YMMV / Splatoon

The series in general
Splatoon | Splatoon 2 | Splatoon 3

YMMV with their own pages (shared with the franchise page):

• Fanon
• High-Tier Scrappy
• Low-Tier Letdown
• Memetic Mutation
• Scrappy Mechanic

---

• Abandon Shipping: Despite their name, many people shipped the Squid Sisters, arguing that they were likely not actual sisters, their band name being just a title. And they were eventually proven right: they're not sisters, they're cousins, which isn't much better and killed the ship for many people.
• Accidental Innuendo:
  • A Japan Splatfest Event in late July 2015 pitted Milk Tea against Lemon Tea, with the colours of white and pale yellow respectively. Some fans immediately realized that the colours resembled certain... ah... bodily fluids, and promptly started cracking jokes about it. The same jokes resurfaced when the Mayo vs. Ketchup and Chicken vs. Egg Splatfests turned up in Splatoon 2.
  • Callie and Marie telling players to "Stay fresh!" can take a whole new meaning if you're familiar with personal care products of a feminine nature that often speak of "not feeling fresh" and "heavy flow", complete with the imagery of blue liquid being poured onto white surfaces. Some players have cracked jokes about this.
  • As part of a marketing campaign, the Toronto Eaton Centre's fountain was decorated to represent the orange inkling girl from the game. The water was supposed to be dyed orange... but because the dye became mostly diluted, the water looked more like urine than orange ink◊. Because of the unfortunate execution of the concept, the fountain ended up gaining the Fan Nickname of "the Splatoon Piss Fountain".
• Adorkable: Both Squid Sisters have their moments, like Callie's spontaneous cravings◊ or not knowing what to say when the teleprompter breaks◊, or Marie's adorably awkward-looking smile◊.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • The Squid Sisters are spoiled brats who abandoned their somewhat senile grandfather in the sewers to fight off the Octarians while they pursued a career in pop music. This is kind of supported by their own statements towards their grandfather both in the news casts and during the DJ Octavio refights, including comments where Cuttlefish is lonely, they should probably take away his crabby cakes, and "maybe" they should visit him more.
  • Is Cap'n Cuttlefish a humble savior who is protecting Inkopolis from the Octarians despite his hermitlike appearance, or a senile old man whose leftover racism from a hundred years ago makes him draw innocent teens, including his own granddaughters, into destroying an already collapsing society (which was partially his own fault)? This can be supported if you subscribe to the idea that the Inklings are the real villains of the series.
• And You Thought It Would Fail: The Wii U was a commercial failure in all territories, so the launch of a completely new IP on the system was thought to be a very risky move: many felt it would fare about as well as The Wonderful 101 or Code Name: S.T.E.A.M, which were complete flops. However, the title would end up selling 1.62 million copies worldwide in its first month, and would go on to sell almost 5 million copies in lifetime. 1.36 million of that would be in Japan alone, where people were buying Wii U's just for Splatoon. The surprise success and acclaim quickly cemented Splatoon as a premiere Nintendo IP, along with Super Mario, Zelda, and Pokémon.
• Best Boss Ever: Nearly everyone in the fandom agrees that the final boss of the first game is one of the best ones Nintendo has created; even people who otherwise found the single-player campaign to be sorely lacking had to admit it ended on a high note. The boss itself has plenty of points in the hilarity factor, being a Dumbass DJ who pilots a Humongous Mecha styled like a dance stage controlled by his turntable. Said mecha also comes loaded with a ton of missiles, giant mecha hands to crush you, enemy spawners, Killer Wails (it IS a giant music stage), and a humongous missile. The final boss has to be fought all across a hectic platforming stage that will put everything you've learned in single player to the test, and it lasts a lot longer than the previous bosses to milk the experience for all it's worth. Add some Awesome Music in the mix, and you get a very memorable end boss.
• Best Level Ever: The Time Trial amiibo stages, because of the sheer Schadenfreude achieved through steamrolling through each stage as an indestructible Kraken.
• Broken Base:
  • The complete lack of voice chat. This decision faced much backlash due to most online shooters, such as Call of Duty and Battlefield, allowing voice chat; people argue that having no voice chat prevents effective coordination during games and that shooters which include the function have "mute" functions to filter out problematic players. However, there are many who supported the decision, as many of these games tend to have online players who do nothing but talk down to and insult others (this was in fact the producer's stated reason for its exclusion), and argue that most non-pickup teams use third-party software anyway. Others also noted since the game does global rather than regional matchmaking, it's highly likely that your teammates will often be from different countries, rendering the option for voice chat moot since you'll all be speaking different languages. This especially became the case if you're a Westerner still playing the game after the release of the sequel, as this game's community would quickly come to consist mostly of Japanese players.
  • The game having amiibo support. On one hand, it was expected that Nintendo would add amiibo support for this game and most fans were thrilled about the Splatoon characters getting their own figures. On the other hand, due to the Demand Overload problems with new amiibo at the time, many were turned off from the fact that the high demand would mean that certain gear and other things the amiibo unlock might become incredibly difficult to attain. Taken to its logical extreme when a shipment of Splatoon amiibo and special editions of the game got stolen in the UK just before launch day.
