When people speak about Nintendo fans, they tend to assume that their fandom is wrapped up in nostalgia, that these fanatics can’t let go of their love for the SNES, N64 or whichever console they may have grown up with.
I would admit to being a Nintendo fan, however I do not have this history. Whilst I have spent time with those machines I never owned a Nintendo home console until the Wii.
My main adoration for Nintendo comes from, not just their typically high quality but how they approach different genres with their own, usually family friendly, approach and innovate rather than just attempt to make a perfect version of titles that have come before.
Splatoon as a series is that for me. An online shooter that outside of some of its controls and the simple interaction of aiming a target and firing, could not be further away from what most people imagine of when thinking about the genre.
Side Order, to a lesser extent is Nintendo doing the same with roguelites - a genre that has grown in popularity over the past few years and one I find myself playing quite a lot.
The innovations here aren’t as big as a Mario Kart or Pikmin but the approach is different and interesting.
In Side Order you are climbing up a tower floor by floor, picking up power ups along the way, having a different build each run you make and fighting varying versions of the same battle each time, with a selection of bosses and the lite elements of permanent upgrades you can apply to help you reach the peak more efficiently and more often.
This is standard rougelite action.
One change to the approach is a reduction in randomisation.
First come the upgrades, in Side Order known as Colour chips for your Palette.
Each run you pick a Palette for the returning Eight of Octo Expansion, Palettes are your character build - a set weapon, sub and special based upon existing Splatoon regulars such as Callie, Marie, Pearl, Marina and more.
As you rise up the tower you are awarded Colour chips to add to these Palettes, which in game look like a MIDI pad of sorts and can be played like one, depending on your Palette choice certain Colour Chips are more likely to appear. This reduces the randomisation which is one thing that gives Side Order a lighter feel but also means you aren’t frustratingly getting things you do not want.
The Colour Chips themselves are buffs to your weapons and gear in the ways you would expect, more damage, faster firing, more paint, a lot of the things you can do in normal multiplayer and like there these can stack, but to degrees where you can eventually create insanely powerful weapons which you will need to keep away the hordes of enemies.
Randomisation of these chips is further reduced by picking what your reward will be each floor.
This isn’t particularly different from a lot of other games in the genre, but you are also picking in your choice of three, what mission type you are doing and what map and difficulty setting they will be.
As you would expect Easy will pay you less in game currency than Rigorous, the hardest difficulty but knowing the mission type and sometimes the map itself will make runs easier as you get an understanding of not only what your loadout is good for but what you find easier yourself.
These missions come in a few flavours. First are destroying portals, spawn points for the enemies - the Jelletons. Next is an escort style like Tower Control in the main game, except here rather than riding the device you need to constantly fill it with paint to get it to the end of its journey. There are also Splat zones and the two final mission types involve pushing large balls into their goals and chasing down fleeing enemies.
All of these will have Jelletons spawning from portals or drains similar to where Salmonids spawn in Salmon Run.
Much like Salmon Run there is a great variety of enemies, from little jobbers who just rush you to springing enemies and Beyblade-like spinning ones which leave handy devices behind as they are splatted. It doesn’t take long for you to see the entire variety quickly but depending on what enemies are more regular can truly switch up how you will play each mission.
Overall between the different enemies, exciting bosses, varying missions, a great variety of upgrades and more Palettes to unlock as well as “hacks” (the permanent buffs) Side Order gives you many reasons to play through again and again or just have a really enjoyable time getting to those final credits the first time.
However, the praise for variety is deserved but it does feel lacking in one way - especially as a single player campaign when we compare to what has come before.
With this, it’s the levels themselves. It is not the biggest gripe because for the game type to work it cannot diverge too often but the innovation seen in Octo Expansion isn’t quite here.
Many levels are the same place with a different objective and all stages due to the aesthetic look similar. This VR missions vibe is on purpose and goes with the theme, but I would not be able to write this without saying that it was a little disappointing.
