Splatoon 2 isn't going to happen anytime soon

[girigiriHERO]

That is completely optional (not even forced to d/l it) and it's really your choice if you wanna drop money for badges. Freemium games don't apply to console games.

 

[Airi]

I think the excitement over a sequel - for a lot of people - is attempting to calm their nerves. There are many people with a doomsday mentality that believe Nintendo is giving up on Splatoon. So the hope of a sequel can quell those doomday thoughts and remind them that Nintendo still very much cares for Splatoon. Splatfests ending have caused many people to become needlessly worried.

In a way, I would like to see Splatoon get released for the NX since it would help the NX sell very well... And Nintendo needs that after how the Wii U has sold in its lifetime. :P At the same time, I'd prefer them to wait a while longer before the sequel. I don't want Splatoon becoming like Call of Duty... A decent game that became boring because sequel after sequel got churned out at a constant rate. It stayed the same without much growth just for the money. I'd rather Nintendo figure out ways to improve Splatoon and make the sequel different than just releasing sequels at a constant rate for the money.

This is a problem that far too many games have honestly and I'd rather Splatoon not follow that path.

 

[Award]

I think the excitement over a sequel - for a lot of people - is attempting to calm their nerves. There are many people with a doomsday mentality that believe Nintendo is giving up on Splatoon. So the hope of a sequel can quell those doomday thoughts and remind them that Nintendo still very much cares for Splatoon. Splatfests ending have caused many people to become needlessly worried.

In a way, I would like to see Splatoon get released for the NX since it would help the NX sell very well... And Nintendo needs that after how the Wii U has sold in its lifetime. :p At the same time, I'd prefer them to wait a while longer before the sequel. I don't want Splatoon becoming like Call of Duty... A decent game that became boring because sequel after sequel got churned out at a constant rate. It stayed the same without much growth just for the money. I'd rather Nintendo figure out ways to improve Splatoon and make the sequel different than just releasing sequels at a constant rate for the money.

This is a problem that far too many games have honestly and I'd rather Splatoon not follow that path.

I'm not sure that the desire for a sequel is about nerve calming for the end of Splatton. I think people have been talking about a sequel since half-way through Splatoon 1's life. I think it came mostly from a realistic cynicism that Nintendo would be more likely to milk us to buy the game again to get the fixes we all want than give them to us in Splatoon 1. We all love Nintendo, but they pillage us, and we let them :P Anyone who's ever bought a R.O.B., Power Glove, DK Bongos, or has bought SMB:World more than 3 times over 30 years knows this is true :P

Splatoon 1 is lovable but far from perfect. It has HORRIBLE netcode, there are issues with some of the scoring/currency systems, issues with some of the ranked modes (janky tower, and so forth that still feels "unfinished" in its internal rules. Map design issues where they've had to pull several maps from rotation for certain modes because the maps are just broken for them. Splatoon 1 is great, but it's design is rough in spots. It was the first of its kind. Much of that can't be fixed "for free" without being a new game. So it's inevitable that Splatoon 2 would be the result to fix that due to the success of Splatoon 1. And they know we'll buy it! And it will reach a larger audience than the original on the low sales WiiU.

But if the game releases soon, I wouldn't worry much about the development time. I think it became clear that all WiiU dev was pulled in Fall and moved to NX, so the game would have been in the works since at least October (I.E. the fixes we should have received here went to that one already.) I'm not sure it would be a launch title for NX or not. But that would be a 1.5 year dev cycle, and short of Zelda, Nintendo has WAY shorter dev cycles than most AAA studios. As it's now an established IP, they'd likely use the same engine, with the same team that made the first, as a continuation. Many, many assets would be reused. Churning out weapons and maps would not need to be any different than making them for this game, it's old hat to them now, doesn't take long. There's no reason for Splatoon 2 to be anything more than new maps, modes, rules, weapons, clothing. Content wise that's a whole new game. But dev time wise it's a much shorter cycle than building out the physics and inking effects from scratch. They'd be adding on, not creating new (except the netcode.)

I also imagine a big "new concept". My guess: Playable octolings (hides under table.) And my other guess is the addition of a "story-like" mode of larger teams - team octoling vs team inkling in a "diffuse the bomb" or "sieze the ship" type mode of asymmetrical gameplay with teams with opposing defense/assault roles that Counterstrike was famous for. That wouldn't take long to develop - they'd have 18-24 months under their belt. That's plenty for Nintendo. But gameplay wise it would be a whole new world for us .

 

[CM2]

If there's one thing I want Splatoon 2 to do is to have a fully-fleshed out local multiplayer. The local multiplayer in Splatoon just isn't fun to me and I honestly rather play online with other people.

If they can get this to work like have 4/8 player battles then I bet people will start to see why Splatoon is a fun unique charming game that you can't play anywhere else.

