Splatoon 2 and the Switch Are the Perfect Union

Way, way back in 2012 I walked into a Gamestop, picked up my launch day Wii U, and took it home to give to my wife as a birthday present. A little under 5 years later I brought home the console I thought I was bringing home back then.

The Switch is a transcendent little device. The only issues I’ve had with it are the Joy Cons being a bit too small for my hands (release some kind of ‘Pro’ Joy Cons soon, Nintendo) and the lack of Netflix and Crunchyroll on the device*. Everything else is essentially perfect. The screen on the Switch is beautiful and never feels cramped. The change from the device to the TV is as smooth as advertised. The Pro controller is a great addition, and necessary (albeit a bit expensive). The convenience of being able to switch from a large TV to the Switch, instantly, is clear enough when you’re all alone. When you have a child, though, it becomes magnified to such an extent that it’s hard to go back to using a stationary device like a PS4, let alone a PC.

*This seems like such a slam dunk. A device you can bring with you, with a big, beautiful screen, that instantly connects to a giant TV. It was MADE for streaming services.

That’s all well and good, but without games even excellent consoles die ignominious deaths (RIP to my Vita). Luckily, the Switch already has an impressive number of excellent titles on it, including two games I would call Killer Apps: Breath of the Wild and Splatoon 2. Breath of the Wild didn’t trip my trigger quite like everyone else’s, but I can see why people lose their minds over it. I won’t waste more words on that title. I will, however, on Splatoon 2 as it has perfected a number of things I’ve found lacking in other team shooters lately:

The Ranking System Gets it Right

Ranked killed Overwatch for me. The system Blizzard set up punishes you for a number of things that seem plainly unfair. You lose rank if someone leaves, you lose more if you lose than you gain if you win, you’re rewarded for the wrong reasons… the list goes on. Splatoon 2 seems to have rectified all the issues listed above.

If someone leaves in a ranked Splatoon 2 match, you don’t lose anything for getting beat 4v3.

You only lose a rank if you lose 8 times and haven’t won at least 4 times.

You are rewarded during a match for winning and nothing else.

These all seem like simple things to have in a multiplayer shooter, but they’re things that have evaded games like Overwatch for years. It doesn’t always work, but Nintendo’s strategy of building games from the ground up without regard for other games in the genre has paid serious dividends here.

The Style!

Everything about this game is stylish to a degree I can barely do justice with words. The music is impeccable, and sung entirely in the squid language all the characters use to communicate. The clothes you can equip and the ink guns you use are all varying degrees of delightful and hilarious. The central hub you exist in has so many tiny details baked in. And the return of drawings, and by extension the Splatoon Miiverse, makes the whole place feel lived in to an extent that very few other games can claim. Even a small thing, like the rotation of maps for each multiplayer mode being announced by an in-universe TV show, makes you feel like you’re part of a living, breathing community instead of just queuing for a game.

The Game is Excellent

So that’s a lot of talk about everything surrounding the game itself, which is a disservice to the game, because that’s where Splatoon 2 shines the brightest. Nintendo has never had a problem creating something that feels fun over everything else, and they haven’t lost that here. Each weapon feels unique, each grenade has its use, and each super brings something different to the table. All of them control tightly. You never feel like the game has failed you, a hallmark of a quality title.

Also, where many games have gone the MOBA route by having designated members of a squad a la tank, support, DPS, etc, Splatoon has no such designations. Depending on your loadout, the game type, the map, and even where you are at that particular moment on the map, you can be any of these things. This leads to most matches ending with you feeling good, personally, about how you did. I leave 95% of Splatoon 2 matches feeling like I did a solid job, and the other 5% I know I had a bad run. I leave at least 60% of Overwatch matches feeling like I did something wrong, or a teammate just didn’t do what they needed, etc. It’s important for a game to leave you with a good taste in your mouth. Challenging but fair, or the old adage “easy to pick up, hard to master”. Splatoon has found that space for the team shooter.

This game was made for the Switch

The core of how spectacularly Splatoon 2 succeeds, though, is in its marriage to the console itself. A match, whether it be Salmon Run (horde mode), any of the ranked game types, or turf war, generally takes between 2-7 minutes. That’s the timeframe you want when your life involves a 3 year old, as mine does, but also perfect for anyone just trying to play a game (a good game, and I say that as someone who is enslaved to Soccer Spirits on his phone) quickly.

But the game also comes across as a high quality console title. You can sit down and queue over and over and not get bored, which makes it perfect for empty periods of time on your daily schedule, sitting in front of the TV after a long day, or shunning the world on a Saturday. The Switch and Splatoon 2 were made to exist as a single unit. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, as the original was made for the Wii U, the alpha version of the Switch, but it really is stunning how at home Splatoon feels here on the Switch. It will make you never want to return to whichever large black box is also under your living room television.

In short, this game is fantastic. Whether you’re playing one of the ranked multiplayer modes, engaging in a turf war, participating in a Splatfest, going on a Salmon Run, or pounding through the single player, everything works perfectly. It’s hard to get bored with this one in your hands. In my opinion this is a game you buy a system for.

If you can find it, of course.