Nintendo Direct’s Splatoon 2 feature last night showcased some very cool new weapons and even cooler new moves, including the jet pack and an impenetrable zorb ball. We’d seen the jet pack fleetingly in the past as it could be seen in the distance for a split second in the trailer, but the presentation gave it much more focus and showed how effective it could be in the game.
To start with there are some key changes to weapon types that you should know about. The first is that you’ll be able to shoot vertically with rollers, which will give you a longer range for your roller splats. Charged weapons have been updated too with the ability to retain charge when swimming, so that you can charge up before swimmer closer to an enemy to reduce your vulnerability to attack. Duelies have also seen to work with a new dodge roll capability that will help you to get out of the way of an attack before returning fire yourself.
There are a fair few new weapons to look forward to in Splatoon 2, including the Clash Blaster with short range rapid firing and explosive paint, the Flingza Roller with its longer distance vertical strike and slower activation, the Goo Tuber with it longer longer lasting charge to allow you to sneak up and snipe an opponent, and the Dapple Dulies with their lightweight construction allowing you to do much faster dodge rolls. However, most impressive weapon announced is the Brella, which fires paint went down and can be used as a protective shield when up.
In addition to the new main weapons in Splatoon 2, the game also introduces a number of new sub weapons, including the Auto Bomb which hunts down and eliminates enemies, and Toxic Mist which surrounds enemies with a cloud of poisonous paint, giving you time to get close to take them out. More sub weapons are in development and will be announced in the run-up to the release of the game.
Splatoon 2 Nintendo Direct:
New special weapons include the Tenta Missiles which lock onto enemies to take them out with a shock and awe spirit, the Inkjet jet pack which allows you to fly above the ground and throw exploding at the other team, the Stingray which fires high-pressured ink that can shoot through walls to zap the enemies, and the Splashdown ink explosion which is a bit like the paint equivalent of a Yokozuna body splash.
There’s also the Inkstorm which rains ink, the Bomb Launcher which is pretty self-explanatory, Ink Armour which gives your entire team a defensive shield for a short period of time and our personal favourite the Baller which is an indestructible zorb that you can run around in and finishes off with an explosive splat. There was a minor mention of something called the Bubble Blower, which hurls out bold-like masses of pain that you can detonate.
The Splatoon 2 Nintendo Direct presentation also showed some of the sky lines that appear in some of the courses, which allow you to cruise across the level from the safety of the high vantage point. Check out the full video above to see all of the weapons and new moves with in game footage and gameplay, along with a feature on all of the modes in the game, the new Salmon Run game, mobile phone app and Murch mods to Gear abilities.
The last section of the video features news about the Splatfest World Premiere and in a move of infinite genius it’s been scheduled to take place before the release date. You’ll need to download the free demo of the game in advance, but you’ll be able to play on the 15th July 2017, almost a week before it’s out on the full launch on the 21st. The bad news if you’re based in the UK is that it’ll be taking place between 10pm and 2am our time, so you’ll need to pull a late one to catch it.
