The Biggest Missed Opportunities with Splatoon 3

[Smash Arena]

I think the catalogue system is fine, the problem is more that it dictates the update cycle. If it was a simple matter of eight catalogues circling around in a two-year cycle, there would be no problem, and it would give Nintendo room to make bigger gameplay-based content closer to the end of the next game’s lifespan.

The catalogue makes for a simple, tidy goal for casual players to aspire to complete. While updates 110% should not be tied to them, their existence isn’t problematic. Especially if the devs do a good job of the FOMO aspect, which they’ve done fairly decently this time around with regards to being able to obtain old catalogues’ rewards.

I think the Catalog works well as a sort of "Bonus Meter", so an extra reward for playing the game a lot. The problem is that the update cycle is tied to it as well, making the playerbase swell every 3 months and then trail off for several weeks. Back with Splatoon 1 and 2, updates were weekly for the better part of the games' lives, encouraging players to hop on to try the new content each week. I remember all my friends and I hopping on the night the Inkbrush came out in Splatoon 1. There was so much fun in each of our reactions. I thought it was garbage because I didn't understand you had to mash with it, but my friend loved it because it clicked with him immediately. He then proceeded to draw many ding-dongs with it for years to come.

Again, as an added incentive to play, I think the Catalog could work. If it was framed as a "you can get these items for free AND early by just playing!", that would be ideal because there would be no pressure to complete it. That is almost what it is now, though I think the availability of the items for in-game cash beyond the catalog period should be better communicated to the player.

 

[Yeenom]

anyway, here's some not Side Order related stuff:
-i'm kind of mad that Shiver isn't non-binary, especially after it was hinted that she was. though Acht canonically uses they/them so at least we got some enby representation (implicitly anyway, since it isn't confirmed if they are)

Splatoon clearly wants to appeal to minorities and have representation for queer people and POCs but I think it's just executives holding them back. They've made very small inches towards it with Acht being enby, Pearl and Marina basically being gay, all of Deep Cut coming from significantly different cultures (Big Man is Brazilian, Frye is Indian and Shiver is a non-Octarian Octoling which makes her an in-universe minority), a lot of new black haircuts in 3, Harmony showing signs of being on the spectrum and so on. The team's intent is very slowly pushing forward under Nintendo's judgement.

 

[TRUE NUCKA]

The lore and the story because I am very passionate about the fact that splatoon's lore has connotations with Nazism and Hitler and fascism and colonialism and totalitarianism and authoritarianism and war crimes etc etc.

I guess they added a bunch of new stuff but damn I am waiting for when some guy at nintendo cooks with the game's lore and idk... make the story of Splatoon 4 MORE THAN SILLY SQUID KIDS FIGHTING RACE WARS. We don't really go deeper and explore this world deeper than that, and a fascism arc could have had something to say about the human condition and lessons from the 20th century.

If it's a video game though they probably won't really try to make a complex story.