From Ubisoft's madcap mascots in Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle to the Broodals of Super Mario Odyssey, rabbits have had plenty of appearances on Nintendo hardware, but did you know the Inklings of the original Splatoon started out as fur-covered cottontails and cuboid creatures? In a recent presentation at GDC 2018 in San Francisco, producer Hisashi Nogami revealed the designs from some early prototypes, which included the use of white and black ink instead of the big colours we're used to today.
Rabbits were chosen because they could be distinguished by white and black colour, and because their territorial nature made them ideal avatars for a competitive shooter. However, others working in Nintendo failed to see the connection between rabbits and ink and the project soon reverted to one of its original ideas - squids. This concept suited the use of ink perfectly, and the team was sold when they settled on the ink swimming mechanic. The rest, they say, is history...
Splatoon 2's look, feel and design have become a huge part of its appeal, so it's interesting to see how that evolved during development. Let us know what you make of it below...
[source gonintendo.com]
Comments 17
Wasn't this already known?
None of this is new info?! I thought the whole Tofu and rabbits origins was almost common knowledge trivia within the community at this point.
heck i don't even think that artwork with the rabbits is new, wasn't it included in the Iwata Asks about Splatoon?
The report was from GDC two days ago: https://nintendoeverything.com/nintendo-shows-off-original-splatoon-prototypes/
But yeah, not really anything new.
Old news, it have to be introduced as alternative avatars along with upcoming octos.
That was published here yesterday, although with a less clean picture.
Thought this was old news. As I've already heard about this from did you know gaming on YouTube
https://goo.gl/images/G4uGEw
Were they ill-tempered rabbits?!
@oji It wouldn't fit with the series theme of marinelife adapting to live on the land, with Judd being one of the last few remaining mammals.
Thought this was common knowledge
Mitch posted this article just yesterday:
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/03/nintendo_reveals_splatoonrs_original_prototypes_at_gdc
Would be cool if the inklings have bunny costumes for reference of the prototype....
And the bunnies look awfully cute
I personally love the art style of Splatoon I think Nintendo has done an amazing job with the title in all areas and it only looks to continue if its popularity in Japan and the US is anything to go by.
@Dom why did you post an article that already exists from yesterday? https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/03/nintendo_reveals_splatoonrs_original_prototypes_at_gdc
@Dom Come on man, that's been public knowledge since 2015! Don't you even google the topic you're writing about before writing an article?
Nintendo didn't originally reveal this just recently, but about 3 years ago in an Iwata Asks interview. Several gaming sites like polygon wrote about it in May 2015.
What's baffling me even more though is how an editor on Nintendo Life does not know this...
@shani I did, but not every one of our readers will. Chill out mate
The very first time I saw SPLATOON at E3 I was hooked. I understood the concept and could imagine the gameplay perfectly. It quickly became one of my most anticipated WiiU titles. After hearing how the concept grew and changed over time I came to a new found respect for Nintendo, because they really do approach video games like a toy maker would. Fine tuning the concept and gameplay until perfect. Such am amazing franchise.
Recycled news!
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