Opinions on region locked Splatfests?

[DrippyCM]

Hello everybody! Recently the latest splatfest was posted on twitter, and whilst it is the theme of all time id like to know the consensus on region locked splatfest. Generally im not too bothered about splatfests. I see them as a one and done kind of deal since I dont like turf war all that much. That being said, they can be pretty fun with the right group of friends. Said friends are not a fan of region lock, since they would like to play with their over seas friends, which is understandable. Of course alt accounts are always an option but some people dont have NSO family plans. At the end of the day Nintendo will always try to appeal to their main Japanese audience, which again, is understandable. This goes hand in hand with the debate of splatfests mostly being swayed by the majority of players being Japanese. Either way, there are a bunch of pros and cons f both, but what do you guys think?

 

[Alphine_Agnitio]

I think its overall fine on paper(it was how it worked in the beginning of the game iirc) but the way they're implenting it rn is pretty lame imo

 

[MandatoryCatalyst]

I enjoy them, I honestly wish there were more, but where multiple places have the same topic. The way they're doing it right now is... fine, I guess, so far both regional fests have been mostly misses in terms of actual topic (I played maybe 3 games total for Handshake V Fist Bump V Hug, but part of that was because I'd just picked up a used copy of Splat2 and wanted to play OE instead), but I like seeing the ways in which different places with the same topic get different results, rather than just... "This fest is too region specific to be applied to other places, so they get a different fest". More regional fests with varying topics means more Splatfest art though, so I'm all for it just on that basis alone!

 

[BlipBlob]

With the world-wide splatfests it often feels like the winner is only decided by what japanese players favour. The wins and losses of splatfests don't really matter of course, but it's still a bit frustrating that they don't seem to reflect the choice of your own region, so over all I like regional splatfests more. Would be even better if all regions had the same theme.

 

[missingno]

I don't really care about Splatfests at all, but at least I know I'll get regional matchmaking for a weekend. If only Nintendo knew what ping was the rest of the time.

 

[ikebro]

i'm all for regional splatfests, esp if the theme is something the players in that region can resonate with, but the way it's handled currently kinda sucks. mostly bc japan gets literally the coolest cultural theme you've ever seen and the rest of the world gets almost comically boring themes like "Dirt vs Mud vs Soil"
i'm genuinely annoyed abt the current weekend theme, like i don't even think they changed the default colors on this it's so lazy

anyways let's go team dirt

 

[DrippyCM]

i'm all for regional splatfests, esp if the theme is something the players in that region can resonate with, but the way it's handled currently kinda sucks. mostly bc japan gets literally the coolest cultural theme you've ever seen and the rest of the world gets almost comically boring themes like "Dirt vs Mud vs Soil"
i'm genuinely annoyed abt the current weekend theme, like i don't even think they changed the default colors on this it's so lazy

anyways let's go team dirt

that was a prime example that you gave ngl, i could see them doing that and thats scary

 

[SquidAbortions]

I don't like the fact that they're locked. I thought the splatfests being global was a stress releasing fun time. I also wished that the themes were the same too, if people arent familiar with a theme they can look it up....

 

[JishTheFish]

Although I think it’s a good idea to more easily generalize the audience, looking at these themes makes me wish that there were at least interesting ink colors outside of Japan. This theme and the colors feel really basic to me

 

[PurpleN]

i dont mind them BUT OH MY GOD WHY CANT I BE ON JP's THEME THIS FEST PLEEAASEEE THEY WONT LET ME CHANGE MY REGIONN AAAAAAHHH

 

[angelicakuma]

that was a prime example that you gave ngl, i could see them doing that and thats scary

inb4 the dirt vs. mud vs. soil splatfest is announced

in my honest opinion, i think that nintendo 100% could have gotten away with releasing the upcoming JP splatfest as worldwide, however the reason they didn’t is most likely due to the Seven Eleven collaboration

 

[OnePotWonder]

Honestly, I think it’s fine. Yeah, we got a kind of strange theme, but the only appeal of team Bean Paste for us NA players is the ink colour.
I think it’s fine if we let Japan have their own unique themes. It is their game, after all.

