Awesome / Splatoon

aka: Splatoon 2

Who'd think that a bunch of teenage squid and octopodes shooting ink at each other could be so awesome?

Unmarked spoilers below!

---

Player vs. Player

• Explosives and Inkstrikes/Ink Storms do not instantly disappear after the buzzer and can still influence a match, taking a good chunk of turf on the way out. It's always welcome to win because of this.
• Splatting someone mid-Special is always a satisfying feeling, and can overlap with Crowning Moment of Funny for some specials, as you turn an Inkjet rampage or Splashdown strike into an anti-climax for the opposing player. At the very least, you can bathe in the knowledge that you saved your team from an annoying Bomb Rush.
• Ranked Battle naturally lends itself extremely well to producing awesome moments for players.
  • Any time you get a Knockout victory in Rainmaker mode, especially if you're the one who carries the Rainmaker to the enemy base and makes the touchdown on the pedestal.
  • Being an effective Rainmaker bearer is in itself awesome. Firing powerful shots that can one-hit-splat opponents and dodging enemy fire while advancing to make the touchdown... American Football players will really feel like they're running a good one.
  • The back-and-forth nature of Rainmaker and Tower Control modes means that it is entirely possible to interrupt the enemy team when they're right about to win, and turn it into a comeback Knockout victory. Extra points if, say, you set up the perfect Killer Wail or Sting Ray that splats the entire enemy team in a single blast, and buys you precious seconds to push back before they respawn.
  • Overtime as a Ranked Battle mechanic allows for this. It basically gives the 'losing' team the chance to eke out a win after the timer runs down, or at least force their opponents to work hard for their victory.
  • Inkstrike in Ranked in general can be very, very swingy when used correctly. With a single tap on the touchscreen, you can drop a tactical inkstorm that will either force the enemy off the Tower, stop the Rainmaker bearer and allow your team to jump them and splat them, or stop your opponent's Splat Zone domination by wiping someone guarding the Zone and stealing control from them. The same goes for Ink Storms in the sequel, where proper aiming can force the enemy to retreat from that location or risk getting splatted.
• Perfectly timing a Bubbler or Ink Shield activation to turn the tide of any match, by completely nullifying enemy damage to your team for those few precious seconds, will get any player feeling good.
• Pure player skill can result in awesome moments aplenty. From supportive teammates revenge-splatting opponents that just took you out, to becoming the spearhead for your team in the last minute of a Turf War match that results in a comeback victory, such moments can even temper the bitter taste of defeat. So what if the "bad guys" ended up with more turf? You and your team just proved that you all are perfectly capable of winning Round Two!
  • Splatoon 3 amps this up with the Medals, which commends you on your performance in the match. If you win the match and scoop up three Gold medals, you can trade a fistbump with one of your teammates if they do just as awesome as you did. It's basically the two saying "Who's awesome? We're awesome!"
• Splashdown can be deployed not only by itself, but also in the midst of a Super Jump to blow up those pesky Super Jump campers who thought they could get a free splat!
• Crushing someone under a Dynamo Roller. Dynamo Rollers have terrible handling^note The initial wind-up takes a second or two and they roll slower than a regular Splat Roller when pushed, making them ineffective for rolling over enemies due to the easy risk of making yourself very vulnerable; you'd be much better off flinging at a distance, which has a great potential of instant splats in the right hands. Under the right circumstances, however, you can indeed squash an enemy with a Dynamo Roller and survive all the same despite its terrible handling — and if that happens, feel free to be proud and amazed.
  • Know what's even better than squashing someone with a Dynamo Roller? Squashing someone with a Dynamo Roller from above.

