It's been eagerly followed since its surprise reveal at E3 2014, and now Nintendo's colourful, creative and chaotic shooter - Splatoon - is in stores. There are already players running around at level 15+, courtesy of a) lots of free time, b) getting the game early through pre-order deliveries or c) a mix of both.
There certainly seem to be plenty of gamers tackling the online Turf War, and there's little doubt that this is the biggest Wii U retail release so far in 2015. Nintendo's given it a fairly hefty marketing push, it's had online 'Global Testfire' sessions that mostly went well, and the launch has even had a rather unexpected bump in the road with UK GAME stock getting stolen, scuppering plenty of pre-orders. We couldn't even make that last story up.
If you've picked it up and want some tips on how to make the most of your new game, check out our shiny new Splatoon guide. If you're on the fence or want to know what we think of it, meanwhile, check out our in progress review; a score will come once we've put the live servers fully through their paces.
Have you picked up Splatoon today - are you tackling foes online or learning the ropes in single player? Have the servers been holding up for you? Let us know how it's going in the comments below.
Comments 41
Finally a decent advert?
Great advertisement.
@NintendoLife: Can you change the "online" number of players to 1? Right now, at least, I understand only 1 player can go online at a time. True you are playing against 8 others, but that would be like saying MK8 is 12 players online.
I got my copy yesterday and I love it so much. I said on the forum, I think pretty much all the criticisms are valid. Lack of voice chat and team matchmaking in a co-operative online game in 2015 is criminal, and the 5 maps make it feel very, VERY bare bones. Yet in spite of all that, I LOVE it. I love the art design. The characters, the hub world, it all looks brilliant. I wish they'd licensed an animated kids show to help it explode in popularity. I believe it's going to do very, very well as it is, but Mario Kart and Smash numbers should be it's aim. All the Nintendo hardcore that bought those games should be wanting this, plus a whole bunch more than are tired of MK and Smash should be drawn in!
@Peach64 they did announce that they do plan to launch tons more levels for multiplayer over the summer to beef it up and I highly doubt people will have time to coordinate within 3 minutes especially since everyone I know or have talked to who will be getting this game said they would only use the voice chat so they could do exactly what nintendo has said is why they did not include voice chat.
Also i have heard splatoon has been about fully sold out in japan now.
I like it, I'm glad I get to play it now but it will be a much better game when they add content.
It could do with a martyrdom perk.
$64 out of my bank account
Nintenjoe64, they're not called perks and this isn't Call of Duty.
Purchased, waiting to go home and play!
the price with the lack of content is pretty much a deal breaker, at the moment. i'll probably wait until the content matches the price.
@DarthNocturnal @brucelebnd
Or you can get it now and start playing. The contents will eventually come. Plus you'll miss some events, probably some limited items from these events. You'll be playing catch up if you wait that long and could be overwhelming for you by then. It's fun. You guys are missing a lot.
How do you scan the amiibo's in?
New stages just announced live in-game!
@Kami2Kami: Tap the amiibo on the bottom left corner of the gamepad where that that curious white rectangle is.
Just got it but have yet to play it. Can't wait to cover turf with blue ink! 😄
I really want to play through the single-player first, but the game really tries to make you play online before anything else.
Does anyone know how to exit the online battle lobby where you wait for players?
This morning I was waiting 7 minutes for one more player, and I had to switch my WiiU off as there was no obvious way to exit back to the plaza. I pressed all the buttons including the Home button but nothing worked. After waiting for 7mins and now bored of the squid jump game on the pad, I had no option but to turn the WiiU off and back on again.
This needs to be patched to allow you to get out of this lobby area if it's continually waiting for players.
As I am not an online player, am visiting family this weekend, and am in the middle of another game, I'll get it sometime next week. I'm even considering the unthinkable and ruining the value of the amiibo by opening the box and actually using them for the content.
I'm eagerly awaiting my delivery of Splatoon.
@bluedogrulez in what mode...? Just in the plaza?
I'll leave this here
http://i.imgur.com/Y9P24H7.png
I played for a few min during lunch. This is my new time sink. I'm hooked...and I got the amiibo this morning as well.
Great game, non stop fun. Voice chat completely unnecessary.
Lots of fun was had as I snuck in a few turf wars this afternoon......son will be out of school soon.....then it's battle dojo time. I did level up enough for him to buy things so we will see what he wants to do 1st.
