#I mean I GET IT. I get it. It's spoilers it's datamined music from an event that hasn't released yet

[shima-draws]

ARGHHHHH Nintendo took down every single video with Pecharunt's theme in it. Biting KILLING maiming

[monarch-boo]

I think the possibility of a whole new Season is pretty much dead, HOWEVER that doesn't preclude content drops anyway. I still believe the chances of at least minor additions here and there is absolutely still not zero. I just doubt we're getting new catalogs or proper *Seasonal Updates* anymore.

As for the catalogs themselves... my assumption is we'll begin seeing 1:1 reruns of entire previous catalogues.

Starting with """Drizzle '24""" (not a proper new Season, but each three months'll probably keep being called Drizzle, Chill, Fresh, Sizzle, so on) having a 1:1 rerun of Drizzle '22's catalogue, then """Chill '24""" having 1:1 Chill '22's catalogue, so on and so forth until all have been repeated, then looping basically forever until... probably when the Switch's entire online services are shut down (which if it's like 3DS and WiiU, will be *years* from now still).

Duplicate items will act the same as getting a duplicate from Shell-Out, repeat gear, etc. Predetermined banners/titles will probably just give you a random banner/title if you already own the predetermined one, I'd assume.

AAAANYWAY prediction time! This will be predictions based on both GrandFest related stuff *and* any potential future minor updates I think *might* happen, or I'm just hoping for and don't think the possibility is zero yet. Contains datamined info, so spoilers ahead.

First off, kind of a small one but I think the gear for the Alterna and Side Order Amiibos will be revealed as soon as tomorrow (as of me posting this). JP Twitter began making posts about GrandFest about four and a half hours ago. The last one of today states that the amiibo box will not be usable during GrandFest-they end the post with "...Amiibo, eh?" which in my head implies they're trying to maybe lead straight into their very next post tomorrow with something important amiibo-related, and I can't see it being anything other than a gear reveal.

...Unless? There's something *else* special we're gonna be able to use the amiibos for...? I'm personally leaning toward it just being a gear reveal, though. But not ruling out the possibility of it being something else, either.

Now, into bigger things... GrandFest is 1000% going to have some sort of cross over with Big Run. Seven rings. BIG Big Run was the seventh Big Run event. BIG Big Run clearly shows that the Salmonids are getting more aggressive. Just before that they were only invading one stage at a time, sending out just one King per Xtra Wave, but then suddenly in this seventh Big Run they launched an attack on all previous attack sites at once, and the Kings are teaming up now. Things are escalating. If I'm not mistaken FinalFests were usually five days? So GrandFest only being three seems... odd. Also by the way, dataminers found that GrandFest (codename SAND)'s code literally has a fucking handler for Big Run music. Why would a Splatfest need a handler for Big Run music, unless...? I think the Salmonids may flat-out invade at least one hub world. The Twitter posts about GrandFest say that you won't be able to travel to the other plazas during GrandFest, meaning in-universe there may be no Inkfish out and about in the plazas...... either the Salmonids will sneak into the empty town(s) while everybody's distracted with GrandFest, OR they could even just come directly to us to crash the party... either way leading to a massive critical emergency in which we'll need to fend them off.

In that case I have to wonder if perhaps BigBalloon and the six Bosses sitting in the files, who as far as I know are *still* present in the files meaning the devs still haven't scrapped them, may come into play here. GrandFest is obviously going to be kind of a huge event, the Big Run crossover that's most certainly happening may do something huge as well.

I just wanna see these bastards finally show up, BigBalloon and three of the six Bosses have been in the files since fucking Horrorboros was first introduced, they just added the other three Bosses into the files in Chill '23 (this just past Chill), they by all means seem to still be being worked on, as if the devs are still planning to or at least *want* to still implement them finally... BigBalloon, Balloon, Ghost, Wheel, Silo, Fish, Stick, where the hell are you all? Please!

Now for other additions probably unrelated to GrandFest:

● Third kits. THIRD KITS. I know a lot of people have lost hope but both previous games had some third kits and they don't need to be in a *major* update to still get added. It would be absolutely fucking bizarre if they had absolutely no third kits in their THIRD GAME, and for the first time in the whole series so far. I still have some semblance of confidence there will be at least Sheldon's Picks at SOME point eventually.