Single-Player

Octo Valley

• Several single-player levels are designed to make you feel awesome as you go through them, such as the first Ink-Line level having a section where you use a series of lines to hop to a series of short platforms and fire at Octarians point-blank.
• The Final Boss battle is incredible overall.
  • The whole level faces you against DJ Octavio, your player meeting him face to face for the first time. The level starts off with music that's awesome enough, and the battle consists of Octavio throwing enemies at you that you've seen before in story mode, as well as coming across objects found in story mode as well (such as invisible floors and geysers), and a couple obstacles that are in special weapons in multiplayer. For the final phase, Agents 1 and 2 manually override the radio communication between you, them and Octavio with one of the best, catchiest, final boss themes ever; it really lets you know you've reached the home stretch and gets you seriously pumped and motivated. (Must be one hell of a powerful song if it gives Cuttlefish the strength to break free from the rope, and hell, not even DJ Octavio can resist dancing to the catchy beat in the middle of a battle against the Inkling who's been foiling his plans this whole time.) The artists of the song are probably familiar- the player learns that Agents 1 and 2 are Callie and Marie, the pop star Squid Sisters, at that moment.
    • This musical override takes effect again during the second day of the final Callie vs. Marie Splatfest, where it overrides the regular Splatfest battle music giving the same feeling of "Final Push! CHARGE!!" for the final Splatfest in multiplayer that it did for the final boss fight in single player.
  • And there you are, slowly getting closer to the ultimate victory, frantically dodging hordes and hordes of enemies and obstacles using the tactics you learned through story mode, while the epic song in the background pushes and motivates you and pushes you to victory, while just recently discovered that the Squid Sisters were helping you all this time. It's one hell of an intense, high-stakes final boss.
  • Even better if you've acquired a special and held onto it until then. The camera focuses on you, with a determined expression, tentacles glowing and billowing in a heroic wind as you prepare your final assault.
  • Even better still? Blasting DJ Octavio with the Inkzooka.

Octo Canyon

• Mission 23 (The Octogalaxy - One With the Cosmos). The entire level is mostly ink rails that you have to jump and swim to and from, while occasionally inking pathways ahead of you. If you're good at the stage, there's no moment where you'll have to stop moving, as you can just use your main and sub weapon to shoot the balloons and enemies on some platforms while approaching them. Combine that quick pace with a finale that consists snipers aiming at you as you grind up to the Zapfish, and you got a really energetic and fun level that makes you feel like a pro skater.
• Splatoon 2's final boss — DJ Octavio feat. Callie — is no slouch. Despite being way shorter than the final boss from Splatoon 1, 2's final boss makes up for it with something more fast and frantic. The punches Octavio fires are still there, but now Octavio can use Splat Bombs, Suction Bombs, and special calamari bombs to try and splat you down, in addition to using non-reflectable spinning punches. He's learned some tricks following his first defeat.
  • The music is top-notch, too. Basically, it's a Dark Reprise of Callie's amiibo song, followed by a Triumphant Reprise of Marie's. Basically, they used the two Squid Sister amiibo songs as plot devices! And to top it all off, the final phase is accompanied by a remix of Calamari Inkantation.
  • And even better than that? Throughout the story mode, you unlock new weapons to use against the Octarians as the story progresses. For the final phase of the boss fight, Sheldon gives you one last weapon to use against DJ Octavio… the Rainmaker.
    • That's not even the most awesome part. You body-slam Octavio with it to finish him off. Like it was a Rainmaker match, with the whistle added as well!
    • The final phase of the fight in general involves the player grinding on rails with the Rainmaker, jumping out of the way of Octavio's punches and sending them back with ink missiles in a moment that would feel at home in an early 2000s Sonic the Hedgehog game.

Octo Expansion

• The finale is arguably even more spectacular than that of the core game. First, after all the "thangs" have been collected, Agent 3 finally shows up and saves Agent 8 and Cap'n Cuttlefish from getting killed in a giant blender, which leads into an extended escape sequence.
  • Then, when said escape is almost complete, Agent 8 has to fight a Brainwashed and Crazy Agent 3. You even get a brief on-screen notification when defeating them, like in a multiplayer match!
  • Then, the mastermind between the Deepsea Metro unleashes a superweapon capable of destroying the world, seeking to use it to terminate the world's evolved aquatic life. How do our heroes combat this? Marina unleashes her experimental "hyperbombs," which Agent 8 sets off to cover the entire statue in ink, then Pearl uses a combination of her shattering voice (see Sunken Scroll 1) and a Killer Wail to engage in a Beam-O-War with the statue (complete with an end-of-round bar appearing that bursts up to 888.8% for the Good Guys when Pearl's soundwave decimates the statue).
  Mode
  Turf War
  Defend Inkopolis from ultimate doom!
  • When the final battle actually starts, the main objective reads: Ink to save the world!
• Defeating the expansion's Superboss, Inner Agent 3. They're easily the most difficult challenge in the entire expansion and defeating them rewards you with a pretty good piece of gear.
  You've defeated the hero within yourself!
  You feel like the freshest Octoling ever!

