I found this game to be an interesting new IP from Nintendo at E3, so I figured I'd make a topic for it.

Splatoon is a third person shooter where players play as squid people who shoot ink (with super-soakers!) that damages enemies and paints the environment. In the 4v4 E3 demo, the object of the game is simply to paint more of the environment with your team's color than your opponents. Whoever owns the most territory when the timer runs out wins the match.

When standing on your own ink, you can transform into a squid and swim through the paint, allowing the player to move very quickly and traverse the environment in new ways. I saw players swimming up walls, though fences, etc. You can also tap a teammate on the touch-screen minimap to super-jump to a teammate. Swimming into the opponent's ink slows you down.

Map design seems pretty cool, based on urban / skatepark / waterpark environments to go with the whole graffiti feel of painting the environment and water feel of being a squid.

There's some sort of special meter that fills up, eventually allowing players to use a power weapon such as paint grenades, paint-rollers, snipers, splash guns, etc. It doesn't seem that weapons spawn on the map. Players refill their super-soaker tanks by swimming in their ink and map movement is promoted by the need to paint over enemy territory.

The controls seem to be standard, with the added option of controlling fine-tuned movement with the WiiU touch-pad's gyroscope. In the interview below, a developer said that it's a very precise control scheme and playing without gyroscope controls means "you probably won't win."

Unfortunately, it looks like there will be no voice chat online, although there are plans to add "other ways to communicate" alongside the touch-pad's intuitive map. I'm assuming there will be pre-set commands like "Help me!" and "Let's attack!" at best. That's a shame since this looks like a really fun teamwork-based shooter.

It's also worth mentioning that they want to make sure the game can be enjoyed by players who do not have an internet connection, and that different game-modes and customization options are being considered for hardcore players.

While I have no concrete plans to buy a WiiU, Nintendo's showing at E3 is making me seriously consider it, and Splatoon is definitely on my radar now. The whole territory by paint idea is really interesting and looks like a lot of fresh fun. Gameplay / developer interview below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cHwzSm6q3A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcqf0XOwHZs

I agree. The character designs, the use of vibrant colors, and the interesting new mechanics for traversal are all exciting especially in the somewhat stagnant space of the third person shooter. Bayonetta 2 and some of Nintendo's first party offerings already have me thinking I'll pick up a WiiU at some point but this definitely helps. However, if there are required tilt controls for anything important my excitement immediately goes way down.

Is this a downloadable title or a full release?

@heyguys: Early to say for sure but according to Jeff the tilt stuff is optional. I would expect this to support the pro controller, actually.

@finaldasa: I think I read it was a retail game, but I'm not 100% certain.

Splatoon is the freshest idea of E3. I don't normally like arena-based shooters but the Nintendo Direct completely sold me on Splatoon. I mean, it looks like such a fun and well-designed game. No downtime and the idea of no wasted shots are both brilliant, as is the traversal stuff.

I hope Splatoon does well, because everything I've seen about the game suggests that it deserves success.

It didn't do much for me.

Hell yeah it does! This game was definitely one of the best (and one of the few I guess...) surprises at E3. I think what sold me on the game was the moment I saw the squid transformation and the mobility it provides. I might sound weird, I dunno, but one of things I often look for most in a multiplayer shooter is the ability to traverse the map in a fast, fun, and exciting way. This looks like they did that and it makes me happy.

The rep said explicitly that you have the option to use the pro controller or the game pad without tilt controls. Normally, you use the right stick to aim and tilt to "fine tune" your aiming. Turning off tilt controls gives full control to the right stick.

He also said that playing without the tilt controls will put you at a disadvantage, though.

Fuck yeah, I really can't wait. It looks like it could potentially be a tonne of fun.

I do love everything about the way it looks, I does look pretty cool. I'm not quite sure if it actually looks FUN though, lol

It looks like fun, but I dunno if I could see myself playing it for a while. But early goings, maybe there's a bunch of interesting modes or a single player or something.