● On the topic of weapons: those two still-unidentified new main weapons found last Season are still in the files right now, I believe. Will we finally get them soon? Eventually? For those who don't know, even though one new main weapon for every class has now been added in updates, the devs seem to be at least toying with the idea of adding two more new main weapons... somewhere. Dataminers found two unnamed new main weapons in Fresh '24- while not much info could be gleaned about them, they know both of them are part of some sort of existing class, the devs aren't surprising us with a new class as far as we know.

● I wonder if they're cooking anything in regards to PvP stages. Lemuria rounds things off to perfectly fill the last page on the recon lists, BUT everyone noticed that last Season they explicitly called Bonerattle the final Salmon stage, while this Season did not call Lemuria the final PvP stage for whatever reason. Could be nothing. They could just assume we would know it's the last, maybe they're just suddenly starting to no longer state when something is the final something. Or.................

● I want more character customization please for the love of god, even just a couple hairstyles or something at this point.

● Literally any, ANY significant addition to Side Order. It's still pretty fun but could benefit from some new floor layouts, new weapons, new Cipher shop items to grind for, anything, even if just one of those things. I've made an entire post in the past about possibilities.

● I want the S2 Special Fest gear obtainable in 3 by some means. Whether it's somehow connected to GrandFest or added to Cipher's shop or what.

● I want a Triumvirate nerf of some sort.

● Maybe a Flyfish nerf of some sort, too...

● And some kind of actual real fix to Reefslider, no more of these random buffs that don't really resolve or counteract the issues people have with it.

● And tweak Ultra Stamp a bit- people are always able to shoot me dead from the front but I can never beat an opponent Stamp from the front (unless using my own Stamp or a Decavitator, the hitboxes for both of those can reach past their Stamp without any sort of interruption), it's like they get some kind of invincibility from the front that I don't. And the enlarged hitbox from a while back is still frustrating to be on the receiving end of. I say either A.) Make everybody consistently invincible from the front and shrink the hitbox some amount for balance sake, or B.) Make everybody consistently NOT invincible from the front and then it's probably fine to keep the hitbox how it is.

------

I think this is all I have any idea about, any wishes for or confidence in. If I think of anything else before I see more info then I'll put it here. May also edit this to condense it a lil at some point but for right now I'm gonna try and sleep.

[cru5h-cascades]

Random Side Order Stuff I've Found Recently!

Hey everyone! So recently a bunch of stuff about Side Order has been uncovered including some rewards and stuff (spoiler alert: so far there's no signs of new playable species) so I'd like to go over some of this stuff in a post, including something that y'all probably have found out already but I feel like I should say it regardless. Um, this post has some mild spoilers for Side Order which involve the stuff you get from beating the DLC (but no story spoilers though) so if you don't want to find out what the big DLC reward is then you might just wanna scroll away from this post. If you want to know this stuff then by all means keep reading!

Gear rewards have been uncovered a few weeks back by dataminers. As for what that gear is I don't know since I haven't found any pics online but if they were out there I would most likely leave those out of this post since these may or may not have something to do with the heroes or the villains of the DLC.

A slightly more impressive reward for the Side Order DLC has been uncovered by dataminers as well, this reward being Inkopolis Square from Splatoon 2, which should come to no suprise to some people since we see the square in the trailer. This can also potentially mean that Off the Hook splatfest preformances can also be unlocked by completing the DLC! Can't wait to hopefully see Pearl and Marina preform again!

Not news or anything but I just want to point this out: while looking at the Splatoon wiki's Side Order page I found this in the translations:

Huh... Order Tower.... *Pizza Tower music intensifies*

Anyways, jokes aside the French and Dutch translations of the title could point to a significant part of the plot! Looks like the tower in the middle of the square's gonna play a big role in the story! However the final boss of the DLC most likely isn't an octoling version of Pizzaface from Pizza Tower lmao.

Well that's all I have for y'all right now. By the looks of if we might be seeing Side Order in the next two seasons considering that the rewards are already in the game's files. As for when a trailer will come I hope it's in the next few weeks but I dunno. If I missed anything please check out the youtuber Snorth93 since his vids go into a bit more detail about stuff revolving around the DLC (I put a link to his channel in the underlined text above!). Staaay fresh everyone!

[aawesomepenguin]

SONIC RANGERS, EVERYTHING WE KNOW ABOUT IT, LINK FOR ALL SOURCES AT THE END

Ok, the time has come. I spent my entire day doing some searches on the 4chan website, picking and trying to find every nugget of information I could find that I was 100% sure it was connected to Sonic Rangers.