  • The game's online features and maps being limited at launch with free expansions coming afterwards. Some people didn't mind the initial lack of features and maps knowing the lineup would be expanded, while others saw this as paying full price for a large "demo" of online multiplayer until the expansions are released, or Nintendo just really wanting to get the game out for the beginning of summer when they really should've held it back to release it "complete". When it turned out that much of the later-released content was complete and already in the game at launch, it sparked an additional debate about "on-disc DLC", and whether it was right for Nintendo to prevent players from accessing the full game right away.
  • The music in the North American advertisements for the game were quite polarizing, especially the "Squid Kid" ad. Those in favor of them found the songs to be quite catchy and liked that they harkened back to the aesthetics of 1990s children's television, which was part of the appeal to some of the older audience for the game. Those who hated them thought that the European and Japanese commercials, which use the in-game music, are more than serviceable, with some taking particular offense to the repeated "YOU'RE A KID, YOU'RE A SQUID" lyric, believing that it embraced a "kiddy" image that some older gamers would rather avoid.
  • The required use of the Gamepad. Some people thought it enhanced the experience and, as a much-touted feature of the Wii U, it was about time Nintendo started using the thing more. Others were disappointed that local multiplayer isn't really possible, since the Wii U only supports one Gamepad.
  • The usage of motion controls falls into this. There are some who prefer the motion controls over dual analog, saying that it's much more accurate than simply using the right stick to aim. Then there are others who are completely adverse to the sensitivity of said motion controls, and claim that it's too much to handle alongside the more traditional dual analog approach. However, the motion controls can be turned off, so this becomes somewhat of a moot point.
  • After the introduction of the Tower Defense Ranked Battle mode came the realization that Ranked Battle modes, like Turf War maps, rotate every four hours, with players in Ranked Battles being stuck with the mode chosen until the next rotation. Some players called foul, saying that this is an unacceptable cut to the choices available to players, while others defended the move by pointing out that it helps reduce the possibility of players gravitating to one particular mode at the expense of the others.
  • The developers stating shortly after release that customization will stay limited to clothing, skin color, and eye color, as they wanted to keep the base inkling designs consistent during the period in which the game is still brand new. Some really wished the devs would just add stuff like new hairstyles or body types regardless, while others agreed with the developers' statements by saying the base inkling designs are already so likable there's no need for any radical changes just yet. Different hairstyles, pants, and a wider array of skin and eye colors would ultimately be saved for the sequel.
  • During the period in which Urchin Underpass was briefly taken off the rotation for a redesign in August 2015, discussions erupted. Arguments ranged from "But I loved this map! It was perfect!", to how the middle area is way too easy to defend and requires too much team coordination to break into for a game without voice chat, particularly in Splat Zones; to how that shouldn't have been an issue since there are three points of entry into the area; to how that still doesn't help because the map is too charger-friendly, even more than Moray Towers, another map that is a fan favorite in spite of that. There was also the very important issue of whether it is OK for the trees near the spawn points to be moved to the middle of the map.
  • New weapon types being announced ended up with one of two opinions: either the game needed to have its balance shaken up since specific weapons appeared to be much more common than others, or it's going to ruin the same specific weapons because they're not the "best" any more.
  • The fourth North American Splatfest was Transformers Product Placement. Some people didn't mind it and found it fun, while others feared that it'll open the gate for more rampant product placement within the game, mirroring the Japanese version which had already had two such Splatfests. The predominant reaction was simply one of disbelief, however. The later SpongeBob SquarePants Splatfest garnered an even more polarizing reaction.
  • The 2.2.0 update was not very popular with Roller users since their weapons received a huge nerf to their abilities.^note Their ranged attacks were adjusted to only One-Hit Kill if people were caught in the center of it, meaning Rollers now required much more accuracy to be effective. Other players were glad that they were nerfed, as they felt they were too easy to use prior to the update.
  • Playable Octolings. Early on, playable Octolings were easily the most requested addition to the game, it being rare to go on any site related to Splatoon without seeing one discussion of the species being playable. What made this a Broken Base topic was the backlash that those who wanted playable Octolings received, as that part of the community would only get louder and louder throughout the game's various updates, annoying others who used to be indifferent on the subject into actively being against the idea out of spite. Despite game files suggesting that the developers were seriously considering it for this first game, Octolings wouldn't be made playable until Splatoon 2's "Octo Expansion".
  • Bring up the possibility of a weapon tier system at your own risk. While Character Tiers in general tend to create pretty big Broken Bases in communities, it's easily doubly so with Splatoon. A large portion of the player base argues that all the weapons in the game are well balanced, and as such there's no way to create a reliable tier system for the game, especially with each ranked mode prioritizing different strengths and weaknesses of different weapons. Others argue that, while more balanced than most other games, there are still certain weapons that shine better than the rest, and are really strong contenders for any of the modes, and as such, a tier system is viable. Others, who while agreeing that there are weapons that are stronger than others, don't want a tier list in place because of it causing a Complacent Gaming Syndrome with people picking the tier one weapons only in hopes of easy wins. Meanwhile, there are others who think a tier system would help new players and further develop the competitive community for the game... In short, everyone falls into every possible camp when it comes to the possibility of a tier system in this game.