Really though Splatoon 3’s Rise of the Mammalians is where level innovation is if you want it so it’s not as if Nintendo has kept us starved. It’s just a shame because outside of the bosses Side Order doesn’t feel as clever as other single player things this series has done before.
If you’re a fan of Splatoon it may be obvious to say that more of the same is going to keep you happy but Side Order really does do that job extremely well.
As a continuation of the series it builds upon the lore, bringing back characters from Splatoon 2 to the forefront and playing with a story that comes off the back of that game’s final Splatfest.
It really does show that Splatoon is its own universe and that has been invested in and planned with, references are not purely Easter Eggs, they are developed characters, world building and more and it’s enjoyable to witness.
Side Order does what Splatoon does best with nailing great music and aesthetic. The monochrome world of the “memverse,” the virtual space you are residing in, strangely feels colourful. It’s exciting even with blacks, white and shades of grey - sure part of this is from the paint you spread yourself but even that being muted it doesn’t matter, the splashes, the sounds, even the shapes and backgrounds of the levels just make everything jump out of the screen.
The music has some playful tunes that become harsher sounding on more difficult levels and the ambient theme inside the lift as your progress up the tower becomes distorted the closer you are to the top, adding to the feel and theme.
The bosses are exciting, the dialogue is interesting and fun and the cutscenes (although not always skippable which is bad) are fairly epic and definitely get you excited especially around the finale.
Side Order is not the very peak of what this series has had to offer but it’s a great, interesting new addition to the series that does feel worthy of being a new separate piece of the Splatoon puzzle just as Salmon Run did before and I hope we see more of this in a Splatoon 4.
Considering the relatively young age of this series it already has its hooks fully in me that seeing the Splatoon 2 characters and the hub again made me feel nostalgic… nostalgic for a console I was actually still playing and a game I still have on my shelf, but that is the power of the world they’ve built.
Side Order for some may be their new favourite mode, others will just want to try it out but I believe all Splatoon fans will at least have a great time ascending to the top of the spire at least once.
For me, I just need to prepare to tell myself enough is enough as I collect every little goodie this DLC has to offer.
I would admit to being a Nintendo fan, however I do not have this history. Whilst I have spent time with those machines I never owned a Nintendo home console until the Wii.
My main adoration for Nintendo comes from, not just their typically high quality but how they approach different genres with their own, usually family friendly, approach and innovate rather than just attempt to make a perfect version of titles that have come before.
Splatoon as a series is that for me. An online shooter that outside of some of its controls and the simple interaction of aiming a target and firing, could not be further away from what most people imagine of when thinking about the genre.
Side Order, to a lesser extent is Nintendo doing the same with roguelites - a genre that has grown in popularity over the past few years and one I find myself playing quite a lot.
The innovations here aren’t as big as a Mario Kart or Pikmin but the approach is different and interesting.
In Side Order you are climbing up a tower floor by floor, picking up power ups along the way, having a different build each run you make and fighting varying versions of the same battle each time, with a selection of bosses and the lite elements of permanent upgrades you can apply to help you reach the peak more efficiently and more often.
This is standard rougelite action.
One change to the approach is a reduction in randomisation.
First come the upgrades, in Side Order known as Colour chips for your Palette.
Each run you pick a Palette for the returning Eight of Octo Expansion, Palettes are your character build - a set weapon, sub and special based upon existing Splatoon regulars such as Callie, Marie, Pearl, Marina and more.
As you rise up the tower you are awarded Colour chips to add to these Palettes, which in game look like a MIDI pad of sorts and can be played like one, depending on your Palette choice certain Colour Chips are more likely to appear. This reduces the randomisation which is one thing that gives Side Order a lighter feel but also means you aren’t frustratingly getting things you do not want.
The Colour Chips themselves are buffs to your weapons and gear in the ways you would expect, more damage, faster firing, more paint, a lot of the things you can do in normal multiplayer and like there these can stack, but to degrees where you can eventually create insanely powerful weapons which you will need to keep away the hordes of enemies.
