Finally, a Splatoon game for me

One of the first big pieces I ever wrote for our former employer was about Splatoon not being a much of an esport. It was a rare instance of me being pitched a piece by an editor and, to be honest, I didn’t believe it all that much. But I was a new writer looking to break into an industry, and this particular editor loved a controversial piece.

I was not ready for the raw anger from the Squid Kid community. I’m sorry Splatoon folk, I dissed your game for opportunity, and that’s never sat right with me. For what it's worth, "Splatoon will never fill stadiums in Korea like League" is a pretty obvious take.

Whatever. It all worked out in the end, as it's finally brought me to Splatoon Raiders, the latest exclusive Switch 2 video game from Nintendo.

I've never really gotten into a mainline Splatoon game, despite trying each time. But I love the world and the vibe and the style and the perverse music. So when Nintendo announced that it would be stepping into my domain and turning Splatoon into a looter shooter, I was intrigued.

Well after just a few hours with the game I can very confidently say: yeah, this is the Splatoon I've always wanted.