 

[girigiriHERO]

If there's one thing I want Splatoon 2 to do is to have a fully-fleshed out local multiplayer. The local multiplayer in Splatoon just isn't fun to me and I honestly rather play online with other people.

If they can get this to work like have 4/8 player battles then I bet people will start to see why Splatoon is a fun unique charming game that you can't play anywhere else.

So you're saying in a game that requires constant observation of your surrounding and stealth, you want to be able to see your opponents at all times making Echolocator and Point Sensor useless. Local multiplayer is a HORRIBLE idea, and this is coming from me. Splatoon is the only online game I play, every other game I play is strictly couch co-op.

The reason they completely changed local and made it balloons is because it was essentially a moot point if you knew where your opponent was, because the main goal was soley to pop balloons.

 

[CM2]

So you're saying in a game that requires constant observation of your surrounding and stealth, you want to be able to see your opponents at all times making Echolocator and Point Sensor useless. Local multiplayer is a HORRIBLE idea, and this is coming from me. Splatoon is the only online game I play, every other game I play is strictly couch co-op.

The reason they completely changed local and made it balloons is because it was essentially a moot point if you knew where your opponent was, because the main goal was soley to pop balloons.

I actually did think about that when I thought about what if Splatoon did 4 player local multiplayer battles but honestly there doesn't seem to be an answer to that problem you brought up.

With that said online co-op does sound like a great idea so at least two people can play other modes instead of just popping balloons.

 

[girigiriHERO]

I actually did think about that when I thought about what if Splatoon did 4 player local multiplayer battles but honestly there doesn't seem to be an answer to that problem you brought up.

With that said online co-op does sound like a great idea so at least two people can play other modes instead of just popping balloons.

Another problem is without having 4 gamepads, 3 will always be at a disadvantage.

 

[Award]

Another problem is without having 4 gamepads, 3 will always be at a disadvantage.

VERY unlikely NX will have a gamepad or a second screen that can be usable, especially given the rumors emerging this week that flesh out the NX a little more (maybe.) So the other conflict for Splatoon 2 will be: How to design it to not need the map screen!

 

[girigiriHERO]

VERY unlikely NX will have a gamepad or a second screen that can be usable, especially given the rumors emerging this week that flesh out the NX a little more (maybe.) So the other conflict for Splatoon 2 will be: How to design it to not need the map screen!

the map is integral and things like super jumping require a touch screen. I'm pretty sure some games will still utilize the "portable" screen.

 

[Green Waffles]

Eh, no rush.

 

[chrisblass1]

I think most people know that we aren't getting a sequel until a couple of years from now, Nintendo considers splatoon as a major ip so it's most likely getting one. Plus there is no harm in talking about one since no major updates are coming (i think).

 

[Award]

the map is integral and things like super jumping require a touch screen. I'm pretty sure some games will still utilize the "portable" screen.

Super jumping in Splatoon 1 requires the touch screen. Splatoon 2 will therefore have a different mechanic than super jumping. This is Nintendo, they'll innovate and make sure the game "Stays Fresh." It's not COD. Splatoon 2 is unlikely to be a direct copy of Splatoon 1 gameplay with new graphics and map textures. The gameplay CONCEPT will remain core (shooting ink and swimming in it) but I'd expect implementation to be radically different. Maybe it will take place on the alien world the UFOs came from. Maybe it will take place underwater as the inklings retake the oceans and feature 360degree Gravity Rush like gameplay. Who knows, it's Nintendo!

The portable screen won't be able to be used as a touch screen since it is to be assumed to be under the TV as the console itself (if the current rumors are true.) And when playing it as the portable, it's your main screen. I think Zelda BotW proves there is no second/touch screen. WW:HD used the gamepad for map/inventory and was great. TP:HD used the gamepad for map/inventory and was great. BotW was going to use the gamepad for map/inventory, and now, it does not use the gamepad screen at all "because it's confusing and breaks immersion." (Despite it was praised and touted on the prior two.) And NX and WiiU will have identical experiences.

Translation: When we ported BotW to NX and set a policy of parity between platforms we had to ditch utilization of the Gamepad touch screen because NX has no second screen to utilize but we can't admit that now because we haven't unveiled NX yet so we need lame excuses which we'll change to reflect the hardware later.

That's not a bad thing, I'm still loving the concept of NX I'm seeing if it pans out as true. But it does mean they'll need Splatoon 2 to innovate some new gameplay systems instead of the superjump and map (or a different way to control the map and jump)


CAVEAT: It's possible the portable WILL be usable with the touch screen if the system uses the same Miracast that's used to feed the Gamepad touch screen instead of a physical dock. But Miracast is FLAKY at higher resolutions...gamepad works because it's so low res. Mira is good for presentations and such but it tends to jitter out and miss frames at HD res.

