With Splatoon’s recent dedicated Direct, you wouldn’t think that there would be much
more to cover about the game.
Everything was gone over with great detail including many newer elements like modes and
the weapons.
But even though a lot was covered, there are a few secrets and hidden details we were able
to find thanks to the old Analysis Machine.
So let’s see what the Inklings have in store for us.
Well, we finally got a look at how we’ll be able to customize our Inklings.
We believe that as soon as you begin the game, the option will become available.
But there’s less to change about your squid than we originally thought.
All that can really be changed is the Inkling’s skin tone and eye color.
Add in the Inkling’s gender, and that’s about it.
Their color is actually automatically chosen depending on the stage whether it’s in single
player or multiplayer.
So it really does come down to the gear to truly make the Inkling your own.
And as the Direct said, players will be able to check out the gear of the Inklings wandering
around Inkopolis.
These Inklings are the avatars of players you’ve encountered online or on Miiverse.
Better yet, if you see a piece that you really like, you can order the gear through the new
character Spyke.
A cool little touch is that the ordering is being done with a squid-shaped iPhone.
Sooo, a squid phone?
An iSquid?
Either way, once it’s ordered, you visit Spyke to pick it up.
But where is Spyke in Inkopolis?
Well, we’re pretty sure he’s tucked into the alley next to the café.
We see two different vending machines around him and thanks to the various angles of the
central hub during the Direct, we get a good view of both machines.
What is odd is that in this scene, we see an Inkling that supposedly is saying, ‘Up.’
At first we thought it was the end of a sentence or maybe a visual clue on how to look at him,
but it turns out that Up is his name.
Thanks to this scene, we can see an Inkling girl with Sara above her head.
So players will be able to see each other’s names before talking to them.
Along with spotting Spyke, we also saw that the two buildings in the back area of Inkopolis
are pretty much just there for looks.
The only interesting thing around them is the arcade machine though perhaps the developers
will use a free update to change the buildings into another shop or something else later
down the line.
To the left of these buildings and behind the ramp leading to the Battle Dojo is where
the amiibo functionality is accessed.
As for the rest of Inkopolis, we can see that the two buildings on either side of the tower
now have a statue of a wolf and a tanuki.
Though this isn’t the first time we’ve seen these two.
They’ve appeared on the graffiti and posters in many of the stages, but their most pronounced
appearance is the central board in the Arowana Mall.
Finally, during the Splatfest, we see that the entire hub has been redecorated to celebrate,
but we also get a better look at the studio on the upper level.
And that’s pretty much all it is, a studio.
It has the logo for the Squid Sisters on it as well as two studio chairs for them to sit
on.
This is where they presumably report on the latest happenings in the game.
But it’s the single player that was hiding the most details.
For one, we got a look at its hub world.
For whatever reason, each level is accessed through tea kettles.
We only see one though it looks like the other levels have to be unlocked by collecting Zapfish.
Simply completing a level doesn’t seem to be enough, unless enough Zapfish are collected
in one level to automatically open the next, but then what would be the point of a system
like that?
The level select screen will also easily show if the Sunken Scroll has been found for that
level.
We even get to see the Sunken Scroll’s screen at one point.
It’s actually the same artwork that was shown off during the Single Player’s reveal
trailer.
But it’s not just art to look at as Research Notes can be brought up to learn more about
this world’s backstory and technology.
More interesting is the fact that the Direct stated that there would only be one scroll
per stage.
And we only see 27 listed here along with a symbol of a horseshoe crab.
Could that crab indicate that there are more than 27 levels in Single Player?
Or could it be a special unlockable for collecting every Sunken Scroll in the game?
The levels themselves contain many elements that we’ve seen before such as the sponges,
ink rails, and most of the enemies.
But there were two new things to see.
One was called the Balloon Fish which acts as an enemy-clearing bomb once enough ink
is shot into it.
The other was invisible floors that have to be revealed by spraying ink on them.
Simple enough, but it does add variety.
Another new element to the stages are the vaults.
Cap’n Cuttlefish points one out in one scene though a key needs to be found to unlock it.
It’s impossible to say right now whether this is a required part of the level or an
extra puzzle that’s hiding a Sunken Scroll.
But a fun detail is the lock which takes the form of a crab.
We also got a another peek at the rival Octolings, but this time we got a much clearer look at
their Octopus form when moving through the ink.
There was one new enemy though, specifically a boss.
This one took the form of a giant metal ball.
But there is an Octarian inside controlling it.
We can even see its tentacle popping out during the introduction.
Its method of attack primarily seems to be rolling toward you in an attempt to crush
you with ink.
But that also leads to its downfall as the Inkling baits it into a large pool of ink
that it immediately sinks into.
The boss becomes stunned, revealing its tentacle once again which has a green scar on it.
This is definitely its weak point.
While we saw that the Inklings will be able to access Special Weapons during Single Player,
one scene shows that the Octarians will as well.
An Ink Strike is launched against the player, but we see just how good the Bubbler is as
a shield.
No damage is done and the strike simply pushes her back.
It seems like the Special Weapons can be found during levels, but the Sub Weapons have to
be unlocked.
The Upgrade screen is shown at one point and we see that Splat Bombs are the current Sub
Weapon.
But both the Burst Bombs and Seekers can be unlocked with enough Power Eggs.
Otherwise, the Hero Shot’s rate of fire can be increased, the ink tank capacity can
be increased, and the blast radius of the Sub Weapons can be increased.
It’s a small taste of just how powerful the Inkling can be in Single Player.
Okay, we’re almost done here, but there is one last thing worth pointing out.
One of the new Special Weapons is called the Echolocator, which points out enemies on the
map for your entire team.
During the Direct, two points are circled to show where those enemies are.
But the second one is a mistake.
Because the Inkling is using an Ink Charger, its aiming sight looks just like the lines
pointing to the enemies.
Because of that, some were wondering if a five player mode was coming, but nope, it’s
just a small mistake on the part of Nintendo.
The Splatoon Direct showed that a ton of content is going to be in Splatoon with more coming
throughout the summer.
It won’t be long now until all of us are playing.
Of course, let us know if we missed anything in the comments.
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