I’ll get this right out of the gate: I’m 95% sure the next main Sonic game will be open world, and what will follow is all my evidence towards it. It’ll be uncharted territory for the Sonic franchise, and we’ll need to see how it pays off.

Also, spoilers for Sonic Rangers, but kind of broad ones, so in my opinion, your experience wouldn’t be ruined if you read all of this. But if you’re one of those that want to go 100% blind, then I think the time to jump off this ship is now.

Here we go.

As it turns out, as I did some digging of my own, and thanks to other observant people, I can confirm that the “Sonic Rangers” name has been circulating on the Internet way, WAY before the accidental leak revealed on May 27th. I will show an entire timeline of these discoveries, and how they connect.

But okay, before we dive in, a general vision of Sonic Rangers: the game will take a brand new approach with the character, placing Sonic in an open world for him to explore. Where through his speed, he’ll do platforming challenges, do puzzles, fight against badniks, etc. When fighting against enemies, the player gains XP, that can be used to give Sonic different abilities. Spread through this world are bosses, where after you defeat them, Sonic obtains orbs, and when enough of them are gathered, Sonic can enter Special Stages, that are structured like a Sonic Generations/Sonic Unleashed boost level. When you complete them, you get a Chaos Emerald.

Ok, now let’s go to the 4chan leaks. From what I can tell, SEGA has been inviting different test groups to testplay their next main Sonic game, under a strict NDA. After it, SEGA collects feedback from the testers. I can’t exactly pinpoint when SEGA began to do these tests, but if I had to guess, it has been around as early as March 2020.

1st Occurrence

In July 2020, another fake leak claiming to be the 30th anniversary game showed up on 4chan, but then, as an answer to it, a person that has really played a test version of the next main Sonic game called the fake leaker out. The person that has put their hands on the next main Sonic game had the following to say:

“I playtested the game back in march and played it for an hour. There were no levels just an overworld. You’re full of s***.”

In another post, the person that got their hands on the testing version of the next main Sonic game, had the following to say:

“It was called Sonic Rangers when I played it.”

1st Occurrence analysis

I believe that the person that played the test version of Sonic Rangers has erroneously interpreted the open world as an overworld, which makes sense. Sonic Rangers name gets dropped for the first time.

2nd Occurrence

In August of 2020, another person that played a test version of Sonic Rangers, stated the following about the next title on the Sonic series:

“It’s not an adventure remake. I playtested it. They ARE working on something, but if they take feedback me and the other panelists gave them, SEGA might change quite a bit from what I ended up playing.

Open World

Set on a gloomy, grassy, uninhabited island dotted with ruins.

Big BOTW influence, little korok-like puzzles scattered everywhere.

Robot/alien bosses scattered throughout the island, defeat them and you get a Chaos Emerald.

Get all Chaos Emeralds and you gain entrance to the final boss area, a foggy forest you couldn’t enter before.

No major characters appeared aside from Sonic.

No story, just dumped in.

Turn Super Sonic to fight the boss, he’s a giant colossus-like entity that you climb, hit his weak points.

These could all be changed because I played a couple of months ago and there still hasn’t been any reveal, so I assume they might be reworking a lot.”

2nd Occurrence analysis

As you can see, in this version, some of the elements that were talked about in the most famous leak aren’t present, some missing elements were added later, but the basic was already present and in place. Sonic can travel through an open world, doing puzzles, defeating badniks and fighting against bosses, to then fight against a final boss as Super Sonic. 

The most interesting thing is how the person that leaked these details claimed that they played it “a couple of months ago”, meaning that this version could take place after the build shown in the first occurrence. Some things have changed since then.

Another cool thing that I wanted to point out was that this build uses placeholder from previous Sonic games. During the final boss, the theme for the first boss fight against Infinite from Sonic Forces is used.

3rd Occurrence

In January of 2021, another anonymous 4chan user talked about Sonic rangers, once again mentioning the name “Sonic Rangers.” As their version is pretty edgy, and negative because Sonic Negativism gets clicks, I’m going to present it in a unbiased manner, and be direct to the point on what they said.

Sonic Rangers, around the end of 2020, was presented once more to a select group of people, two demos were shown. The first one allows exploration of the open world under a time limit of twenty minutes, and another demo that has an apparent Final Boss battle.

Open world is filled with small enemies, puzzles, and platforming challenges.

