up headshots in Call of Duty: Black Ops III. Nobody could have predicted that Nintendo would soon enter the online firefight with a platoon of anthropomorphic squid and an addictive gameplay loop that would spawn a blockbuster franchise, though in hindsight there were clues. They had shaken up the racing formula with Mario Kart and redefined what a fighting game could be in Super Smash Bros. Now it was the turn of the online shooter to undergo a Nintendo facelift.

Splatoon can best be summed up as a squad-based shooter that relies on area control instead of kills, or as producer Hisashi Nogami succinctly put it in an interview with the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata: “the team who splatters the most ink wins.” 

In two teams of four, players fight to cover the ground with the maximum amount of ink that they can; the team achieving the most coverage at the end of the match are crowned the victors. Players can ‘kill’ members of the opposing team, leaving key portions of the map unguarded until the Splatee respawns. Players can also instantly morph from their anthropomorphised selves into the more traditional squid form with the pull of the left trigger. This allows them to swim quickly through their own team’s ink (vertically as well as horizontally) while serving as an innovative way of recharging their ink-based weapons. 

Online ‘Turf War’ matches are extremely quick, exciting, easy to pickup but tricky to master. The frenetic gameplay is supported by a strong visual design and an infectious electronic surf-punk-influenced soundtrack. Splatoon looks and sounds like a game that would be right at home in the library of a supercharged Sega Dreamcast – all vivid colours, bombastic tunes and thumb-blistering arcade action. 

Despite the failure of the Wii U, Nintendo were not afraid to explore the unique features of the system and employ them in interesting ways within their first-party productions. Gyroscope is a feature that was underused in the unwieldy Wii U controller, but Nintendo make it front and centre of Splatoon’s control scheme, with players tilting the controller to aim their weapon as they simultaneously navigate their ‘inklings’ with the control stick. 

This was a source of some controversy at the time as many consumers were keen for Nintendo to move away from the motion controls of the previous generation Wii console, but this extremely precise control scheme has become key to the game’s kinetic and reactive playstyle. 

Anyone spending five minutes in an online game lobby with mics on can attest to how toxic they can be – the slurs and insults are hardly in keeping with Nintendo’s approachable and fun image. The Splatoon series therefore features a communication method where players can’t directly speak to each other, but they can draw pictures (another use of the Wii U and Switch touch screen hardware) which subsequently appear above their character as they hang out in the online plaza. It’s a unique way to personalise the online experience in a safe, controlled environment, and the potential for discovery and unexpected community bonding is limitless, as anyone who witnessed the rather surreal sight of armies of cartoon squid mourning the passing of Queen Elizabeth II can attest. 

Splatoon takes place in Inkopolis – a vast cyberpunk-esque city. Every so often the city comes alive for the Splatfest festival. During this limited time event, players choose their favourite from two options, and battle as rival teams in order to gain the most points for their side. Presented by the Squid Sisters, Callie and Marie, the choices cover a range of topics from food (burgers vs pizza) to creatures of the night (zombies vs ghosts). 

Splatfests completely transform the main plaza in Inkopolis into a neon spectacle, with lights, decorations and even on-stage performances from the Squid Sisters. They proved to be hugely popular ways of keeping the game fresh, and the results of the final event of the first game — Marie vs Callie — even influenced the narrative of the single player mode in the sequel. 

Solo play has never been the focus of the series, but it has grown from a fairly basic distraction in the first game to a full, 3D Mario-style adventure in the latest title, particularly in the additional downloadable content.

Launching a completely new franchise is always a risk. The risk has paid off for Nintendo, as the Splatoon series has sold over 30 million copies and won multiple awards. Cementing its cultural significance, the game was chosen for the V&A’s landmark Design/Play/Disrupt Exhibition in 2018, allowing visitors a peek behind the curtain at the notoriously secretive Nintendo development labs, while also showcasing the striking street fashion stylings of the game. 

Splatoon concerts have become a regular event in Japan, as lead composer Toru Minegishi’s infectious tunes explode to life with synchronised hologram inkling idol performances and a live band. 2019’s Splatoon show even featured a guest appearance by guitar strumming pooch K.K. Slider from Animal Crossing, threatening the creation of a kind of Nintendo supergroup.

Ten years on and Splatoon is a series that continues to stand out from the crowd in a genre that has long reached saturation point. Some imitators have come and gone, but none have generated the excitement, style or cultural impact of Nintendo’s oddball ink-spraying creations. To quote Callie and Marie, let’s hope that Splatoon continues to “Staaaay fresh!”