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[StreetsAhead]

I think that this is an important Nintendo project, especially in terms of perception, mostly because it is coming from EAD. I hope the team pulls it off and from what I have seen so far, I think they can. I can't wait to see the next trailer; I have a feeling there'll be showing off much more content, especially after the buzz it got around E3.

I know I read that Miyamoto said that some members of the MK8 team were also working on similar experiments, now that development has finished. If Shintaro Sato (I believe that the article gets his name wrong) can go from NSMBU to Splatoon, imagine what the MK team can do.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Way too many squid girl avatars already. Jesus lol. Looking forward to this game for sure.

 

[StreetsAhead]

"The art staff was working on the characters. So the art team was coming up with all these possible character designs. Mario was in there. Robots were in there. Animals were in there. Some macho guy was in there. And a squid was in there as a possibility."

Stephen posted this quote in the comment. I think I've read it before, or something like it, but as much as paint-shooting robots sounds fun, I like the art direction they went with. It feels instantly familiar, to me, and instantly Nintendo, while also feeling distinct from the other franchises.

While watching the trailer during the DE, I remember thinking that it reminded me of Sunset Overdrive and I think there is a similarity there, too.

 

[Boss Doggie]

...

I'm more baffled that console warriors think developers, engineers, etc. are fanboys/warriors like them who do not touch other consoles because they are competition.

 

[foxuzamaki]

Well, this basically counts.

Lowered expectations~

 

[foxuzamaki]

Way too many squid girl avatars already. Jesus lol. Looking forward to this game for sure.

Join us.

 

[sub_o]

Splat on Splatoon!

 

[victreeb3l]

Ain't that a thing.

lol Looks like the squid girl is turning around.

 

[KingSnake]

I can't help but think that revealing the game via its multiplayer was a double-edged sword. Some people just won't show any interest in multiplayer games, regardless of how fun the mechanics look.

Wii U already has a lot of single player/local multiplayer games and quite few online multiplayer ones.
On top of that, the most popular Wii U game since launch is MK8 as it seems, a multiplazyer oriented game and SSB4 has the chance to follow the same route in popularity.

 

[Phil S.]

That sounds more than a single player like Smash. For me sounds almost like there are also some puzzles involved. Or some kind of squidbased platforming.

Maybe a challenge mode with different tasks to do that each show off and allow the player to master a different gameplay element of the game?

 

[Sorcerer]

"We definitely play those types of games," adding "There's definitely guys on our staff who are super into shooters. We definitely play other games and other company's hardware. We do that as part of our jobs and we also do that because we're gamers and love to play games."

I hope these guys can someday spread this philosophy throughout the company.

It makes sense though that developers would play other companies games. Not just for research but for the fact that playing games you are working on or your company is working on is less fun because if you are working on the game you know everything about the game.

No surprises or sense of discovery if you built the game from the ground up.

 

[?oe?oe]

Splatoon is an entirely original game from Nintendo, though Sakaguchi told me that at one point it had Super Mario himself in there. Now it's got boys and girls called Inklings. The Inklings can turn into squids and shoot, spray and toss paint at each other as part of a struggle to paint the floors of their battlefield with their team's color.

I know we all joked about Mario Paintball, but tossing Mario and crew aside and making something that uses new mechanics and characters such as the Inklings is a far better outcome.

 

[V_Ben]

Splatoon feels to me like a testament to why Nintendo should be giving its younger designers more opportunities. It looks great, fresh, and is a new thing for them. Exciting!