Completing puzzles, challenges and defeating badniks gives XP to the player as a reward, that can be used to unlock abilities for Sonic.

Among the abilities that Sonic can unlock, there is the “spincycle”, where after pressing the Y button, Sonic begins to create a line behind him, and if the player creates a circle-ish shape around the enemy or a group of enemies, Sonic attacks all the enemies that were “marked” within the spincycle line.

Homing Attack that can target multiple enemies at once, from Sonic Lost World, is back.

There are lots of bosses spread through the open world, when they are defeated, Sonic gets some “orbs”.

If the player gets enough orbs, he can access the “Cyberspace”, essentially this game’s special stage.

The cyberspace levels are like the boost levels in Sonic Generations.

When beating a cyberspace level within a certain amount of time, the player obtains a Chaos Emerald.

New voice clips for Roger Craig Smith were used.

Some new music was made for this build.

In regards to the demo where the player faces the final boss:

After reuniting all the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic can go through a dense fog that the player couldn’t access before in the open world.

A Giant Tree Robot is the apparent final boss.

Fly as Super Sonic using the spincycle and other abilities that were unlocked throughout the game to help defeat the final boss.

Can’t take damage, on a timer of rings. A Ghost girl refills the player’s ring count multiple times.

Demo ended after defeating the boss.

3rd Occurrence analysis

As you can see, this version polished even further the concepts that were talked about in the second occurrence. Instead of getting Chaos Emeralds after defeating a boss, Sonic gains orbs, where after this Sonic has to go after EVEN more bosses to get more orbs. With these orbs, the player can access a Special Stage, named Cyberspace, where you’ll be able to play a more traditional like Sonic game, to get the Chaos Emeralds.

This certainly helps the game longer, which is a plus for me. We’ll probably have seven boost levels, with them being treated like a Special Stage. They also added a XP system, and the main gimmick of this game, the spincycle, was shown in the trailer for Sonic Central.

Sonic will keep building up abilities, which is something I believe the player will be able to use them as different strategies on how to beat different types of bosses.

4th Occurrence

Sonic Central takes place, with a trailer for a new Sonic game at the end. Sonic is running through a forest, and then he begins to glow blue, creating a pixel effect, with a line following him. Sonic then runs in a circle with this new ability that makes him glow blue, and then exits screen.

4th Occurrence analysis

With the context we’ve piled up from previous occurrences, you can put some pieces together. Sonic is clearly activating a spincycle, the main gimmick for this new game, just like how it was said in the January 2021 leak. And just like how the leaker said, Sonic formed a circle-ish shape with this ability in the teaser trailer. Sonic creates a blue energy, creating a line behind him, allowing him to make patterns with it, maybe creating a shape that could surround his enemies?

5th Occurrence

Dataminers and modders are able to get their hands on the 4K trailer for the new Sonic game, finding out that the name of the game is, Sonic Rangers.

5th Occurrence analysis

It perfectly fits with what was stated previously in 4chan threads, specifically, the one from July 2020 and the one from January 2021. Helping give the 4Chan leaks even more credit.

6th Occurrence

SEGA, while sending out press kits to news websites, ends up slipping out the name for their next main Sonic game, Sonic Rangers.

"Announcing new console experiences, Sonic Colors: Ultimate and Sonic Rangers, further details on Netflix's Sonic Prime, mobile news, musical events and much more!"

-SEGA

It was an accident, and SEGA stated they sent an erroneous version, and when pressed about the Sonic Rangers name, it didn’t dwell into it any further.

6th Occurrence analysis

Coming straight from SEGA’s mouth, the name for the next main Sonic game is gonna be Sonic Rangers. This fits a lot with the rumours that came from 4chan from July 2020 and January 2021, making it EVEN MORE likely that the next main Sonic game is gonna be an open world game.

Conclusion

And that’s where we’re at now in terms of Sonic Rangers news. In my opinion, I’m 95% certain that these leaks are legit. Keep in mind that after the Sonic Rangers name came to light, 1001 other rumours were created, but these I have my doubts, since they now have a sturdy base, they can make up more stuff to go along with it.

My opinion: I’m particularly excited for this next main game. Sonic Rangers deals with uncharted territory for the Sonic series, and I feel like it could be very fun. But of course, I’m a guy that’s mostly chill and cool with most Sonic media out there, so form your own opinions.

Anyway...

HYPE FOR SONIC RANGERS!

Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4, Source 5 and Source 6.

