Greetings Splatoons and… Splatoonettes? Fresh news for the upcoming Wii U Exclusive Splatoon, in the form of two new gameplay modes and the announcement that Splatoon will feature Amiibos. All from this week’s Nintendo Direct.
Let’s start with the gameplay modes!
The two modes that everyone knows about already are Turf War, a 4 vs 4 online mode that’s all about painting as much area as possible on a selection of maps. The second is a single player mode, where you go against the Octopus army over the course of various missions, defeating the nefarious Octolings.
Now onto the two new and shiny modes: Ranked Battle and Battle Dojo.
Ranked battle is 4 vs 4, similar to Turf War, but is meant to be a competitive mode where you compete for ranking against similarly ranked players. This mode also differs from Turf War in what you do to win the matches. It has a mode called Splat Zone, very similar to a king of the hill style battle, where players compete to have a certain area covered in paint, and keep it all painted up until your team’s timer runs out.
Battle Dojo is a local 1 vs 1 battle mode, kind of like a practice mode, where two players compete to pop the highest number of balloons. The maps the players play on are the same as in Turf War, so players have a chance to familiarize themselves with the maps before they get too deep into the online side of things.
On to the Amiibos!
The Amiibo news is pretty fantastic, and they aren’t just going to be pretty little statues. Touching your Inkling Girl, Boy or Squid Amiibo to the Wii U Gamepad, you will get a selection of missions based on which Amiibo you used. Completing these missions gives you gear which is exclusive to Amiibo missions — fancy hats for fancy squids! They will come in a triple pack, with the Inkling Boy, Girl and Squid, or you can buy the Boy and Girl Inklings separately.
With two new exciting modes and Amiibos, and I’m happy that I’ll be able to play Splatoon locally, albeit in a slightly stripped down version. Which Amiibos will you be buying? Which of the new modes will you be playing?
