
Over the weekend, Splatoon 2 celebrated its first anniversary with a Splatfest asking players if Inklings or Octoling reigned supreme. Following the hard-fought battles, Pearl and Marina have now tallied up the scores.
The winner is Team Squid, with a 2-1 victory. The squid kids got less votes, but gained more victories in the individual and team battles. Congratulations to everyone who participated in the ink-redible celebrations!

In addition to the results, Nintendo has also shared some lovely artwork, marking the game's one year anniversary:

Were you Team Squid or Team Octopus? Are you still playing Splatoon 2 a year later? Tell us below.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 55
Yay! 🙌
I didn't get to play but I was planning on being on Team Squid.
I didn’t play in this one and am genuinely curious:
How did the conversations between Marina and Pearl go?? Were they slightly, even just a little hostile or just like “Oh well it’s just a Splatfest hahahaha”
I kinda expected this. Octo to be more popular but for Squid to win.
Didn’t play because I’m not a fan of Turf War, but joined Team Squid anyway as I expected them to be less popular and therefore win (which they did!)
@MH4 No. I was really hoping for some edgy trash talk between Pearl and Marina, but there was nothing. I'm probably overthinking it, but there's a rumor that the Inklings don't realize that Marina is an Octoling and Marina's muted reaction was because she didn't want to out herself.
90% of Pearl's team sabotaged or cheated at Splatfest by going on Team Octo and being friendly to the other team, etc. Players would purposely join team Octo, then throw the matches by either going AFK or staying spawn shooting walls.
So no, Team Squid didn't catch a legitimate win in my (and my friend's) views. Nice try, because making this worldwide was a terrible idea. What a joke.
Not gonna lie, I did a little dance when I saw the results when I loaded the game up. I've been on winning Splatfest teams before, but something about winning the special ones just makes it that much more sweeter.
@Fooligan In today's world that's still good enough. Consider you're self a winner and thanks for sharing!
@OctoInk20 I played a good chunk of matches and, although I was Team Squid, I saw nothing of the sort on the other team. Every match more or less played out like it should have.
Bear in mind that what you saw is just a drop in the water compared to all the matches that played out during the Splatfest. To say that Team Squid didn't win legitimately, or that 90% of Team Squid sabotaged the other team is simply asinine.
Never mind the fact that Team Squid won both the solo and team categories, while Team Octo only had to take one of those two in order to win. So, are you saying that multitudes of four player groups got together, voted for Team Octo, and threw all their matches as well? Would a substantial number of people even bother doing that? You know the answer just as well as I do.
@OctoInk20 i was Team Octoling and i didn't witness this.
Also even if it did happen it wouldn't be exclusive to one side.
I didn't run into it from either team, I'm a good player yet i lost more matches than i won. Team squid was just better overall.
Having a splatfest open to the world is inclusive and a great idea. No need to be a sour squid about it.
@OctoInk20
Yeah, no. I didn't see any of that. Even if it did happen, there was probably a VERY small percentage and not enough to affect anything.
Anyway, congrats to my Squid Kid comrades. I play as an Octo regularly, but sided with squids during the Splatfest.
@Yoshi "90%" is the basic figure a friend on Discord calculated based upon what she had witnessed personally; She had said that it had apparently happened in Japan, if my memory serves correctly from the conversation I'd had with them.
She did say she basically witnessed those folks siding on Team Octopus, just to be friendly to the enemy team, spraying uninkable walls and squid partying in various matches.
I myself completely gave up at Octopus Champion after team after team essentially spawnlocked me quite rudely and ruthlessly, and I was pretty fine with reaching that rank at first, until I saw the results. That's when I called BS/shenanigans.
Do I believe that Pearl and Team Squid are winners based on what I'd been told on Discord? Heck no.
@Sidon_ZoraPrince I disagree, from the conversation I'd had that I mentioned to @Yoshi. Also, if they're gonna do the "worldwide Splatfest" thing, then *absolutely have a clause in there that says "Cheaters and people who sabotage other players' matches aren't welcome to participate and will be met with strict repercussions", whatever repercussions Nintendo would choose to deal out.
@Spudworthy Again, I was told that it was about 90% of players "in Japan", so word has it from off-site on Discord.
@OctoInk20
What does it being worldwide have to do with anything? If there was cheating involved, which I didn't see any and I made it to King, why would they all be in one area of the world? Japanese players regularly kick my butt online, they take the game a lot more seriously than any of my friends and I don't see them throwing matches.
@OctoInk20 your one friend on discord isnt a great source of evidence. If 90% of japanese players were cheating there would have been an article on it. The splatfest would have been unplayable.
To suggest cheating was confined to one country and specifically one side is ludicrous.
I played japanese players. I witnessed no cheating. If there was cheating it would have affected both sides and it would have very little influence on the score.
Well done team squid.
Expected Squid to be less popular and therefore win like usual.
@Sidon_ZoraPrince I agree. I play in the Japan region and after 37 matches, only experienced this kind of disruptive behaviour once. That's par the course for Splatoon, honestly.
The most popular team losing at the Splatfest is normal and expected at this point.
Wow, the conspiracy theories on here sound like something straight out of politics.
@Sidon_ZoraPrince Maybe not you, but she apparently was a witness to it.
I wouldn't entirely throw it under the bus or out the window, but at the same time, I can half-see your point, even in spite of me being told that such a thing took place on one person's end of Splatfest.
