I still remember the fallout that occurred when this game was first announced. People were calling a "glorified indie game" and writing it off, and now look where we are
@@Fridgemasters SAME. I remember not knowing thay the game existed, until accidentally finding a "Boss Rush" video in like 2015 lol. Loves the game and had to have it
People get so attached to their initial takes and dig their heels in. When I saw Splatoon first get revealed live I was a little iffy until I saw the gameplay and said "this could be pretty fun!" And then the single player trailer dropped and I knew it was gonna be huge
The one thing that's remarkable with Splatoon 1's single player campaign is the final boss. It was one of the best final bosses from Nintendo in years, to me! But yeah, when it came out in 2015, and for the year that followed, it was something very special.
Totally agree. It was fast paced and frantic, and really felt like Octavio was throwing everything he had at you. And I loved both Cuttlefish and Octavio uncontrollable dancing towards the end.
Absolutely. Octavio went all in and Nintendo simply said 'we hope you've paid attention' then threw you to the sharks. Or octopus rather. Jokes aside it tests you in everything the campaign has thrown at you while also forcing you to pay attention to 4+ things. That final push with the Calamari Inkantation playing, while you half dance to it, and your path shrinks even while having to deal with the killer wail. It's one of the best, and intense, final bosses I've ever played. While the final battle in Splatoon 2 didn't feel as great I do think the finale in Splatoon 3 did a good job.
One thing I really like about Splatoon is that it's not just a multiplayer shooter, it's also a 3D Platformer. If you think about it, the core movement and mechanics of the Inklings are literally shooting-based platforming mechanics, except instead of using your platforming moveset to try to hunt for collectibles in a little sandbox, you're instead fighting other players with the same movement in said sandbox and have to adapt and use your movement dynamically in real-time competition to achieve a certain objective. And then the singleplayer is literally a run-and-gun platformer of linear gauntlets and boss battles using Splatoon's unique platforming movement and mechanics. I think that's part of why I love it so much; typical multiplayer FPS-type games don't really appeal to me much, but I love platformers, and Splatoon merges those two genres together quite well so that I can get the fun competitive appeal of a multiplayer shooter type game but in a style and context that I much prefer mechanically.
Splatoon being a movement shooter is just wild to me. I've never really thought about it before but when they added the squid roll in 3 and let you use it to wall jump it made me really think about it.
Reading this comment made me realize the Uncharted series is kinda similar. You roll, jump, climb (and jump off of that climb), and have a grapple hook in UC4. Along with the maps in those games being all about verticality and stuff. It's pretty interesting to think about.
Octavio 1 is like one of the best bosses Nintendo has put out imo. From a story perspective it’s really nothing special but the way Octavio’s mechanics are introduced, built on, and combined with other level elements is so cool. Nintendo doesn’t really have a lot of level based bosses, it kinda reminds me of Badeleine from Celeste but using stuff from the whole game instead of just chapter 6.
I think the thing I find most touching about this video is the complete appreciation and acknowledgement of games prior in a series. Just because a game gets remade or gets a new updated entry, there's joy and consideration for the unique experiences and context of the time for previous entries. It's lovely.
Splatoon 1 will always be the best Splatoon for me. Subsequent sequels can do whatever incremental improvements and add new modes and such, but turning on Splatoon in 2015 was such a cool experience. NOTHING else was even remotely like it, it was so unique. Also, if we're comparing all three of the games, I think Splatoon 1 has by far the best maps. Sure, Splatoon 2 had some cool transforming stages and whatnot, but each map in Splatoon 1 was so distinct (kelp dome, saltspray rig, urchin underpass). The maps in 2 and 3 are either recycled from 1, or the new ones all kinda morph into each other in my mind. I hope when Nintendo shuts down the servers for Splatoon 1 eventually, there will still be a homebrew community so I can jump back in if I want.
They are adding in Splatoon 1 and 2 maps for 3 and already working on new maps as well. They are going all out with 3 for, especially years later too. But I know what you mean, I never got to play Splat 1 myself(due to not owning a Wii U or buying it for 1 game) but I adored it and watched countless videos on it and people playing and of course enjoyed all the art.
I too recently returned to the original Splatoon and I had a blast playing it. I forgot how much the graphics changed between 1 and 2 but the game is still fun to play and the battle music is so much better than 2. Flounder Heights and Bluefin Depot were really my favorite stages so I'm excited for Flounder to be added to 3. When the game initially released, I had thought the game would flop because it lacked content and felt empty, but over time with updates and Splatfests, it really drew me into the series. I'm happy with how Splatoon as a series has gone.
I really did like Splatoon 1 more than 2. Substantially so. First up, the Gamepad actually enhanced the game and still does even to this day. Being able to just see how well you're doing based on a glance is just more convenient. I never found it easy to do in Splatoon 2, it was way more distracting to get a good grasp of the map at a quick glance. It also obviously felt a lot more fresh. It was completely new at the time. So much so they somehow actually pulled off the "free update model". Something I don't think the second game pulled off as well due to novelty factor being gone. So instead it just felt like you were waiting for more content the entire time. This also benefitted the single player. Since it was new, it worked. Splatoon 2 didn't evolve the single player enough, to the extent it felt tired by the end. Which is a problem 2 games in. I swear the gamepad worked better for aiming than a smaller controller too. I suppose a lot of the benefits of Splatoon 1 is simply just cos it came first. But, I think sequels can still feel fresh and bring new things to the franchise to keep that feeling. The kraken was completely broken at launch btw. It was the worst part of the game. They eventually patched it so you could shoot at it to slow it down. Prior to that it was just too good.
I just want to point out part of why you feel the gamepad is better for aiming: The gamepad has 9-axis controls. Gyro, accelerometer, and a magnetometer. The Switch only has 6-axis controls, though. It’s missing the magnetometer. Yeah, it’s not a huge difference, but everyone I know who owned a Wii U w/ Splatoon agrees that 2 always felt a bit worse for aiming than the original.
"I swear the gamepad worked better for aiming than a smaller controller too." It does. It absolutely 100% does. For exactly the reason that TwentyGX mentioned before I got here. =P
I wish the GamePad could be used on the Switch... Like others have mentioned, the motion controls on the Pro Controller are inferior to the those of the GamePad.
Splatoon 1 saved my life and I’m not kidding. I was working graveyard shift and while the great money was digging me out of debt, my depression was getting so bad. Splatoon 1 released and for those few dark months, just seeing other people running around this super joyful game, those random moments of connecting with another human with a goofy name in Japanese, was one of the few outlets I had to give push I needed to dig out of that. I’m much healthier and happier now, but this series will always hold a special place for me. ❤
17:28 Perfectly articulated. Just from the Splatfest demo of Splatoon 3, I can already tell that they're taking the multiplayer of Splatoon 3 in a very different direction from Splatoon 2, and its a direction I already really like. They made the specials fun to use again and the new maps feel less throwaway.
I agree with the specials, but I feel like all the new stages (from the world premiere anyways) feel the same in Splatoon 3. Also, new Mahi should literally be thrown away. What was Nintendo thinking with that one?
Splatoon 3 feels more combat oriented. Specials are often faster, inking weapons got more combat oriented subs and specials, the new maps are all tighter (though kinda samey because of it) encouraging more combat and you have to not forget to push buttons to respawn
I really loved squid jump and the other amiibo mini games. I’d always be complaining to friends in the lobby in splatoon 2 that there was no squid jump.
Man I loved the first splatoon. It was such a fresh idea and really well executed. I really liked splatoon 2, and I’m super hype for 3, but I don’t know if they can capture my attention the same way the original did.
Shout-out to Splatoon 1's amiibo challenges; basically the precursor to the Octo Expansion. A lot of cool unique missions that a ton of people are missing out on.
This video reminded me of how I thought that Splatoon felt like a series that initially should've initially failed, but then there would be people several years later that would see the greatness in it long after it's abandoned by nintendo. And yet, that isn't what it is, I still find that to be a little shocking, but I'm glad the series persevered.
Still play regularly also and the player base is in fact very strong still. Also Nintendo is diligent with keeping it hacker free now with the last updates
…and now the official servers are gone (the sequels do have local wireless play as an option, so I’m pretty sure it would still be officially possible to play the main multiplayer modes in some way even after those servers inevitably shut down)
I’ve only really played the two offline, so between 1 and 2 the big draw for me is really just Octo Expansion, but even with that the single player campaign in base 1 is a little stronger overall imo. The really big difference, though, for my money, is that DJ Octavio in Splatoon 1 is one of Nintendo’s three or four best final bosses ever, maybe even higher
Yeah, for me with (base) single player 1 has a slight edge on sunken scrolls, the narrative (as slight as both are, 1 having Cuttlefish kidnapped halfway through adds a layer of interest 2's completely lacks), and boss fights 2, meanwhile, has a slight edge on the regular stages, and the fundamental function of single player modes in multiplayer games - teaching new players how to play. ...Except the final boss which 1's demolishes 2 with a steamroller in terms of quality and is really why 1's is _better_ than 2's rather than it being a toss up of 'well it depends on what parts you care about' (If we sidestep how much better the final boss in 1 is than 2 I'm honestly not sure which way I'd go for which of the two has the better campaign)
@@JeskidoYT yeah!! there's a sewer grate to the right of inkopolis tower, Cap'n Cuddlefish is sticking out of it. follow him down the sewer, and you'll have access to story mode!
