#splatoon analysis

The Mechanic

We get to play as both Inklings and Octolings with gender differences are very minimal, males have a slightly larger frame and male octolings don't have the extra triangle eyelash things on the eyes. Each species has 6 unique hair styles, 4 unique eyebrow shapes, 7 different skin tones, ability to add freckles, and 21 different eye colors. A new addition to the Splatoon franchise is the addition of a health bar and an exp system. The experience system works by gaining exp by killing Salmonids, upon leveling up you get a flat upgrade to your health and damage as well as getting a token and a random gadget part (NTG). The tokens are used to upgrade the ink tanks in the form of health, weapon damage, gadget damage, and gadget part slots (NDT). we also see that after using a select amount of tokens we unlock a limiter release, what this means is unknown.

Weapons

The weapons we have seen are:

Splattershot

Splattershot Jr.

Blaster

Range Blaster

Octobrush

Squiffer Charger

Mini Splatling

Dynamo roller

Big swig roller

Slosher

We have seen that weapons drop from killing boss Salmonids and multiples of the same weapons can be obtained (NTG). With every weapon we have we get 3 different unique aspects of each, their level, star rating, and extra abilities. Levels most likely indicate how strong they are damage wise. Star rating probably indicates how rare the weapon is judging from the gadgets part system. Extra abilities are mostly unknown as we have only see one on a blaster in the NTG that looks like it has something to do with health or healing.

Ink tanks

We have seen 4 different types of ink tank types each with their own distinct designs and available relic powers and gadgets.

The Pouch: It appears to be the beginning of the game and no gadgets appear to be compatible with this tank as it looks to be missing slots on the sides like the other 3 types of tanks.

Power Tank (The big tank): This is large tank with it's stove burner on top of it that has been showcased in the second half of the NTG and parts of the RDT and NDT. This tank has been seen with 3 different gadgets, Splatchet, Spinwheel, Splatellite, and conch blast (NTG and twitter). We also see the Shot Pot and the spin hose on this tank but only in the AT so I am unsure of the compatibility of these gadgets with the tank in the full release.

Speed Tank (The horizontal tank): This is a long horizontal tank that has it's stove burner on the right side of the tank and was mostly shown off in the RDT and NDT. This tank has been seen with 2 gadgets, the spin hose and the boot (NDT).

Tactic Tank (The circular tank): This is a circular tank reminiscent of those of the Salmon Run game mode, this time with a stove top burner on the center of the tank shown off in the RDT and NDT. This tank has been seen with 2 gadgets, the Shot Pot and the balloon.

The way I named these tanks is based off of the upcoming Splatfest where the themes are Speed, Power, and Tactic (twitter). What I believe the tanks to be used for is anchors to the varies amounts of relic powers and gadgets. I don't believe that each tank will have their own abilities by themselves such as ink consumption and/or usage. When and how do we obtain these tanks? I have two theories, we get them/unlock the ability to create them after finishing one beginning level, we get them/unlock the ability to create them after finishing each individual beginning level.

Gadgets

Probably the biggest and most exciting part of the game that is to come. Gadgets are tools that are replacing sub weapons in the game, they function in several ways but all appear to serve the same function of killing the Salmonids. Gadgets are created with Spirhalite shards and resources from boss salmonids (RDT), they don't require ink to use but after used they go on cooldown and can't be used until the cooldown is done. These are the gadgets we have seen so far:

Splatchet: Charges a large slash attack that pierces through armour

Splatllite: Creates disks of ink that orbit around the player that ink the floor and damage the enemies hit by the disks

Spinwheel: Locks onto an enemy and spins towards them causing damage

Shot Pot: Sets down a turret that continuously shoots at enemies

balloon: spawns floating explosives that explode once shot.

boot: sideways splashdown

spin hose: unknown

conch blast: unkn0wn

Gadget Parts

These are peak! Gadget parts where fist showcased in the RDT and later showed up un the NDT and a twitter post. Parts are additions that can be used to upgrade individual gadget abilities. Each part takes up slots and each gadget has the same amount of slots that can be upgraded. We only get to see some of the parts for the Splatchet being:

Slash Area Up: increases area of the primary slash

Overpowered Attacker: increase damage done to boss Salmonids

Slash Damage Up: increases damage of the primary slash

Emergency Damage up: increases damage when on low health

Explosive Steps: Creates an explosion when charging in

Vertical Slash: Primary slashes are performed vertically. In general, damage is increased compared to that of horizontal slashes

Charge-In Damage Up: increases damage of charge-in burst

More Charging In: Increases number of times the character charges in

Victory Cooldown: decreases cooldown after killing a boss salmonid

Cooldown Reduced: dresses gadget cooldown

These all the parts showcased so far and their descriptions, some being my own interpretation. Parts appear to have rarity levels displayed by the number of start they have at the bottom of each parts symbol and the border (RDT), 1 star has a grey border, 2 has a green one, 3 has a blue/purple one, and 4 has a golden one. An increased rarity has shown to decrease the the number of slots it takes up and increase the amount of damage it does. For example, a 4 star Slash Area Up part takes up 6 slots and has a 60% increase while its 2 star counter part takes up the same amount of slots but has a 40% increase. Another example is Explosive step, a 3 star rarity takes up 4 slots and has medium explosives and a 1 star takes up 5 slot and also has medium explosives (RDT).

Relic Powers

Information about relic powers are very minimal. As of now all we know is that we get them from Relics that are found in chests at the end of chest levels. Relic Powers are unique to each tank but some can be applied to multiple tanks (RDT).

Above Round Map

We have been shown shown 3 maybe 4 types of objective levels (RDT)

Chests: We kill enemies in our way and collect Spirhalite clusters marked with beams of light and the big cluster is marked with a beam and a spiral.

Clusters: This one is probably like the chest levels but maybe instead we get an increased amount of Spirhalite clusters

Weird crystal thing: I have no clue

Tank Specific chests: Probably the same as normal chest levels but instead give rewards correlating with the ink tank used?

This part of the game is still quite unclear as probably to keep us guessing and find out for ourselves when we get to play the game. I believe that we will be exploring 3 (maybe 4) different biome types (AT and RDT). The Jungles, the Lava lands, and the Ice lands, I honestly don’t know what to infer about this… An interesting detail that I found pretty interesting is that on the map you can see Boss Salmonids drawn around the different objective markers and they relate to what type of boss you will see most often as seen in the Treehouse gameplay. Probably in every level we will be able to find a sunken scroll and a compass (idk?). Also Salmonid levels are a thing, probably just there to give an idea to how hard the level will be.

Dungens

Not much is known about these but they probably consist of harder or challenge levels that have different objectives compared to the above ground levels.

Lesser Salmonids

Chums, Cohocks, and Small fries make a return as themselves but with new variants. Chums and Cohocks can be found around holding tongs ready to hit you from afar and some Chums have found themselves enjoying some air time by using springs to jump around. Two new lessers have also been spotted in the form of a flying sprinklers (RDT) reminiscent of the Drizzling Capriccioso from side order and weird probably explosive fish reminding me of the Homing Arpeggios also from Side order with their orange body, dead orange glowing eyes and fuse like esca (NDT). Another detail that I’ve noticed is the abundance of salt growing on the Salmonids with the beginning levels being very minimal, the dungeon and lava ones having pompadour like salty hair, to the ice ones having large salt crystals growing on their hair. What this implies lore wise I am unsure but maybe something wants these fish alive to want to have this much salt on them or perhaps as we approach the center of the islands salt is more abundant in the air and sea making it deposit further.