  • Which Squid Sister is better? Callie or Marie? This question has sparked many debates, with the game's final Splatfest actually being based around the conflict.
• Complacent Gaming Syndrome:
  • For a while after the game was released, chances were high that anyone using a roller would be using the Krak-On Splat Roller, which allowed users to turn into an invincible Kraken that paints the ground automatically as it moves and can gore anyone with its drilling attack while having the Beacon subweapon which can help a team move around the map. However, between more people finding the Dynamo Rollers to be Difficult, but Awesome thanks to their high-range One-Hit KO attack and effective Sub and Special Weapons, the introduction of the Carbon Roller, which sports a much faster wind-up making it better at ambushing, and the Nerf to the Kraken special making it a bit less unstoppable (albeit still effective), this was no longer the case, and there had come to be a fair bit more diversity among Roller users. Even the regular Splat Roller began seeing more use despite generally being considered worse than the Krak-on due to its Suction Bombs and Killer Wail Special being very useful in the Tower Control mode.
  • During the first weeks of the game, it was rare to see a Turf War match that didn't have multiple Aerospray players. The Aerosprays are very efficient at thoroughly covering ground, meaning that they can cover tons of ground and charge their special weapons quickly. One of said special weapons? Inkstrike, which can cover a chunk of stage from anywhere in the level. However, much like with the Roller during the Global Testfire, people learned to counter this weapon over time^note The Aerospray has short range and an even wilder spray than the Splattershot Jr. An opponent with a more accurate or longer range weapon can stop them without too much trouble in a straight-up fight, even if they're caught in the cone of fire. And the Aerospray set with the Inkstrike has no reliable ranged combat options, eventually making it become less of a common sight.
  • When it comes to Ranked modes, expect to see a lot of people using the Gal Decos. Both of those weapons are primarily designed for confrontation with enemies instead of inking the map, being two shot splats that have decent fire rate, so in Turf War it's rare to see them, but in super confrontational modes like Rainmaker, Splat Zones, and even Tower Control, they really shine. The .52 Gal tends to see more use because of its more steady aim, but .96 Gal Deco makes up for its lackluster steadiness by having higher range and the same amount of power. They're so commonly used on higher levels of Ranked, that seeing entire teams of nothing but Gal users was a shockingly common sight before Nintendo actively started checking what weapons players were using in Ranked before placing them on a team to prevent this from happening.
  • Not a primary weapon, but in regard to special weapons, the Inkstrike, especially in Splat Zone mode. It can single-handedly knock an undefended splat zone out of enemy control from anywhere on the map^note A defending enemy can paint territory over the Inkstrike while it's falling, as long as they stay out of its reach, as opposed to every other special that requires you to be near the splat zone (and therefore in much greater danger of being splatted) in order to use them effectively. As a result, almost every Splat Zone match will have at least one player per team packing it. The 2.0.0 August update saw a particular increase in this special weapon's use for a while since the two representatives of the new weapon types added, the Heavy Splatling and the Slosher, had a set with Inkstrike equipped.
  • In ranked modes, the Tentatek Splattershot/Octoshot Replica tend to see a lot of use. They have a decent range and fire rate as well has having a very good sub and special loadout having the suction bomb and Inkzooka. The Suction Bomb is good at forcing people out of an area with its one-hit-kill potential while the Inkzooka gives the weapon a lot more range and can force chargers out of their sniping spots giving it incredible versatility for all modes.
  • When it comes to abilities, especially in ranked battle and higher leveled players, expect to see a lot of people using stealth jump plus a few quick super jump abilities on their equipment to bypass the main weakness of super jump. ^note Normal super jump leaves an indicator of where someone is going to jump to, even for the enemies. As a result, it's pretty common for players to stop and rapidly shoot at the area where the opponent will jump to in order to instant splat them on arrival. Stealth jump gets rid of the indicator for the trade off of a slower super jump, which becomes a non-issue with a few quick super jumps on your equipment.
  • Expect to see a lot of higher end players with three of the same ability on their equipment somewhere, with attack up and defense being the most common.^note Even though ability increases give less of a boost to stats with each additional repeated ability, three is generally agreed upon by many players to be the best for giving the maximum boost for a specific stat before the tradeoff of sacrificing an equipment slot isn't worth it anymore.
  • When it comes to Splatfests, starting when the multipliers were added to win rate, it's pretty common for players to forego personal preference to pick the obvious underdog/least popular team, since win rate factors in far more than popularity in a Splatfest. With any random player of varying skill levels picking the more popular team, it becomes an easy way for skilled players to reap the rewards of a Splatfest. This has become even more apparent with every Splatfest since Autbots vs. Deceptions, where Planes, Ninjas, and Pizza killed in popularity^note Ninja's in particular having over 70% of the vote but the win rates from Cars, Pirates, and Burgers managed to make up the distance quite handedly.
