{"id":16186,"date":"2022-10-15T13:53:05","date_gmt":"2022-10-15T04:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=16186"},"modified":"2022-10-15T14:01:09","modified_gmt":"2022-10-15T05:01:09","slug":"20221015-16186","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/jini-talks-games\/20221015-16186\/","title":{"rendered":"What does Splatoon 3 take and evolve from FPS\/TPS history? [Jini Talks Games: Perspectives from Japan]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


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About Jini Talks Games:<\/strong>
\u201cJini Talks Games: Perspectives from Japan\u201d is a project that aims to deliver English translations of opinion pieces by Japanese writer Jini.

About Jini:<\/strong>
Jini is a writer and editor who is working to expand the realm of video game criticism in Japan. His work can cover everything from political to societal issues as they relate to games and can be found across numerous forms of media including blogs, radio, books, and magazines.

*The following article is an English translation of Jini\u2019s original post on note<\/a> and made with Jini\u2019s consent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n



Among IP developed by Nintendo, I\u2019d dare to say that Splatoon<\/strong><\/em> now sits alongside the likes of Mario<\/em>, Zelda<\/em>, and Animal Crossing<\/em>. Splatoon 3<\/em>, the latest title in the series, even surpassed 3.45 million in sales in Japan alone just three days after it released. As a Nintendo game and as a shooting game, it\u2019s a series that\u2019s on everybody\u2019s radar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For as popular as it is, it\u2019s rare to see a critical look at just why it feels so fun to play. Of course, when the first game launched, the fact that Nintendo was taking on the shooting genre became a hot topic in Japan, and talk around the similarities and differences it had with other FPS and TPS games of the time has been much discussed in the country throughout the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But these points tend to be unbalanced. One point of praise that\u2019s often brought up is how you can contribute to the team just by inking the map, leading to it becoming popular in Japan where players are inexperienced with shooters. But just inking the map doesn\u2019t really cut it for high-level play, and shooters like the Battlefield<\/em> series and Overwatch<\/em> that have different classes also have ways for players to contribute without shooting other players.
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Another point is how Splatoon<\/em> uses ink so it\u2019s safe for children to play. However, a splatted Inkling doesn\u2019t exactly look like it made it out of the encounter unscathed. If simply changing visual effects led to more sales, everyone would be doing it. In China, PUBG Mobile<\/em> is called Game for Peace<\/em> and when a player dies, they wave and disappear into thin air. It\u2019s hard to say that makes it a good game, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does Splatoon<\/em> rip off other shooters?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First, there\u2019s the question of whether it\u2019s okay to call Splatoon<\/em> a shooter in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Japan, Nintendo doesn\u2019t actually appear to refer to the game as a third-person shooter, and opts for the description of \u201caction-shooting.\u201d Even in an Iwata Asks interview, it\u2019s explained that development was started from scratch with pieces of tofu shooting ink.
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From Iwata Asks: Splatoon<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


So Splatoon<\/em> was made without referencing other works and made to be completely original? The notably young Splatoon<\/em> development team at Nintendo clearly divided things into points that focus on originality and points that were snatched from other games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I personally don\u2019t see imitation as a bad thing, and taken to the extreme, don\u2019t think any art exists that\u2019s completely free of imitation. Let\u2019s take a look at what Splatoon<\/em> copies from other FPS and TPS games.
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While the game is strongly cognizant of and imitates the popular FPS and TPS games from outside of Japan, former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata previously said<\/a>, \u201cThis isn\u2019t something like, \u2018This is what XX looks like when Nintendo makes it,\u2019 this is something completely new.\u201d So what\u2019s the appeal of Splatoon<\/em>? What does Splatoon <\/em>borrow from other FPS and TPS games and where does it evolve the formula? As a Nintendo fan and writer who has played many shooters, I want to try explaining this more objectively and fundamentally.


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