[doubleddenden]

Okay, new Crown Tundra info... well, "official" anyway. Tbh we already knew about the Pokemon returning because of the data mining from Isle of Armor. Actually there isn't much they showed off besides locations and maybe story stuff.

Highlights

Galarian Slowking revealed at last. Its info is available now but just to save you a trip:

Type: Poison/Psychic.

Ability: Curious Medicine: resets all status changes to allies

Signature move: Eerie Spell: psychic, dishes out damage and removes PP from the last move used by the opponent.

No word on how to evolve it yet, but my guess is another item like the one used to get G Slowbro.

Also it looks like you may have to undergo a mini game or some series of battles to get to the legendary Pokemon hidden away

It LOOKS as if we can choose our AI partners, but I could be wrong here. In which I can finally flip the bird to the trainers that keep bringing Solrock, Magikarp, and Clefairy.

The Galarian Star Tournament. We kind of already knew this but it looks like it's just a series of multi battles. I think the real draw will be getting to see interaction between certain trainers. This includes DLC trainers, but OF COURSE it's still locked by version for whatever reason.

Curious enough they mentioned this happening after the Crown Tundra. Tbh I think they just mean after the main story and becoming champion, but we'll find out eventually.

Oh, Go is planned to be connected to Home at some point. Looks like it's a one way trip, so be advised. Sending pokemon to Home will also activate the box to catch Meltan

Also we'll be getting Gmax Melmetal in Home. Finally.

Unfortunately they gave no date for it, just "before the end of the year". They rush the main games but Go? Nah take your time for very small updates 🙄

Release date: October 22nd. About 3 weeks sooner than what I expected.

Also, you can buy the game with DLC included around November.

I think the best part of the trailer is the music video by Bump of Chicken at the end. Blink and you'll miss about 20 frames. The animation quality is gorgeous, but in true Pokemon fashion it's just another nostalgia trip. It's a fun nostalgia trip but they always play at nostalgia. Idk, it just runs me the wrong way when they keep doing this like "yes okay we get it we grew up with pokemon, please stop trying to brainwash or emotionally manipulate us into buying your product."

But like I said, the music video is great. The song is great, and there's some neato touches to it. A really neat one is the 4 boys on a rail road track is a call back to the movie Stand By Me, which is also referenced in RGBY when you watch the tv before leaving home. I think I felt a bit bitter sweet when I saw Cheren and Bianca grow up from following Hilbert to following Nate instead (I know Cheren can reunite with them in Masters but it's not the same. BW3 when?). God though, the small transition from fighting Blue to Red was awesome. Also, I think the boy and girl's hats may be official hats from the game, too, particularly the boys' hats from FRLG and Sun and Moon, or at least take cues from them.

Wtf were Pikachu's and Eevee's proportions though? Pikachu had them Courage the Cowardly Dog hands.

Overall a cool music video and I wish it was the current anime. It made me feel like this was a glimpse at Pokemon if it were a traditional anime with slightly older protagonists.

Anyway, that's about it that came from the video. I think we know what kept them so long from getting us info now, lol. Tbh there wasn't really a lot of new info and that does concern me about CT's size and play life. I guess I have to be lenient again due to the virus but I sincerely hope there's more I'm not seeing here (and particularly want to know more about a couple other things datamined, but that's a spoiler).

But with that, we're still 200 short. Come on GF. Add the rest in you greedy bastards. Just do it. I want my Typhlosion and Samurott. Add the Megas too. I miss my Zard X and Mega Gengar. Literally every other modern Pokemon game has it other than Pokemon right now so hurry up.

I imagine we won't hear anything else from them until December or January. I predict in 2021 they'll throw in 2 more DLCs to buy themselves more time and to make room for their other releases.

[inktank-thinktank]

Splatocalypse Now

My friends, the final Splatfest is upon us. And you know what that means. Plot implications for Splatoon 3.

We have been looking over the material released for Splatocalypse, and have prepared some analysis and interpretation, to not only help you make what you deem is the correct choice for the Splatfest, but also to prepare you for what is to come.

I’m warning you now, if you click into the Read More, there will be major spoilers for nearly every aspect of the Final Fest: Splatocalypse event, INCLUDING datamined material. Enter at your own risk.

First, we should note the theming. 'Splatocalypse'. This theme of a Splatoon apocalypse pops up in many places in the material we are to observe, and seems an almost overbearing theme. Nintendo is being direct this time - what happens is going to deeply impact the world of Splatoon.