    
    There is also the issue that if a squad of the opposing team cannot be found, you end up fighting your own team, which only gives you personal points, not anything towards the team score. If there is a significant difference in popularity, the more popular team will spend more time fighting their own people while the less popular team will not have that problem. Thus, picking the less popular team is a way to ensure that all of your contributions go towards the team score instead of only some of them.
  • It has become an unspoken rule that any weapon with the Kraken for its special will see more use than the original weapon,^note the Octobrush is the only original weapon with the Kraken for its special, all other weapons with the Kraken are variants with weapons like the Krak-On Splat Roller and the Slosher Deco being variants on already frequently used weapons.
• Critical Dissonance: Overall, the game garnered somewhat tough critical scores because of its release strategy wherein content would gradually be unlocked by the developers over a few months following its release. The issue here is that several months after the game's release date, a large amount of new content had been added^note doubling the number of maps, adding two game modes, and upwards of a dozen weapons, plus adding options for private battles and playing online multiplayer with friends, but very few review scores were amended or updated to reflect this content, meaning that most of the game's scores seem unfairly low as a result.
• Crossover Ship: Callie and Marie often get paired up with Mario and Luigi, due to their similar personalities.
• Cry for the Devil: The Sunken Scrolls reveal the Octarians merely want to live in prosperity like the Inklings, and were forced underground due to land disputes. Furthering their trouble, they're running low on power, and the underground domes are rapidly deteriorating.
• Demonic Spiders: Octolings are much deadlier than most of the Hero Mode enemies. They're small, surprisingly smart, faster than most Hero Mode enemies, their shots can splat you in just a few hits (though the same goes for them), can swim through ink just like you, and can flush you out of hiding with Splat Bombs. Fortunately, if you can find armor and upgrade the Hero Shot, they become less of a hassle. However, there are plenty of levels where the only enemies are Octolings.
• Difficulty Spike: The Final Boss shows a very surprising spike after paint-rolling the previous bosses like nothing.
• Event-Obscuring Camera: Grates above you can obscure your view if you aim downward.
• Fan Nickname:
  • "Calamari of Duty".
  • "Saltfest" for the in-game Splatfest events, due to the complaining of sore losers.
  • Some referred to the Wii U bundle containing Super Smash Bros. and Splatoon, due to it being released near Black Friday, as the "Brack Furaiday Banduru".
  • Paruko/Harmony, the female anemone vocalist and synth player of the ingame band ABXY/The Chirpy Chips, was sometimes referred to as "Glenna Nalira" before her Japanese name was given in Splatoon 2 and localized names in Splatoon 3.
  • In discussions about the inevitable sequel, fans often called said game "Spla2n". When a sequel was officially confirmed, it was shown to just be named Splatoon 2.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • The Great Turf War between the Inklings and Octarians, along with relations between the two species, is ripe for fanfiction.
  • The relations between the other characters. Especially Judd for being from a distant time period in the past.
• Franchise Original Sin: Many balancing and connectivity issues have been present ever since the first game in the series, but weren't criticized as much initially due to the first game's introductions and innovations largely overshadowing any issues it had, while this was also the case for the most part with Splatoon 2 as it was similarly celebrated and considered to be either on par or even better than the original, several years later when Splatoon 3 was released still with the same issues from the previous games unaddressed alongside newly introduced ones and significantly less introductions and innovations, it was called out for this much more harshly.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • Many have noted that the game's aesthetics are similar to that of '90s Nickelodeon, and fans of that era have come to love Splatoon for that reason. It helps that an official Splatfest based around their most iconic Nicktoon SpongeBob SquarePants was held in 2016.
  • SpongeBob fans love the game due to both of them having aquatic themes and the main characters being cephalopods, much like fan-favorite character Squidward.
  • The Splatoon fanbase has also gotten on well with Squid Girl, mainly because they both prominently feature squid people. The writer of the manga even draws Splatoon fanart, and "The SQUID GIRL" brand gear comes straight from the manga.
  • With JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, the Roller weapon inspiring jokes with Dio's famous Road Roller attack and puns like Star Splatinum.
  • Thanks to the American Splatfest based off the series, the Splatoon and Transformers communities get along great. During said Splatfest one couldn't pass by a single player without seeing parody or crossover artwork.
• Game-Breaker:
  • In tower control, "chain jumping" is a tactic that's infamous in the competitive community. Chain jumping is a combination of a lot of quick respawn, stealth jump, and quick super jump. The idea being that with this combination allows one to die for next to no cost and quickly super jump back onto the tower without the enemy team knowing. It sounds simple, but it's deviously effective: it'll usually take the entire fire-power of a team to break a skilled chain jump squad and, usually by that point, the opponent's team will have gotten a large point lead. It's telling that hard nerfs were applied in the sequel to both Quick Respawn (only applies if you splat nobody between respawns) and Stealth Jump (your landing ring can be seen if players are close to it) as a means of killing this strategy.
