...WOAH, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! JEEZ, CAN'T YOU KNOCK FIRST?!
Well since you're here already, welcome back to another edition of the Splatoon Community Spotlight, this time with Nikki, more commonly known as Hacker Personality "NWPlayer123". Secretly an Octoling with ways around the grid, she's the reason we know a ton about new weapons soon come out and lots about Splatoon's hidden content! She's no stranger to the front page of Squidboards for sure, with her datamining endeavors.
W: "So, important first question, and totally not biased in any way, shape or form: Why are Octolings so much cooler than Inklings?"
Nikki: "Just cause they're supposed to be the bad guys, and I like standing out. Inklings are just too....common, and they all look the same."
W: "It is quite obvious that the Octolings are the superior of the two, kids these days just don't get it... I bet down in Octo Valley, you all had the best technology, probably already have the NX down there. What we're some of the games you grew up with, or that got you into gaming?"
Nikki: "I grew up with a PS1 that we sold in a garage sale to get a PS2, my dad won an Xbox in a giveaway at his old work and we had that. Also remember having both GBAs, the blocky one and the flipdown. Didn't really grow up all that much with Nintendo. Wario Land 4 is the only first party one I remember playing. Didn't pick it up until I used birthday money one year to get a DS Lite and Nintendogs (which, by the way, is great), and the first ones that really stood out to me were SoulSilver (wish I'd gotten HeartGold so I could have Growlithe and Arcanine) and Super Mario Galaxy 1. Super Mario Galaxy 2 came out a little while later and I decided to learn how to do game modding to see what I could make.
Remember joining a forum someone made because they wanted to make another full game, even though we only had a map editor at that point."
W: "Ah man, so much nostalgia so quickly. FFVII, Jak and Daxter, Crash Bandicoot... Good times. I still remember how we thought the speech recognition was so good in Nintendogs, and now look where we are, haha! Plus HeartGold and SoulSilver, I'd say you had quite a lot of Nintendo compared to others, you're gaming portfolio is just a bit more well rounded! Galaxy was definitely a magical experience for sure, especially since it got you into the modding scene. What other games have you modded for?"
Nikki: "Yea, I've never played a Final Fantasy game but I remember I loved Crash Team Racing, Ratchet and Clank, and Sly Cooper.
I'm sorry your childhood was without magic if you didn't play this godlike game.
I've only really modded first party Nintendo stuff, done a bunch with Sunshine and Luigi's Mansion, I've wanted to look into Skyward Sword for a long time, Galaxy and Splatoon have been the only two big ones. Also been meaning to poke at all the Pikmin games since I love that series too. I have a very long todo list and I usually forget at least half of it."
W: "Crash Team Racing was secretly the GOAT, so I'm right there with ya. Pikmin sounds great, adding purple Pikmin back into story mode of 3 might break the game with how good they are... Some power shouldn't be meant for mortal hands...
Speaking of Splatoon, how do you feel about the content in the game, what we have and what's to come?"
Nikki: "I think that people take it for granted, they're so used to being competitive that most weapons see barely any use. I've stuck with the Custom Splattershot Jr. for so long because I know how to use it, I'm good with it, and because most people use the normal one because it has the Panic Bubbler™. Would be nice to see more people try out a new weapon and stick with it for more than the night that it launches, and try it in Ranked.
I feel like at this point, now that all they have left to release is Customs, that they definitely need to introduce new content. A few more Ranked modes, possibly a different battle mode, and new maps to keep things interesting. Octolings would be nice, it'd give twice as many styling options from new hair and clothing."
Octolings. They may or may not have stolen your save data as well. Better check your WiiU!
W: "Ah yes, the extra weapons left we know about thanks to a certain little birdy. Do you think Nintendo will follow through with all the requests for Octolings and other community requests, to make this the competitive game they are trying to push?"
Nikki: "I hope so, all their sneaky changes throughout versions seems to imply it. They have 220MB of missing data and Female Inkling/Octoling animations were updated. Not male, just female. I assume they added support for more bones."
W: "Missing data eh? Well if you add 2+2, you get 4, minus 1 gender edited, you get 3: Half-Life 3 Confirmed.
What fascinates you about datamining? I would think it to be a fascination similar to taking things apart then putting them back together, but I want to hear what you think about it."
Nikki: "Pretty much, that's all I do anyways, it's how I teach myself to do all this stuff (I'm self taught). Take it apart and then rewrite it to put it back together. Also helps me learn new languages, been meaning to rewrite all my tools in C so they're way faster."
W: "Oh wow, that is very cool!
Going further into this topic, many in the Splatoon community seem to view you as a sort of "crystal ball" when it comes to future updates to the game, where you show them glimpses of the future. How do you feel about being in that position?"
Nikki: "It feels odd because there's only been a few updates and in between them I have to make stuff up to fill in the gaps."
W: "True. With the debate for and against datamined spoilers (new weapons, the Ryu/Roy leak), what is your position on it? Is it fair game to spread this kind of information, or do you think there should be some kind of restriction on it?"
Pictured Above: Weapons in beta form discovered by Nikki inside Super Mario Maker.
Nikki: "I feel like it is to an extent, there are even some things I'd hold off on to keep things exciting, any new modes I'd probably hold off on spoiling."
W: "Indeed, there may be a fine line to carefully tip toe around, not wanting to take the winds from Nintendo's sails.
Finally, is there anything you want to tell your fans and/or the Big N?"
Nikki: "Just to keep it positive, it's nice and everything being salty but at the end of the day you're playing a game with kids that turn into squids and shoot each other with colored ink."
I want to thank Miss Nikki for taking time out of her busy schedule of breaking the internet to have a lil chat with us! Be sure to follow her on Twitter, and check out her Twitch and Youtube channels!