Boss Salmonids

We have seen 2 new bosses, those being the Salty tongue and a Flying one. The Salty tongue is a tanky salmonid that, when ready to attack, stops moving and charges a lunge attack dealing a good chunk of damage (All trailers). The Fliers seem to throw shopping bags filled with ink and acts as the toxic mist sub weapon, from previous Splatoon games, that can be destroyed by shooting the bag (RDT and NDT). Returning boss Salmonids include Stingers, Scrappers, Big Shots, Slammin Lid, Fish Stick, Fly Fish, Drizzler, and Steel Head and all appear to have only changed in appearance but not in attack pattern. The Salmonids that have gotten the biggest change as of yet is the Fly Fish as it appears to have an open cockpit and no more buckets to launch bombs into (thank cod) and the Big Shots slam down their ball as they bounce around as they appear to be missing their canons from Salmon Run. A small thing I noticed was that new boss salmonids appear to have a symbol above them indicating they are new as seen on top of a Fish Stick (RDT).

Powered Up (Preserved) Bosses

I’m calling them Preserved because of the salt theme and the use of salt to keep food fresh. We have only seen 3 of these Preserved Bosses, a Salty Tongue, a Flier Boss, and a Stinger. The Salty Tongue uses a Killer Wail attack, the Stinger has increased height and 2 extra stinger shots, and the Flyer is unknown. It appears that the Preserved Salty Tongue and Flyer are more akin to actual bosses while the Stinger was just a powered up boss. I hope we get to see more Preserved Bosses.

If we dive a little deeper (pun intended), we notice that, for each singer, the "words" used in their songs are picked to sound from a specific vocal and cultural background giving them a whole bunch of personality.

But it doesn't stops at the real word recordings. The Splatoon ost is canon in the Splatoon world. Every track (or almost every track) is from a canon artist or group with its own musical identity.

Better even, through the different opuses, groups in charge of the soundtrack change and progress through time. The best example being with the "Now or never" track by SquidSquad:

That track got so iconic that when SquidSquad stopped producing, the following groups in charge of the Ost always pay hommage to it by keeping it and just making a cover of the track with their own artist mark.

It exists a real band of fishs that play cello, timpani and one of them that does all the mixing called Omega-3. It kinda makes you think twice about these creatures that you mass murder for money eh...

It gets more interesting when you deduce that this means that tracks from the "Hero modes" or Salmon Run are performed by "the baddies" that you are slaughtering.

What gave me the inspiration to write this Splatoon music/lore post is that I recently discovered the existence of a/an group/individual called Missing Ink that only ever released one track for Splatoon 3: Pour it on.

Pour it on can only be heard in nocturne lobbies and really stands out from the rest of the soundtrack, even more than Omega-3 songs, by the fact that it's the only song I know of that sounds like the singer doesn't have water in their mouth.

My theory is that "Missing Ink" is a wordplay with "Missing Link" that could suggest that the lyrics that we get to hear are from an individual that is at an evolution stage between Inklings/Octolings and Humans.

That lack of gargling sound could also mean that this individual has stopped being soaked in ink which could as well loop back to "Missing Ink"...

LET'S TALK ABOUT THE NEW WEAPONS

01. NEW SHOOTER — "SPLATTERSHOT NOVA"

In the process of making this post, the Squid Research Lab posted individual renders of each of the new weapons, as well as the official names. It appears this bad-boy is actually a part of the Splattershot family, something I was both expecting and hoping I was wrong about. Personally speaking, I think we had enough -shot weapons. Not to mention enough shooters, but I'll take a cool-looking weapon where I can get it.

I had a friend describe this weapon as "edgy" looking, and I can't argue with that take, but I can say I don't mind it. Compared to the other weapons in the -shot family, it has its own stand-out look. I can't say I'll be maining this weapon, or playing it more than once or twice, but I can say that I'm excited to see how it plays and what it's gimmick is.

We don't get much screentime in the video for this, but the combination of what we do see, as well as the Twitter post from the SRL, we know a couple of things: it has killer wail, "galactic range", and pretty consistent aim. I don't have any predictions on where this will end up in the meta, but if they give it a good enough sub it may just end up being a cunt to play against, that's for sure.

02. NEW ROLLER — "BIG SWIG ROLLER"

The name is this weapon is so weird and funny that I really just want to take a moment to look at it and laugh. "Big Swig Roller". Who came up with this and why? I don't know, I don't care, but also I do. Why. Please, if you have answers, contact your local tumblr user kscope immediately.

