Ahead of the Splatoon 3 World Premiere Splatfest this weekend, Nintendo dataminers think they've uncovered something special. It apparently could be an official Splatoon world map, discovered alongside texture files associated with the in-game shop Ammo Knights.
The Splatoon series has always been filled to the brim with interesting lore, but this is potentially one of the most exciting discoveries yet — assuming it's the real deal. Discovered by @RAMDRAGONS and highlighted by @rassicas on Twitter, it looks like an altered real-world map and will surely please Splatoon lore deep-divers:
The same source explains that no text on this "normal earth but flooded" map is actually decipherable, unfortunately.
You can see the map for yourself in Splatoon 3's World Premiere Splatfest demo by heading into Sheldon's Ammo Knights store — it's on the back wall (just below the word 'Weapons' in the pic below), although be aware that it's pretty blurry thanks to the depth of field effect being used.
In fact, you can get a much better look at it by standing outside and looking in through the door:
Keep in mind, it's just a fan theory right now that this is actually The Splatoon World Map™, but it seems likely. Or perhaps Sheldon is a cartography enthusiast and skipped into our universe one afternoon to nab a world map for his wall?
What do you think of Splatoon's lore? Would a Splatoon world map be of interest to any Inklings or Octolings out there? Comment below.
[source twitter.com, via gonintendo.com]
Comments 23
Well, the Splatlands are in Present-Day Paris, and Splatoon is in the Future, where humanity is wiped out for their misdeeds.
Keep in mind that the map itself might be a historical artifact like the sunken scrolls, and may not reflect the current world in-game.
Nintendo series involving the apocalypse on real world Earth:
Splatoon
Pikmin
Kirby
Xenoblade, both core series and X
Any more I’m not thinking of?
The lore for this game is surprisingly dark lol.
@Munchlax Only Splatoon and Pikmin apply because they are first party titles, the others are second party.
Funny how some lands are shaped like squids or dolphins, but ouch, there's no Antarctica, Africa is part of Europe again, and Australia is butchered. It's surprising that Japan wasn't just completely swallowed.
@Tourtus ''second party'' is a fanmade term and doesn't really exist. Nintendo own Kirby and Xenoblade, they are first-party software. HAL is a ''third party'' developer (though the term independent is preferred). Nintendo owns Monolith.
@Dev9417 Australia is two cats.
@Octane Wow, you're right! That's funny, considering cats aren't native to Australia...
Removed - trolling/baiting
Removed - unconstructive
I'm behind today's lingo, but what is it to 'go brrrr'?
@Munchlax wait xenoblade is real world earth???
things wondering about with the demo-how much will be unlocked/available? are the shops truly open, especially the new one? is the new splatfest conch shell reward system working? how long will players have to collect the snails?
I love lore in Splatoon
@Octane Still, they aren't developed internally at Nintendo. Also it is rare to see Kirby, Xenoblade, and even Pokemon cross over into Nintendo games despite their popularity. Furniture in Animal Crossing has all been from franchises made in-house, most Easter eggs in Nintendo games are also from in-house franchises.
@sneaky_sasquatch
X is on earth, in 2 the architect fled earth right as it was destroyed, so a real earth apocalypse still happened. The first cloud sea was also programmed to basically re-make earth, but it didn't work or the architect didn't like it or something.
@Tourtus
Most of Monolith Soft works at Nintendo headquarters right now and their pay stubs say "Nintendo" on them. They are also assigned between projects at Nintendo whim, most of them are working on BOTW2 right now. Nintendo employees are also at all the Monolith buildings working on the projects there, fully integrated. Monolith creative directors report to Nintendo corporate and do not act independently. They are, for all intents and purposes, Nintendo staff. Now in fairness that's only been the case for around 2 years, but Xenobldes 3 at least is 100% a first party game.
I actually don't know anyone who works at HAL, so couldn't tell ya what the day to day is like. I know a ton of them were reassigned by Nintendo to work on OS projects, so the integration is likely pretty high.
@Tourtus This is why Nintendo should just buy HAL Laboratories
@Sonos yet another comment belittling the trans community, what exactly is your problem?
@Otoemetry Nothing. I like making jokes and such. Sometimes timely satirical jokes. Sometimes I am not making jokes. What exactly is your problem ?
@Tourtus Xenoblade is. Monolith Soft is just as much part of Nintendo as Retro Studios or EAD (or whatever it's called these days).
I'm not familiar with all the crossover stuff in Animal Crossing, but I willing to bet the reason why Xenoblade isn't featured in the game is the same reason as to why Fire Emblem isn't, or ARMS. Some crossovers just don't work, or maybe the devs prefer a specific franchise. That doesn't mean anything though. Nintendo fully owns Kirby and they can do whatever they want with the franchise.
Pokémon is another story, because it's co-owned by TPC and Nintendo.
@Munchlax Pikmin.
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