New King Salmonid Concepts

[isaac4]

Despite the fact that we're not getting any new King Salmonids for Splatoon 3, I still really wanted to talk about this topic as it has had my interest for a while now.

The idea I came up with would be for a King Salmonid that is actually be two separate bosses instead, with it being necessary to take them both out to complete the extra wave.
They would come in from two different sides of the map and would then travel towards the middle, chasing anyone that they notice while moving.
Once they notice you they don't stop chasing until they've been running for over 5 seconds or have successfully gotten close to you. Their form of attack is to explode once they do get close, similar to Reefslider or Baller. After they explode they stop moving for around 4 seconds, giving you some time to safely attack them.
They don't immediately start chasing you either so you could still attack them for a bit even after they're done staying still.
Of course, they would need to have less health than the other King Salmonids since there's two of them now but I'm not exactly sure what that number should be or if they should also have a weak spot similar to Horrorboros and Joe.

I imagine their designs being something close to a mix between a Chain Chomp and a Scrapper.
In fact, I actually got a lot of my inspiration from Super Mario Sunshine.

(First one isn't technically a regular Chain Chomp but you get the idea)


This is all just a concept of course and there's probably a ton of ways I could improve on it to make it work better for Salmon Run but this is what I currently have.

 

[OnePotWonder]

I imagine that the devs could pull a Totem Wishiwashi (or Motley Bossblob) and have a king salmonid that's composed of a massive swarm of lesser salmonids, with the boss itself hidden in the middle.
I imagine it would play similar to Goldie Seeking, with the king itself being a large Goldie coated in jewelry that runs away to a gusher the moment its swarm is defeated. While in its swarm, however, it would have a rush attack reminiscent of Splatoon 1's Rainmaker shots, except obviously way larger. The Whirlschool, or something equally cheesy.

I can see why the devs only made three kings though; one fights on the stage, one flies above it, and one burrows underground. They would have to double upon fighting styles if they wanted to make more.

 

[isaac4]

I imagine that the devs could pull a Totem Wishiwashi (or Motley Bossblob) and have a king salmonid that's composed of a massive swarm of lesser salmonids, with the boss itself hidden in the middle.
I imagine it would play similar to Goldie Seeking, with the king itself being a large Goldie coated in jewelry that runs away to a gusher the moment its swarm is defeated. While in its swarm, however, it would have a rush attack reminiscent of Splatoon 1's Rainmaker shots, except obviously way larger. The Whirlschool, or something equally cheesy.

I really like your King Salmonid concept, it sounds like it'd be very fun to fight against!
A boss that consists of multiple smaller enemies that you need to get rid off first is one of my favorite boss types.
Boolosuss from Luigi's Mansion being one the first examples that comes to mind for me.

 

[Yeenom]

I think something close to Octostomp would be cool, maybe it's an Octostomp shell that a group of Salmonid live inside like Frye's eels? It fits in with the lore as Salmonids use Octoling machines, plus it unfortunately skipped Side Order which this would make up for. It's weak spot is always accessible on it's back but it becomes significantly easier to hit and more susceptible to damage when climbed up on and completely exposed. The goal is to have somebody bait it into stomping (When it hits the floor it also produces Wave Breaker shockwaves and spawns some Smallfry), and have everyone else climb up to hit it's back spot. Occasionally it can produce shields that protect one side from being painted. If ignored for some time it'll jump into the air and slam into the middle of everyone (It'll prioritize teammates who are closer to one another instead of targeting random teammates), with a ground indicator to warn everybody. On low health it'll occasionally lose its face, exposing the Salmonids inside and allowing for extra damage.

 

[vitellary]

i've always liked the idea of a "Fathership" (or "Grandmothership" for something a bit sillier), based on ink-vac. it's just such a perfect evolution of the mothership idea mechanically, and inkvac lines up perfectly with it

i've never been able to quite work out what i think the way it attacks should be; maybe it takes damage fairly simply, but the more you attack it in a given phase, the bigger its incoming explosion would be? or maybe it would rain down several small inkvac-like shots, and it fires out more the more you've attacked it... and maybe it'd be more vulnerable during its attacking phase, so you'd have to decide between dealing the extra damage during the phase where it could take reduced damage, or waiting for its vulnerable phase while also dealing with its explosion(s) at the same time
i dunno! if anyone else has better ideas for its attacks i'd love to hear them