Gamerant
As one of Nintendo’s biggest games this year, Splatoon arrived with an ample amount of hype and hope from longstanding fans of the company. Wii U owners, and even those simply intrigued by the unique third-person shooter, waited on the game’s arrival to see if it was really worth checking out. Upon the game’s arrival, however, many gamers and critics were quick to find out that it was very light on content, ourselves included.
Nintendo has recently restored Wii U Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon online after five months of being offline.
Game Rant Writes "Mar10 Day is a fun yearly celebration of the Super Mario series, and Splatoon may warrant a fan-designated day of celebration in its own right."
How, exactly, did Splatoon reach heights rivalled only by Pokémon in Japan? New IPs from the House of Mario appear as often as shiny Pocket Monsters, yet typically move comparatively mediocre numbers or fall into relative obscurity behind the premium marques of Mario, Animal Crossing, Zelda, and Pokémon. Take Pikmin and ARMS, for example, which we adore but struggle to compete with the tentpole franchises when it comes to sales numbers or mainstream mindshare.
So, again, how has Splatoon risen to become one of Nintendo's most important series in Japan?
I actually enjoy the lack of customizable classes. It helps to keep everything on an even playing field. From a game perspective, each release of new content constantly shifts the meta. The inclusion of pre built sets of weapons allows for a much more competitive environment because people can't make a build that breaks the game. They will always have a weakness. Gear abilities make up for that deficit a little bit, but the weapons sets were a very wise decision by Nintendo.
I honestly feel the content release schedule for splatoon was the best hope Nintendo had for breaking into the online multiplayer shooter genre.
I am not sure if it will be received as well if a sequel comes out, though. By then, players will have gotten used to the full extent of the current game, it will have a sizable following of its own (hopefully: my crystal ball has never worked well), and the devs will have a better idea of the game's direction and balance. Following the same pattern for the next game would have the opposite effect, I'd expect.
Keep adding. They don't even need to make a sequel anytime soon. Just update update update
Is Splatoon the most solid shooter on the market right now? I know one thing it's wayyy more fun then I thought it'd be.
If there was any game that the Wii U should've launched with, it was probably Splatoon.