  • The quick respawn ability in general was considered to be this, as the effects reduced the amount of time you stayed dead from 8.5 seconds to up to 4.5 seconds, nearly halving the respawn time. Essentially, this caused death to become nearly meaningless, which ended up breaking the game and caused this to be considered the only ability worth running, alongside stealth jump, due to how strong they were. Several weapons were not able to deal with the added pressure that entered matches as a result, causing the likes of even the E-liter 3K Scope to fall out of favor. As the game never got any more updates by the time this ability's potential was discovered, Quick Respawn avoided getting nerfed. However, it did not avoid that fate in the sequel, where it proceeded to get nerfed hard, only activating if you failed to get any kills before you die.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The game hit the #1 spot on Amazon Spain.
• Genius Bonus:
  • One of the Sunken Scrolls contains a piece of sheet music. What do you hear when you hum or play it? Part of the song that the Squid Sisters sing during the final boss, Calamari Inkantation.
  • The final boss's theme has a constant beat on the background. Word of God confirmed this beat was built to perfectly match the rhythm of the making of wasabi. Appropriate, considering how DJ Octavio uses wasabi to scratch his turntable, and was going to be a wasabi chef at one point.
  • The time spent in the air when Super Jumping is approximately three seconds, which is the same amount of time that the Japanese flying squid spends in the air when breaching the water.
• Good Bad Bugs: Roller Limbo, a strange character posture bug that comes about from unusual interactions with the conveyor belts in Pirahna Pit, has amused a number of players.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • In the Nintendo Treehouse videos from E3 2014, someone jokingly said Judd probably has a deep and dark past. At the time, it seemed funny to think a game about kids shooting ink everywhere would have much lore, especially concerning a random cat character; however, the game is set on a distantly post-apocalyptic Earth, and Judd is an apparently immortal being saved from dying, but at the cost of being the last living remnant of his era.
  • Part of the reveal of the identity of Agents 1 and 2 involves Agent 2 admonishing Cap'n Cuttlefish for being kidnapped with the line "Don't you dare worry your grandkids like that again!" At the time, this line gets Played for Laughs, with Cuttlefish being all but safe already and the Final Boss being on the ropes. However, in Splatoon 2 and 3, not only does Cuttlefish end up getting stranded in hostile territory (in 2) or kidnapped again (in 3), but he nearly dies. In 1, the final boss had no stated intention of killing Cuttlefish, just forcing his former friend to watch his protégés fail to defeat him. The villains of Octo Expansion and Splatoon 3, Commander Tartar and Mr. Grizz, had no such compunctions against cold-blooded murder, and genuinely threaten to end Cuttlefish's life for good. It's hard to tell which is worse — in Splatoon 2/Octo Expansion, Cap'n Cuttlefish just abruptly went missing during a routine recon mission with Agent 3, and if Tartar had succeeded in blending Agent 8 and Cuttlefish with the assembled thangs, Callie and Marie would never have found out what became of him and spent the rest of their lives wondering where he was or if he was alive or dead (or at least until Tartar got around to firing the NILS Statue). In Splatoon 3, on the other hand, the New Squidbeak Splatoon catches up with Mr. Grizz just in time to find Cuttlefish desiccated to the point of resembling a mummy, and it's clear to see that Callie and Marie are devastated to see their grandfather in this near-lifeless state.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The Octolings were introduced in a post with the hashtag "insert Octodad joke here". Some time later, Octodad was announced for the Nintendo eShop.
  • Jokes about white ink, coupled with an unstated understanding of why it isn't in the ink rotation, were already a thing in the fandom before a Japanese Splatfest actually went and made it one of the two team colors.
  • Some fandom jokes comparing Splatoon to Team Fortress 2 became more of a reality with the release of weapons like the Splatling gun^note Very similar to Heavy's Sasha and the Slosher ink bucket^note Soldier and a bucket had some rather memetic scenes in the "Expiration Date" short movie. "Dear god...", both added in the same update. Official Art also references the Towering Pillar of Hats.
  • Several people often made Transformers jokes about the Inklings, one fan even making art and an instruction sheet for a female Inkling transformer. In August, one of the Splatfests was a cross promotion where the teams were red for Autobots and purple for Decepticons.
  • Since the release of the game, many people post jokes about Professor Oak's "Are you a boy or a girl?" quote. In February 2016, there is a Pokémon-themed Splatfest to promote the 20th Anniversary of Pokémon Red and Blue.
  • With the slew of SpongeBob SquarePants posts everywhere on Miiverse, a SpongeBob-themed splatfest was inevitable.
  • As pointed out on the main page, the Japanese Boke vs. Tsukkomi Splatfest was jokingly referred to as the Callie vs. Marie Splatfest. 10 months later, we have an actual Callie vs. Marie Splatfest as the Grand Finale.
  • You know how the game was was originally going to be a Mario spinoff? Well, now the Inklings are actually in a Mario spinoff!
