Regular visitors to Nintendo Life will know that we ran the Splatoon EGX Team Championships last month at EGX 2015 in Birmingham, UK. This was our first event using Splatoon and the first time we've ran a tournament that involved teams rather than single players.

Splatoon Team Championship @ EGX 2015

Running the tournaments we met loads of cool people and was a lot of fun, especially when asking people to come up with a team name on the spot. Some of our favourite team names were "Only Judd Can Judge Me", "You've Gotta be Squidding Me", "Splat Madness" and of course "The Sick Puppies".

Each day teams battled through a qualifying round, semi-final and then grand final to claim the victory of champions for that particular day walking home with an Inkling Boy and Inkling Girl amiibo for each team member.

We managed to catch up with two of our winning teams Team War (winners Friday) and Quad Squad (winners Saturday) and asked them a few questions about the experience.


So, could you introduce your team members and how you know each other?

Team War: So the team consisted of me Timothy Sit, Ben Campbell, Daniel Ilett and Joe Zazzaro-Francis. We all met last year when we all joined Warwick Game Design Society at our university. Today we travelled from Coventry and Leamington Spa.

Quad Squad: Our team consisted of Razzbowski, Dawko and the two Ryans from 8-Bit Gaming. We are all content creators for YouTube who play many games including a variety of Nintendo titles. Dawko and 8-Bit Gaming didn't have to travel too far but Razz came all the way from Scotland. He enjoyed it as it is much warmer in Birmingham.

How did you come up with your team name?

Team War: There is a competitive Smash scene at our University, and we use the tag 'War' when we enter competitions. Hence why Team War was named.

Quad Squad: It was Ryan Bushell that came up with the name on the fly. He suggested it and we all agreed that it sounded pretty baller.

Team War prepare for battle

What made you enter the Splatoon Team Championship?

Team War: We heard about it from the Nintendo Life website. Since me and Ben have played the game a lot beforehand, we figured we could give it a good shot. Initially we thought there would not be enough spaces as registration started early, but luckily we were able to enter.

Quad Squad: We just wanted to play Splatoon and while we were queing up we were asked to go into the Nintendo Life tournament, challenge accepted!

Have you played Splatoon together before?

Team War: Apart from with Joe, we have played Turf War and Squad Battles with each other during the summer holidays.

Quad Squad: We had all played Splatoon to some sort of degree. Razz and Dawko playing the most. We have played team games together but never all at once in Splatoon.

Team War celebrate their victory

Did you have any particular team tactics for your matches at EGX?

Team War: I was using the roller and the other three were shooters. So I wanted them to push forward to the centre of the map while I would claim turf round the home base. Then it was a matter of pushing forward and protecting the turf we claimed in the final minute.

Quad Squad: The tactic was to spread the team as far away from each other as possible, while one person stayed back, when someone was in danger we helped them out to keep composure and return to getting as much turf as possible.

What do you think was the secret to your glorious victory in the championship?

Team War: Teamwork was essential. Being able to coordinate a plan with my team next to me made it easier to stop the opposing team from advancing and claiming our turf.

Quad Squad: We had good communication and teamwork, when someone was in danger we recovered by going to there position and defending. The two Ryans have played a lot of shooters and Dawko is insane at Splatoon, so we were all in a great position. Razz was a fantastic cheerleader!

Tense final match for Quad Squad

What is your favourite thing about Splatoon?

Team War: Playing squad battles and turf war with friends is the best part. There's a certain joy about winning a ranked battle in extra time, and winning by 0.1% in a turf war, which I don't get from playing any other game.

Quad Squad: The customisation is a key factor in Splatoon. Changing your tactics up can keep the game fresh. Also when you get a few kills in a row you feel like an inky God.

Quad Squad collecting their prizes from Alex

What was your favourite thing about EGX 2015?

Team War: Being able to try out some new and upcoming Nintendo games was great and being able to go with my friends, but the highlight has to be winning the Splatoon tournament.

Quad Squad: We all agreed that meeting a huge variety of people was the best thing. From fans to fellow content creators it was a fantastic experience. Having a slot playing Mario Maker on the YT gaming stage was great too. We can't wait for next year.


Thanks to Tim and Razz for answering our questions and to Nintendo UK for hosting the tournament on their stand at EGX. If you took part in our tournament we hope you had a great time and we hope to see you again next time!