Splatoon

Splatoon 2 and 3 aren't really advertised to boys more than girls, as far as I can tell. But that was definitely the impression I got from the, like, really early NA Splatoon ads (like, 2015, first year it was even "a thing"). The franchise was super new, so maybe NOA's advertisers didn't know what to make of it yet and just leaned into the "mid-'90s" gimmick Splatoon 1 (and no other Splatoon game) had in the US (and no other country)

And yeah, Sploon has had a very strong female player base since day one. I should know, my sister's into it

Not the impression I got, as all I got was it more leaning into being 90s the game to me.

I grew up in the '90s, so maybe I'm speaking from a position of bias. That was genuinely how they advertised to boys back then

Edited by Midna on Mar 29th 2024 at 8:36:25 AM

I get that as I born into the 90s but I guess since I watched things like the powerpuff girls I just didn't see that in that time period.

The Splatfest teams I WOULD have joined if I'd gotten into the series since the first game's launch:

I only missed... probably three splatfests, all back in the Splatoon 1 days. One was because the whole family was on a trip up to Washington DC and we couldn't bring the Wii U

It was Callie vs. Marie

I know one person couldn't have tipped the scales on their own, but being unable to show my support made seeing what Splatoon 2 did to Callie an even harder kick in the nads. I would still have gone full Bring Callie Back mode if I had played, considering I voted for Chaos in the last game's Final Fest and that was apparently the option that resulted in the lesbian world tour hitting me like a speeding truck. It just sucked, feeling like circumstances made me let Sploon's best girl down

Anyway, the other two were the Fancy Party vs. Costume Party one they did to tie into Miitomo — yeah guys, remember Miitomo? — and I think Early Bird vs. Night Owl. I forget what the situation for Birds vs. Owls was because it's been a hot minute, but I literally just forgot the Party one was going on. Think I might have slept through it. Probably would have gone for Costume Party and lost, would have gone (or did go, can't remember) for Night Owl and won, and definitely would have gone for Callie and lost lmaooooooo

It's funny to go through the old Splatfest artwork and find weirdness like ghosts on roller coasters/water slides, or the PVZ lookin ass representing Zombies instead of a dead squib with a fishbone. My favorite is how they just gave up for Barbarians/Ninjas and drew actual human dudes

Edited by Midna on Mar 29th 2024 at 7:28:44 AM

In my defense, the reason I didn't get into the series until the third installment was a combination of living in an apartment whose rent rate made it harder for me to play more new games (until late 2016) and not getting a Switch until August 2017 (so I missed out on the July demo for 2 so I didn't get to try out the gameplay).

My favorite part of the Splatfest art was all the Pearlina subtext. And text. And supertext.

We're at hyper text right now.

Next dimensional hypertext, no less.

x4 You'd still have had plenty of time to get used to Sploon 2. I skipped the Cake vs. Ice Cream fest and just got the game when it launched since I loved the first one so much. Of course, money may have been tight for you at the time

On that subject… man, early Sploon 2 is so weird to think about. You had an Octoling idol, but no playable Octolings. You had people telling you with a straight face that the game was not worth the purchase because it was too similar to the first game and missing content that game had unknowingly foreshadowing the first year or so of Splatoon 3. You had Splatfest tournaments. You had Marie genuinely spending more screen time with Sheldon when her dynamic with Callie was what made her popular in the first place. You had Marina being a sassy Marie clone outside of Japan instead of a "Real Sweetheart", without her design or body language being changed at all. Pearlina was barely a thing because the international dialogue rewrites made it seem like the two tolerated each other at best (I genuinely saw Marina paired more with Marie and Nessa from Pokémon Sword and Shield). Even in endgame Splatoon 2, you have shit like Grizzco being closed sometimes and Acht being a minor background musician. It's like some bizarro universe compared to what this series and these characters eventually became

x2 Serious question — at what point does the Pearlina subtext stop being subtext and start being just plain text? What's the number here? We've had multiple hugs (which Persona has taught me are viewed as a way more intimate gesture in Japan), we've had the words "I love you" in that exact order^note equivalent Japanese quote is "I need you — making music without you is no fun!" which is… not less romantic-sounding, we've had the developers musing in interviews about how Marina wants to stay together with Pearl forever, we have literally every substantial interaction between them in Side Order and many insubstantial ones too (the fucking. Wallpaper.), we've had implications that the two are now living together, we've had meaningful looks into each other's eyes, we've had Marina putting her hand around Pearl's waist as the music slows down and gets more sentimental sounding. What's left besides wearing rings on a certain finger and kissing?