  • The Octobrush is known as the Hokusai in the Japanese version, referring to famous ukiyo-e painter Katsushika Hokusai. Three years later, Hokusai and his daughter appeared in another game with a big paintbrush as their main weapon, with Hokusai in particular taking the form of a little octopus.
  • The Squid Beatz minigame has been noted to look a lot like Taiko no Tatsujin. Then in 2018, a Splatoon 2 medley was added to the arcade version of Taiko.
  • The Penguins of Madagascar movie ended with Dave the Octopus trapped in a snow globe, just like this game's final boss.
  • A tweet showed the Squid Sisters vacationing in Paris, coinciding with their real-world Live performance in France. Years later, Splatoon 3 apparently takes place in what is apparently a Fallout-style post-apocalyptic Paris with the Eiffel Tower imbedded in the ground upside down. Geez girls, what did you do over there?
• I Knew It!: Many had speculated that when the Splatfest events for the first game ended, the final theme would likely be "Callie versus Marie". This was especially the case after the Squid Sisters got in a serious argument after the North American "Early Bird vs. Night Owl" Splatfest, with datamining revealing that they would have fought with each other regardless of who won. This was confirmed on June 30th 2016, with Nintendo announcing that this was indeed the case.
• Memetic Loser:
  • Inkling Boys, acknowledging how less popular they are with the fandom than Inkling Girls.
  • The European Splatfests are the pun of many jokes for being unusual and "less cool" compared to Japanese or North American ones.
• Misblamed: With news that the initial launch of the game would have little content with more coming in free updates, many people accused the game of being an unfinished game that was rushed out the door for the Wii U to have a game for the summer. As it turns out, most of the content that was added during updates was already on the disc^note the only content that wasn't on the disc was the content introduced after the August 2.0.0 update. The game's director explains that the content was held back in order to not overwhelm players with every map and weapon at once, allowing players to be able to try everything in the game, keeping the game fresh.
• Most Wonderful Sound: The sound of a Killer Wail charging and firing is undeniably cool. Just listen.
• Narm Charm: The Splat the World ad has a really cheesy but sticky song, reminiscent of nineties ads.
• Paranoia Fuel:
  • In this first game, the Stealth Jump ability allows players to Super Jump to an ally without having a marker reveal their position to the enemy whatsoever, as opposed to later entries where enemies can still see an approaching player if they're close enough to the landing spot. Think you're safe after you splatted someone? They could have a teammate on the way, ready to wreak havoc while your back is turned.
  • Out-of-Game Example: On September 27th, 2015, at least one hacker taking the form of an Octoling (unreleased) with a Hydra Splatling (unreleased at the time) appeared. Apparently, anyone who tried to leave the battle had their save data corrupted because of the game trying and failing to load the Octoling model in the Inkopolis plaza. Naturally, this made players very paranoid to play online battles in fear of losing all their progress.
• Self-Fanservice: Every major character or avatar in this game gets this treatment, despite the Inklings being underage. They're drawn to be older and more curvaceous than they are in the actual game.
• Ships That Pass in the Night: A ship that isn't particularly talked about by the greater community, but has quite a bit of fan art devoted to it, is Annie/Spyke. Both are some of the calmest characters in the game, and are prime Huge Guy, Tiny Girl material.
• So Bad, It's Good: The American commercials.
  "YOU'RE A KID NOW YOU'RE A SQUID NOW YOU'RE A KID YOU'RE A SQUID YOU'RE A KID YOU'RE A SQUID"
  "SPLATATATATATATATATATATATATATA-"
• That One Attack: By Player Versus Player's nature, many weapons and specials can be frustrating to deal with when they're used against you:
  • The Inkstrike can hit anywhere on the map at any time, and even if it doesn't splat you or your teammates, it does a good job covering a huge chunk of ground in ink with little risk to its user, provided they throw it from a safe position. In Splat Zones, this makes it a deadly tool for keeping the zones in check. And in Turf Wars, it can be the deciding factor in close matches by stealing a fair chunk of territory after the timer buzzes. Meanwhile, Tower Control makes it a good defensive tool if you aim it where the tower is going to be, since it forces the other team to get off it or get splatted.
  • The Inkzooka allows its user to shoot tall cyclones of ink for several seconds, all of which rapidly travel a lengthy distance and can One-Hit KO people. It's incredibly easy to get splatted by one before you're even aware it has been pulled out, and environmental objects only slightly inconvenience it, so if its user knows where you are, you're likely sushi. The 2.0.0 update upped the base point requirement to 220, stemming how often this weapon is pulled out, and the 2.2.0 update nerfed it again by making it louder and reducing its firing rate.
  • The Echolocator reveals the locations of every living opponent on the HUD for 9 seconds. Considering that the combat system favors hiding, flanking, and ambushing, a decently-skilled team can use this information to completely shut their enemies down. Thankfully, the Cold-Blooded ability exists to severely cripple such enemy-tracking effects down half that time, but it can still leave the rest of your team vulnerable. The 2.0.0 update upped the base point requirement to 200, while later updates reduced the effective time of the Echolocator while increasing the capabilities of its counter, Cold-Blooded, reducing Echolocator spam.
