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In Splatoon, players control characters referred to as Inklings, either boy or girl.
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A sequel, Splatoon 2, was released for the Nintendo Switch on July 21, 2017, followed by another sequel, Splatoon 3, which was released on the Nintendo Switch on September 9, 2022. Splatoon was awarded and nominated for several year-end accolades from several gaming publications.
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Nintendo provided post-release support for the game by adding new maps and weapons to the game, adding a feature to allow users to create private lobbies and holding time-limited events called "Splatfests". However, criticism was directed at the exclusion of voice chat and private lobbies, the small number of multiplayer maps at launch, and issues with online matchmaking. Splatoon received positive reviews, with critics praising Nintendo's decision to enter the genre with a new franchise, the game's overall style and presentation, gameplay mechanics, and its soundtrack. The development team for Splatoon was generally composed of younger Nintendo employees compared to other games by the company. The concept was created by lead programmer Shintaro Sato, who had previously worked on games in the Animal Crossing franchise. Splatoon was developed by Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis & Development division, and originated from a competitive multiplayer ink-based territory control game, which was later expanded to include squid and the ability to swim through ink. Splatoon features several different game modes, including four-on-four online multiplayer and a single player campaign. The game centers around Inklings- anthropomorphic cephalopodic lifeforms that can transform between humanoid and cephalopod forms and frequently engage in turf wars with each other and use a variety of weapons that produce and shoot colored ink while in humanoid form, or swim and hide in surfaces covered in their own colored ink while in their cephalopodic forms. Splatoon is a 2015 third-person shooter video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii U.
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