Randomisation of these chips is further reduced by picking what your reward will be each floor.
This isn’t particularly different from a lot of other games in the genre, but you are also picking in your choice of three, what mission type you are doing and what map and difficulty setting they will be.
As you would expect Easy will pay you less in game currency than Rigorous, the hardest difficulty but knowing the mission type and sometimes the map itself will make runs easier as you get an understanding of not only what your loadout is good for but what you find easier yourself.
These missions come in a few flavours. First are destroying portals, spawn points for the enemies - the Jelletons. Next is an escort style like Tower Control in the main game, except here rather than riding the device you need to constantly fill it with paint to get it to the end of its journey. There are also Splat zones and the two final mission types involve pushing large balls into their goals and chasing down fleeing enemies.
All of these will have Jelletons spawning from portals or drains similar to where Salmonids spawn in Salmon Run.
Much like Salmon Run there is a great variety of enemies, from little jobbers who just rush you to springing enemies and Beyblade-like spinning ones which leave handy devices behind as they are splatted. It doesn’t take long for you to see the entire variety quickly but depending on what enemies are more regular can truly switch up how you will play each mission.
Overall between the different enemies, exciting bosses, varying missions, a great variety of upgrades and more Palettes to unlock as well as “hacks” (the permanent buffs) Side Order gives you many reasons to play through again and again or just have a really enjoyable time getting to those final credits the first time.
However, the praise for variety is deserved but it does feel lacking in one way - especially as a single player campaign when we compare to what has come before.
With this, it’s the levels themselves. It is not the biggest gripe because for the game type to work it cannot diverge too often but the innovation seen in Octo Expansion isn’t quite here.
Many levels are the same place with a different objective and all stages due to the aesthetic look similar. This VR missions vibe is on purpose and goes with the theme, but I would not be able to write this without saying that it was a little disappointing.
Really though Splatoon 3’s Rise of the Mammalians is where level innovation is if you want it so it’s not as if Nintendo has kept us starved. It’s just a shame because outside of the bosses Side Order doesn’t feel as clever as other single player things this series has done before.
If you’re a fan of Splatoon it may be obvious to say that more of the same is going to keep you happy but Side Order really does do that job extremely well.
As a continuation of the series it builds upon the lore, bringing back characters from Splatoon 2 to the forefront and playing with a story that comes off the back of that game’s final Splatfest.
It really does show that Splatoon is its own universe and that has been invested in and planned with, references are not purely Easter Eggs, they are developed characters, world building and more and it’s enjoyable to witness.
Side Order does what Splatoon does best with nailing great music and aesthetic. The monochrome world of the “memverse,” the virtual space you are residing in, strangely feels colourful. It’s exciting even with blacks, white and shades of grey - sure part of this is from the paint you spread yourself but even that being muted it doesn’t matter, the splashes, the sounds, even the shapes and backgrounds of the levels just make everything jump out of the screen.
The music has some playful tunes that become harsher sounding on more difficult levels and the ambient theme inside the lift as your progress up the tower becomes distorted the closer you are to the top, adding to the feel and theme.
The bosses are exciting, the dialogue is interesting and fun and the cutscenes (although not always skippable which is bad) are fairly epic and definitely get you excited especially around the finale.
Side Order is not the very peak of what this series has had to offer but it’s a great, interesting new addition to the series that does feel worthy of being a new separate piece of the Splatoon puzzle just as Salmon Run did before and I hope we see more of this in a Splatoon 4.
Considering the relatively young age of this series it already has its hooks fully in me that seeing the Splatoon 2 characters and the hub again made me feel nostalgic… nostalgic for a console I was actually still playing and a game I still have on my shelf, but that is the power of the world they’ve built.
Side Order for some may be their new favourite mode, others will just want to try it out but I believe all Splatoon fans will at least have a great time ascending to the top of the spire at least once.
For me, I just need to prepare to tell myself enough is enough as I collect every little goodie this DLC has to offer.