Edited by Midna on Mar 29th 2024 at 11:51:16 AM

at this point they are lovers but thanks to Japanese law they can't show that unless they want a higher rating for the game due to those laws, but Nintendo is based enough to say gay rights despite these laws being in place.

I think if Japan had any laws against LGBT+ content in video games, Side Order would have bumped up Splatoon 3's rating there all on its own. But nah, it's CERO A

Even if there was a law in Japan like that, Nintendo would have stuck to their guns and ate the higher rating. They put out a statement a while ago that basically said while Japan may not legally recognize gay marriage yet (basically because a few high-ranking boomers said no, even though like everyone younger than 60 supports it over there), they'll still represent it in their games

Don't know how all the queerness in Significant Other slipped by in Russia or China, two countries that do bump up the ratings for/ban queer content. But I suspect that those translations just insist that Pearl and Marina are very good friends, please ignore the imagery, the imagery isn't important, just read the dialogue and cover the rest of the screen and don't look at the stage while they're singing We're So Back they're not doing anything interesting up there. Have a jelly donut

Edited by Midna on Mar 29th 2024 at 12:02:33 PM

Maybe I should work on getting my Bloblobber to 5 stars.

Edited by wooden-ladybug93 on Mar 29th 2024 at 12:19:04 PM

As long as they don't say it they got plausible deniability on their side.

x3 or that the big N is just that untouchable with in reason of the law.

On continuation of the topic of Splatfests earlier, Splatoon 4 could work with four idols and four-way Splatfests (I hope one member's a Smallfry Salmonid), Tetracolor Turf Wars in a 2v2v2v2 format would be much better than Tricolor Battles as they are in 3 with the Ultra Signal bullshit.

There's possible themes like Earth vs Fire vs Water vs Air, The Three Musketeers (including d'Artagnan), and North vs East vs South vs West. But doing four-way Splatfest theme ideas is going to be as rough, as least, as three-way Splatfest ideas have been so far in 3.

I promise, four-ways Splatfest is the practical maximum we can probably use in a semi-effective manner. There is no way five-way Splatfests can be executed outside of paper ideas at all

Edited by leafsaber47 on Mar 29th 2024 at 1:47:56 PM

No, please, go back to two teams.

I do wonder how much Chaos vs Order affected the Hero Mode campaign. Mr Grizz was both undecided in the splatfest and a major dangling plot thread, so I think RotM would've functioned in broad strokes if either team won

So do the ’lings still need to practice proper hygiene? How do they shower or bathe without dissolving?

I think the chaos vs order only affected the aesthetic of splatsville and the new idols, and the DLC campaign

They talk about drinking drinks and showering so it might be that it’s just an issue of not getting too diluted

I’ve also heard it’s a polluted water thing

No mention is made of them e.g. dissolving whenever it rains

I think it's only a problem if they're totally submerged, like falling into water hazards. Showers are fine, and baths might be fine as long as they don't go all the way down.

Snow should technically melt them, being frozen water, but then it doesn't

We've also seen them drink out of cups before and not instantly die. They still sweat too, apparently

If you really want the Corocoro manga to be canon, we've seen squibs jump in pools when not in ink battles there, and they don't dissolve, just sink

Must be some bizarre aspect of ling biology we're unaware of. Squid Research Lab Junior Researcher is stumped on this one, I'm afraid

Edited by Midna on Mar 29th 2024 at 7:23:25 AM