  • When used in Tower Control and Rainmaker, the Killer Wail can definitely count as this. While normally it can be dodged fairly easily by moving out of the way, due to the way Tower Control works, it's pretty easy to use to back the tower easily by either forcing the other team off the tower or splatting multiple members of the other team if they can't get out of the way; while in Rainmaker, it easily breaks the Rainmaker's shield and forces the opposing team to evacuate, allowing another team member to pick up the Rainmaker.
  • While the nerf has lessened this, the Kraken can still be this to anyone using a weapon with a low fire rate like Blasters and Chargers, since they can't push back the Kraken at all and can only dodge them. Even then, a determined player can try to strafe around to get through and splat the offender, forcing them to swim away like Cthulhu was chasing them. It's especially aggravating in Rainmaker Mode, where its invincibility and mobility effectively bypass the Rainmaker's weapon capabilities^note The Rainmaker has very little knockback, and unlike the Bubbler, the Kraken can travel over enemy ink for a one-hit kill. From there, its attack can break the shield around the dropped weapon very quickly. It's not at all uncommon to see a single Kraken splat the player with the Rainmaker, break the shield, and pick it up themselves or just go ahead of Rainmaker player in order to make a path for them.
  • Advanced E-Liter 3K snipers are wholly capable of giving many players grief. With the sheer power and range of this particular Charger, skilled snipers can use this weapon to hold choke points and pick off rival snipers easily. The 2.2.0 update nerfed it by only allowing it to One-Hit KO people with a fully charged shot (although this can be sped up with the Damage Up ability), and version 2.7.0 indirectly nerfed its effectiveness by rebalancing the Burst Bomb, one of its possible sub weapons.^note Formerly, it was a common strategy for E-Liter users to throw these low-cost and quick fire bombs to the floor to attack people trying to ambush them from up close; an effective strategy that heavily compensated for the weapon's poor close range capabilities. The Burst Bomb's rebalance increased its ink cost from 25% to 40% of the ink supply while increasing its coverage, making it so E-Liter users only have access to up to two bombs in a row, and also can't rely on quick rounds of throwing and reloading to keep on spamming the bombs once ambushed, thus making it much safer and more effective to get the jump on them.
  • The Dynamo Roller's ink-fling attack throws enormous amounts of ink, which can result in you being instantly splatted if even a tiny amount of the ink hit you, at ranges comparable to most shooting weapons. The attack is incredibly slow, but if you can't splat the Dynamo Roller-wielder in time, you will be splatted.
• That One Boss: Thought DJ Octavio was hard with a shooter? Good luck beating him with the Charger or Roller in the amiibo challenges.^note The Charger can repel the hands or rocket in one fully-charged shot, but all the stuff coming down is going to be problematic; the Roller can flick away the lesser obstacles and steamroll Octarians, but needs very good timing to knock away the weapons you need to win the fight.
• That One Level:
  • Any level focusing on Octolings, because there are no enemies besides Octolings. These levels are also designed with lots of choke points, obstacles, and tight corridors that often give the enemy the advantage. Hope you find some armor, because you will need it.
  • Any level with an Octostriker, who launches the Octarians' version of an Inkstrike at you throughout the whole level.
  • Blackbelly Skatepark on Splat Zones due to how nasty the lag can get in the worst cases, coupled with the fact there are two zones to defend instead of just one. While there are other maps that also use two splat zones (such as Port Mackerel), it's not nearly as bad there as it is here due to the amount of slopes that you're required to cross to actually reach the zones. A poorly coordinated team is going to have a lot of trouble winning here.
  • Port Mackerel. Most of the level is designed around going through a maze-like structure of shipping crates filled with choke points, all of which are covered with ink-proof tarp, making it the map with the least amount of ink-able turf in Turf War. Because of this, extremely good teams can trap the other team in their base for a good portion of the match. If somebody pulls out an Inkzooka, you are screwed, as these narrow passageways almost guarantee you'll be hit by its blasts. The Ranked Battle versions of this map remove the forklifts that provide ways to get on top of the boxes, forcing players into the choke points.
  • Port Mackerel on Splat Zones, both of the zones are close to the spawn points but separated by long stretches of crates, allowing freshly-respawned defenders to zoom over there with incredible pace and retake a stolen zone, and the lack of alternate paths to reach the zones means that it's impossible to sneak behind the zone defenders without going dangerously deep into enemy territory.
  • Saltspray Rig in Splat Zones. It only has one zone, but said zone is utterly massive and broken up by several barriers. Because of this, it is difficult to see where enemies are, and it takes a lot of effort to claim the zone. There are also several areas where players can climb up high and snipe or throw bombs at enemies while being hard to reach and/or separated by water. Because of there being only one Splat Zone, the fighting is concentrated to just one little place, leaving half the map unoccupied and the rest a chaotic mess.