Indeed, the music that plays during the trailer, according to the Live in Makuhari album coming out three days after the Splatfest ends, is called 'Haikara (Inkopolis) Memorial Mixtape', by DJ Octavio.

EDIT: OatmealDome has informed me that Haikara Memorial Mixtape is likely a NEW song that we have not heard yet! The song in the trailer is most likely ‘SPLATOCALYPSE （ファイナルフェス 告知映像BGM）’ (SPLATOCALYPSE - Final Splatfest Announcement Video BGM), the immediately previous track on the album.

After a brief summary of Splatfests to-date, we open to Pearl and Marina. When Pearl is on-screen, we get a sound effect of rushing flames, while Marina is accompanied by sounds reminiscent of computers and technology. This is notable, especially when viewed in combination with other material, giving us an... 'inkling', of what is to come. The first thing that I think needs considering in combination with this is the Splatfest gear.

What we see is quite telling.

In English, the gear names are ‘Jetflame Crest’ (the motorbike helmet), ‘Fierce Fishskull’ (the fish skull, obviously), ‘Eye of Justice’ (the helmet with the screen on it), and ‘Hivemind Antenna’ (the shades).

As per this Reddit post, which we will be referencing a lot going forward, the names are ‘Burning Broiler’, ‘Giga Fishbone’, ‘Justice Brain’, and ‘Cosmic Antenna’.

Team Chaos’ gear puts off an air of being very ‘Mad Max’-inspired, very befitting of both ‘chaos’ and the apocalyptic themes. It is also worth noting that the helmet containing the word ‘broiler’ in the name is a connection to the Salmonids, who we know from the Splatoon 2 Ikasu Art Book use cooking implements as weaponry because they see life and death and consumption of other living things as all part of a cycle.

Similarly, we know that sunglasses of the shape the Hivemind Antenna / Cosmic Antenna take have historically been linked to Octarian mind control technology, such as the hypnoshades worn by Callie and the Octolings you fight in Hero Mode 2.

It is not difficult then to surmise that Team Chaos ties in to the concept of a Mad Max style apocalyptic wasteland, somehow related to the Salmonids, while Team Order ties in to the concept of a false utopian society controlled by mechanisms of technological oppression.

Now, moving back to the trailer...

Over the course of the trailer, we are shown who is on each side, out of the major characters. I will summarize our beliefs as to why each character is on each side, as this will influence later covered topics.

TEAM CHAOS

Starting with Team Chaos, we have the Salmonids. This is quite obvious. The Salmonids have always been agents of chaos, chiefly known for overrunning early Inkling settlements and even going as far as consuming the Inklings within.

There is also Iso Padre, which may come as a surprise to some. However, as a former test subject of TARTAR’s, it is clear he would want as little to do with ‘order’ as possible when presented the option. He seems okay with Kamabo Co. in Octo Expansion, but in a way that seems...detached, wistful, almost like he’s given up on a life free of oppression.

Spyke is another obvious one, being a gangster and someone who, y’know, steals stuff and runs an actual pyramid scheme.

Agent 4 is also fairly obvious; official art depicting Agent 4 has always shown her to be a trickster of sorts, and less serious than her predecessor, Agent 3.

Callie is also an obvious one, being the spontaneous, excitable, freedom-and-fun-loving one out of the Squid Sisters.

Flow, being a ‘hippie’ of sorts, likely is on chaos in terms of ‘personal freedom’. And, y’know. Being able to be high all the time most likely.

For Annie, the first game implies that out of her and Moe, Moe is the one really ‘in charge’ of things, and, well... Moe is hard chaos. Play Splatoon Wii U, guys.

Li’l Judd is Team Chaos because as we know, he has an inferiority complex and resentment for Judd, being his clone, and generally is more of a tricksterish character. Also, being a kitten, Li’l Judd would likely be more playful, again ‘chaos’ as in ‘freedom’.

Pearl lays out her motivation for being Team Chaos rather starkly in the Splatfest announcement (which we will get to later).

And, I saved this one for last, because it’s somewhat surprising... Despite the Octarians being Team Order, Octavio is Team Chaos. This could be due to a thinking that he must win at any cost, and a willingness to use manipulation tactics to move his people towards supporting his war on Inkopolis. It could also be due to a mental slippage from so many repeated losses.

