Same. I mostly play portable and it’s much more convenient.
The only thing I miss is vibration but as I don’t play a lot of action games it’s not that important. Still strange.
Oh man, that’s very pretty!
So guys, what is Splatoon exactly, and is it fun for the single player such as myself?
Okay I’ll try to make this quick: Splatoon is a heavily-themed shooter game, where two teams of four compete against each other in a random arena. But if the word “shooter” turns you off, WAIT! There’s more to it than that…
You’re not shooting with bullets: You’re shooting ink! Your character is an Inkling, an evolved humanoid squid (hence the ink). The goal of the match is simply to cover more area with your ink than the opponent does with theirs. You can also shoot your opponents with ink and they’ll explode (return back to base), but taking out opponents doesn’t affect who wins the match. So if you want to focus on taking out the other team, you can do that…or you can avoid conflict altogether and just paint as much ground as you can.
There are some other details—different weapon types, different special attacks, you can transform into a squid and swim through your ink color—but that’s the gist of it. Oh, and it uses the gyro controls for aiming, which makes it easier. There’s also a single-player campaign you can play which is pretty fun, but the multiplayer matches are where the fun is.
Oh, and there’s a Splatfest (weekly competition) this weekend that you can try for free! Download it and check it out!
Edit: And really, it’s one of the most creatively themed games I’ve ever seen! The “lobby” is this giant cityscape where you see other players (with a canned picture message they drew), and different stores where you can buy weapons and outfits with different stats. And during the Splatfest, everything is rethemed to this giant music celebration. It’s a whole big thing.
I’m sure this came up already at some point, but if I want to get my Switch plugged into Ethernet, will any old USB dongle work? Anything specific to seek out or avoid?
I have a friend who is into competitive stuff and I think he had to buy a specific adapter. I will ask him next chance I get.
To add to Andy’s response and to talk in your language: Splatoon is one of my favourite online shooters alongside Titanfall 2. The single-player campaigns are alright (the bosses are excellent) but the multiplayer… oh man!
So the big thing is the ink. In Turf War, covering the map with your colour is the aim of the game, but it’s so much more than that mechanically. Your own colour ink is your friend. It’s your main mode of traversal, it’s a hiding place, it’s your territory and the sole way of reloading your weapons. Enemy ink slows you down and hurts you so it’s really important to maintain your own inked territory or ‘turf’ so you and your team have space and can move around freely. Mobility is a huge part of Splatoon. Transforming into a squid allows you to swim through your team’s ink which is much faster than running around on foot. You can even swim up inked walls which allows for all kinds of sneaky flanks. Sneakier still, you can submerge yourself and lie in wait for a surprise attack on unsuspecting enemies. Each weapon set in the game comes with a special and to charge it you have to ink the map to expand your turf. When your tanks are empty, dunk yourself in the ink to top them up!
You’ve got weapons like rollers, paintbrushes, umbrellas, ‘splatling’ guns, buckets, sprays and all sorts of others. These are paired with secondary throwables and other abilities, and then there are your special attacks which are awesome. There’s a capture the flag type mode, control (splat) zones, Clam Blitz and a type of escort mission called Tower Control. They’re all brilliant.
Splatoon’s smart design hasn’t changed that much since the first game and with each new game they’ve essentially been adding and building on that incredibly confident and bold foundation. It’s got loads of personality and is just a great time. Oh, and the motion controls are a revelation. Undoubtedly the closest thing I’ve felt to mouse and keyboard on a pad and it makes me sad that it hasn’t been more widely adopted by other console shooters.
Welp I’m downloading the thing now. Thanks y’all.
Oh I forgot to mention Salmon Run! It’s an intense and bananas co-op horde mode which used to be on for a limited time but with the third game it’ll be available all the time. Can’t wait.
So I just did the tutorial for Splatoon 3 and enjoyed it very much, but playing it with the pro controller with the thingy I usually use to mount it to the pro controller was no bueno.
So I did some research and got this:
Which looks way better for portable mode, which is how I exclusively play it. Very excited to try it.
My son just pointed out that during Splatfest, all of the stages are at night, when they’re normally played in daytime. I love touches like that!
The Split Pad Pro is great. It’s way more comfortable than the joy-cons, and the rear buttons are very handy. I’ve used it almost exclusively for the past couple years.
BUT, since you’re interested in Splatoon 3, you should be aware that it does not have motion sensors, so you can’t use it for gyro aiming. That’s a feature that is irrelevant in 99% of games, but Splatoon is the one glaring exception.
That’s fine, I’m not sure I liked the gyro aiming.
Ah so I switched (ha ha) back to the original Joycons and the gyro aiming is SO MUCH BETTER. I’m still excited about the split pad as I find the joycons a bit small overall, but for this Splatoon test this will be way better.
I had zero idea the gyro aiming could even work at all with the hori pad pro. So there is a little something inside the switch itself as well I guess.
Omg you guys the Hori Split Pad is AMAZING. So damned comfortable, fits like a glove, great, smooth sticks and lovely buttons and a dpad!
(One of us now ^-^)
I’ve been hearing about that hori split pad for years. Finally bought it because of you @BrianRubin shakes fist
Just ordered one!
Oh wow, I hope y’all like it as much as I do.