This roller seems to be attached to a soda drink, with a straw being the connecting centerpiece of the roller as a whole. A friend of mine called this the "soda roller" thanks to this, and I'm stealing it from her, since it's befitting. If you ask me, this appears to be some weird mix between the dynamo roller (turf coverage) and the carbon roller (speed). The little bit of screentime it gets in the trailer shows off how much ground it covers, as well as its supposed speed.

The SRL post on Twitter tells us that it can cover a lot of ground, with very little ink consumption. This leads me to believe this is primarily going to be a turf-covering weapon, as opposed to being a damage-dealer. More likely than not, roller-crushing your enemies with this weapon won't be a thing. If they want to prove me wrong though, they can. There's still time, Nintendo.

As for the kit for this thing, I have no idea. It primarily seems to be used as a turfing weapon, so they'll probably give it something to compliment its speed and coverage. If not for Dynamo, I'd have guessed Tacticooler since it'd be good for special-farming. Without that, little clue, little idea. Thank God I'm not a roller player.

03. NEW CHARGER — "SNIPEWRITER 5H"

AS A CHARGER MAIN: I hate this stupid looking charger. I do not claim this stupid looking charger. I don't know whose ungodly design this was. Nintendo I am knocking on your HQ doors right now for answers. Let me in. I just want to talk.

All that aside, I do kind of like its name, and I like the idea. It reminds me of those pencils with different tips stored inside it, if you know what I'm getting at. I won't include a picture, but it's the ones that sometimes came in different shapes and were stackable. If you know you know.

As for the execution, I'm not a fan. This weapon is what happens when you ask charger players what they want in a weapon, but only listen to the Bamboozler mains. It got the most screentime out of all the new weapons, and from that we can see that this thing is capable of storing up to 5 shots, while being a 2-shot kill. Whether or not it has held-charge was never shown in the trailer, but I'm going to hope and pray to the Splatoon Gods that it does not.

What we do know, however, is that it has Tacticooler. I wanted this on a charger, any charger, but now that I have it I would do anything to take it back. This game fucking hates me. End post. Wait, actually, it also has a sub that has pretty high ink-consumption. Which one that is, however, is still unknown.

04. RETURNING WEAPONS

In conjunction to these three completely new weapons, we also got a peek at a couple of the returning weapons. According to the press release, we're getting a total of ten returning weapons. We didn't get a glimpse at all of them but the ones we did are as follows (alongside what I know of their kits):

DAPPLE DUALIES NOUVEAU (w/ torpedo)

ANOTHER MINI SPLATLING (w/ toxic mist & big bubbler)

TENTATEK SPLATTERSHOT (w/ splat bomb)

LUNA BLASTER NEO (w/ fizzy bomb)

FORGE SPLATTERSHOT PRO (w/ suction & booyah bomb)

LET'S TALK ABOUT THE NEW MAPS

It looks like this time, we're only getting two new maps (one of which is just a returning map from Splatoon 1). Nonetheless, let's get into it.

01. NEW MAP — "BRINEWATER SPRINGS"

My friends and I are constantly talking about how The Reef might get re-added to the game and everything, but this map kind of reminds me of it. Not in terms of its aesthetics (they are completely different in that regard), but rather in terms of their design.

In the Twitter post showing off the map, the SRL wrote "Defend the high ground or risk it all to invade from below?" From the video, it appears to have a central bridge, much like the reef, with an open area beneath it. This map, to me, is what would happen if you took The Reef and Snapper Canal, combined them, and then gave them a completely new aesthetic look.

Oddly enough, I don't hate it and I'm really excited to play it. It looks like it'll have a lot of verticality to it, and hopefully won't inspire every sweaty player to try to terrorize my spawn every chance they get.

