When I first reviewed the original Splatoon, I noted that Nintendo didn’t “get” online play yet but had instead created a game that did well with its overall vibe: painting maps mattered more than kills, players were chasing looks and kitting those out instead of grinding “epics” or tiered loot, and it actually had player-created art posted around the gameworld and battlefield. It also got free content updates for a couple of years, plus had events we covered.
While the game is now offline, I’ve enjoyed each game in the series so far. Admittedly, I didn’t last long in Splatoon 2, but despite its being in maintenance mode, I’m still playing Splatoon 3. So for today’s Why I Play, I want to talk about why that is and maybe a bit about what it may mean for future Splatoon games.
Bare basics
Let’s first start out with what the series has been at its core: painting battles about style and expression. Yes, you have battles like Clam Blitz, where you’re playing a quidditch/basketball like game, or Tower Control, which is a move the payload mode, but in all your battles, painting terrain is key. One way to think of it is that without paint, everything is like a snare effect or worse, such as being unable to climb walls that are unpainted. Paint rules in Splatoon.
Then there’s the fashion. Yeah, unlockable skins in other games are fine and probably “prettier” in some ways. But they often either change your abilities to something super specific or don’t really change anything at all. Splatoon gear is much more fashion-focused. Anything can be “top tier” with a little work: non-RMT earned coins or, at worst, Super Sea Snails, unlock ability slots, and every slot can be customized with ability chunks. Yes, it can be hard to fully upgrade some items to their 5-star form, but all that does is increase their ability to generate more chunks. It has no effect on your in-game performance.
Finally, expression. This isn’t just about fashion, it’s about a player’s ability to have their art displayed, either on their CPU-avatar in other players’ worlds or even displayed in the game world/battle maps. You’ll see everything from original art supporting the current Splatfest to random support about how you, a stranger, matter to another stranger just trying to put positive vibes into the universe. I have to admit that the LGBTQA+ and autism communities in Splat 3 are super supportive, and I can see how that could help younger players out, especially if they’re in isolated areas where they may not get that in meatspace. When Miiverse died, the first game I knew that would be impacted was Splatoon. When Twitter/X got too gross for Nintendo, the company took over hosting images itself, which should show how much of a core feature this is.
All that may not sound like a lot. Admittedly, a single MMO could have probably done all that. That being said, each Splatoon game at least has a lot of skill carryover, and it’s a skill-based game, so that takes a lot of the sting out sequels. Your amiibo gear at least can be grabbed for free again in the sequels too, though without modifications. And I must admit, in some ways, major balance changes (such as the “ultimate” abilities being “balanced” across the three titles) feel easier to accept in a sequel than a full update. I’m sure graphic updates help too, though I’m not a graphics snob and often forget if a title’s graphics improved soon after I get into my grinding groove.
That’s the other thing to really consider: balance. While it can often feel as if a certain weapon is OP, and there are naturally tier lists (at least in North America), people are playing what they like and doing well. Previous entries often felt similar. While I do miss when my Jet Squelcher was a god in Splat 1, I’ve learned to move on. I’ve gone from the guy in the back to the guy painting your base (unless I have to rain down suppressive fire on a splatling for my casual friends). Specials especially have been brought into line, though I’d say that Splat 1 and Splat 3 have them best, in that Splat 2 may have over nerfed them and Splat 3 brought back the fun and uniqueness, especially in terms of giving soft-returns to old classics like Inkstrike.
It’s not limited to just PvP, though. Salmon Run’s entry into the series in Splat 2 was great, even for someone like myself who prefers PvP, but Salmon Run got way better in Splat 3, being more available, giving more bonuses, introducing bosses, and adding the fish scales currency, which the game was stingy with even when introducing Big Run but has since added to the basic rewards. And that’s where I want to get into the weeds of Splatoon 3.
Trilogy changes
Sitting at “the end” of Splatoon 3 actually isn’t bad. Yes, Tableturf isn’t getting new cards now, so the meta won’t go anywhere fast unless some odd bugs or whole new strategy is discovered. That may in theory make it more accessible, but at the same time, Nintendo putting all the work of “match making” on players combined with bored veteran card enthusiasts doesn’t bode well for this part of the game.
That being said, most of us play primarily for the non-TCG aspects of the series. The game may not be getting new updates, but I’d argue some of the best came towards the end and are still with us today. For example, conch shells, which were previously available only during the pre-Splatfest prep-period, began to be included in the actual Splatfest as rewards for 10x+ battles via Conch Clash battles. These, I feel, are much more interesting and understandable than Festival Shells, which are still a Splatfest thing but don’t give tangible rewards as the conches do.