“But wait!” I hear you say. “If Octavio is Team Chaos, why are the shades, ostensibly tied to hypnosis, a Team Order gear piece?”

I would argue there that the hypnoshades, while used by Octavio, fit more into the Octarians’ wheelhouse of order through technology and regimentation.

TEAM NEUTRAL

Judd being Team Neutral is obvious. He judges the Splatfests, and unlike Li’l Judd, is generally more ‘neutral’ in tone.

Sheldon is probably Team Neutral because, well, he sells you weapons no matter what side you’re on in Splatfest, so...

And Mr. Grizz is Team Neutral because he’s out for his own interests, which exist apart from all other teams (note he’s apart from the rest of Team Neutral, and upside-down).

TEAM ORDER

Cap’n Cuttlefish is Team Order for having been part of the military, as well as actively fighting for the safety and security of Inklings.

Marie is Team Order being the more relaxed yet traditional one of the Squid Sisters.

Agent 8 is Team Order being an Octarian, and thus a part of their regimented society.

This brings us to the Octarians in general, who are Team Order being a regimented technocracy where large focus is put on people serving a specific function (see Marina’s Chat Room), as well as again the technological oppression aspects. They may also be simply following Marina, as we know that Agent 8 idolizes her, and that the Octolings who escaped to Inkopolis did so because they were inspired by her.

C.Q. Cumber is Team Order because, as Nintendo has stated, he really wasn’t concerned with what TARTAR was up to, he was just doing his job. Order at its finest.

TARTAR is Team Order for obvious reasons. It desires ‘order’ in the sense of purging the capricious, impulsive Inklings and petty, warlike Octarians, instead replacing them with a new ‘superior’ race of beings, created from its successful test subjects.

Agent 3 is Order because, well, she made the idea of ‘being the hero’ a central part of her identity, see adopting the ‘3′ cape into her outfit (something she had no reason to do).

Jelfonzo being Team Order makes sense, given that Nogami has stated that the Jellyfishes are all actually a large hivemind organism, who may have a significant hand in sponsoring Turf War, suggesting since Turf War is according to the Splatoon Ikasu Art Book largely subsidized by the government, the Jellyfish hivemind has a significant hand in Inkopolis’ government as well.

As with Pearl, we will discuss Marina’s choice more in-depth later, as it is looked at rather deeply in the Splatfest dialogue.

The only ones who we cannot seem to figure out are Murch, Bisk, and Crusty Sean, however we know that Sean has some...strangeness to him, only accepting tickets and getting defensive when you point this out, and the ‘Crustwear XXL’ shirt, a shirt advertising his food truck, being Grizzco gear. Perhaps he supports Team Order because of an involvement with corporate bureaucracy?

Similarly, my best guess with Murch is that, since he only engaged in the gear scrubbing and ordering scheme because he idolized Spyke, he realized at some point that Spyke was a criminal, and wanted to distance himself.

Now on to the leading ladies themselves. Pearl’s reasons for being Team Chaos run VERY deep, and a larger overall analysis is necessary.

Pearl’s motivation for Team Chaos seems to be primarily rooted in wanting a world that is ever-changing and not static, finding a world that stays the same boring and uneappealing. She also seems to act somewhat as an agent of chaos, declaring in the Splatfest dialogue both in English and Japanese that whichever side wins the Splatfest will be the form the world takes going forward.

In the English dialogue, she invokes ‘Splatfest law’, which is something created wholesale by Nintendo of America, however the implication either way is that whoever wins will remake the world in their own team’s image.

Additionally, in the Japanese dialogue, Pearl states “all I know is I don't want a world that's always like this!“, spoken in the same sort of way as when someone says things like ‘I wish things would be like this forever’.

Marina’s reasons for being Team Order as well are somewhat complex. She is primarily worried about stability and control over her life and her situation.

In fact, Pearl’s statements about Team Chaos, in the Japanese dialogue, are replied to in ways that show that she’s worried that Pearl would eventually even grow bored with Off the Hook, and flippantly want that to be over and ‘change’ as well.

It’s worth noting that Marina’s theming shows an erring towards technology, and technological order as we’ve seen before usually is something dangerous in the Splatoon universe. This may hint at what direction ‘her world’ would go in if she wins the final Splatfest.

Marina does, however, express trepidation in the Japanese dialogue about reshaping the world in the winner’s image, only doing so because Pearl is pushing things in that direction.