 

[ikebro]

inb4 the dirt vs. mud vs. soil splatfest is announced

in my honest opinion, i think that nintendo 100% could have gotten away with releasing the upcoming JP splatfest as worldwide, however the reason they didn’t is most likely due to the Seven Eleven collaboration

i think it's both the 7/11 collab and also the assumption that people outside of japan wouldn't really be too familiar with red bean paste (i know it's very rare here in the US, can't really say for other countries)

 

[angelicakuma]

i think it's both the 7/11 collab and also the assumption that people outside of japan wouldn't really be too familiar with red bean paste (i know it's very rare here in the US, can't really say for other countries)

IMO the issue was mostly the Seven Eleven collab, since historically collabs with companies in JP most likely don’t go overseas. Nintendo probably considered the red bean situation too, however I think it would have been 100% fine to release it as-is regardless. There are a lot of Asian diaspora populations in western countries including the U.S., and at least some of the people in those areas may know about red bean.

A little bit off topic but also just speaking from my own life experiences, I live in a part of the U.S. with a large Asian diaspora community and red bean is very common in the (numerous) Asian bakeries, bubble tea shops, etc around here 🥹 so I guess it really depends on which part of the U.S. you’re from. I’ve visited other areas of the country and not everywhere has quite a large variety of food (I live in a highly urban area, for reference).

EDIT: My other main point for why I would think it’s fine is because of ACNH as an example. For the new Animal Crossing game there are numerous Japanese-specific cultural items. They did not get removed from international versions of the game, many of those items were included into the game. Especially since many Splatoon developers also work on Animal crossing, I’m not sure why the decision would be made to omit the exclusion of red bean for a Western Audience in Splatoon.

 

[mossyquartz]

Hello everybody! Recently the latest splatfest was posted on twitter, and whilst it is the theme of all time id like to know the consensus on region locked splatfest. Generally im not too bothered about splatfests. I see them as a one and done kind of deal since I dont like turf war all that much. That being said, they can be pretty fun with the right group of friends. Said friends are not a fan of region lock, since they would like to play with their over seas friends, which is understandable. Of course alt accounts are always an option but some people dont have NSO family plans. At the end of the day Nintendo will always try to appeal to their main Japanese audience, which again, is understandable. This goes hand in hand with the debate of splatfests mostly being swayed by the majority of players being Japanese. Either way, there are a bunch of pros and cons f both, but what do you guys think? View attachment 9002View attachment 9003

The thing is, I don't mind region locked splatfests, but both themes have to be good and make sense for said regions

For this splatfest, the west has a really bad theme, it's not inspiring and people are gonna end up picking by idol or ink color because they don't care about the theme (no hate to those who pick by idol or ink color sometimes btw, I do too, the blame is on N for not giving us good themes). Japan doesn't have the greatest theme either, we've already had so many feats about food, but it's way more fun than what we have

For the greeting splatfest it was the same thing. JP had a cool collab kinda thing going on and we didn't. The region locked splatfests only work if both regions have enjoyable themes! They should take that opportunity to do something that's really geared towards specific regions. They do regional food themes and collabs for Japan so why not the west too?

I yap too much but basically; the idea is good and has potential, but the execution is bad

 

[Norilla]

I think it'd be fine if the themes were better and if it was something they did at the start (for Splatoon 3) rather than after a year.

 

[Tamanakio]

Regional fests this game really feel like they had an idea for a splatfest but it was too Japanese and they had to make something up for the west. The yaki fest is a Japanese-exclusive debate but it's a HUGE ONE (its twitter announcement got more retweets than Splatoween's announcement) so of course they'd still want to use it.

My theory for this splatfest is that it was made BECAUSE of the collaboration with 7-11 and not the other way around. It made sense to collab with them for pokemon or zelda fests, but pastry filling? Really odd choice. I think they were contractually obligated to make a splatfest, and so they put out the blandest possible theme. And because of that, it left them with no better theme to give to the West, giving us the absolute PEAK that is the weekendfest.

So yeah, in concept, it could work, unfortunately the reasons they implement regional fests kinda ruins them.

 

[QuagSass]

God, I wanted to fight over food so bad. Just replace the bean paste with something else, like maple syrup or something idk.
I want to fist fight my friends over custard.

Regional splatfests are fine imo. I just wish the themes were similar

 

[Oliy]

Region splits are definitely more interesting for us as a western audience since Japan has the significantly larger playerbase. Most splatfests come down to which team is the most popular, so if a westerner really wants to join the winning team they have to figure out what side will be the most popular in Japan, which often leads to stereotyping. Any kind of predictions/hopes we have over here about what everyone we know is a part of doesn't mean anything.

Sure Splatfests still deal with teammaking problems but getting rid of the stereotyping and "I feel like my whole community and every interaction I made around Splatfest meant nothing" helps

 

[silly]

Region splits is huge for balance but potentially bad for matchmaking and the non JP theme this time is SO boring??? The JP theme is so much more fun man :(