PixlBit

Splatoon is probably the most non Nintendo game I've seen in...well forever. The twist here: it is a Nintendo game and one that should happen more often.

 

When the game came out of no where at last years E3, I've been glued it and craving more info. Designed by the next iconoclasts at Nintendo, Splatoon is something you've never would expect Nintendo to OK: an online shooter. Sure, its behind the aesthetic of paint ball but remove the paint and a shooter is what you would have. However, its not the shooter angle that I'm really into. Its the design that really gets me about this game. Its a very modern take on Japan. Just with squid people (or are they bloopers from Super Mario?) It blows my mind that a game like this is coming from Nintendo, more over its coming from internally guys at Nintendo Japan. You want to know what's largely killing Nintendo and much of Japanese gaming industry? Its their large Japanese HQ s with their very old class way of thinking. Its not a terrible thing all of the time though, its helped Nintendo avoid much of the mistakes that most Japanese companies make. But the other hand, it also helped the create the mess that the Wii U is in. So to see something so visually different from Nintendo like Splatoon, more importantly coming from young designers, with a distantly Japanese take on a Western owned genre is so rad. I want Splatoon to succeed so bad. I want more games like this and Codename S.T.E.A.M to well. Ironically, I don't have much interest in the later but do I like how its so Non-Nintendo it is in design. I want Nintendo to take more design risks with its franchises instead of just buckling down and relying on the same staples. Its probably not the best time for them to do it with their financial problems. In the same breath though, its a perfect time for them to show that side of Nintendo that we never really see.