Having a ton of fun playing Splatoon, but I can't decide between Splattershot Tenkeneka... whatever, and the Splattershot Pro.
On my way to Toys R Us right now to pick up my pre-order. Will also pick up the Amiibo triple-pack or, if they're sold out, a Pac-Man amiibo to go with my Sonic and Mega Man. ; )
Played online for about an hour to get to level 4 b/c the clownfish called me a loser. Played about 7 or 8 battles and it was really fun except the time we had 4 of us w/ the starter guns vs 2 rollers and lost about 68% to 11%. Ive nevet seen the screen almost all 1 color before. Guess well see how the matchmaking holds up as new people join.
Oh, and I saw my first ever 0 score that round, I thought that was just an urban legend.
Need to wait after Amazon releases the last amiibo tonight, then I will be able to enjoy this. I also need to go pick up my ethernet adapter. And of course my work shift needs to end so I can go home.
I was going to buy it this morning...but I just hurt my finger and now have my whole hand in a brace for at least ten days. Tell me that's not a cruel fate.
Now that's a better ad for the game. I mean some of the other ones were kinda funny/cheesy but this actually makes the game look good and gives you a lot of useful info about it too. Also; despite not having some meme style lyrical catch phrase, it also has a tune that's more appealing than most of the other cheesy "90s" style ads. They'll maybe at least get a few people outside of the hardcore "Nickelodeon" crowd with this ad.
@rjejr - I think the Zero score maybe a lost connection. I noticed some 2 on 4 and 3 on 4 while my son was playing.
@DBPirate Say that once more, I couldn't hear you
OH YEAH. THAT'S WHAT I NEED TO BE DOING RIGHT NOW!
fires up Wii U and continues to play Splatoon
@Gerbwmu @Yorumi - A lost connection makes sense. Or somebody who is taking troll to a whole new level and just gets into a game and stands there. Just can't see spending $60 (or $40 in countries where Reggie doesn't work) to troll a game. I mean they force you to go thru the tutoial first, and I don't think there's a negative #. Is there a negative #? I can't recall ever losing points for either being killed - man one matched it happened like 6 times in a row, probably that match w/ the zero - or falling off that rig. 0 would make sense if you can lose points for things but the score won't go below zero.
@outburst Fist of the North Star makes everything cooler, great gif. Splatatatatata!
For a moment I thought the picture was from some video game
Toys R Us let me use my pre-order amiibo discount on the triple-pack! $87 for everything. Gotta love physical unlocks for on-disc content!
The developers deserve a Nobel Peace Prize for resisting calls for in game communication. As it stands Splatoon is supremely accessible. You can jump online to play and just have fun without any comeback from other players if you're not the best. I think that's a great achievement. Come on, if you want a serious shooter with online chat there are plenty of other options. Splatoon is pure fun for everyone - Any kind of voice chat would really cast a shadow over that. As for restricting chat to your friends list - Well, if they were all people you knew personally from school or work if might be ok, but lets face it online 'friends' are usually total strangers. It could so easily turn to custard. Give Nintendo the Peace Prize!
was lucky that my copy arrived on Wednesday, but haven't had much time to play so only up to level 4 I think... Howeve, what I have played have played has been 'Mario Kart' fun and generally the online has stood up really well - 1 disconnect, 1 game with some delayed ink splattering, but otherwise solid play with 8 players available in reasonable time and that was before the official release day of Friday...
Can't wait to properly wrap my tentacles round this....
@rjejr
Think the 0 score is from ppl leaving the match early. I was playing last night and all 3 of my teammates left the match. I still held my ground 11%.
I went ahead and leveled up to 4 as well. Even the Miis were saying "Loser Alert" when I walked by. And Urchin Longarms deemed me "moldy and unfresh". Kicked me out of his alley until I freshened up.
So I had just enough cash to unlock and buy the other weapon types, and a decent Splattershot. Also got some kicks and a beanie, added Ink Saver and Speed Increase in Inkling Form.
Love this game. Even with a lot of the content coming post-launch, it feels like a very full game as is. Just the squid mini game station, Amiibo station and all those challenges, the battle dojo, online lobby, and Captain Cuttlefish's single player mode... It's a lot of fun to be had.
I'm VERY happy with this game. It's great.
okay
@rishisquid Don't worry, I didn't mean to do that. I really only put it once but apparently something happened that caused it multiply my comment by 5. I deleted them all. Weird.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...