Weapons design and how it affects the gameplay

[Mili]

One of the things that makes me love Splatoon as much as I do are the weapons, every single one of them is insanely cool to me, and I wanted to have a thread to appreciate what I could of the weapons I like.
This is going to be a bit of a long post, so don't try to force yourself to read all of it, I'm mostly speaking about what I like, and I really would like to hear if any of you have a similar fascination with a weapon, also, sorry if there is a similar thread out there, I didn't search too hard for it...

-One of my biggest examples is Sloshing Machine, which is my favorite weapon due to my somewhat recent appreciation of how washing machines look, especially in games, and that translates very well to Machine! I really love the look of this weapon, and I'm sure if you follow a lot of Splatoon artist you'll see the weapon gets a lot of art too, it's just such a neat execution of a funny concept...
And one of the other things I want to think about is the projectile and how this weapon plays! the projectile being a spiraling slosh of ink is one of the most perfect ways they could've had translated a washing machine to gameplay in my opinion, if I'm being honest, even though this weapon is meant to play behind cover for AOE, I really would like for machine to have its old framedata in exchange of a bit of AOE, since I really think this weapon is fun...

-Splatana Stamper is another popular one, and for good reason! the face of one of the coolest weapon types introduced and is a really creative way to show it, it being a stamp combined with a chainsaw, and having a close one shot, not to mention the kit... It's a miracle a weapon this good was designed like this right out of the gate.

-Flingza Roller is also a weapon I've seen that has its fair share of dedicated fans, and I can understand it, I personally am also a big fan of the hybrid long rage vertical for poking and the up close one shot horizontal, plus the design being one of the more unique in the roller class, but it's not only that the weapon stands out in its design, but the fact that it looks very nice, probably one of my favorite looking rollers with Dyname behind it by not that much.

-Of the shooters, I think one of my favorite looking ones are the gals, specifically 96, mostly due to the filter in the barrel, it's such a neat detail to me! the weapon itself has the general shape of a gun, though I'm not sure of what kind since I don't often search about them, which I find funnily enough distinguishes them from other shooters based on water guns or other everyday objects, but this is not really something I personally feel makes them cooler than other weapons, I think it's the visual wave shooting this gun that really makes me appreciate this weapon, it's a very small detail, but it makes me really like this weapon nevertheless over other that might be more interesting.

-Glooga Dualies are also my favorite dualies look wise, I just think it looks very neat and has very nice colors, complimented with how well it incorporates its hot glue gun motif, it makes for a very nice looking weapon overall!

- Brellas as a class are one of my favorite executions of the "shield" type of weapon, I think undercover is a clever concept, even if it really doesn't translate to a very good weapon... I don't know if I have a favorite between Splat and Tent, but something I really like about tent is how it replicates how powerful shotguns feel up close, but I also enjoy the way Splat brella fights, just wish it had a little more consistency hitting two shots....
I forgot about recycle until the last moment lol, I'll have thoughts about it later, I at least like the tight bullet spread, even if it paints worse.

 

[🌌☾ᏉᎬᎶᎪ☽⭐]

I love it when players appreciate the design of a weapon. The idea that it doesn't always have to be about the practicality of the weapon and more so just how it translates from their real life counterpart to how they function has always been something that's interested me.

Personally, my favorite weapon is the Snipewriter, and just how it portrays itself as a weapon. A mechanical pencil with a little bit of lead sticking out at the front along with all the little segments of lead exposed by a hole in the weapon, with my favorite part being that when you fully charge the thing, 5 pieces of lead are chambered on the back of it. The little bounce it has and the constant clanking of each individual piece of lead while you fire the thing is just amazing attention to detail, and I'm happy they went the extra mile to make this thing look as gorgeous as it is. (Also I know it's not part of the weapon but the way the reticle turns into a star when fully charged has always captivated me.)

Other honorable mentions would include the Painbrush, with how it winds itself up before swinging. It's barely noticeable but the tip of the brush rotates before you swing it, and rotates back into place when you're done swinging with it or start rolling with it. The Big Swig Roller being noticeably beefier when just holding it but becoming thinner when you swing it, eventually soaking itself back up to its larger size when you're done with your actions. The way Ballpoint Splatling uses its pens to convey what mode you're firing in, with them retracting when you're using the short range mode, and clicking down when going into long range. A lot of care of was put into these weapons to give them a unique flair that you wouldn't see with anything else, and I'm so happy that it's part of Splatoon as this very expressive game.

 

[isaac4]

-One of my biggest examples is Sloshing Machine, which is my favorite weapon due to my somewhat recent appreciation of how washing machines look, especially in games, and that translates very well to Machine! I really love the look of this weapon, and I'm sure if you follow a lot of Splatoon artist you'll see the weapon gets a lot of art too, it's just such a neat execution of a funny concept...

I love how Machine looks too, it's my favorite looking slosher with Explo being a close 2nd. A lot of the vanilla kit designs for weapons look very uninteresting to me but I've never felt that way for Machine and I'm glad that they also did something different for the Neo kit this time instead of just slapping a sticker on it like they used to do.
I think I just have a big preference for bulkier, mechanical looking weapons and the sound effect when hitting a direct from a slosh sounds so satisfying which definitely helps.

