Squid Sisters Stories is a 2017 Splatoon web serial novel taking place between the first two games, serving as promotional material for Splatoon 2. Mainly focusing on Marie, the story focuses on the relationship between her and her cousin Callie in the aftermath of the first game's Grand Finale Splatfest that pitted the two idol singers against each other.
New chapters were released weekly on the official North American and Japanese websites for Splatoon 2, as well as the News section of Nintendo of Europe's website.
Chapters: Prologue
, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7
Squid Sisters Stories contains examples of:
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: Discussed. In Chapter 2, Marie briefly muses that Callie might harbor resentment over the outcome of the "Callie vs. Marie" Splatfest, only to immediately dismiss this as being uncharacteristic of her cousin and blame the train of thought on her own inflated ego from winning the event."Maybe winning that final Splatfest has made you full of yourself." The very idea stung Marie with a twinge of self-loathing...
- Call-Back: When the Squid Sisters spend the day together in Chapter 4, they visit a food court, with whatever they order being a direct reference to one of the first game's food-related Splatfests. In the American version, Callie orders a burger and Marie orders a slice of pizza; in the European versions, they both get pizza, but Callie goes for one with pineapple, while Marie goes without; in Japanese, they just order drinks, with Callie getting lemon tea and Marie getting milk tea.
- Celebrity Is Overrated: Many of Callie and Marie's worries about their relationship surrounds how their increased popularity and fame has pulled them in different directions, to the point that they barely even see each other despite being roommates. Callie in particular gets the brunt of it, becoming a major television and film star, which causes her so much stress that she eventually skips town without telling anyone.
- Framing Device: The story is prefaced by a brief introduction explaining that the story contains information that was gathered by a member of the Squid Research Lab, the organization that studies the various race and cultures of the Splatoon series.
- Here We Go Again!: To her consternation, Marie finds that in addition to Callie going missing while Marie was out of town visiting her parents, DJ Octavio has escaped and the Great Zapfish is gone again, mirroring the plot of the first game.
- Interquel: The story takes place during the two years between the first Splatoon and Splatoon 2. In addition to providing greater context to that game's story, it also provides direct explanations for some of the changes to Inkopolis that have occurred since the first entry:
- Crusty Sean quit his job as store manager at Shrimp Kicks due to wanting to be in-charge of his own business. Running the Crust Bucket food truck came as a suggestion from a close friend.
- Annie, who was the manager at Cooler Heads, left that job because she never felt comfortable working in front-facing retail. She spent some time as a part-time worker at Ammo Knights helping to decorate weapons, which inspired her to creating a new online storefront where she'd sell customized gear (i.e. the SplatNet Gear Shop on the mobile app).
- Sheldon is the only returning shopkeeper in the second game because the Ammo Knights in Inkopolis Square is a second location; he'd been spending the two years between games working on plans to begin franchising his weapons store.
- To Be Continued: The final chapter ends with Marie heading to Inkopolis Square to scout out talent to become an agent for the New Squidbeak Splatoon in the absence of her grandfather and Agent 3, leading directly into Splatoon 2's "Hero Mode" single-player campaign.
