Prerelease:Splatoon
This page details prerelease information and/or media for Splatoon.
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Concepts for Splatoon date back to 2009, where it was originally envisioned as shooter game with rabbits as a playable character. In late 2012 after the Wii U's launch, the team came up with an idea for a similar game except with tofu blocks instead. It would be the point where the former concept would come into play, where it would spend a fair amount of time during development before being dropped for another character. When it came to choosing another type of character, they eventually settled on humanoid squid characters.
It became a surprisingly big hit when it was launched, which also gave a further push to Wii U after it's unsuccessful launch. It also set Nintendo a new standard on the shooter genre, where it slowly formed a competitive scene surrounding the game, and was also a title that had not been done for decades since Yoshi's Safari!
Contents
Development Timeline
2009-2011
- circa. Summer 2009-2011 - During Wii U's development, concept art for a shooter game with bunnies is designed at that point.
2012
- Nov. 18 - After the Wii U's launch in Japan, the developmental team thinks up of seventy video game ideas over the span of six months, one of them which would be Splatoon.[1]
- Dec. - The concept of "tofu blocks hiding in ink" is created as a tech demo.[2]
2013
- Aug. - Development on the game fully starts, when characters were bunnies.
- Nov. - The game was shown to sales and promotion people within the company, which overall had a mixed reception surrounding the type of characters. Thus, playable bunnies were dropped.
2014
- Jun. 10 - The game is announced at E3.
- Nov. 10 - The game is confirmed to have a single player mode.
2015
- Mar. - The game is confirmed to have amiibo support, judging from the eShop.[3]
- May 8 - 9 - The Splatoon Global Testfire is released on the Nintendo eShop. Players could play in online Turf War matches around that date.
- May 28 - 30 - The video game is finally released.
Sub-Pages
 | Early Development 2009-2013. The most innovative of ideas. |
 | Later Development 2013-2014. Bunnies? Astronauts? Squidkid Hybrids? |
| [[File:| center | | 80px]] | E3 2014 Build Basic, but enough to wow the crowd. |
| [[File:| center | | 80px]] | November 2014 Build Octo Valley prerelease! |
| [[File:| center | | 80px]] | Early 2015 |
| [[File:| center | | 80px]] | Late Builds The buildup to release. |
2014
June
E3 2014
 | This page or section needs more images. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this. Specifically: Compare boxes with final game would probably help. |
Title Screen
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Lobby
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Loading Screen
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Results Screen
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Screenshots
Trailer
| This page or section needs more images. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this. Specifically: Compare boxes with final game would probably help. |
Splatoon was shown off for the very first time at E3 2014. While the foundation for the game was settled down, it was only "10% complete". It was very well received by the crowd even though it was still in development.
Main Differences
- The song playing in the trailer is an early version of Splattack!. It can be found as a bonus track in the official Splatune video game soundtrack.
- Only one weapon, the Splattershot was seen in the trailer.
- The "Booyah!/Nice!" and "C'mon/To Me!" icons were simply called "Signal".
- On the D-Pad, there was a function to "signal" your teammates, it has the normal function of the D-Pad in the final game except it doesn't display a message.
- The gamepad screen originally had a button to toggle gyro controls on and off on the fly. This is in a different menu in the final game.
Visual Differences
- Some of the clothing worn in the trailer received some minor changes:
- The White Tee had a slightly different design, with the Inkling language resembling これ (kore) instead of いか (ika). The pink tag wasn't present either.
- The icon of the Inkling splatted is absent and shows how many points goes towards the inked turf.
- The ink Tank Icon looked taller and had a different animation for being filled up.
- Some of the background rooftops had white textures, and were most likely placeholder graphics.
- Originally inklings had a different model for when transforming out of squid form. It also took longer to become their human-like model.
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- The ink had different lighting effects, in the final game it looks more watery.
- Certain graphical effects like moving through ink were more simple.
Map Differences
Urchin Underpass This was the only playable map in the demo.