Moving forward, we will be addressing the assets and imagery the game has been preparing for the Splatocalypse event, and how that ties into the theming of a Splatoon apocalypse.

First, and the elephant in the room... ‘Dear Senpai’, or as it’s being called by Nintendo of America, ‘MC.Princess Diaries’, the new Shifty Station stage.

The stage is quite obviously based on another brush Inkopolis has had with the apocalypse, that being the NILS Statue fight from the Octo Expansion, where Pearl and Marina, with the help of Agent 8, narrowly stopped TARTAR from destroying Inkopolis. The fight, and indeed all Turf Wars in the Final Fest event, come complete with the discordant Turf War intro sound from Octo Expansion, and Dear Senpai comes with Hyperbombs and the ‘Princess Cannon’ (the Killer Wail from the first game). Information from OatmealDome states that three sets of Hyperbombs each appear throughout the match, each time consisting of two per team, while the Princess Cannon is spawned once per match for one player to use in the form of Pearl coming down from the helicopter outside the stage.

We know that Team Chaos is strongly coded to involve Salmonids, and we know Team Order is strongly coded to involve technological oppression, but again per OatmealDome we have our first look at how this would play out.

The stage chronologically takes place after the NILS Statue fight, with the wreckage of the NILS Statue seen in the background, being tended to and examined by Jellyfish, who again are part of the Inkopolis government. And, if you recall during the final fight, the NILS Statue is utterly swimming in TARTAR’s corruptive ooze, as well as the remains of TARTAR itself. Could we perhaps see the return of TARTAR via the Jellyfish hivemind? This would explain also how it would be Team Order despite being ostensibly dead.

You may wonder why I haven’t discussed the actual terrain of Dear Senpai, or the post-Splatfest dialogue. In fact, Nintendo pushed invalid dummy data in its place to prevent data mining. In the case of Dear Senpai, they pushed the Shifty Station from Frostyfest, and in the case of the post-Splatfest dialogue, barebones dialogue with nothing beyond a winning team announcement.

As most should already know, the Final Splatfest will have all 23 previous Shifty Stations on a rotation, two every two hours like the other maps, before running Dear Senpai for the final 24 hours. Interestingly, while we know that Dear Senpai is to take up the full final 24 hours , the two hours immediately preceding it also have only a single Shifty Station stage: Tentacle Warning / Sweet Valley Tentacles, the Shifty Station from the Squid vs. Octopus Splatfest. As a brief aside, all of the Shifty Station names in Japanese are puns on manga titles, and all the ones in English are puns on novels.

This is what the Inkopolis Square skybox will look like during the Final Fest. A video showing the Square with this skybox and Splatfest mode on can be found here. We don’t know what the Square‘s event decorations will be, if any, but this immediately brings something to mind: Blade Runner 2049.

Screenshot from the relevant point in the movie for reference.

Furthermore, at this screen when you press ZL+ZR, this sound plays. Sound familiar? It sounds to me like the clock tower bell in Majora’s Mask. In fact, both are the same note, a C4.

Additionally, we know that the music for the Final Fest is a combination of Off the Hook and Squid Sisters music. Per OatmealDome:

New battle music for Final Fest!

Ink Me Up by Squid Sisters (Splatoon 1)

Shark Bytes

Calamari Inkantation

Fly Octo Fly

New 1 minute left music!

Now or Never! by Off the Hook, feat Squid Sisters

Now or Never! by Squid Sisters

This suggests that the Squid Sisters are to play a major role; however they do not appear in any of the Final Fest assets, meaning this likely is hinting at them playing some role in the Final Fest’s impact on Splatoon 3. This is corroborated by their appearance in the Splatocalypse trailer, wearing Pearl and Marina’s signature crown and headphones, respectively.

In closing, I think it can be easily surmised just what is going on. Team Chaos has strong ties to Salmonids and a theme of Inkopolis being overrun or falling to ruin. Team Order has strong ties to TARTAR and themes of technological oppression and control. The Splatfest announcement dialogue implicates Pearl or Marina respectively as bringing on a possibly related, possibly simply additional, chaotic or orderly world for each bad outcome to exist in. And the strong focus on the Squid Sisters implicates that, yet again, Callie and Marie will be pitted against each other.

It is truly a matter of ‘pick your villain’. Except unlike Splatoon 1, where the loser was the one who was turned against us, and instead of being against her will... This time the winner, or at least the winning side, is the one who will turn wicked.

Who and what form will this take? Only time will tell.