@Royalblues I still do it for the sea snails. But yeah, really wish they could determine the winner in a better way than they do now. Even if I was on the winning team(for once)
The less popular team usually wins the Splatfest
My daughter picked Team Octopus. But we completely forgot about the Splatfest and I was only able to catch the last few minutes. I did notice a lot of folks all up in their feelings over the results, lol
I noticed a lot of the higher level players seemed to be on Team Squid, and that seems to be the main reason why they won. I'm guessing this is because some of the players that were on Team Octopus bought the game recently when Octo Expansion released.
@OctoInk20 that’s terrible, it’s absolutely abysmal for a Splatfest to lack fun, (that’s what’s it’s all about) and it’s definitely not okay. But I feel that team squid would have won without these cheaters. Mostly mediocre players picked octo when high level players picked inkling. Not that the cheating was okay, just saying. Team squid deserved this win.
That's what team octopus get for playing billiards underground.
Speaking of which, I never wanna see shifty station again.
The allegations of cheating are ridiculous. Team Squid won because all the people who wanted to try out octolings and didn't have the octo expansion picked Team Octo, and those tended to be younger players, whereas older players could buy it for themselves. Combo that with the usual "Octos are more popular, so experience players know not to pick it" and there was no chance it would end any other way.
@OctoInk20 Whoa, you got any evidence to back that up? I don't recall seeing any of that. I saw I think, 1 AFK player.
@TheFox That’s actually hinted to in the Octo Expansion.
Thanks for telling me! 😃
Proud squid for life! This was my first splatfest! I really regret missing all of Splatoon 1's splatfests...
I totally forgot to participate, but I chose Team Squid since I knew it would be less popular. And (suprise!) the less popular side won, like it always does.
Interesting, I was team octo and played tons of matches, we played other octo teams multiple times so I knew we win the votes, but we only lost to squids twice so I was sure we'd won
Heha, damn. Wanted Octoling to win. GG team Squid.
Literally 3/4 of my matches were against other members in the same team. The online issues are inexcusable!
@OctoInk20 Your friend was unlucky, it barely even affected the results, team squid would have still won how do you know team octopus would’ve won if the cheaters were there team squid generally had better players. So stop with this cheating BS, It’s salt man, Salt! Team squid earned their win no matter how many times you deny it. Your opinion is an opinion. Plus, your counter arguments so far are “it’s in Japan” other examples are just plain and simple denial. She witnessed it, but again it wouldn’t affect anything. Team octopus does not deserve to win, I bet there were people sabotaging team squid.
@OctoInk20 90% calculated by your friend is 90% of their matches, not everyone's, which is an incredibly minor percentage when weighed up against the rest of the world. Even if you presume there to be others that you are unaware of that experienced the same, you have to take into account that you are the only person I've seen making this complaint, so the number of people cannot be enough to affect the results substantially. I played plenty of both team and solo matches, and didn't notice any of that. There wasn't even any squidpartying thankfully. And if you think these people should be punished, that's down to you. That's the whole point of a report function.
Negativity aside, congratulations team squid. GG to all of you!.
@MH4 Pearl missed the point of the splatfest and thought it was simply about which animal you like better and she seems to be oblivious about Marina beeing an octoling.
I remember Marina being cheeky about it and saying something like "Octopuses can camouflage. You could be standing in front of an octopus right now without even noticing".
Bu bu but Agent 8's so adorable and you made her sad! Her Splatling losing animation makes me shed a tear every time.
Another Splatfest. Another win. 🏆
I had an 'inkling' the squid team would win ^_^
Thoroughly enjoyed this Splatfest - my Daughter and I worked our way up to Octo Queen & Squid King respectfully, but we were surprised that there wasn't much in the way of extra Sea Snails for the winner; she got 21 & I got 24 so it's nice you still get a fair amount for coming in second ;0p
Didn't see anyone having squid parties or mucking around in the collective 12 hours we put in.
@countzero Thanks for answering! 😃
Enjoyed this splatfest.... first time reaching Squid King! Nice...
Yeah, take that! You got the numbers but we got the skills! Good game.
@OctoInk20 What?
@OctoInk20 gg
@OctoInk20 I played with a few different OCTO teams and this DID happen in a couple of them. Took me awhile to catch on.
My heart was for the Squids. But friends talked me into playing Octo. Fun was had by all!
I know this is a little off-topic, but imagine a guy who got Splatoon 1 since day 1 and entered every single Splatfest(Including Splatfests from Splatoon 2), but never really winning any of themX)
@OctoInk20 be quiet... i would have seen your point more if you were not on team octopus. As everyone said, team squid had more exprienced players. It wouldn't go any other way. Your one friend is very small evidence that these scum caused team squid to win. And again your on team octopus, a member of team octopus saying team squid didn't legitimately win, And their evidence is that a small minority of cheaters (in one country of a worldwide splatfest) ruined 90% of their friend's exprience, And every time somone else has an extremely valid point, They deny it. Hmm... it's almost like they are using this misfortune to feel better about losing (that's hopefully not the case). Anyways, Congratulations team squid and GG team octopus, consider youselves winners too (the true losers are the ones who are salty as hell about losing).
@OctoInk20
@OctoInk20 Just please stop denying. Team squid won fair and square and there's nothing you can do about it. team squid is the legit winner. not team octopus.
@OctoInk20 Stop with the denial, team squid truly won. don't be a sore loser.
To reiterate my point to those that @'d me: This image:
That’s at least 50 matches sabotaged. That’s definitely enough to cause a 3% or 4% difference in the overall score, as well.
I purposely chose team squid because I knew they would win.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...