 

[MindWanderer]

Most likely the NX will be able to play Wii U games. The Wii U has some of Nintendo's best first-party games ever, and there's a huge market that's getting locked out of them because of the poor third-party support of the console. Maybe they'll be upscaled or something, but the NX really ought to be able to play Splatoon, Mario Maker, Smash 4, Mario Kart 8, Super Mario 3D World, Pikmin 3, the Zelda remasters, etc., etc. Lots of money to be made there. I'm not sure how they'll do it technically--maybe the handheld component can be used like the Wii U gamepad, or maybe you can connect a Wii U gamepad as an optional peripheral.

Could Splatoon follow the nearly-annual release model for shooters, though? Possibly, but Nintendo's direct games tend to get a lot more TLC than that. Pokemon is made by The Pokemon Company, and Fire Emblem is made by Intelligent Systems, while Splatoon is made by Nintendo itself. That makes a big difference.

 

[Award]

Most likely the NX will be able to play Wii U games. The Wii U has some of Nintendo's best first-party games ever, and there's a huge market that's getting locked out of them because of the poor third-party support of the console. Maybe they'll be upscaled or something, but the NX really ought to be able to play Splatoon, Mario Maker, Smash 4, Mario Kart 8, Super Mario 3D World, Pikmin 3, the Zelda remasters, etc., etc. Lots of money to be made there. I'm not sure how they'll do it technically--maybe the handheld component can be used like the Wii U gamepad, or maybe you can connect a Wii U gamepad as an optional peripheral.

Could Splatoon follow the nearly-annual release model for shooters, though? Possibly, but Nintendo's direct games tend to get a lot more TLC than that. Pokemon is made by The Pokemon Company, and Fire Emblem is made by Intelligent Systems, while Splatoon is made by Nintendo itself. That makes a big difference.

While WiiU backward compatibility is pretty surely a no-go in pure emulation, I do think the WiiU catalog will have to be rereleased at some point like TP:HD was. How to do it hardware wise will be interesting. A gamepad as a peripheral makes some sense. Though it's a pricey peripheral...the downfall of the WiiU itself. They can't abandon the games they developed in the past 4 years forever, they need to leverage them again and hopefully get a better return on them. Most of them could be ported to NOT use the gamepad though. Just as SNES games on N3DS are ported to not support coop. Some games will be bound to disappear after WiiU. Splatoon1 can't exist on the rumored NX format. Starfox Zero can't exist on the rumored NX format. Mario Maker can't really exist, BUT it could be adapted to swap back and forth between edit and view screens on the presumably capacitive touch handheld screen. Pikmin 3 is debatable if it can be separated from the screen. Wonderful 101...sadly, probably not. MOST other games don't use the screen in a meaningful way and can easily be ported to single screen play. That fact is half the problem with the first 3 years of WiiU!

I myself would gladly rebuy the gems from the WiiU library in cartridge format! :)

I don't think Splatoon is set for yearly releases. I mean even if we get Splatoon 2 as a launch window title, that's still a 2 year cycle. Nintendo USUALLY does one game per series per generation, and occasionally 2. Never more. With the advent of DLC, I think it's possible to see only 1 or 2 Splatoons throughout NX's life, but like Smash have some big DLC so that the total package costs a fortune over time :)

 

[Flareth]

But it does mean they'll need Splatoon 2 to innovate some new gameplay systems instead of the superjump and map (or a different way to control the map and jump)

Nah, they could totally keep both. The map's the obvious one, just shunt it into the lower right-hand corner and make it a bit bigger. For Super Jumping, just assign it to the scroll wheel button that's supposedly on the controller. Scroll up or down, cycle between teammates, beakons, and the spawnpoint, click the button and jump away.

 

[girigiriHERO]

Nah, they could totally keep both. The map's the obvious one, just shunt it into the lower right-hand corner and make it a bit bigger. For Super Jumping, just assign it to the scroll wheel button that's supposedly on the controller. Scroll up or down, cycle between teammates, beakons, and the spawnpoint, click the button and jump away.

That sounds terribly inconvenient and wouldn't work if your purpose to SJ is to escape near death from another inkling, unless you're ok with blindly jumping to which ever allies/beakon/spawn appears first.

 

[Award]

Nah, they could totally keep both. The map's the obvious one, just shunt it into the lower right-hand corner and make it a bit bigger. For Super Jumping, just assign it to the scroll wheel button that's supposedly on the controller. Scroll up or down, cycle between teammates, beakons, and the spawnpoint, click the button and jump away.

Good point, I forgot about the scroll-wheel R/L buttons!

That sounds terribly inconvenient and wouldn't work if your purpose to SJ is to escape near death from another inkling, unless you're ok with blindly jumping to which ever allies/beakon/spawn appears first.