I mean, for sure. Everything about Splatoon is kind of amazing and a miracle, straight from the very concept up to the platform it released on and managing to evolve itself into an as of yet small, but successful series from there. For my own part, I consider Splatoon 2 as it exists now a dramatic improvement over the first game - an opinion a lot of the most avid fans seem to not necessarily agree on, which I find somewhat interesting, but that's just me - but the original Splatoon was nevertheless an extremely clever game in its own right. It admittedly didn't hold my interest for very long, for a variety of reasons, whereas the sequel did, but I still respect the heck out of it. The death of Squid Jump is a crime, though, I agree. Can't wait to play Splatoon 3 proper!
Sounds like you had a similar experience with 1 as I did. Got it early and something caused us to drop it fairly quickly - For me it was independent of the game itself rather than the lack of content you might expect it to be. I think Pro Chara's recent farewell videos for 2, both the more negative leaning ones and more positive leaning ones, put into perspective the reason why S2 is likely to get a mixed legacy - Why people are, right now, glad to be rid of it (but also reminds people that a lot of folk felt that way about 1 moving into 2 before reevaluating it a few years later), but also why moving into 3 people are being a bit more down on 2 than it probably deserves, even if it never gets the reevaluations that 1 did, 2 was probably necessary moving from 1 to get anything like 3. Here's hoping S3 lacks any of the unbalanced nonsense or godawful stages of S1 and S2 (...Nah, one of the three broken specials from 2 is making it to 3 (Tentamissile), a lot of early assessments of Tacticooler at top levels are saying it's almost certainly broken at launch, and the absolute worst stage in 2, Wahoo World, is also making a comeback. Both those ships look sailed, though both of them _are_ fixable with patches, the Splatoon devs have shown they're willing to completely redesign stages in a patch before now.)
The Ultis are just incredibly good. Easy to understand and very unique. I missed that a lot in Splatoon 2. Also the controls with the Wii U GamePad were so good and I liked the Maps more.
thank you for touching on the soundtrack differences!! so many splatoon 1 songs stick with me to this day and i find myself humming them periodically. splatoon 2 i remember like 2 songs total, the trailer song and muck warfare.
I still play Splatoon on my original Wii Ub and it only takes like 15s to find a match and it's still really fun, even though it's mostly sweats (including me) Overall, still holds up and tons of people are still playing and modding the game.
Splatoon 1 deffo has some music I really wish made it into Splatoon 2. I remember during the hype of Smash 4 everyone was sure that Inklings were gonna make it as dlc characters. But instead they get the honor of opening Smash Ultimate! That's recognition! The specials are really unbalanced in 1. Kraken was insane in tower control. Much more balanced and less OP in 2. Also Jon I really hope you mispronounced Ancho-V games on purpose! Anchovy!! The fish! And I now have interest in getting Tekken Tag Tournament 2! So bonus! :D
@@meta9492 I mean yes they're not perfect. Tents missiles are pretty OP. But not as bad as Killer Wail, Inkstrike, Kraken and Inkzooka. Those made it very easy to control a game.
Splatoon 1 and 2 specials were both broken in different ways, I think. Splatoon 1's were broken because they were frame 1 invincibility death squids, or instakill shots with the longest range in the game etc. Meanwhile Splatoon 2's specials were incredibly spammable, were basically free value if your team was at all competent, and the most oppresive ones (armour, missiles, sting ray) affected the entire map. Personally I'm looking forward to seeing how Splatoon 3's specials will be broken. I mean, we already have Tacticooler.
Honestly, the Wii U was my favorite console, and Splatoon was one big reason for it. Xenoblade Chronicles X was another one. And both used the gamepad for the map extremely well.
The day i first found out about Splatoon I told my mom i wanted a Wii/Wii U, but then I got a switch and ended up with Splatoon 2 but i still wanted the first game, so now as and adult I have the 3rd game and even now I still want to get a Wii U and Splatoon 1. One day I will be able to play the first game and I will have so much fun with it!!
As one of the comparatively few people who got to experience the OG during it’s splatfest support and updates, it feels great to see the original game being payed the respect it deserves. Splatoon was such a special experience for those who had a Wii U, and it immediately made me a series fan. Also Callie and Marie are still the best idols.
I just started my wiiu again, finally beat the final boss of splatoon and logged myself into the Nintendo network. I was surprised that there were still people actually playing the online mode and it also ran pretty smoothly. I never got to play online as a kid but at the moment I got into my first match I felt like It was 2015 again
Seeing the footage of Splatoon is insanely nostalgic for me. Once 2 came out, I just switched over and never looked back. I also took longer breaks in 2 so the maps are not nearly as familiar. Splatoon 1 might be my favorite
I recently started playing Splat1n again after like two years. Me and two of my friends were like "let's see how many matches it takes us to get bored of it once again". We played for hours and during _every single match_ I was shouting "how is Splatoon still fun!?" It was genuinely shocking. The last time I tried playing Splatoon was when I was obsessed with Overwatch, so _of course_ I found it boring when compared to something THAT chaotic. It does have its problems but, after playing Splatoon for a total amount of five years, I can safely say that, if you just want to mess around with some friends and a balanced game experience is not your top priority, Splatoon 1 still goes hard even today.
Splatoon 1 and 2 have unique feels in terms of their meta and play strategies. Splatoon 1 is a little broken and I personally love it for that. It feels wild and less cultivated than Splatoon 2. The series is starting to resemble the Smash Bros series in that each game has a unique feel that makes each game worth going back to.
This! I never got into Splatoon 2 as much because it felt like they nerfed the hell out of everything. Weapons felt weaker and abilities weren't as effective as they were before. Splatoon 1 is more chaotic and unbalanced with OP specials like the Kraken but that just makes it more fun imo.
I love the songs in Splatoon 2, but the soundtrack from Splatoon 1 is just so much better. I'm definitely going to play some before Splatoon 3 comes out now that I know people are still playing. And Squid Jump not being in Splatoon 2 or 3 is a national tragedy
It's fascinating to me how a new IP on the Wii U of all consoles ended up being as big as it is. It had every reason to end up forgotten like ARMS yet it didn't
My Wii u is hundreds of miles away in storage, but I have so many great memories of Splatoon 1. I never got quite as attached to 2 as the first one. The specials and soundtrack are sorely missed. What I miss the most though is the busted seeker sub weapon (so busted it had to be split into to sub weapons in Splatoon 2). You could use it to get a fast rollout in competitive games and they were so fast that they really put people off their guard. My favorite weapon in the game was the Areospray MG as it had a great kit, I would use the seeker to push people back, and the coverage of the Areospray to trap them in corners, and if anyone was too far away I could just inkzooka them from across the map.
So playing Splayoon 3 today I goy loaded into the map Inkblot Academy, a returning one from 2, and I could not believe where I was. It looked so different, like it had gotten a fresh coat of paint. And it's minir iterations on the core game that's existed since 1 that makes the sequals worthwhile. Not to mention the post launch content. If you want a splatoon 1.5 or 2.5 that's what exists today. And the original version is the true Splatoon 1/2. That's why the sequals feel like half steps forward to some people, it's because most of the progress since that last game was both already made there and is yet to be made with this game's post launch content.
You explaining the whole gyro control for the Wii U and how the map was on it is one of the reason i loved Splatoon so much and how natural it felt 😊 gosh darn i do miss some specials from Splatoon now that i'm playing Splatoon 3 also while the Kraken is invincible there was still a way to just keep on shooting the player who was in a Kraken form to keep em at hold until the form would go away and i saw you put a clip of it in the video ^^
I had a very good feeling seeing the Splatoon E3 trailer for the first time. The game singlehandedly made me want to get a Wii U (refurbished lol) to play it and since then is one of my favorite games of all time.
I have a soft spot for the first game, I was always really excited about the game and loved the concept Unfortunately i had really bad internet back then, so i had frequent disconnects while playing, i think i played fine for roughly the first month of the game's release, but afterwards it was just unplayable with so many dc issues So unfortunately i couldn't play the game as much as i wanted to The switch had a better network receiver (i think) and eventually i did upgrade my internet, so i was able to actually play the sequel more. I tried to play 1 again some months ago but i think the wiiu was going crazy with the 5g network, or maybe the network repeaters i have, so I kept getting network issues. Maybe i should try again sometime, it really has an entire different feel.
Funny story. I loved the Splatoon 2 test fire so much that I immediately went out & bought 1 & played almost every day (got to max level & B+ 90) until 2 came out
1:47 Affordable Space Adventures: am I a joke to you? Edit: Slight correction at 13:52 there, Jon. There are actually SEVERAL minigames you can opt to play while matchmaking, not just the one! Unfortunately the rest are locked behind Amiibo, as are 60 single player challenges and exclusive gear like the schoolgirl outfit. And people gave Samus Returns and Skyward Sword HD flack for locking content behind them.