Splatfest in general got some tweaks from launch, but I’d argue the overall balance to the rating system combined with more tangible changes, like the above-mentioned conches and more frequent 10x+ battles really inspire longer gameplay sessions. While Splatfest themes I was invested in would hold my attention the whole prep-period and event proper, others were more of a diversion. After the tweaks, though, I’ve played longer sessions than I “had to” for max rewards just because of the increased fun factors, especially with the ratings tweaks making the final results more wild than I would generally expect.
Don’t forget the changes to various Salmon Run modes throughout the game’s life cycle, and no, I don’t just mean the more plentiful scales. Grizzco weapons are wild, and the final Big Run at the Grand Splatlands Bowl, which only had Grizzco weapons, was one of the most fun and random events I can recall in a game in years. Your mileage may very, but steam rolling paint everywhere or machine-gunning short-range explosive rounds is fun and feels OP, even if the rapid action can cause a lot of mishaps, such as short-sightedness and tunnel vision, leading to cliff dives and mob buildups at the egg basket you were supposed to be guarding (oops).
While the Grand Splatlands Salmon Run may be over, the most recent Big Run was still fairly enjoyable after the changes, and knowing that Nintendo’s done something nuts in the past does make me wonder if we’ll get the event again at some point. Even if we don’t, the increased scales makes other Salmon Run events, like Eggstra Work, much more tolerable. The new bosses had already brought some of us back, and the pop-culture-inspired gear did too. Even base play rotations have brought me back because knowing that I can make at least a small dent in prices for cool gear motivates me to jump in, even after months of practically ignoring the mode. While not all of these changes occurred as part of (or after) the technical “maintenance” mode started, they do affect it.
Splatoon 3’s best days are maybe now
Splatoon as a series isn’t just getting better, it’s doing so with player feedback. The above fish scales change occurred with the game’s last major update after many of us had been complaining on social media about the lack of rewards. It may seem like too little too late when you think of typical game life-cycles, but I have to admit that my queue times, for all modes throughout the day, are only a bit longer, up to perhaps a minute late at night. For a maintenance mode game in between scheduled holiday events, that’s good, especially with the new changes.
On the one hand, one could simply say, “Well, you’re not getting new content, so this is so people can just finish what’s available.” Except that’s not totally accurate. For one, particularly with fish scales, you had to be a very high-end player with a lot of time and skilled partners to get everything, and I’d wager you’d also have to skip out on most of the game’s other content. That’s an extremely niche playerbase for one of the three main online modes (the other two being casual PvP and ranked PvP).
There’s also the super sea snails trickle. Unlike before, Nintendo hasn’t made them hugely available for farming. They’re still just from Splatfests, which are ongoing and new. Not only that, but the Splatfest also offer a few new pieces of head gear still, so while new content may be slow, it’s not gone. Offering new headpieces is particularly relevant here because that’s exactly the kind of thing you’d want to spend the sea snails on anyway.
Combined with the scales issue, Nintendo’s really opened up fashion. I’m generally a daily player, and while I do have a few cool outfits, there are still some I want more of. I don’t always have time to farm scales in Salmon Run, but I do when I can because the items are more accessible. When events, especially Splatfests land, I hit them pretty hard, not only so I can try to get new gear or improve what I have but to show off what’s complete.
Don’t forget, we still have challenges! I don’t get to hit them as often or as hard as I did before, but they’re still something to look forward to. I’m the only person I know who unlocked all the weapons, so when some of the more random challenges open, I have a better grip on what I’m doing, even if I haven’t mastered them all. There’s also fun twists in newer levels we didn’t originally get exposed to before the game’s main finale, such as low gravity in Lemuria Hub, which I may have missed but I keep looking for.
I could keep going about trying to 100% catalog items, achievement badges, the massive grind of getting 5-star weapons (I have only two), and Tableturf, which I really wish I had more time for. Nintendo still hasn’t added proper “guilds” or grouping mechanics for non-friends, but Pools work well enough for now, even at “the end” of the game. There’s a lot that could be done for Splatoon 4, if Nintendo’s “secret” MMO isn’t secretly going to be skinned as a Splatoon game (these tracks give a major Splat vibe!), but for now, I feel like I could still recommend Splatoon 3 to people who haven’t bought it yet. It’s still mainstream enough that you won’t feel left in the dust in terms of progress, and being skill-based, it can be much easier to catch up in than games that revolve around stats.
There’s an MMO born every day, and every game is someone’s favorite. Why I Play is the column in which the Massively OP staff members kick back and reminisce about all their favorite MMOs. Whether it’s the new hotness or an old fan favorite loaded with nostalgia, each title we cover here tugs at our heartstrings and keeps us coming back for more.
