Spla2n: 2018 is The Year of the Octoling

I don't know if you heard, but there was an announcement trailer for a new Nintendo console today. Among the brief snippets of gameplay was some Splatoon.

We don't know if it's a fully fledged sequel or just a remake/ update, but it definitely isn't the Wii U game because it featured alternative haircuts on the kids/ squids.



I'm dead keen for more Splatoon, with on-the-go handheld play and hopefully a bigger playerbase.

My heart wants a sequel but I'm thinking for it to meet launch day (not that any game in that vid is guaranteed to be a launch title) then it'll probably be a port of the wii U game.

Yup. I reckon it'll be like a Splatoon + kind of thing: maybe a hairdresser's is added to the hub, alongside plenty of new kit, of course. The genuine Spla2n must still be some time away... mustn't it?

I wonder if it might be cross playable with the Wii U version? That could breath some life back into that game, and give those who can't move onto the Switcheroo right away some nice extra Splatfests and that.

I'd like that! I don't see it happening. Presumably this one will be packed with features and maps and that, to encourage buyers.
Also, the Wii U game has a touch screen map at all times, which effects the use of certain items and so on. The Switch one appears not to have that.

Seeing as what Miss Rodgers was right about the Switch, I'm going to believe this Mario Kart is part of the 4 remasters coming to switch.

Now I'm not sure if that is some bad translation as well from sources as Mario Maker is coming to 3DS and that counts as one of the 4 and just got the wrong system.

But hey enhanced Splatoon can't be a bad thing but could sour Switches launch line up is remasters.

I'd be very surprised if this was the real spla2n, as Zero says the first one didn't come out that long ago, but adding new maps, weapons and a barbershop and optomising it for the new hardware shouldn't take more than 12 to 18 months or so. I'm definitely interested in the game and will probably buy it alongside the console assuming it's a launch title, one thing I am concerned about is how this game will work without a second screen - mechanics like the inkstrike rely on having a map view to use it, but I'm sure they'll find a way around it (battlefront's orbital strike kinda thing perhaps?).
On the remaster point, I don't expect we'll get to see any great new current gen games announced for the system until a little later - they have to keep some things a secret after all.

One thing that interests me is this combined with the Switch trailer's emphasis on local multiplayer. I'm much more into local than online, so if they can make Spla2n properly local then that's me more likely to be sold.

Also: bigger better campaign please!

I know that Nintendo tend to have slower turnarounds than a lot of studios, but it will have been nearly 2 years since the first, I wouldn't say it was too recent. I do think an ultimate edition with new bits is more likely though.

Balladeer wrote:

One thing that interests me is this combined with the Switch trailer's emphasis on local multiplayer.  I'm much more into local than online, so if they can make Spla2n properly local then that's me more likely to be sold.

Also: bigger better campaign please!

I'd imagine they might have some sort of 2 v 2 local mode as I'd imagine trying to get 8 people together for local multiplayer would be tough.

Also, Balla's right: more to the single-player campaign. I absolutely know that said campaign (dying to write 'campaignt') isn't the point of the game but... what else can they improve on? The online mode is already rad as heck.

Can I ask folk who shoot online more than I do: what can be done to improve the online?

I've not played this much online but now games like this, overwatch etc have got a dedicated fan base, Nintendo surely wants to carry them over to the new system and bringing back events and new modes & maps would help that also if the can make it a eSport, it could be rather big.

More splatfests and things would be a good one, more maps, greater customisation of inklings . . .

If they want to make a big change, the only thing I'd suggest is multiple spawn points. At the moment, you do get games sometimes where one team can keep the other pinned in their starting area, then dominate the entire map. Very fun and satisfying if you dish it out, but infuriating if you're on the receiving end.

I think they need to stop aiming it at babies.

Spoiler:

Zero wrote:

Can I ask folk who shoot online more than I do: what can be done to improve the online?

Drunkalilly wrote:

More splatfests and things would be a good one, more maps, greater customisation of inklings . . .

If they want to make a big change, the only thing I'd suggest is multiple spawn points. At the moment, you do get games sometimes where one team can keep the other pinned in their starting area, then dominate the entire map. Very fun and satisfying if you dish it out, but infuriating if you're on the receiving end.

All good ideas from drunka there, even though I didn't mind it maybe don't stagger adding news maps/modes as much as it inevitably put some people off thinking it didn't have enough content.

Yeah, they should start with a more sizable map selection this time around, because the sequel will inevitably be a little less fresh.

But I agree with your comments on the original launch, Jas. I bought it on day one and the gameplay was such a fun, unique, take on the shooter that I didn't care one bit that there weren't many maps or modes. I didn't feel like I was 'missing out' on content or anything like that. Even having only a couple of active maps at a time didn't really bug me - it meshed well with the ethos behind the game that this is something we want people to just jump in and out of without tinkering with a load of gubbins. You want to play for hours? Great, it's fun. You want to play for a few quick rounds? Awesome, we'll throw you straight in and you won't have to worry about which maps are populated.

I think part of why the map rotation was so limited on the first one might be because Ninty were worried that given the Wii U's sales, there wouldn't be that many people on Splatoon, and so they purposefully focused everyone into a small map pool. A confident Switch launch could well see Ninty open the rotation up a little, but keep that quick play attitude, which I'd be happy with.

Oh, another suggestion Drunka said back in our fictional hometown which exists outside Gnamer. It'd be cool if the multiplayer stages incorporated single player mechanics. Ie those sponge blocks that you shoot to expand. Stuff like that could possibly give you access to different areas of a map. I forget the other things the single player had but I'm sure there are other things that might be welcome in multiplayer.

I'm hoping it's a proper sequel, they won't have to change much gameplay wise just add more modes, maps, etc. I'd specifically love to have a new single player mode, it was nothing revolutionary but I enjoyed it all the same. I'm not really sure what else I could ask for, they nailed it first time around if you ask, more of the same please.

I wouldn't mind if it was an Ultimate Edition of sorts - Splatoon was one of a few games I'm gutted I missed out on Wii U, so if I got to experience an enhanced edition of the original on Switch, I'd be a happy bunn- er, inkling.

JayMoyles wrote:

I wouldn't mind if it was an Ultimate Edition of sorts - Splatoon was one of a few games I'm gutted I missed out on Wii U, so if I got to experience an enhanced edition of the original on Switch, I'd be a happy bunn- er, inkling.

Fun fact: The characters were rabbits in the early build of Splatoon.

You're a kid now! You're a rabbid now!

(Heaven help us, Zero - when you say their names, they-)

The_Jaster wrote:

JayMoyles wrote:

I wouldn't mind if it was an Ultimate Edition of sorts - Splatoon was one of a few games I'm gutted I missed out on Wii U, so if I got to experience an enhanced edition of the original on Switch, I'd be a happy bunn- er, inkling.

Fun fact: The characters were rabbits in the early build of Splatoon.

They definitely made the right design choice in the end!

How they eventually got there is a interesting read in this Iwata asks.

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Iwata-Asks/Iwata-Asks-Splatoon/Splatoon/3-Got-to-be-Squids/3-Got-to-be-Squids-1021369.html

I remember when the game was first being advertised laughing at one of the developers saying he'd said "What if they were squids?"

Splatoon 2 confirmed. My trousers just exploded.

Out in the summer.
Dead.