Well since you're here already, welcome back to another edition of the Splatoon Community Spotlight, this time with Nikki, more commonly known as Hacker Personality "NWPlayer123". Secretly an Octoling with ways around the grid, she's the reason we know a ton about new weapons soon come out and lots about Splatoon's hidden content! She's no stranger to the front page of Squidboards for sure, with her datamining endeavors.
W: "So, important first question, and totally not biased in any way, shape or form: Why are Octolings so much cooler than Inklings?"
Nikki: "Just cause they're supposed to be the bad guys, and I like standing out. Inklings are just too....common, and they all look the same."
W: "It is quite obvious that the Octolings are the superior of the two, kids these days just don't get it... I bet down in Octo Valley, you all had the best technology, probably already have the NX down there. What we're some of the games you grew up with, or that got you into gaming?"
Nikki: "I grew up with a PS1 that we sold in a garage sale to get a PS2, my dad won an Xbox in a giveaway at his old work and we had that. Also remember having both GBAs, the blocky one and the flipdown. Didn't really grow up all that much with Nintendo. Wario Land 4 is the only first party one I remember playing. Didn't pick it up until I used birthday money one year to get a DS Lite and Nintendogs (which, by the way, is great), and the first ones that really stood out to me were SoulSilver (wish I'd gotten HeartGold so I could have Growlithe and Arcanine) and Super Mario Galaxy 1. Super Mario Galaxy 2 came out a little while later and I decided to learn how to do game modding to see what I could make.
Remember joining a forum someone made because they wanted to make another full game, even though we only had a map editor at that point."
W: "Ah man, so much nostalgia so quickly. FFVII, Jak and Daxter, Crash Bandicoot... Good times. I still remember how we thought the speech recognition was so good in Nintendogs, and now look where we are, haha! Plus HeartGold and SoulSilver, I'd say you had quite a lot of Nintendo compared to others, you're gaming portfolio is just a bit more well rounded! Galaxy was definitely a magical experience for sure, especially since it got you into the modding scene. What other games have you modded for?"
Nikki: "Yea, I've never played a Final Fantasy game but I remember I loved Crash Team Racing, Ratchet and Clank, and Sly Cooper.
I'm sorry your childhood was without magic if you didn't play this godlike game.
I've only really modded first party Nintendo stuff, done a bunch with Sunshine and Luigi's Mansion, I've wanted to look into Skyward Sword for a long time, Galaxy and Splatoon have been the only two big ones. Also been meaning to poke at all the Pikmin games since I love that series too. I have a very long todo list and I usually forget at least half of it."
W: "Crash Team Racing was secretly the GOAT, so I'm right there with ya. Pikmin sounds great, adding purple Pikmin back into story mode of 3 might break the game with how good they are... Some power shouldn't be meant for mortal hands...
Speaking of Splatoon, how do you feel about the content in the game, what we have and what's to come?"
Nikki: "I think that people take it for granted, they're so used to being competitive that most weapons see barely any use. I've stuck with the Custom Splattershot Jr. for so long because I know how to use it, I'm good with it, and because most people use the normal one because it has the Panic Bubbler™. Would be nice to see more people try out a new weapon and stick with it for more than the night that it launches, and try it in Ranked.
I feel like at this point, now that all they have left to release is Customs, that they definitely need to introduce new content. A few more Ranked modes, possibly a different battle mode, and new maps to keep things interesting. Octolings would be nice, it'd give twice as many styling options from new hair and clothing."
Octolings. They may or may not have stolen your save data as well. Better check your WiiU!
W: "Ah yes, the extra weapons left we know about thanks to a certain little birdy. Do you think Nintendo will follow through with all the requests for Octolings and other community requests, to make this the competitive game they are trying to push?"
Nikki: "I hope so, all their sneaky changes throughout versions seems to imply it. They have 220MB of missing data and Female Inkling/Octoling animations were updated. Not male, just female. I assume they added support for more bones."
W: "Missing data eh? Well if you add 2+2, you get 4, minus 1 gender edited, you get 3: Half-Life 3 Confirmed.
What fascinates you about datamining? I would think it to be a fascination similar to taking things apart then putting them back together, but I want to hear what you think about it."
Nikki: "Pretty much, that's all I do anyways, it's how I teach myself to do all this stuff (I'm self taught). Take it apart and then rewrite it to put it back together. Also helps me learn new languages, been meaning to rewrite all my tools in C so they're way faster."
W: "Oh wow, that is very cool!
Going further into this topic, many in the Splatoon community seem to view you as a sort of "crystal ball" when it comes to future updates to the game, where you show them glimpses of the future. How do you feel about being in that position?"
Nikki: "It feels odd because there's only been a few updates and in between them I have to make stuff up to fill in the gaps."
W: "True. With the debate for and against datamined spoilers (new weapons, the Ryu/Roy leak), what is your position on it? Is it fair game to spread this kind of information, or do you think there should be some kind of restriction on it?"
Pictured Above: Weapons in beta form discovered by Nikki inside Super Mario Maker.
Nikki: "I feel like it is to an extent, there are even some things I'd hold off on to keep things exciting, any new modes I'd probably hold off on spoiling."
W: "Indeed, there may be a fine line to carefully tip toe around, not wanting to take the winds from Nintendo's sails.
Finally, is there anything you want to tell your fans and/or the Big N?"
Nikki: "Just to keep it positive, it's nice and everything being salty but at the end of the day you're playing a game with kids that turn into squids and shoot each other with colored ink."
I want to thank Miss Nikki for taking time out of her busy schedule of breaking the internet to have a lil chat with us! Be sure to follow her on Twitter, and check out her Twitch and Youtube channels!