I've had a blast replaying this so much lately, genuinely a top five game of all time. It's so cool to see the game still get so much respect years after most people would assume sequels make it redundant, and it was so much fun for you to put a lobby together for a buncha people to play together. Having a sense of community in this game again was really endearing. :)
When i watched chuggaa's let's play of splatoon 2, it got me back into playing. It made me happy it was still easy to get matches several years after the game came out.
i remember splatoon 1 being incredibly unbalanced & especially at launch. i remember unlocking roller with the kraken special & i played with it before it was nerfed. it was ridiculously broken
Nintendoland is massively underrated. The 2 screen minigames probably can't be ported reasonably, BUT. the pikmin game gave me my first taste of the franchise. And I'm still obsessed with the plastic toy look, it kinda looks like animal mechanicals, an old Hasbro show that's on Netflix now
Great video! My biggest reason I go back to play Splatoon 1 is that my favorite weapon isn't in 2. The only one they left behind is the Dual Squelcher because they made them dualies. The Dualie Squelchers are cool and all, but it will never be the same. I hope we get them back in 3 (or maybe a "new weapon" with similar stats).
The fact this franchise got started on Nintendo's worst selling console since the Virtual Boy and became Nintendo's biggest new IP, thriving far more thanks to the Switch's overwhelming sales, really speaks volumes. This game should get some kind of port or remaster so people who had only gotten started with 2 and 3 can experience the game that started it all and experience classic maps and special weapons that 2 and 3 didn't retain. And of course play as the fan-favourite Agent 3 which most fans only got to see as an NPC in 2 and 3. Regarding the Splatfests thing, maybe they can rerun the original ones or make new ones if Splatoon 3's Splatfests have finished, are on hiatus or to be held between it and Splatoon 1's new Splatfests.
1:47 Dang, rather cold-blooded of you to throw Nintendo Land, Mario Maker, Affordable Space Adventures, Game & Wario, and Star Fox Zero under the bus. That's only five games but still! Regardless though I'll finish the video because I always love a good Wii U video, just couldn't help but poke some fun.
@@GVG (I'm replying to this in part due to wanting to remember your Reply for your humour, but I also want to be a part of the conversation and champion my favorite console.) Zero/Project Zero/Fatal Frame V: Maiden of Black Water, Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition (WiiU's port of it) and Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut (WiiU's port of it) are all some of the best examples of the WiiU's GamePad utilized well. To lesser extents, Zelda: Wind Waker HD, Zelda: Twilight Princess HD, Resident Evil: Revelations and Splinter Cell: Blacklists (WiiU's port) all also get praise for their use of the GamePad. Splatoon 1 is my favorite game of all time by a huge margin (even though I passionately love my second and third favorite games, Resident Evil 4 and Zelda: Majora's Mask, due to them each helping me grow, like Splatoon 1 has) and in addition to Splatoon 1 just being a great and fun game, it has special meaning to me due to personal reasons that make it nothing short of precious to me and far more than mere frivolous entertainment. If my WiiU could only play Splatoon 1; even if magically, any WiiU I try to use could only let me play Splatoon 1, I'd still cite the WiiU as my favorite console of all time. I know this due to using my WiiU almost exclusively as a Splatoon playing machine for years. I love Splatoon 1 so much that I get a serotonin hit each time I hear someone praise it, -especially when comparing it favorably against Splatoon 2- and I'm well aware of my strong bias in favor of Splatoon 1, but I feel compelled to be fair. Super Jumping in Splatoon 2 can still be done with shortcuts: the D-pad lets you not have to aim at the icons of your teammates, or spawn point. (I don't think there's any easy Spla2 solution for quickly Su-Jumping to Beacons, though.) John, I think I love you for saying that people who say, "there's no reason to play the first game if you have the second game" are speaking "wrong-o language". Speaking of things that are better in Splatoon 1, all of the top players I've heard of agree that there is less (no?) latency in Splatoon 1, I think due to the GamePad, whereas Splatoon 2 has input latency and is less responsive with any controller, than Splatoon 1 is. Even though my resentment for Splatoon 2 is real; not a joke, in large part due to the weapon sets being changed, despite keeping some of their names, changing some other things I like and making Ranking up too easy to the extent of devaluing the Ranks and making knowing what the opponents have too easy (I'm proud of myself for having learned how to tell when the snipers were down by looking at the Heads-Up Display in Splatoon *1* which has a HUD that gives less information), I don't actually hate the game and in fact, I think it's a good game and like that it has made tons of improvements, such as to the menus & text box interface, adding a lot of interesting weapons and powers, adding a lot of maps, rebalancing all of the maps to make them more fair to my lovely short to mid range weapons (I am a Splatoon 1 diehard fan who actually prefers Splatoon 2's maps), adding a horde mode that I've been wishing for since before Splatoon 1 launched and adding bigger, deeper single-player campaigns. John, you might be interested to know that I have had a Splatoon 1 S Ranked match in which a teammate did truly cause my death via pushing. It was Tower Control on Camp Triggerfish. I was using either a Custom Blaster, or Ranged Blaster and stood to my left side of the Tower on the bridge to get a better shot at the enemy and a teammate of mine hopped onto the Tower, moving it to our left, pushing me off of the bridge and causing me to die. Since the enemy didn't cause this, my Comeback Ability didn't even activate after I fell to my watery grave! So when you said you were going to do that to me in Splatoon 3, you triggered my Triggerfish memory of that.
Great video on a great game. While waiting for S3, I’ve been attempting the challenge of acquiring all the gear still exclusive to the first Splatoon and was reminded of how well it still holds up. For those curious, that list includes: - Original Octoling outfit (S2 had Neo versions) - Tentacles Helmet (appeared in S2 trailer but not the game itself) - 2 King Of Games T-shirts (clothing brand) - Squid Girl outfit (manga) - CoroCoro Cap & Hoodie (comic company who also got its own Roller weapon) - Famitsu’s Traditional gear (winner of a contest for fan-designed gear to appear in the game. Similar contest happened for S2 where the winner became the Moist Ghillie gear) Only missing the black KOG shirt, where after finding the rest of the list, I managed to get all the shoppable gear that appears in Smash Bros AND Mario Kart, all while searching for this one shirt! Also, like to say that while the praise for Squid Jump is especially well deserved, there are consequences for mispronouncing the name of it’s in universe developers, Ancho-V games. (6:40) The primary consequence is that everytime that their name hasn’t been pronounced like the species known as anchovy, the developers have delayed their remake of Squid Jump from appearing in Splatoon 3. It should now be predicted to appear alongside the “New Nintendo Switch OLED U Pro XL Squid Jump edition”.
Splatoon is one of those games that is such a great idea that other companies are probably kicking themselves for not thinking of that earlier. In a very simplified description of the game it's squids playing paintball with their ink.
I got into the series with Splatoon 2 on the Switch, and despite the fact that it will soon have two sequels on the console, I still would like to see Splatoon 1 be ported to the Switch (or a successor). The biggest reason for this is the leftover maps (as Jon said), and a desire to check out where this series got started
I remember playing this when it came out, it never did click with me and I never really bothered with any of the sequels as a result though. Still, it's very representative of the era, I remember hearing a lot of praise from others who had a Wii U. I *did* adore how similar it looked to Sunshine being a game I grew up with, and I loved how it handled music in a multiplayer game, I also enjoyed the single player a fair bit even if it was most definitely an after thought.
I remember the first time getting this game. It was new and had potential to get big, and I had a feeling it would become popular. Years later we are now playing the 3rd installment, and it keeps getting better
The Splatoon 1 map is the main thing that makes me miss the Wii U gamepad. I still have the gamepad and Splatoon 1, but my charger for it doesn't work anymore :(
I still prefer Splatoon 1 over 2 because of most of the reasons you mentioned in this video, and I wish there was an official way to play Splatoon 2 and 3 with the Wii U Gamepad. I could never really get into Splatoon 2 because of all the minor changes (some of them are improvements for sure), but let's see if Splatoon 3 can me win over again.
i have played splatoon 3 for over a month, and ive been playing splatoon 1 for over 3 years and honestly, i enjoy splayoon 1 a lot more it makes me feel powerful and i think i simply fit more into the type of gameplay of splatoon 1
I got into this game wholeheartedly in 2015 and played the life out of it for two years. I hadn't even played an online multiplayer game since the Quake III Arena beta like 15 years earlier. Nothing, anywhere, was like Splatoon. It was unbridled fun and so stylistically fresh. Splatoon 1 definitely has the best music of the series. And the best Squid Sisters (well, Callie 😁 heartbroken after the last Splatfest). My favorite map was Saltspray Rig, where you could focus on where the most action was at that base at the top of the map, walk around inking the perimeters and feel like you're all alone until someone pops out of nowhere, or go take on the one squid at a time holding onto the platform at the bottom.
Looking back, Splatoon 1 feels so stale visually. It’s crazy considering I felt like the game looked so similar to 2 and 3. Splatoon 1 still has a place in my heart forever though.
Splatoon 1 is basically the "Street Fighter 1" of the franchise plus the Wii U didn't help it better. Still Splatoon 1 is a classic masterpiece that every hard core fan must get to appreciate how it all started!
i remember when splatoon 1 first came out and i wasn’t sure what to think but after watching a review on it i was hooked my brother and i bought a wii u and splatoon was the biggest reason for me i spent hundreds of hours in it until my gamepad started drifting and now the splatoon series remains as one of my favorites always cherishing the time i spent on the first
I have been playing Splatoon 1 ranked since launch (I only got Splatoon 2 in March 2022). I can say that in 264 hours played I haven't ever noticed any hackers. EXCEPT last week (coincidentally) i entered a game where the ink colours for each team was switched to gold/silver and red/yellow, which was pretty cool. Also I like the OST of splatoon 1 better and yes, it has been years since i last saw salt spray rig. Especially annoying that you can no longer use splatoon(dot)ink to check the Splatoon 1 map rotations. Great video! Edit: Also Splatoon 1's final boss was really good. Blows S2's single player out the water
When the game first released, the kraken was the scarriest thing to ever exist. You couldn't run cause it would chase, and you couldn't fight cause it didn't take any knockback. You just had to outplay or accpet your fate.
From a standpoint of somebody who spent A LOT of time on Splatoon 2's multiplayer now headed to the third chapter while also playing Splatoon 1 occasionally (being intended as 'when my Wii U doesn't die after like three days of playtime after it's been charged') I have to say I kind of like that first one chapter the most. I couldn't go online even though I had a wifi connection and many years later I'm having a BLAST with Squidjump (also, I yet have to unlock the other minigames!) and experiencing the atmosphere and the different mechanics! Really looking forward to its stages being added! (As well as unlocking the Hightide Era posters for my locker, of course.)
I remember playing the Splatoon 2 invotational and being annoyed/disappointed at several things: the online is worse even though it costs now, no minigame while waiting, and also the maps, while they look better now, something about them felt more... Linear and smaller on Splatoon 2
"something about them felt more... Linear and smaller on Splatoon 2" One of the main differences is verticality. In the first game, you could ink up nearly any vertical surface, which provided more routes. In Splatoon 2 and 3, you can only ink up a few select vertical surfaces. It's one of the reasons why the first game's maps were so much better.
FWIW, the power of Splatoon 1's music is such that Soundcloud remixes combining it with songs from Jet Set Radio, Sonic Rush and Zelda got me to buy the game back in 2015 when I'd had previously no interest in the game beforehand. Something about the funky fresh beats were exactly my vibe, and made me eager to find the source material. It then became my favorite Wii U game (though I have not YET played Xenoblade X), and I to this day feel sad that the many battle tracks I loved from Splatoon 1 didn't feature in 2. I'd love to see them (and Splatoon 2 tracks!) come back in Splatoon 3 in some capacity, even if it were as DLC, though I'm not sure that's very likely.
@@hickknight Uh.... Yeah. Completely intentional. Totally. 😜😂 Could be worse artists to have stuck in your head though! I'll probably have "Oldies but Happies" randomly entering my head through the rest of today, for my part.
One thing that's also unique about splatoon 1 that he didn't mention was how amazing the amiibo content is in this game. If you have the Girl/Squid/Boy amiibos, you can do amiibo missions to unlock gear if you play the girl/boy challenges, and can unlock new loading screen games if you play the squid challenges. Also if you have Callie and Marie, you can listen to their songs in a Splatfest-esque environment, which is the only way you can switch to night now. This also beats the other 2 because in Splatoon 2 the amiibo were used to store loadouts, unlock some songs in squid beatz 2, and take pictures with. Also with the release of Splatoon 3, nintendo has brought back Callie, Marie, Pearl, and Marina amiibo back for a limited time, so get them if you don't have them! I recommend Callie and Marie because they have the best features, and the squid sisters are the best idols!
I was just 11 at the time, even though I never played any shooter before, it was enough for Splatoon to become one of my favorite series if not my favorite. The whole splatfest theme kept me coming back each month, and the community which was so immersive was just amazing too. I feel it's still pretty underrated as just 'a kids shooter game' even with teams playing in competitive
A few things - As a huge fan of the series, I never noticed the inklings are taller in each game, but it makes total sense because they canonically happen later and later in time. They've aged. - A huge reason for me wanting a WiiU to get S1 is because Killer Wail doesn't exist in 2 unless you want to group people up to play Private Match Splatfest Mode and only play on the Chaos/Order map. But then only one Wail can happen per match. - 14:52 You can actually use the D-pad to auto-select either Spawn or one of your living teammates in S2
I picked up this game in February of 2016 I think - and Boy did I love it. It has such a distinct feel from splatoon 2, especially the music and graphics (even the controls in some minor ways), and of all the games ive given up from Wii U because they've been ported over to switch- splatoon 1 will never be one of them. Strangely, I think the third game is a little bit of a stylistic return to form because of how the game feels tonally, yet we're still seeing improvement and evolution in the series overall.
I was feeling weirdly nostalgic about the first splatoon game, even though I was young when it came out and I barely played it. This was the perfect justice to how I was feeling. Great video!
It’s been a long time since I’ve played Splatoon 1’s single player mode, but I still remember how much fun the final boss was. The majority of the campaign isn’t too difficult, but then you hit DJ Octavio at the end and it’s a great challenge to finish it off. Still one of my favorite boss fights in video games.
The Custom Dual Squelcher was my main in Splatoon 1. The beacon and Killer Whale combo made it a fun support play-style that I missed in Splatoon 2 when I was playing it.
Splatoon 1 was a huge risk that prolly shouldn't have worked, I won't ever forget that game.
sploon 😂😂😂
I agree!
Yooooo I watch your vids!
Yoooooo Prochara should get pretendo so he can do some more splatoon 1 videos.
I still remember the fallout that occurred when this game was first announced. People were calling a "glorified indie game" and writing it off, and now look where we are
Nintendo isn't indie and never was.
i will never understand that i remember when i saw gameplay i got so hyped i bought a Wii U specifically for splatoon
@@Fridgemasters SAME. I remember not knowing thay the game existed, until accidentally finding a "Boss Rush" video in like 2015 lol. Loves the game and had to have it
People get so attached to their initial takes and dig their heels in. When I saw Splatoon first get revealed live I was a little iffy until I saw the gameplay and said "this could be pretty fun!"
And then the single player trailer dropped and I knew it was gonna be huge
if you base it on a tweet with 2 likes then it doesn't count
Greatest Shooter Game of all time.
Dude's everywhere!
pure facts
except Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 3
Good but CoD4 is best
Dude really decided to speak absolute facts.
The one thing that's remarkable with Splatoon 1's single player campaign is the final boss. It was one of the best final bosses from Nintendo in years, to me!
But yeah, when it came out in 2015, and for the year that followed, it was something very special.
I agree, its been years now, but i remember the feeling and the adrenaline of the final boss.
It's so much better than the Splatoon 2 final boss in my opinion, it's such a great fight.
Totally agree. It was fast paced and frantic, and really felt like Octavio was throwing everything he had at you. And I loved both Cuttlefish and Octavio uncontrollable dancing towards the end.
i remember being in my living room for like an hour trying to defeat dj octavio bruh it was so hard for me 😭
Absolutely. Octavio went all in and Nintendo simply said 'we hope you've paid attention' then threw you to the sharks. Or octopus rather. Jokes aside it tests you in everything the campaign has thrown at you while also forcing you to pay attention to 4+ things. That final push with the Calamari Inkantation playing, while you half dance to it, and your path shrinks even while having to deal with the killer wail. It's one of the best, and intense, final bosses I've ever played.
While the final battle in Splatoon 2 didn't feel as great I do think the finale in Splatoon 3 did a good job.
My favorite part of Splatoon 1 is probably the inkstrike special. It just feels so amazing to tap the gamepad to call in an airstrike.
It's forever my favorite.
Agree!
Yeah! I wish they had kept it somehow, even without the gamepad thwy cpuld have done it
One thing I really like about Splatoon is that it's not just a multiplayer shooter, it's also a 3D Platformer. If you think about it, the core movement and mechanics of the Inklings are literally shooting-based platforming mechanics, except instead of using your platforming moveset to try to hunt for collectibles in a little sandbox, you're instead fighting other players with the same movement in said sandbox and have to adapt and use your movement dynamically in real-time competition to achieve a certain objective. And then the singleplayer is literally a run-and-gun platformer of linear gauntlets and boss battles using Splatoon's unique platforming movement and mechanics. I think that's part of why I love it so much; typical multiplayer FPS-type games don't really appeal to me much, but I love platformers, and Splatoon merges those two genres together quite well so that I can get the fun competitive appeal of a multiplayer shooter type game but in a style and context that I much prefer mechanically.
Splatoon being a movement shooter is just wild to me. I've never really thought about it before but when they added the squid roll in 3 and let you use it to wall jump it made me really think about it.
Also the map is always changing depending on how it's inked
The viewer who hasn't been able to leave squid jump
@@shlecko I've never actually played Squid Jump.
Reading this comment made me realize the Uncharted series is kinda similar. You roll, jump, climb (and jump off of that climb), and have a grapple hook in UC4. Along with the maps in those games being all about verticality and stuff. It's pretty interesting to think about.
Octavio 1 is like one of the best bosses Nintendo has put out imo. From a story perspective it’s really nothing special but the way Octavio’s mechanics are introduced, built on, and combined with other level elements is so cool. Nintendo doesn’t really have a lot of level based bosses, it kinda reminds me of Badeleine from Celeste but using stuff from the whole game instead of just chapter 6.
Anyone who played it definitely won’t have forgotten it. It was a fantastic breath of fresh air at the time.
I think the thing I find most touching about this video is the complete appreciation and acknowledgement of games prior in a series. Just because a game gets remade or gets a new updated entry, there's joy and consideration for the unique experiences and context of the time for previous entries. It's lovely.
Splatoon 1 will always be the best Splatoon for me. Subsequent sequels can do whatever incremental improvements and add new modes and such, but turning on Splatoon in 2015 was such a cool experience. NOTHING else was even remotely like it, it was so unique. Also, if we're comparing all three of the games, I think Splatoon 1 has by far the best maps. Sure, Splatoon 2 had some cool transforming stages and whatnot, but each map in Splatoon 1 was so distinct (kelp dome, saltspray rig, urchin underpass). The maps in 2 and 3 are either recycled from 1, or the new ones all kinda morph into each other in my mind. I hope when Nintendo shuts down the servers for Splatoon 1 eventually, there will still be a homebrew community so I can jump back in if I want.
I legit felt a pain in my chest when you said “when Nintendo shuts down the servers” 😢
They are adding in Splatoon 1 and 2 maps for 3 and already working on new maps as well. They are going all out with 3 for, especially years later too. But I know what you mean, I never got to play Splat 1 myself(due to not owning a Wii U or buying it for 1 game) but I adored it and watched countless videos on it and people playing and of course enjoyed all the art.
I will miss the Shifty Stations in 3 tho lol
@@normanred9212 the maps keep getting smaller in 3..even s1 maps
Pretendo exists and they're trying to get the servers atleast a little stable before they shut down the servers
I too recently returned to the original Splatoon and I had a blast playing it. I forgot how much the graphics changed between 1 and 2 but the game is still fun to play and the battle music is so much better than 2. Flounder Heights and Bluefin Depot were really my favorite stages so I'm excited for Flounder to be added to 3.
When the game initially released, I had thought the game would flop because it lacked content and felt empty, but over time with updates and Splatfests, it really drew me into the series. I'm happy with how Splatoon as a series has gone.
I really did like Splatoon 1 more than 2. Substantially so.
First up, the Gamepad actually enhanced the game and still does even to this day. Being able to just see how well you're doing based on a glance is just more convenient. I never found it easy to do in Splatoon 2, it was way more distracting to get a good grasp of the map at a quick glance.
It also obviously felt a lot more fresh. It was completely new at the time. So much so they somehow actually pulled off the "free update model". Something I don't think the second game pulled off as well due to novelty factor being gone. So instead it just felt like you were waiting for more content the entire time. This also benefitted the single player. Since it was new, it worked. Splatoon 2 didn't evolve the single player enough, to the extent it felt tired by the end. Which is a problem 2 games in.
I swear the gamepad worked better for aiming than a smaller controller too.
I suppose a lot of the benefits of Splatoon 1 is simply just cos it came first. But, I think sequels can still feel fresh and bring new things to the franchise to keep that feeling.
The kraken was completely broken at launch btw. It was the worst part of the game. They eventually patched it so you could shoot at it to slow it down. Prior to that it was just too good.
Will you make content on Splatoon 3?
I just want to point out part of why you feel the gamepad is better for aiming:
The gamepad has 9-axis controls. Gyro, accelerometer, and a magnetometer.
The Switch only has 6-axis controls, though. It’s missing the magnetometer.
Yeah, it’s not a huge difference, but everyone I know who owned a Wii U w/ Splatoon agrees that 2 always felt a bit worse for aiming than the original.
"I swear the gamepad worked better for aiming than a smaller controller too."
It does. It absolutely 100% does. For exactly the reason that TwentyGX mentioned before I got here. =P
Gamepad is also unbelievably comfortable, that thing really shouldn't rest as well on hands as it does but zamn, it really does
I wish the GamePad could be used on the Switch... Like others have mentioned, the motion controls on the Pro Controller are inferior to the those of the GamePad.
Splatoon 1 saved my life and I’m not kidding. I was working graveyard shift and while the great money was digging me out of debt, my depression was getting so bad. Splatoon 1 released and for those few dark months, just seeing other people running around this super joyful game, those random moments of connecting with another human with a goofy name in Japanese, was one of the few outlets I had to give push I needed to dig out of that. I’m much healthier and happier now, but this series will always hold a special place for me. ❤
17:28 Perfectly articulated. Just from the Splatfest demo of Splatoon 3, I can already tell that they're taking the multiplayer of Splatoon 3 in a very different direction from Splatoon 2, and its a direction I already really like. They made the specials fun to use again and the new maps feel less throwaway.
I agree with the specials, but I feel like all the new stages (from the world premiere anyways) feel the same in Splatoon 3. Also, new Mahi should literally be thrown away. What was Nintendo thinking with that one?
@@puffmain3276 New Mahi was my favorite map. lmao
Splatoon 3 feels more combat oriented. Specials are often faster, inking weapons got more combat oriented subs and specials, the new maps are all tighter (though kinda samey because of it) encouraging more combat and you have to not forget to push buttons to respawn
the new maps are so flat and generic imo. i want another map like flounder heights..
I really loved squid jump and the other amiibo mini games. I’d always be complaining to friends in the lobby in splatoon 2 that there was no squid jump.
Yes, there is more than just Squid Jump! All 3 minigames were excellent.
Man I loved the first splatoon. It was such a fresh idea and really well executed. I really liked splatoon 2, and I’m super hype for 3, but I don’t know if they can capture my attention the same way the original did.
what caught my eye with the first one was the mechanics, being able to swim up walls!?????? sold.
Shout-out to Splatoon 1's amiibo challenges; basically the precursor to the Octo Expansion.
A lot of cool unique missions that a ton of people are missing out on.
I'd say they were more of a precursor to having more types of weapons on the story, which happened in 2
I still miss using the kraken on them though
@@97MiloProductions yeeah I mainly mean stuff like the Kraken missions and the ones with limited ink
This video reminded me of how I thought that Splatoon felt like a series that initially should've initially failed, but then there would be people several years later that would see the greatness in it long after it's abandoned by nintendo. And yet, that isn't what it is, I still find that to be a little shocking, but I'm glad the series persevered.
Still play regularly also and the player base is in fact very strong still. Also Nintendo is diligent with keeping it hacker free now with the last updates
…and now the official servers are gone (the sequels do have local wireless play as an option, so I’m pretty sure it would still be officially possible to play the main multiplayer modes in some way even after those servers inevitably shut down)
I’ve only really played the two offline, so between 1 and 2 the big draw for me is really just Octo Expansion, but even with that the single player campaign in base 1 is a little stronger overall imo. The really big difference, though, for my money, is that DJ Octavio in Splatoon 1 is one of Nintendo’s three or four best final bosses ever, maybe even higher
THERE'S SINGLE PLAYER IN THE FIRST GAME????
The final boss with its large parcours map was definitely better in 1 than in 2, but in 2 you experienced multiple weapons in great ways.
Yeah, for me with (base) single player 1 has a slight edge on sunken scrolls, the narrative (as slight as both are, 1 having Cuttlefish kidnapped halfway through adds a layer of interest 2's completely lacks), and boss fights
2, meanwhile, has a slight edge on the regular stages, and the fundamental function of single player modes in multiplayer games - teaching new players how to play.
...Except the final boss which 1's demolishes 2 with a steamroller in terms of quality and is really why 1's is _better_ than 2's rather than it being a toss up of 'well it depends on what parts you care about' (If we sidestep how much better the final boss in 1 is than 2 I'm honestly not sure which way I'd go for which of the two has the better campaign)
@@JeskidoYT yeah!! there's a sewer grate to the right of inkopolis tower, Cap'n Cuddlefish is sticking out of it. follow him down the sewer, and you'll have access to story mode!
I mean, for sure. Everything about Splatoon is kind of amazing and a miracle, straight from the very concept up to the platform it released on and managing to evolve itself into an as of yet small, but successful series from there.
For my own part, I consider Splatoon 2 as it exists now a dramatic improvement over the first game - an opinion a lot of the most avid fans seem to not necessarily agree on, which I find somewhat interesting, but that's just me - but the original Splatoon was nevertheless an extremely clever game in its own right. It admittedly didn't hold my interest for very long, for a variety of reasons, whereas the sequel did, but I still respect the heck out of it.
The death of Squid Jump is a crime, though, I agree.
Can't wait to play Splatoon 3 proper!
Sounds like you had a similar experience with 1 as I did. Got it early and something caused us to drop it fairly quickly - For me it was independent of the game itself rather than the lack of content you might expect it to be.
I think Pro Chara's recent farewell videos for 2, both the more negative leaning ones and more positive leaning ones, put into perspective the reason why S2 is likely to get a mixed legacy - Why people are, right now, glad to be rid of it (but also reminds people that a lot of folk felt that way about 1 moving into 2 before reevaluating it a few years later), but also why moving into 3 people are being a bit more down on 2 than it probably deserves, even if it never gets the reevaluations that 1 did, 2 was probably necessary moving from 1 to get anything like 3.
Here's hoping S3 lacks any of the unbalanced nonsense or godawful stages of S1 and S2 (...Nah, one of the three broken specials from 2 is making it to 3 (Tentamissile), a lot of early assessments of Tacticooler at top levels are saying it's almost certainly broken at launch, and the absolute worst stage in 2, Wahoo World, is also making a comeback. Both those ships look sailed, though both of them _are_ fixable with patches, the Splatoon devs have shown they're willing to completely redesign stages in a patch before now.)
splatoon 3 is astronomically better than both combined!
The Ultis are just incredibly good. Easy to understand and very unique. I missed that a lot in Splatoon 2. Also the controls with the Wii U GamePad were so good and I liked the Maps more.
thank you for touching on the soundtrack differences!! so many splatoon 1 songs stick with me to this day and i find myself humming them periodically. splatoon 2 i remember like 2 songs total, the trailer song and muck warfare.
I still play Splatoon on my original Wii Ub and it only takes like 15s to find a match and it's still really fun, even though it's mostly sweats (including me)
Overall, still holds up and tons of people are still playing and modding the game.
Splatoon 1 can never be trumped! The Wii U game pad map alone was awesome. The aesthetics, music and vibes are unmatched by 2 and 3.
Splatoon 1 deffo has some music I really wish made it into Splatoon 2. I remember during the hype of Smash 4 everyone was sure that Inklings were gonna make it as dlc characters. But instead they get the honor of opening Smash Ultimate! That's recognition! The specials are really unbalanced in 1. Kraken was insane in tower control. Much more balanced and less OP in 2. Also Jon I really hope you mispronounced Ancho-V games on purpose! Anchovy!! The fish! And I now have interest in getting Tekken Tag Tournament 2! So bonus! :D
Nah the splatoon 2 specials are still pretty busted
@@meta9492 I mean yes they're not perfect. Tents missiles are pretty OP. But not as bad as Killer Wail, Inkstrike, Kraken and Inkzooka. Those made it very easy to control a game.
Splatoon 1 and 2 specials were both broken in different ways, I think. Splatoon 1's were broken because they were frame 1 invincibility death squids, or instakill shots with the longest range in the game etc. Meanwhile Splatoon 2's specials were incredibly spammable, were basically free value if your team was at all competent, and the most oppresive ones (armour, missiles, sting ray) affected the entire map.
Personally I'm looking forward to seeing how Splatoon 3's specials will be broken. I mean, we already have Tacticooler.
Honestly, the Wii U was my favorite console, and Splatoon was one big reason for it. Xenoblade Chronicles X was another one. And both used the gamepad for the map extremely well.
The day i first found out about Splatoon I told my mom i wanted a Wii/Wii U, but then I got a switch and ended up with Splatoon 2 but i still wanted the first game, so now as and adult I have the 3rd game and even now I still want to get a Wii U and Splatoon 1. One day I will be able to play the first game and I will have so much fun with it!!
As one of the comparatively few people who got to experience the OG during it’s splatfest support and updates, it feels great to see the original game being payed the respect it deserves.
Splatoon was such a special experience for those who had a Wii U, and it immediately made me a series fan.
Also Callie and Marie are still the best idols.
I just started my wiiu again, finally beat the final boss of splatoon and logged myself into the Nintendo network. I was surprised that there were still people actually playing the online mode and it also ran pretty smoothly. I never got to play online as a kid but at the moment I got into my first match I felt like It was 2015 again
Seeing the footage of Splatoon is insanely nostalgic for me. Once 2 came out, I just switched over and never looked back. I also took longer breaks in 2 so the maps are not nearly as familiar. Splatoon 1 might be my favorite
I recently started playing Splat1n again after like two years.
Me and two of my friends were like "let's see how many matches it takes us to get bored of it once again". We played for hours and during _every single match_ I was shouting "how is Splatoon still fun!?"
It was genuinely shocking. The last time I tried playing Splatoon was when I was obsessed with Overwatch, so _of course_ I found it boring when compared to something THAT chaotic.
It does have its problems but, after playing Splatoon for a total amount of five years, I can safely say that, if you just want to mess around with some friends and a balanced game experience is not your top priority, Splatoon 1 still goes hard even today.
Splatoon 1 and 2 have unique feels in terms of their meta and play strategies. Splatoon 1 is a little broken and I personally love it for that. It feels wild and less cultivated than Splatoon 2. The series is starting to resemble the Smash Bros series in that each game has a unique feel that makes each game worth going back to.
This! I never got into Splatoon 2 as much because it felt like they nerfed the hell out of everything. Weapons felt weaker and abilities weren't as effective as they were before. Splatoon 1 is more chaotic and unbalanced with OP specials like the Kraken but that just makes it more fun imo.
I remain playing splatoon 1 daily for the sole reason of the soundtrack being immaculate.
Splatoon 1 will be one of my most nostalgic games.
I heard the original battle theme in Splatoon 3 the other day and it took me back. I miss that original summer of Splatoon.
I love the songs in Splatoon 2, but the soundtrack from Splatoon 1 is just so much better. I'm definitely going to play some before Splatoon 3 comes out now that I know people are still playing. And Squid Jump not being in Splatoon 2 or 3 is a national tragedy
Hopefully in an update we'll get it but wont hold my breath 😔
Splatoon made motion controls work so well for shooters. I can’t play with stick controls anymore
Splatoon 1 was love at first sight for me. I hate multiplayer games and yet I was hooked from the very first moment. Great memories❤️
It's fascinating to me how a new IP on the Wii U of all consoles ended up being as big as it is. It had every reason to end up forgotten like ARMS yet it didn't
bro I literally remember when the first game first came out and now like 7 years later I’m still as excited to play it after school lol
My Wii u is hundreds of miles away in storage, but I have so many great memories of Splatoon 1. I never got quite as attached to 2 as the first one. The specials and soundtrack are sorely missed. What I miss the most though is the busted seeker sub weapon (so busted it had to be split into to sub weapons in Splatoon 2). You could use it to get a fast rollout in competitive games and they were so fast that they really put people off their guard. My favorite weapon in the game was the Areospray MG as it had a great kit, I would use the seeker to push people back, and the coverage of the Areospray to trap them in corners, and if anyone was too far away I could just inkzooka them from across the map.
I feel like whenever I talk about splatoon 1 anyone, it’s like a “you just had to be there, at that time to get the 100% of it” type of situation.
level of fun from splatoon specials
splatoon 3 > splatoon 1 > splatoon 2
the spamming of tenta missiles and sting ray in 2 will not be forgotten….
Splatoon 1 was one of the biggest reasons why I bought a Wii U in Winter 2015
So playing Splayoon 3 today I goy loaded into the map Inkblot Academy, a returning one from 2, and I could not believe where I was. It looked so different, like it had gotten a fresh coat of paint. And it's minir iterations on the core game that's existed since 1 that makes the sequals worthwhile. Not to mention the post launch content. If you want a splatoon 1.5 or 2.5 that's what exists today. And the original version is the true Splatoon 1/2. That's why the sequals feel like half steps forward to some people, it's because most of the progress since that last game was both already made there and is yet to be made with this game's post launch content.
You explaining the whole gyro control for the Wii U and how the map was on it is one of the reason i loved Splatoon so much and how natural it felt 😊
gosh darn i do miss some specials from Splatoon now that i'm playing Splatoon 3
also while the Kraken is invincible there was still a way to just keep on shooting the player who was in a Kraken form to keep em at hold until the form would go away and i saw you put a clip of it in the video ^^
I had a very good feeling seeing the Splatoon E3 trailer for the first time. The game singlehandedly made me want to get a Wii U (refurbished lol) to play it and since then is one of my favorite games of all time.
I have a soft spot for the first game, I was always really excited about the game and loved the concept
Unfortunately i had really bad internet back then, so i had frequent disconnects while playing, i think i played fine for roughly the first month of the game's release, but afterwards it was just unplayable with so many dc issues
So unfortunately i couldn't play the game as much as i wanted to
The switch had a better network receiver (i think) and eventually i did upgrade my internet, so i was able to actually play the sequel more.
I tried to play 1 again some months ago but i think the wiiu was going crazy with the 5g network, or maybe the network repeaters i have, so I kept getting network issues.
Maybe i should try again sometime, it really has an entire different feel.
I was 14 when Splatoon 1 came out, and I'm now 21 still enjoying the series.
Funny story. I loved the Splatoon 2 test fire so much that I immediately went out & bought 1 & played almost every day (got to max level & B+ 90) until 2 came out
Have you gotten through yet just got it today I had 15 bucks off GameStop and thought it would be perfect
1:47 Affordable Space Adventures: am I a joke to you?
Edit: Slight correction at 13:52 there, Jon. There are actually SEVERAL minigames you can opt to play while matchmaking, not just the one! Unfortunately the rest are locked behind Amiibo, as are 60 single player challenges and exclusive gear like the schoolgirl outfit. And people gave Samus Returns and Skyward Sword HD flack for locking content behind them.
Legit tho Affordable Space Adventures is the secret MVP
Brilliant game. Played it last week with my wife and son in co-op.
I've had a blast replaying this so much lately, genuinely a top five game of all time. It's so cool to see the game still get so much respect years after most people would assume sequels make it redundant, and it was so much fun for you to put a lobby together for a buncha people to play together. Having a sense of community in this game again was really endearing. :)
When i watched chuggaa's let's play of splatoon 2, it got me back into playing. It made me happy it was still easy to get matches several years after the game came out.
I’ve played a lot of splatoon Wii U this year it’s still great
i remember splatoon 1 being incredibly unbalanced & especially at launch. i remember unlocking roller with the kraken special & i played with it before it was nerfed. it was ridiculously broken
on the other had it was quite a bit faster and controls were little more accurate.
Nintendoland is massively underrated. The 2 screen minigames probably can't be ported reasonably, BUT. the pikmin game gave me my first taste of the franchise. And I'm still obsessed with the plastic toy look, it kinda looks like animal mechanicals, an old Hasbro show that's on Netflix now
I just started playing this game yesterday just because I remembered it and a day later you drop this.
Damn, this made me want to go back and play some more Splatoon 1. I really did have so much fun with that game
I can’t connect to a game
Great video! My biggest reason I go back to play Splatoon 1 is that my favorite weapon isn't in 2. The only one they left behind is the Dual Squelcher because they made them dualies. The Dualie Squelchers are cool and all, but it will never be the same. I hope we get them back in 3 (or maybe a "new weapon" with similar stats).
The fact this franchise got started on Nintendo's worst selling console since the Virtual Boy and became Nintendo's biggest new IP, thriving far more thanks to the Switch's overwhelming sales, really speaks volumes.
This game should get some kind of port or remaster so people who had only gotten started with 2 and 3 can experience the game that started it all and experience classic maps and special weapons that 2 and 3 didn't retain. And of course play as the fan-favourite Agent 3 which most fans only got to see as an NPC in 2 and 3.
Regarding the Splatfests thing, maybe they can rerun the original ones or make new ones if Splatoon 3's Splatfests have finished, are on hiatus or to be held between it and Splatoon 1's new Splatfests.
1:47 Dang, rather cold-blooded of you to throw Nintendo Land, Mario Maker, Affordable Space Adventures, Game & Wario, and Star Fox Zero under the bus. That's only five games but still!
Regardless though I'll finish the video because I always love a good Wii U video, just couldn't help but poke some fun.
Some say Wii U didn't reach its potential but how will they explain that 2 people named 5 games each
@@GVG “The Wii U: You Don’t Need More Than Ten Games”
@@GVG
(I'm replying to this in part due to wanting to remember your Reply for your humour, but I also want to be a part of the conversation and champion my favorite console.)
Zero/Project Zero/Fatal Frame V: Maiden of Black Water, Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition (WiiU's port of it) and Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut (WiiU's port of it) are all some of the best examples of the WiiU's GamePad utilized well.
To lesser extents, Zelda: Wind Waker HD, Zelda: Twilight Princess HD, Resident Evil: Revelations and Splinter Cell: Blacklists (WiiU's port) all also get praise for their use of the GamePad.
Splatoon 1 is my favorite game of all time by a huge margin (even though I passionately love my second and third favorite games, Resident Evil 4 and Zelda: Majora's Mask, due to them each helping me grow, like Splatoon 1 has) and in addition to Splatoon 1 just being a great and fun game, it has special meaning to me due to personal reasons that make it nothing short of precious to me and far more than mere frivolous entertainment. If my WiiU could only play Splatoon 1; even if magically, any WiiU I try to use could only let me play Splatoon 1, I'd still cite the WiiU as my favorite console of all time. I know this due to using my WiiU almost exclusively as a Splatoon playing machine for years. I love Splatoon 1 so much that I get a serotonin hit each time I hear someone praise it, -especially when comparing it favorably against Splatoon 2- and I'm well aware of my strong bias in favor of Splatoon 1, but I feel compelled to be fair. Super Jumping in Splatoon 2 can still be done with shortcuts: the D-pad lets you not have to aim at the icons of your teammates, or spawn point. (I don't think there's any easy Spla2 solution for quickly Su-Jumping to Beacons, though.)
John, I think I love you for saying that people who say, "there's no reason to play the first game if you have the second game" are speaking "wrong-o language".
Speaking of things that are better in Splatoon 1, all of the top players I've heard of agree that there is less (no?) latency in Splatoon 1, I think due to the GamePad, whereas Splatoon 2 has input latency and is less responsive with any controller, than Splatoon 1 is.
Even though my resentment for Splatoon 2 is real; not a joke, in large part due to the weapon sets being changed, despite keeping some of their names, changing some other things I like and making Ranking up too easy to the extent of devaluing the Ranks and making knowing what the opponents have too easy (I'm proud of myself for having learned how to tell when the snipers were down by looking at the Heads-Up Display in Splatoon *1* which has a HUD that gives less information), I don't actually hate the game and in fact, I think it's a good game and like that it has made tons of improvements, such as to the menus & text box interface, adding a lot of interesting weapons and powers, adding a lot of maps, rebalancing all of the maps to make them more fair to my lovely short to mid range weapons (I am a Splatoon 1 diehard fan who actually prefers Splatoon 2's maps), adding a horde mode that I've been wishing for since before Splatoon 1 launched and adding bigger, deeper single-player campaigns.
John, you might be interested to know that I have had a Splatoon 1 S Ranked match in which a teammate did truly cause my death via pushing. It was Tower Control on Camp Triggerfish. I was using either a Custom Blaster, or Ranged Blaster and stood to my left side of the Tower on the bridge to get a better shot at the enemy and a teammate of mine hopped onto the Tower, moving it to our left, pushing me off of the bridge and causing me to die. Since the enemy didn't cause this, my Comeback Ability didn't even activate after I fell to my watery grave! So when you said you were going to do that to me in Splatoon 3, you triggered my Triggerfish memory of that.
Great video on a great game.
While waiting for S3, I’ve been attempting the challenge of acquiring all the gear still exclusive to the first Splatoon and was reminded of how well it still holds up. For those curious, that list includes:
- Original Octoling outfit (S2 had Neo versions)
- Tentacles Helmet (appeared in S2 trailer but not the game itself)
- 2 King Of Games T-shirts (clothing brand)
- Squid Girl outfit (manga)
- CoroCoro Cap & Hoodie (comic company who also got its own Roller weapon)
- Famitsu’s Traditional gear (winner of a contest for fan-designed gear to appear in the game. Similar contest happened for S2 where the winner became the Moist Ghillie gear)
Only missing the black KOG shirt, where after finding the rest of the list, I managed to get all the shoppable gear that appears in Smash Bros AND Mario Kart, all while searching for this one shirt!
Also, like to say that while the praise for Squid Jump is especially well deserved, there are consequences for mispronouncing the name of it’s in universe developers, Ancho-V games.
(6:40)
The primary consequence is that everytime that their name hasn’t been pronounced like the species known as anchovy, the developers have delayed their remake of Squid Jump from appearing in Splatoon 3. It should now be predicted to appear alongside the “New Nintendo Switch OLED U Pro XL Squid Jump edition”.
Splatoon is one of those games that is such a great idea that other companies are probably kicking themselves for not thinking of that earlier. In a very simplified description of the game it's squids playing paintball with their ink.
I got into the series with Splatoon 2 on the Switch, and despite the fact that it will soon have two sequels on the console, I still would like to see Splatoon 1 be ported to the Switch (or a successor). The biggest reason for this is the leftover maps (as Jon said), and a desire to check out where this series got started
Buy a Wii U then
When my WiiU decide to crash and corrupt it's data my splatoon save file was my biggest lost
I actually went back and finished Splatoon 1 campaign. Was a joy revisiting it
Splatoon 1 and 2 have a huge tonal shift that a lot of people dismiss or straight up don't know exists. Nice to see someone acknowledge it!!
It’s weird that In splatoon 1 we say to me and nice or c’mon! and booyah and now in splatoon 2 and 3 we say this way and booyah
I remember playing this when it came out, it never did click with me and I never really bothered with any of the sequels as a result though. Still, it's very representative of the era, I remember hearing a lot of praise from others who had a Wii U. I *did* adore how similar it looked to Sunshine being a game I grew up with, and I loved how it handled music in a multiplayer game, I also enjoyed the single player a fair bit even if it was most definitely an after thought.
I remember the first time getting this game. It was new and had potential to get big, and I had a feeling it would become popular. Years later we are now playing the 3rd installment, and it keeps getting better
The Splatoon 1 map is the main thing that makes me miss the Wii U gamepad.
I still have the gamepad and Splatoon 1, but my charger for it doesn't work anymore :(
My daughter and I played 1v1 battle yesterday. Such fun remembering this game as we prepare for 3.
Love love love that we both get different screens.
Let us know when you get it I’ve just got done with part one of story mode of Splatoon three
I still prefer Splatoon 1 over 2 because of most of the reasons you mentioned in this video, and I wish there was an official way to play Splatoon 2 and 3 with the Wii U Gamepad. I could never really get into Splatoon 2 because of all the minor changes (some of them are improvements for sure), but let's see if Splatoon 3 can me win over again.
Yeah the gamepad rocked. Its a real shame that we're not getting the same tickrate in Splat3 that we had in Splat1.
There actually is an adapter on Amazon that gives your Joy con the feel of the Wii U gamepad; just no Touch screen.
i have played splatoon 3 for over a month, and ive been playing splatoon 1 for over 3 years
and honestly, i enjoy splayoon 1 a lot more
it makes me feel powerful and i think i simply fit more into the type of gameplay of splatoon 1
I miss Splatoon 1 multiplayer. It hasn’t been the same since. I dunno why.
“So if your friend comes over and for some reason doesn’t bring a second Wii U and a second tv”
I mean who would do that? Unacceptable!
Don't forget that the game also brought in the outfit based on Ika Musume (Squid Girl), the most perfect fitting crossover during the Wii U era.
That co-op is such a laugh. The Wii remote on controller really does feel great surprisingly
I agree with your stance on gyro controls 100%, I was so happy when I bought the portal Companion collection and found out they addded a gyro option!
I got into this game wholeheartedly in 2015 and played the life out of it for two years. I hadn't even played an online multiplayer game since the Quake III Arena beta like 15 years earlier. Nothing, anywhere, was like Splatoon. It was unbridled fun and so stylistically fresh.
Splatoon 1 definitely has the best music of the series. And the best Squid Sisters (well, Callie 😁 heartbroken after the last Splatfest).
My favorite map was Saltspray Rig, where you could focus on where the most action was at that base at the top of the map, walk around inking the perimeters and feel like you're all alone until someone pops out of nowhere, or go take on the one squid at a time holding onto the platform at the bottom.
I’ve been a fan of the series since the beginning, and I’m so glad it’s proven so successful :)
Looking back, Splatoon 1 feels so stale visually. It’s crazy considering I felt like the game looked so similar to 2 and 3. Splatoon 1 still has a place in my heart forever though.
Splatoon 1 is basically the "Street Fighter 1" of the franchise plus the Wii U didn't help it better. Still Splatoon 1 is a classic masterpiece that every hard core fan must get to appreciate how it all started!
i remember when splatoon 1 first came out and i wasn’t sure what to think but after watching a review on it i was hooked
my brother and i bought a wii u and splatoon was the biggest reason for me
i spent hundreds of hours in it until my gamepad started drifting and now the splatoon series remains as one of my favorites
always cherishing the time i spent on the first
I have been playing Splatoon 1 ranked since launch (I only got Splatoon 2 in March 2022). I can say that in 264 hours played I haven't ever noticed any hackers. EXCEPT last week (coincidentally) i entered a game where the ink colours for each team was switched to gold/silver and red/yellow, which was pretty cool. Also I like the OST of splatoon 1 better and yes, it has been years since i last saw salt spray rig. Especially annoying that you can no longer use splatoon(dot)ink to check the Splatoon 1 map rotations. Great video!
Edit: Also Splatoon 1's final boss was really good. Blows S2's single player out the water
When the game first released, the kraken was the scarriest thing to ever exist. You couldn't run cause it would chase, and you couldn't fight cause it didn't take any knockback. You just had to outplay or accpet your fate.
13:00 Loved that mode, played that with my friend so often :)
From a standpoint of somebody who spent A LOT of time on Splatoon 2's multiplayer now headed to the third chapter while also playing Splatoon 1 occasionally (being intended as 'when my Wii U doesn't die after like three days of playtime after it's been charged') I have to say I kind of like that first one chapter the most.
I couldn't go online even though I had a wifi connection and many years later I'm having a BLAST with Squidjump (also, I yet have to unlock the other minigames!) and experiencing the atmosphere and the different mechanics! Really looking forward to its stages being added! (As well as unlocking the Hightide Era posters for my locker, of course.)
I remember playing the Splatoon 2 invotational and being annoyed/disappointed at several things: the online is worse even though it costs now, no minigame while waiting, and also the maps, while they look better now, something about them felt more... Linear and smaller on Splatoon 2
"something about them felt more... Linear and smaller on Splatoon 2"
One of the main differences is verticality. In the first game, you could ink up nearly any vertical surface, which provided more routes. In Splatoon 2 and 3, you can only ink up a few select vertical surfaces. It's one of the reasons why the first game's maps were so much better.
@@stevenseufert2520 that makes sense, thanks for clearing it up lol
FWIW, the power of Splatoon 1's music is such that Soundcloud remixes combining it with songs from Jet Set Radio, Sonic Rush and Zelda got me to buy the game back in 2015 when I'd had previously no interest in the game beforehand. Something about the funky fresh beats were exactly my vibe, and made me eager to find the source material.
It then became my favorite Wii U game (though I have not YET played Xenoblade X), and I to this day feel sad that the many battle tracks I loved from Splatoon 1 didn't feature in 2. I'd love to see them (and Splatoon 2 tracks!) come back in Splatoon 3 in some capacity, even if it were as DLC, though I'm not sure that's very likely.
And this comment got a specific Hideki Naganuma song in my head. I wonder if that was intentional.
@@hickknight Uh.... Yeah. Completely intentional. Totally. 😜😂
Could be worse artists to have stuck in your head though! I'll probably have "Oldies but Happies" randomly entering my head through the rest of today, for my part.
10:46 that cut was perfect, rip
One thing that's also unique about splatoon 1 that he didn't mention was how amazing the amiibo content is in this game. If you have the Girl/Squid/Boy amiibos, you can do amiibo missions to unlock gear if you play the girl/boy challenges, and can unlock new loading screen games if you play the squid challenges. Also if you have Callie and Marie, you can listen to their songs in a Splatfest-esque environment, which is the only way you can switch to night now. This also beats the other 2 because in Splatoon 2 the amiibo were used to store loadouts, unlock some songs in squid beatz 2, and take pictures with. Also with the release of Splatoon 3, nintendo has brought back Callie, Marie, Pearl, and Marina amiibo back for a limited time, so get them if you don't have them! I recommend Callie and Marie because they have the best features, and the squid sisters are the best idols!
I was just 11 at the time, even though I never played any shooter before, it was enough for Splatoon to become one of my favorite series if not my favorite. The whole splatfest theme kept me coming back each month, and the community which was so immersive was just amazing too.
I feel it's still pretty underrated as just 'a kids shooter game' even with teams playing in competitive
A few things
- As a huge fan of the series, I never noticed the inklings are taller in each game, but it makes total sense because they canonically happen later and later in time. They've aged.
- A huge reason for me wanting a WiiU to get S1 is because Killer Wail doesn't exist in 2 unless you want to group people up to play Private Match Splatfest Mode and only play on the Chaos/Order map. But then only one Wail can happen per match.
- 14:52 You can actually use the D-pad to auto-select either Spawn or one of your living teammates in S2
I picked up this game in February of 2016 I think - and Boy did I love it. It has such a distinct feel from splatoon 2, especially the music and graphics (even the controls in some minor ways), and of all the games ive given up from Wii U because they've been ported over to switch- splatoon 1 will never be one of them. Strangely, I think the third game is a little bit of a stylistic return to form because of how the game feels tonally, yet we're still seeing improvement and evolution in the series overall.
Never could put my finger on how Splatoon 2 looked just a bit better than Splatoon 1, but it was the lighting all along!
I was feeling weirdly nostalgic about the first splatoon game, even though I was young when it came out and I barely played it. This was the perfect justice to how I was feeling. Great video!
It’s been a long time since I’ve played Splatoon 1’s single player mode, but I still remember how much fun the final boss was. The majority of the campaign isn’t too difficult, but then you hit DJ Octavio at the end and it’s a great challenge to finish it off. Still one of my favorite boss fights in video games.
The Custom Dual Squelcher was my main in Splatoon 1. The beacon and Killer Whale combo made it a fun support play-style that I missed in Splatoon 2 when I was playing it.