  • Saltspray Rig in Rainmaker is beginning to be considered this as well. The starting place of the Rainmaker and the changes to the map not only make it very easy for a skilled team to get the Rainmaker to the other team's base if they can splat most of the other team early, but also make it hard for the losing team to make a comeback since you're required to swim up a wall which leaves you very open. In addition to this, it's also very easy to stall after gaining the lead by heading towards the top area of the map and getting the Rainmaker onto the crane that moves above that area.
  • Blackbelly Skatepark in Rainmaker is this for similar reasons. Due to the openness of the map, it's fairly easy to get very quick wins since the goal is very close to the Rainmaker's starting point. If most of the members on a team get splatted at the beginning, it's very easy for the other team to get to the goal in seconds.
  • Moray Towers. The map's vertical nature means that a lot of time will be spent falling down to reach the areas instead of accomplishing tasks, and getting back up is even more of a hassle. It has also earned the derisive nickname "E-Liter Towers" for a good reason: The map's wide-open nature gives a massive advantage to Chargers, and a skilled one can completely shut down the central area.
  • Kelp Dome, particularly in Turf War. All of the routes to the stage center are long and the shorter routes involve bridges made of grates, which are inkproof thus giving a great advantage to Inkbrushes, who can use their continuous stroke to speed over them, while everyone else has to run comparatively slowly over them. The grates also spell doom for players at ground level, who will likely get splatted by enemies that they can barely see and, depending on the weapon, can't even hit, leaving them to be defenselessly splatted. It's less of a hassle in Ranked Battles, which add inkable walls to get over the glass walls in front of the spawn points.
  • Walleye Warehouse is a narrow and very cramped map, and both endzones only one alternate path each. If your team gets splatted early on and you can't return the favor in due time, it's possible to be cornered for the majority of the match and end up staring at a turf percentage of <15% when the match ends. This map was made even worse in Splatoon 2 with the Tenta Missiles special; a player can Super Jump to spawn and easily get all four enemies in their targeting reticule, crushing their plans at the least and potentially getting an easy Total Party Splat.
• That One Sidequest:
  • All of the "Limited Ink" Amiibo challenges. Whereas literally every other level in the game gives you infinite ink and encourages you to coat everything, these challenges force you to really ration the stuff, meaning that you can only rarely use your squid form, and have to sneak past most enemies rather than fight them. It makes these challenges an order of a magnitude more difficult than anything else in the single-player mode.
  • Among these, the worst yet is the "Limited Ink" challenge involving a level with invisible platforms that are normally revealed by coating them with ink. Sure, with a guide and perfect positioning, anyone can just theoretically walk their way along the invisible platforms with no ink used... but for the average player, it devolves into Trial-and-Error Gameplay involving multiple restarts and memorizing the layout of the invisible platforms. Oh, and if that's not enough, after the invisible platforms, you have to have enough ink left to fight or sneak past a firing line of Elite Octotroopers, and to free the Zapfish in the end.
• The Un-Twist: When one of the agents almost gives out the name of the other, it becomes blatantly obvious that the two agents are the Squid Sisters. The fact that Cap'n Cuttlefish is their grandfather, though, is noticeably less obvious.
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!:
  • With the discovery of an unreleased Xbox 360 game called Color Wars, some Nintendo fans have been trying to accuse them of ripping that game off, even though it's very unlikely that they even knew that it existed at all.
  • Then Disney Infinity spits out Squid Wars. Whether it's meant to be a harmless nod to Splatoon or a shameless rip-off, however, is up to debate.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: Mostly prerelease, however, many people didn't know male inklings were actually playable. They thought they were also girls, most likely due to the ponytail.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: While the ink does look more like paint, it's still some really good-looking ink.
• Woolseyism: The localization team did a superb job at bringing the game to western audiences, which shows in stuff like all the translated puns that had to be brought over, some of them being turned into clever English word play.
  • One example is the hub city Booya Base, which references bouillabaisse, Shibuya, and Totally Radical slang.
  • The Japanese version has the "Spinner" weapon class, referring to the weapon's rotary barrels. In English they're referred to as "Splatlings" instead, which still references their gatling-style appearance while also adding a splat-pun in.
  • The American team turned the dialogue of the final boss, DJ Octavio, from fairly standard villain banter into memorable pun-filled Large Ham banter. Plus his tendency to No Indoor Voice while fighting.
    "You can't handle my spicy wasabi beats!"
    "I'MA DUBSTOMP YOU INTO OBLIVION!"
    "Slimy little hipster!"
    "Gwahaha! I'ma remix your face!"
    "It's time to... D-D-D-DROP THE SEA BASS!!"
  • Another American example: the Squid Sisters dialogue, specifically Marie's attitude. Fans have noted Marie's reactions to her Splatfest losses and how often she makes fun of her cousin. The announcement of the 9th Splatfest, Naughty vs. Nice, even has Callie calling her out on it. This ultimately reaches its zenith in the results of the 15th Splatfest (Early Bird vs. Night Owl), where Callie once again brings up Marie's insults, leading to a heated argument that sets up the in-universe justification for the final Splatfest (Callie vs. Marie).