Splatoon 3 lets boyish Inklings wear skirts, so players can gear up how they please

As of today, Splatoon 3 is now available, and the community is already buzzing about changes around clothing in the series. No matter what appearance players choose for their character, they now have more freedom when choosing what clothing they want to wear.

Splatoon 3 is a multiplayer shooting game from Nintendo that released on September 9 and is the latest title in the Splatoon series. By the looks of it, many fans are already playing as social media is getting filled with players sharing their impressions, among them being responses to changes that have come to how clothing, or gear in Splatoon terms, works. More specifically, how Inklings with a boyish appearance can now wear skirts and that gear isn’t restricted by gender.

ボーイもスカート着れるようになったのすごく良いとおもいます!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #スプラトゥーン3 #Splatoon3 #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/gN5lln8g8R

— 𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑤𝑎𓂃𓂂ꕤ*.ﾟ (@ngsokarubi) September 9, 2022

This is because in the first two Splatoon games, some gear was restricted by gender. In Splatoon 2, players are asked to choose between a boy or a girl when making their character, effectively locking everyone into a frame of either boys or girls. There was also gear available through amiibo support that could only be equipped to one or the other, such as the School Uniform which includes a skirt.

However, Splatoon 3 does away with these restrictions. No matter which appearance you choose for your character, you’re free to wear the gear you want to wear. As mentioned above, characters that look like the Inkling Boy can wear the School Uniform, and characters that look like the Inkling Girl can wear pants with their uniform. On Twitter, we can see many players in Japan already welcoming the change.

From the outset, Splatoon 3 doesn’t specifically mention “boy” or “girl” during character creation, instead opting for something more inclusive. In English, character creation simply begins with a prompt that says, “Select a style.” With players able to define their character’s appearance and gender themselves, it was probably only natural to get rid of gender restrictions on gear.

When it comes to how Nintendo handles gender and clothing, Animal Crossing: New Horizons also comes to mind as it incorporated a change to the series where NPCs wouldn’t be surprised if a male character wore women’s clothing. This was likely done so players wouldn’t feel uncomfortable no matter what choices they made about their appearance. This is likely something we’ll see continue into the future for Nintendo games that have broad appeal.

Splatoon 3 is now available on the Nintendo Switch. For those of you that own the Splatoon series amiibo, enjoy your extra freedom.

Written by. Nick Mosier based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-09-09 13:44 JST)