Return of the Mammalians

• Deep Cut make their appearance in story mode… as bosses! And they do not disappoint:
  • Frye has an entire army of flying moray eels at her beckon call, using the empty husk of the previous game's Octostomp to house them. She's also a good enough Dance Battler to spin the behemoth across the arena!
  • Shiver really shows off her shark whispering skills, as she's essentially riding a rocket-powered sunglasses-wearing megalodon, all the while summoning ink tornadoes and laser beams to attack you with.
  • The boss battle against Big Man is a homage to the Phantamanta from Super Mario Sunshine that serves as a surprisingly cool re-interpretation of an infamous boss from a franchise entry Splatoon's own developers originally forgot about, and even adds more complexities to the fight.
• The former Agent 3 and new Captain of the New Squidbeak Splatoon hasn't lost their touch in the five years since the Octo Expansion. After the team finishes putting together a giant lawnmower to cut through the Fuzzy Ooze surrounding Mr. Grizz's rocket, the Squid Sisters give the job of using it to the Captain, who's tentacles promptly light up as if they were readying a special weapon. After this, the Captain grabs the mower with their Super-Strength and outright yeets it into the air, immediately Super Jumps after it, then after a flurry cuts that seemingly do nothing, they barrel into the fray full-tilt with the kind of manic grin that suggest they were waiting a very long time to do something that big. One fade to white later, and every last bit of fuzzy ooze is gone save a few stray hairs drifting around. And to top it all off, despite going from five years of nothing to "lawnmower from hell" with no warmup, the Captain comes out of this with nothing more than a sprained tentacle and some justified exhaustion.
• If you thought the previous story mode endings were awesome, this one blows all of them out of the water.
  • It starts with New Agent 3 super jumping into space to catch the rocket before it can cover the whole planet in fuzzy ooze, with all of Deep Cut helping Agent 3 and giving them a boost to jump to the rocket. This involves Agent 3 riding Shiver's megalodon up a geyser generated by Frye's eels.
  • The first phase of the Mr. Grizz battle is arguably a moment for him, as he uses the terrain to his advantage, spinning the rocket to try and shake New Agent 3 off and eventually managing to launch New Agent 3 back to Earth...
  • ...but they're caught by none other than the Octobot King mecha, with everyone in the story mode coming in to hype Agent 3 up to save the day as the Squid Sisters, Deep Cut, and DJ Octavio all perform a new Inkantation together.
    • DJ Octavio's role cannot be undersold here. He's not just performing alongside the two idol groups, but mixing the new song on the spot. That entails combining three radically different musical styles, one which he's likely to have never heard of, while in the middle of piloting his Octobot King through outer space (which he likely modified himself) while facing off against Mr. Grizz. Question his competence as a leader, and as a villain, but you can never question his mad DJ'ing skills, and his spicy wasabi beats.
  • The new remix of Calamari Inkantation turns Smallfry into a rocket ship-sized salmon to fight the giant Mr. Grizz. Looks like the Salmonids are taking revenge for stealing their eggs...
  • Which leads into the second part of the final boss: destroying Mr. Grizz by using the Octobot King to vacuum up his own ooze and blast it right back into him, while Mr. Grizz and the Hugefry are having a Kaiju duel atop the rocket. The entire sequence earns its title-dropping Boss Subtitles (complete with pan-over of the Earth).
    • In-universe, having the player team up with DJ Octavio has its own fantabulous connotations. For an Inkling, it represents burying the hatchet of the Great Turf War for good. As an Octoling, it's one of the highest honors that any Octarian can attain to, serving directly alongside their leader.