It had some unfinished areas of the map blocked off by oil pumps, there is a placeholder striped floor in the blocked off sections when the map is shown from above in the results screen. The map was also unpolished, with the glass floors being completely not opaque. There was also slight changes - some platforms were only reachable by going up steep ramps etc.
Arowana Mall
- Arowana Mall was originally long and narrow and mostly white background textures.
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Saltspray Rig
- Saltspray Rig featured an entirely different lower half, and the upper half had different textures and slight other differences.
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Walleye Warehouse
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- Walleye Warehouse originally had moving platforms that went horizontal in the middle of the map.
- The containers could be climbed on from the side.
Other Differences
- The voice when a female Inkling does a Super Jump sounded more human and higher in pitch.
Kiosk Demo
At E3 2014, various people could try out the demo of the video game.
- There were warmup sessions before the actual match. Which gave a tutorial on Urchin Underpass.
- There were two rounds, which also appeared in tournament builds similar to the Testfire.
- The lobby's background is blue and purple. The Global Testfire demo also used this, but neither Turf Wars or Ranked Battles in the final game use this scheme; yet, that is.
- The music for the last minute of the match is completely different from what is in the final version.
- The tape graphic at the end of a battle is also different. Orange instead of Yellow.
- The orientation on Judd during the results is angled more up instead of straight on. His animations are also pretty different.
- The victory and defeat animations seem different or slightly unpolished. There is no animation for the mouths at this time.
- The font for "Splatted _____!" was different.
November
Nintendo Direct Footage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EXKQQmm9EE The game was shown off again, this time at the Nintendo Direct. Two new stages, which were the Blackbelly Skatepark and Camp Triggerfish were shown off along with the Octo Valley campaign.
General Differences
- The Inklings' voice clips now matches that of the final.
- Tentacular Circus sounds almost exactly the same, with the exception of the ending part. Though, it was likely made for the trailer.
Stage Differences
- Camp Triggerfish's layout was different in terms of aesthetical detail even though it had a lot minor layout changes.
- Blackbelly Skatepark, however looked more closer to the final product.
Octo Valley Differences
- A lot of the Octo Valley stages had some minor adjustments while they were still being developed.
https://www.ign.com/articles/2014/11/05/nintendo-offers-glimpse-into-splatoon-single-player
2015
March
https://www.ign.com/articles/2015/03/23/splatoon-making-messy-mischief-in-nintendos-new-shooter
April
April Trailer
 | This page or section has one or more broken YouTube links. Please find an archived version of the video(s) or a suitable replacement. |
The video to the right showcases a few of the changes from the April Trailer.
- We get our first look at Blackbelly Skatepark and Camp Triggerfish, both which have many differences.
- The inklings still used their transformation model from E3.
- Checkpoints/ Spawn Points didn't have the two rotating arrows in the middle.
- An inkling is shown idling at spawn with a Dynamo Roller early on, roller head unfolded, and not slung behind the back; unlike in the final game where the roller head folds when standing or running in humanoid form.
- The Rapid Blaster is shown having the bottom part of the Rapid Blaster Pro. Presumably this was removed to make it easier to tell the difference between both guns.
- The Classic Squiffer had Burst Bombs in place of Point Sensors initially.
- Gushers are missing their spigots.
- Captain Cuttlefish's entrance to the single player mode was in a different position and had a non-grated cover.
- Captain Cuttlefish was originally meant to appear in person in one of the game's story missions. In the final game, however, he is only seen in-person in the final mission and in the hub of Octo Valley.
- Level 5 had a completely different, red background, contrary to the blue one in the completed game.
- Footage of what appears to be a retro-styled platformer appears for a brief second, although it is just as possible it never was a game to begin with.
- Octolings wore what would eventually become the Moto Boots, along with armor on the rest of their legs. They also don't appear to be wearing a belt as they do in the final game.
- There was originally hooded Octarians, nowhere to be found in the finished product. They may have changed to Octosnipers.
- Sunken Scrolls were changed from white sheets of paper to stained brown scrolls, presumably to give it a more ancient appearance.
Resources
Exhibitions
- 2018 Tower Records Collaboration
- 2019 DesignPlayDisrupt Exhibition
