Splatoon eSport rumors: professional squidding and playable Octolings

Splatoon, Nintendo’s original shooter, just received its biggest update when they added important lobby options like being able to choose teams or rank with friends.

The update officially opened up the possibilities for competitive matches, and potentially even larger news has risen with few details (or translation, for that matter). The official Japanese Splatoon Twitter mentions a Splatoon eSport tournament, and the ability to play as an Octoling has been discovered.

Pro-Squidding

そして、番組内でスプラトゥーンの全国大会「Splatoon甲子園」の開催が決定した。 甲子園と言っても年齢制限はないので、腕に自信のある方は4人1組でチームを組んで是非挑戦してほしい。 詳しくは8月19日に発表されるようだ。 pic.twitter.com/NStRa2gcPY

— Splatoon（スプラトゥーン） (@SplatoonJP) August 7, 2015

 Twitter translation interprets this as:

And, it shows in splatoon National Convention “Splatoon Koshien Garden” of was decided. The koshien and the garden say no age limit, so have confidence in arms with a team of 4 pairs, you want to challenge us. For more information 8/19 it seems will be announced.

A national convention with the ability to team up. This isn’t a fan-made local, this is official Nintendo saying that all ages are welcome to “squid off.” Splatoon is huge in Japan right now and only gaining traction. With many people only now getting into Splatoon because of this humongous update, can we expect an official tournament announcement for North America?

On August 19th, Japan will receive more information for “Splatoon Koshien 2016.” But the possibility of a tournament is only one question to be answered when new character rumors are on the horizon.

Playable Octolings

NWPlayer123 the Youtube user and squid/kid began uploading videos of their gameplay as an Octoling on August 9th, claiming there were no hacks involved.

Currently, there are no official Nintendo statements regarding their plans for adding character options. However, on the official US Splatoon Tumblr page, which has given hints and details about upcoming plans in the past, there was an image upload of an Octoling prior to the update:

We’ve received a sketch from one of our researchers. Looks like an Octoling… Hey! We’ve seen this before. Looks like a false alarm. Wait a minute. Something’s different here… Whoa! WHOOOOA!

#octoling #guess she got lasik

While there hasn’t been a mention of Octolings since, it’s reasonable to believe there are definite plans for them. In single player mode, players face off against AI-controlled Octoling models who can do anything the player can do. If anything, this means they are fully functional and it adds more credibility to NWPlayer123’s claim. Who knows, maybe the addition of Octolings (considering they were enemies) means there could be an update following the events of story mode.

What do you think about competitive Splatoon? Do you like the idea of being able to be an Octoling, or will that ruin the squid/kid theme? Sound off below!