Side Order

• The ending of the final fight against Overlorder, where Eight manages to barely resist the greyscaling and defeat Order for good. Complete with Pearl using the power of her voice twice - once to literally blow the roof off of the control room, and again when she unleashes the Color Wail on Overlorder, with each hit from it dealing 8888 damage.
  • The first one is possibly more impressive than any showcase of Pearl's before, because unlike with Tartar or Overlorder, she blows up the Control Room unassisted. No Killer Wail here, just pure, raw Pearl Houzuki power.
    • What makes it even better is that unlike in Octo Expansion, where Pearl's actual voice line was just a Simlish shout; here, she actually, physically shouts her "Booyah!" in-universe! Never before has something as simple as a Signal been so badass.
    • And to top it off, despite the lack of a Killer Wail, the sound of one firing can still be heard in the background. Basically; Pearl doesn't need a Killer Wail, she IS one.
  • Throughout the final fight, Eight recovers the chips that Overlorder stole from them... Only instead of the chips they had in their Palette, they instead gain Spectrum chips, which condenses all of the Color chips of a specific tone into six chips each, meaning that once all the chips are recovered, they have a full palette containing the equivalent of every chip in the game.
  • While Order's degradation into Smollusk after the final battle is mostly silly, the first time you rematch it, the team discusses how this could've happened. Marina concludes that Pearl's Color Wail must have "sheared off some core data". This means Pearl got so loud she gave a Mechanical Abomination brain damage that made it childlike enough to eventually have a change of heart.
• The Splatfest taking place during Side Order has a rap battle, "Suffer No Fools" between Off the Hook and Fire & Ice (Deep cut minus Big Man), which apparently happened because of Pearl responding to a challenge by Fire & Ice by telling them to Bring It on stage.
  • The first verse has Pearl hurling disses at Frye with even internal rhymes, only for Frye to yell at her to shut it, it's her turn!
  • Shiver spends her verse hurling passive-agressive insults at Marina, only for Marina to not be fazed by any of them, and it's implied she's firing back some of her own.
  Pearl: How's that? Had enough yet?!
• The Memverse is one for Marina. In order to help the sanitized Octarians of the Deep Sea Metro, as well as Eight, she designs a VR Game that will help them regain their memories by making the mem cakes, now digitized and mixed into the game's color chips, search out their owners until all of their memories are locked to their soul and they can regain their free will. And while the trial run suffers a small hiccup, the process works through Acht, who finds themselves with their memories and free will returned to them.
• The foyer within the Spire of Order. If you haven't beaten the game, it plays an anxious dark-techno loop as you psyche yourself up to fight the next run; if you have, it becomes a celebratory lightshow set to funky disco beats. They really did not need to lean into the Visual Effects of Awesome for what is just a Training Stage (and one the player will probably rarely use), but damn does it look great.

Salmon Run

• Clearing a shift results in the usual positive feedback about your job performance. If you clear a shift on Hazard Level MAX, Mr. Grizz is genuinely astonished:
  Mr. Grizz in Splatoon 2: NO WAY! You cleared Hazard Level MAX? You're as lethal as the sea herself!
  Mr. Grizz in Splatoon 3: You...finished the job? At hazard level 333%? Forget the sea—you could best even the boundless cosmos... That's like the sea, except bigger.
• Managing to slay a King Salmonid. These absolute behemoths that only appear during surprise “Xtrawaves” are extremely tanky, resistant to most sources of damage save for specials and the egg cannon you get during these waves, and most of their attacks will kill you extremely easily while an absolute hoard of Boss Salmonid spawn. And you only have 100 seconds to fell these Kaiju creatures. Manage to pull it off though? You get to see the bastard EXPLODE with your colors, as an even more epic version of the standard victory theme plays. And if you manage to pull it off while at Eggsecutive VP? Even Grizz himself is unsettled enough to rank you higher than The Sea itself.
  Mr. Grizz: Wow! You took down a King Salmonid. Never thought I'd say this, but you're scarier than the sea!"
• Nightmarish as Big Run is, you will feel like a hero if you manage to complete all three waves^note which, given that there’s an increased chance of getting Grizzco Weapons, only serves to make the whole thing more badass..

Other

• Splatoon 1 won The Game Awards' 2015 trophy for Best Shooter (vs Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Destiny, Halo 5: Guardians and Star Wars: Battlefront) and Best Multiplayer (vs Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Destiny, Halo 5: Guardians and Rocket League). Not bad for a first entry.
• Splatoon 3 winning The Game Awards' 2022 trophy for Best Multiplayer Title, triumphing over the likes of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Overwatch 2, MultiVersus, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge.

Expansion Pack Wave 1

• Many Splatoon players have fond memories of Inkopolis Plaza, to the point the game is still played to this day, but things like the Squid Sisters doing concerts during Splatfests and other unique traits are lost forever... until now, where the first DLC for Splatoon 3 updates Inkopolis to the current engine, complete with its own Splatfest variants... and Squid and Octolings are both invited to the grand reopening.

---