And one of the other things I want to think about is the projectile and how this weapon plays! the projectile being a spiraling slosh of ink is one of the most perfect ways they could've had translated a washing machine to gameplay in my opinion, if I'm being honest, even though this weapon is meant to play behind cover for AOE, I really would like for machine to have its old framedata in exchange of a bit of AOE, since I really think this weapon is fun...

Machine sharing blaster traits while still keeping some of regular slosher's strengths like hitting over ledges and chip damage made the weapon so fun to play with when I first tried it out. It didn't deserve the 5 frame nerf at all but I don't think it needs an AOE nerf either, it was mostly fine the way it was.

 

[OnePotWonder]

Several weapons from previous games got big face lifts to their appearance in Splatoon 3. The best example of this I can think of is the Luna Blaster; its colourful parts weren’t transparent before! Now you can see all the mechanisms inside. A lot of sloshers got reworked designs as well, the most notable being Explosher becoming a lot more detailed and Tri-Slosher getting a completely new look compared to previous. The .96 Gal’s special barrel was only added in Splatoon 3, as were the Rapid Blasters’ yellow nozzles.

If only they put as much time and thought into balancing their weapons as they did modelling them (*cough* Recycled *cough*).
Actually, on that note, did anyone else notice the correlation between the second kits for Sizzle Season ‘24 being far less decorated and far higher quality? In fact, the weapons the got the best kits were the ones that had the least changes from the base model…

 

[Yeenom]

One of the things that makes me love Splatoon as much as I do are the weapons, every single one of them is insanely cool to me, and I wanted to have a thread to appreciate what I could of the weapons I like.
This is going to be a bit of a long post, so don't try to force yourself to read all of it, I'm mostly speaking about what I like, and I really would like to hear if any of you have a similar fascination with a weapon, also, sorry if there is a similar thread out there, I didn't search too hard for it...

-One of my biggest examples is Sloshing Machine, which is my favorite weapon due to my somewhat recent appreciation of how washing machines look, especially in games, and that translates very well to Machine! I really love the look of this weapon, and I'm sure if you follow a lot of Splatoon artist you'll see the weapon gets a lot of art too, it's just such a neat execution of a funny concept...
And one of the other things I want to think about is the projectile and how this weapon plays! the projectile being a spiraling slosh of ink is one of the most perfect ways they could've had translated a washing machine to gameplay in my opinion, if I'm being honest, even though this weapon is meant to play behind cover for AOE, I really would like for machine to have its old framedata in exchange of a bit of AOE, since I really think this weapon is fun...

-Splatana Stamper is another popular one, and for good reason! the face of one of the coolest weapon types introduced and is a really creative way to show it, it being a stamp combined with a chainsaw, and having a close one shot, not to mention the kit... It's a miracle a weapon this good was designed like this right out of the gate.

-Flingza Roller is also a weapon I've seen that has its fair share of dedicated fans, and I can understand it, I personally am also a big fan of the hybrid long rage vertical for poking and the up close one shot horizontal, plus the design being one of the more unique in the roller class, but it's not only that the weapon stands out in its design, but the fact that it looks very nice, probably one of my favorite looking rollers with Dyname behind it by not that much.

-Of the shooters, I think one of my favorite looking ones are the gals, specifically 96, mostly due to the filter in the barrel, it's such a neat detail to me! the weapon itself has the general shape of a gun, though I'm not sure of what kind since I don't often search about them, which I find funnily enough distinguishes them from other shooters based on water guns or other everyday objects, but this is not really something I personally feel makes them cooler than other weapons, I think it's the visual wave shooting this gun that really makes me appreciate this weapon, it's a very small detail, but it makes me really like this weapon nevertheless over other that might be more interesting.

-Glooga Dualies are also my favorite dualies look wise, I just think it looks very neat and has very nice colors, complimented with how well it incorporates its hot glue gun motif, it makes for a very nice looking weapon overall!

- Brellas as a class are one of my favorite executions of the "shield" type of weapon, I think undercover is a clever concept, even if it really doesn't translate to a very good weapon... I don't know if I have a favorite between Splat and Tent, but something I really like about tent is how it replicates how powerful shotguns feel up close, but I also enjoy the way Splat brella fights, just wish it had a little more consistency hitting two shots....
I forgot about recycle until the last moment lol, I'll have thoughts about it later, I at least like the tight bullet spread, even if it paints worse.

I love weapons that are just normal things. Basically every weapon is based off of a specific object or tool or thing but then you have some that are just straight up a normal household object used as a weapon. Like the H-3 Nozzlenose is based off of a hose but it has a unique shell and trigger which means that it's specifically meant to be used as a weapon, meanwhile the Sloshing Machine is just a washing machine. The Squiffer is just a spray bottle with a weird nozzle, the Roller is just a normal paint roller, the N-Zap is just a NES Zapper, the Wiper is just a windshield wiper, the Glooga Dualies are just glue guns. It's a very niche genre of weapon but it really emphasizes that feeling of a bunch of kids playing with whatever they find hanging around.

 

[QuagSass]

Someone already mentioned Ballpoint here, but I wanna go more into it. When Ballpoint switches to it's long-range mode, one of the barrels actually move to stick out of the hole in the casing while the rest move back! It's such a cool animation, it's a shame you can't really see it in normal gameplay. Really tells us why BP long-range mode is so slow and shoots so few bullets at a time. It's just one little barrel doing all the work!

Splatlings are so cool, man. I wish I had the raw animation files for all of them, I could stare at their spinning forever.