02. RETURNING MAP — "FLOUNDER HEIGHTS"

I'll preface my opinions here by saying that: yes, I did play Splatoon 1. However, I played it briefly before 3 came out, which means that it was underpopulated. I also didn't play it much, and usually when I did, the same maps were always in rotation. I think I landed on Flouder Heights a total of one time, and that one time was a hot mess. I played with my Splatoon Veteran friends who were sniping me from places on the map I didn't know existed.

That is to say: this map is basically completely new to me.

Right now, it looks like Flounder Heights got Manta-ified. The walls that we're shown in the Twitter video supplied by SRL look to be about the same height as the walls out of camp in Manta Maria. For a map titled "Flounder Heights," I almost wish they would have kept the taller walls and the verticality.

Of course, I'm not complaining about the decluttering of the map as a whole. From what I do remember of it from 1, it was a total clusterfuck of a map, and terrible to navigate. This is coming from someone who was new to the game, walking backwards from Splatoon 2 to Splatoon 1, but at the same time, I don't think it was completely just the perspective that was an issue. I think Flounder Heights was really just Like That in 1, and that 3 is looking to fix that in part.

I just wish it had fixed it without removing "Heights" from the name of the map. But, I suppose beggars can't be choosers. At the end of the day, it still looks like a fun map! Hopefully it'll still be a fun map to snipe people on when it officially releases.

LET'S TALK ABOUT THE NEW GEAR

Attempt two at this! Tumblr fucking sucks as a website and completely undid the list I was working on, so I had to start from scratch. I am saving this time, because I was a fool not to. I am very upset, but we will pretend like I am not as we get into this. I'll be making a list of new & returning gear, in order from headgear, to clothing, to shoes.

HEADGEAR

skull bandana (RETURNING)

sv925 circle shades (RETURNING)

retro specs variant (NEW)

fake contacts (RETURNING)

white ocho octophones (NEW)

jellyvader cap (RETURNING)

annaki beret (RETURNING)

battlecrab helmet (NEW)

CLOTHES

inkwash shirt (RETURNING)

tan apex sweater (NEW)

new (light) kensa jersey (NEW) [ 1 ]

white ls shirt (UNKNOWN) [ 2 ]

black ls shirt (UNKNOWN) [ 3 ]

ski jacket variant (NEW)

dark bomber jacket (RETURNING)

inverse orca bolero (NEW)

SHOES

blue force reboots (NEW)

squink wingtips (RETURNING)

splatoon ugg boots (NEW)

new black shoes (NEW) [ 4 ]

ink-white clam 600s (NEW)

gold hi-horses (RETURNING)

black habaneros (NEW)

new kensa shoes (NEW) [ 5 ]

[ 1 ] — I'm not certain on this one, but in the thumbnail of the trailer, the inkling holding the new charger is the same inkling that has the splattershot pro in the gameplay. The view of his outfit in the video is abysmal so I took it upon myself to look at the thumbnail instead. It strikes a resemblance to a piece of gear that was hinted at in the Splatoon 3 pre-release Halloween art.

[ 2 ] & [ 3 ] — These are just two shirts that I can't figure out the brand of. I've decided not to try to name them, since I don't really know anything about them at all. The white one seems to be a button-down (I think?), whereas the black one resembles a sweater to me. Either way, pictures are below.

[ 4 ] — Same situation as the last one, kind of. I can tell they're new for the most part, but they're just completely black. I want to say they're Kensa shoes just because there's a fuckton of Kensa gear coming in, but I can't tell, so I'm not gonna say it. The dualies player in the above images is wearing the shoes in question.

[ 5 ] — Meanwhile, these are very obviously Kensa shoes, they're just Kensa shoes I haven't encountered yet. I don't know what to name them because of this. Peep the white Kensa symbol in the middle.

ANNNNND that's all I've got for ya. I spent too long writing this. I spent too much time on this in general. Tomorrow they're gonna post something on Twitter (if it still exists) that fills in something I'm missing (the kits). I don't care anymore.

Oh yeah, also: BIG RUN!!!!!!! FUCK YEAH BIG RUN!!!!!! Anyways: