Nintendo’s Splatoon series has been its newest hit as the company approached the modern era. The first title sold just shy of 5 million units worldwide on the Wii U, which is impressive considering the system only sold 13.5 million units. Its a series that took off in Japan almost instantly with the world quickly behind it, as well. Its sequel, Splatoon 2, more than doubled its sales and continues to sell well on the Nintendo Switch. Because of all this, it’s highly possible that a sequel is in development and can be announced at any time. Although these games were loads of fun and had plenty of content to offer, there is still a few adjustments that could be made. With the developers are finished providing Splatfests and content updates, here’s three things that need to be in Splatoon 3.
Skippable Introductions
Every single time the game boots up, users are treated to a lengthy introduction by Pearl and Marina, two sisters that host the in-game show, Off the Hook. They detail what maps are in rotation and for how long, new updates, as well as jokes and banter between the two. It’s pretty useful information for the most part but it takes way too long to get through. You have to mash the A button to speed through the segment which halts any sort of pick-up and play aspect that the Switch prides itself on. It’s not like this occurs only once in a while, no. It happens every single time you boot the game up. To make matters worse, it happens every time there is a map change which is pretty often. Some users have tried to outsmart this annoyance by going into airplane mode when starting the game and turning the connection back on past the screen but to no avail. As soon as the game recognizes that you’re connected to internet, the intro plays itself. Also, if you don’t play the game often, the sequence is even longer to account for what updates you’ve missed. It’s so off putting and tedious that I sometimes didn’t want to play the game at all. This isn’t in place to mask loading times so why is it necessary every time? This is by far the worst the about the game and it isn’t even close.
More Diverse Map Rotations
For some odd reason, Splatoon 2 only lets you play two maps at a time every two hours. If you’re playing this game during a long session, you’ll most likely be playing the same map over and over again. Sure, you can have a second option every now and then but it’s highly possible to play the same one immediately after you’ve completed a match on it. Once the map rotates, then you are treated to two different maps that are able to be selected. Except, that’s not always the case. Occasionally, you’ll have one of them be the same one from the past two hours. Why an online multiplayer game that is filled with varying maps and environments would choose to only select two at a time is strange to say the least. It’s not like Fortnite where you can play on the same map over and over due to how big it is and what it has to offer. They’re much smaller in scale and can become stale quick. It would be great to at least see a voting system implemented, as Call of Duty does where players can constantly select what they want to play. At the very least, just something that doesn’t force users to play the same thing on a consistent basis in Splatoon 3.
Easier to Join Friends
Playing with friends is a staple in online multiplayer games. Syncing up and being able to take on any and all who oppose your group is always a fun and memorable experience. Splatoon 2 does allow you to play with your friends but in a weird, non-traditional way. One friend has to start matchmaking and join into a lobby while another friend has to click on their profile and press join. The problem with this is that you can’t just go into a lobby with one another and then matchmake together. You’re forced to go on your own and hope your friend is able to find an open spot in time. If they aren’t able to, then you’re most likely going to have to finish the game without them and hope they can join in next round. This process becomes much worse the more people you want to play with since they’ll have to keep doing this same action. A partying up system seems like a standard in multiplayer games this generation so it’s pretty strange that it fails to appear here. Nintendo should implement a way to sync up with large parties of players to participate in matches for Splatoon 3. On top of that, a better voice chat system should find its way into the game since you probably won’t always want to be using your phone, discord, or the Nintendo Switch Online app.
There’s a lot that can be said about Splatoon 2 and many of them good things. It’s one of the best multiplayer experiences on the Switch and is a title my friends and I were able to sink loads of hours into. Participating in Splatfests and Turf Wars together is one of the best things about the game. There just needs to be a few tweaks to the experience to fully enhance it and become the online title it could and should be. Splatoon 3 may or may not happen but no matter what does occur, it could definitely do a few things to make it stand out and become the best in its respective series.