I love the look of this. Such a clever, balance of movement and strategy.

I'd been thinking recently how Nintendo had never done more with Super Mario Sunshine's paint/spray mechanics and this feels like a natural extension of it, but moving into the world's most popular genre. Could be a big sleeper hit for them.

This was the most surprising game of the show for me, and I want it. Now. It's like de Blob meets a third-person shooter. It's...beautiful.

@Infinitywave

That's an apt comparison. Splatoon looks somewhat like a reverse Super Mario Sunshine. Instead of cleaning up after messes, we'll be the ones making them!

I'm very much looking forward to this game. The way ink influences level design and strategy looks really cool.

Stupid name, awesome game.

Wake me when they make Spitoon, a game about chewing tobacco.

@r_hjort
The super weapon has a meter that fills up throughout the match (not sure if it's based on time elapsed or something else). Once it's filled, you click the right stick to activate it for a few seconds (or maybe a few shots). It's a big bazooka thing that shoots a tornado of ink in a straight line, and does heavy damage (OHKO?) to opponents. I typically used it in enemy territory to claim a lot of the ground as my own. It worked well.

I'm not sure how the damage works in this game--I think you slowly regenerate health if you get out of the line of fire, so I'm not 100% sure if enemy ink actually hurts. I'm leaning towards no, but it does slow you down quite a bit so there's no real reason to touch it without quickly shooting ink on top of it.

@TriforceBun
Thanks! I suppose the slow-down in the enemy ink is dangerous enough on its own, so getting hurt by it as well would probably be too much.

@Mop it up

I actually like the name. It's fun to say

From what I saw in videos, you regen health while hidden in your own ink. Enemy ink did not hurt the player, but killed movement.

Overall, it looks like a really fun game. Does not promote camping as the mode we saw was based on the amount of land you covered and not the amount of kills you amassed. The need to be constantly moving as well as having teammates being able to drop into the action is a great touch.

It has the chance to be a really fun competitive game if there aren't any massive balance issues that get through.

I think they've got a winning formula, here, but these are three big things I'd like to see in Splatoon that I'm not sure I've seen so far:

1.) Customizable characters. I'd like to be able to make my squid blue, give it an eyepatch and a goofy smile. I'd like the human form to look pretty unique, so when you see me coming, you know it's me, because I'm the only guy with a top hat and cane. I like the look of the characters - I'm kinda glad that they look like little freckle-faced girls, since that's different from the normal look at Nintendo - but within that style, I'd love to see lots of clothing options.

2.) Well balanced classes or items. I'm not yet sure how Splatoon handles the different weapons - guns, rollers, bombs - but I hope they take a page from Team Fortress 2 and come up with some balanced classes. I could imagine, for instance, an Engineer style character who can create different types of painting machines, but who is balanced by saboteur who can more easily break them. If a class based system is too far off the original concept of the game, they're already putting their toe in the water with the items they've shown. I hope there are lots of creative items to choose from.

3.) Some reference to the squid assassin from Rolling Western 2. He was badass.

This game's been on my mind a lot lately. The more I think about it, the more sure I am that this could very well be Nintendo's very own "big shooter" game. Consider how Mario Kart and Smash Bros made their genres accessible for everyone, and I have a strong feeling that Splatoon could do the same thing. The core gameplay is easy to understand (but challenging enough to master) and a boatload of fun. I really hope this game finds a lot of success next year, because it'd kill me to see something fresh like this flop.

Fellows, we always ask for new IPs and new genres from Nintendo, and we've got an excellent one staring us right in the face here. Get Splatoon when it launches!

@TriforceBun

I was thinking the same thing. Splatoon can potentially capture a wide audience with it's creative and approachable design. It looks as though the gameplay can be quickly understood and enjoyed, but there may be a lot of strategic depth that appeals to competitive players.

TriforceBun said:

Fellows, we always ask for new IPs and new genres from Nintendo, and we've got an excellent one staring us right in the face here. Get Splatoon when it launches!

I don't want us to go down the "DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO BUY, IGN!" path again, but I agree with this statement. New IP and originality from Nintendo, support it or bust.

@TriforceBun

We sorta talk about the comparison to Kart and Smash on the latest podcast. Available now!

I'm honestly kinda surprised this game was so well received. I was sure people wouldn't get it.

I wonder what non-Nintendo gamers think of this title.

@DrFinkelstein
They might think the name sounds a bit silly, but if they don't think the game looks like something with a tremendous potential for fun they're obviously dangerously, insanely crazy in that mad sort of way.

It's kind of a shame that this game has to release on the Wii U instead of a system with a larger userbase. I worry about this game catching on since I have my doubts that it will be a system-seller; seems more like the kind of thing existing Wii owners would have bought. Hopefully Nintendo will really push it with a good advertising campaign.

I'm hoping at least Nintendo players will support it. If it can manage to sell at least one million units on Wii U then hopefully that will be enough to try a sequel on the Wii U successor.

By the way, any word on Wiimote pointer control for this game?

I think it looks awesome but not having party chat (hopefully we can chat in game with a headset?) could be a huge damper in a game like this. I get not having chat for 12 racer Mario Kart but with this I'd think you would want to talk to your teammates.

@Mop it up
I doubt we'll get IR since they talk so much about how the game wasn't possible before the Wii U, because of the second screen being essential to the strategy and what not. Don't think there's been any official word either way though.

While I love the IR in shooters (and in general), Splatoon might work very well without it since it doesn't seem to be all that much about precision as it is about just splattering every little fucking thing in paint.