Splatoon 2 producer talks new weapons, stages, gear, single player, online content and more

The following is a fan-translation (courtesy of NE) of a 4Gamer interview with Splatoon 2 producer Hisashi Nogami...

Weapon types and stages

- Nintendo wants to bring about the same type of enjoyment as the first title by introducing weapon updates
- for players who already decided on using a particular weapon type, Nintendo will prepare more variation to entice players
- four stages were shown in the trailer, with three being new and one being a refresh with new elements
- other stages will be returning as well, but with new elements

On the setting

- two years have passed in Splatoon 2’s world
- young residents of the squid world now tend to listen music that’s a bit more advanced and with a twisted feel

Gear

- some gear will be carried over from the original
- completely new designs
- even if the shape is the same, coloring trends tend to change
- in the ’90s, high-tech Nike sneakers may have been hip, but were later outdated
- wearing more low-cut sneakers would be popular

About different user interface from Wii U to Switch

- dev team tried to keep the same properties and main controls from Wii U
- any elements where you were glancing between both screens have been accounted for via button inputs on Switch

New map display system

- came up with the current system after plenty of trial and erro
- players can still control their character while displaying the map
- the map was fixed in a bird’s-eye view on Wii U, but if you move with gyro controls, the map also moves
- Nintendo wants the map to be viewed in a 3D sense
- this is so you can more easily recognize where enemies are or where areas have been painted

Super Jump

- only buttons

Single-player campaign

- single player confirmed
- planned to have the same volume of content as the first title
- Nintendo wants the campaign to serve as a way of players to become familiar with the controls
- they also want to show the depth of the squid world similar to what had done with Sunken Scroll

amiibo

- will be supported

Online service / subscription

- if you post something like, “Does someone want to battle?” on social media, you can get together with others and create a nice temporal community
- you can battle while communicating via voice chat
- Nintendo is planning on building a system so players can do things like this easily

Splatfests

- would like to host regular events which players can look forward to

About no Miiverse

- there is no Miiverse on Switch, but Nogami wants to create a similar feature which will generate the same kind of excitement

Lag

- transmission data size has been decreased thanks to some optimization
- this means connection errors will happen less than in the first Splatoon
- Nintendo will be trying to match players who are closer together or on a similar communication quality as much as possible
- various improvements from the last game are being implemented in Splatoon 2 as well
- a person’s internet connection quality can’t just be judged by throughput, since various elements need to be considered
- Nintendo isn’t just measuring with one regulation
- Nintendo is trying to improve various layers of communication quality issues

New players

- Nogami wants old and new players to be satisfied
- in order to strike a balance, Nintendo is putting an emphasis on making Splatoon 2 fun to control and play above all else
- Nogami points out how if you don’t feel enjoyment when you kick a ball, you won’t want to continue playing soccer
- strategy will be built by players gradually, and Nogami wants to grow the environment together with players
- f Nintendo adds new weapons and stages at once, some players will be left behind
- content will be added by carefully watching how players interact with the game