I'd think you'd have a button hard bound to jump to spawn to get away quick (just like how the soft button is always thumbs-reach away at the bottom-right on Splatoon 1) Then you can jump back to a teammate. Jump-to-spawn-then-to-beakcon/teammate is how a lot of jumping bean CEliters have always worked it. Not fast enough? Maybe more people will finally wear Quick SJ! :)

 

[Flareth]

That sounds terribly inconvenient and wouldn't work if your purpose to SJ is to escape near death from another inkling, unless you're ok with blindly jumping to which ever allies/beakon/spawn appears first.

It doesn't need to be a blind jump. I picture it kinda like @Award did, but then I'd also have it set up such that pressing it without scrolling defaults to a Super Jump to the spawnpoint. (And I know the issue then becomes a matter of your finger accidentaly slipping and the wheel scrolling before it registers a press, which is why I hope the controller devs take sensitivity into account.)

 

[Lyn]

3/4 of those games are spinoff Mario games, and the other is Smash. This is not 'Nintendo's track record'. Splatoon 2 will likely be an NX title, if there ever is one.

A more accurate track record would be looking at individual IPs, like the Pikmin series or Animal Crossing. Nintendo isn't consistent either, there was a main Animal Crossing title every console except the Wii U. This isn't confirmation or anything, and you also forget that Kirby gets games like every single year. A lot of times multiple games in a year.

Pokemon has also gotten some kind of game (albeit this is more Game Freak than Nintendo) every single year for over 16 years.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong also seems to get releases very often, along with the Mario & Luigi series.

 

[Award]

3/4 of those games are spinoff Mario games, and the other is Smash. This is not 'Nintendo's track record'. Splatoon 2 will likely be an NX title, if there ever is one.

A more accurate track record would be looking at individual IPs, like the Pikmin series or Animal Crossing. Nintendo isn't consistent either, there was a main Animal Crossing title every console except the Wii U. This isn't confirmation or anything, and you also forget that Kirby gets games like every single year. A lot of times multiple games in a year.

Pokemon has also gotten some kind of game (albeit this is more Game Freak than Nintendo) every single year for over 16 years.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong also seems to get releases very often, along with the Mario & Luigi series.

I think that's a mish-mash of various unrelated considerations (and companies) though.

Pikmin is Miyamoto's personal pet project, even over Mario. For whatever reason that seems to be the one he takes the most personal pride in and uses as his own sandbox for development ideas. As a result, Pikmin isn't released based around any particular market or marketing priorities. There's a new Pikmin when Miyamoto says there's a new Pikmin and whenever inspiration provides him new Pikmin ideas. It's sort of an odd case for Nintendo. It's a game that doesn't sell overly well but they make them oddly semi-regularly mostly because Miyamoto just wants to, and Iwata didn't like to say "no" to Miyamoto, and now, Miyamoto IS the decision maker on what gets released and when, so he kind of gets to do what he wants with it. And it's all the better for it.

Animal Crossing skipped the WiiU because everything skipped the WiiU because it was an abject failure of a console. I fully expect there really WAS an AC for WiiU that got scrapped midway through and moved to NX, much like whatever Metroid was probably supposed to accompany FF. It's a weird cycle. Lots of games that were supposed to release got halted, cancelled, or quietly moved to NX early in the WiiU life cycle and the only games that came out for WiiU were mostly the ones they announced in the first 2 years. I think quietly they really decided WiiU was dead in the first 18 months on market when it didn't light up charts in Wii numbers as they believed it would, and decided to downplay production within the first 24.

Kirby isn't really Nintendo, it's HAL, which isn't actually Nintendo. I'm not sure that will continue. Iwata had a fondness for Kirby games because he's the guy that actually designed the final Kirby form when he worked at HAL. Same for Smash (it was largely his idea to use Nintendo characters), so I don't know if the relationship between HAL and Nintendo will be quite as strong without Iwata at the helm, and if as many projects will be greenlit.

Same for Pokemon. That's all GameFreak and the Pokemon Company. Nintendo co-owns the latter with the former, and is a notable investor in the former, however the former that really makes the games is fully independent and also makes non-Nintendo games for other platforms. Sure Nintendo's an influence, but there's an outside firm playing a big role there unlike Splatoon.

M&DK and M&L are a better example though. If we're avoiding Mario spinoff comparisons, well Splatoon is a 1st Tier IP now, so the only things to compare it with are other 1st tier. Meaning anything Mario, Zelda, Animal Crossing (skipped WiiU because it's WiiU, not because it's an intermittent series), Kart, Smash. Metroid, Star Fox, Pikmin etc. are 2nd tier IPs. They just don't sell as well. Splatoon proved itself to be a cash cow and most importantly proved itself to be a massive hit with the home market. At Nintendo, Japan is the world, plus other people elsewhere. If it's a hit at home it's a hit. itf it's a flop at home, it's a flop, with Zelda being the sole outlier that actually sells better overseas (but is still at hit in Japan too.)