Funny / Splatoon

The series in general
Splatoon | Splatoon 2 | Splatoon 3

Promotional Material

General

• The first official Splatoon cosplay occurred shortly after the game's E3 2014 debut, with Nintendo staff using one of the offices to play a pretend Turf War match.
• In the single player trailer, Cap'n Cuttlefish appears from the sewer, while the instrumental plays banjo music. It's just so incongruous with the rest of the trailer that it gets a laugh.
  • In the Splatfest trailer, Cuttlefish pops out from the same sewer just to bob his head up and down to the music, once again looking really out of place and chuckle-worthy.
• The split second the Transformers-themed American Splatfest began, Inkopolis square got swarmed with parody pictures and series memes.
• Official art from the Japanese Splatoon Twitter announcing the Boke VS Tsukkomi Splatfest has Callie wearing ridiculous Groucho glasses with the comical eyebrows, nose, and moustache, while Marie looks like she's about to deliver a Tsukkomi-style Dope Slap.
• Despite countless parallels being made with Super Mario Sunshine, with some even mistaking the original reveal to be that for a direct sequel, according to an Iwata Asks, the creators actually forgot that the game even existed during development. To quote:
  Nogami: We only remembered [Super Mario Sunshine's ink-cleaning mechanic] later on. Like, "Oh yeah, there was a water gun in Super Mario Sunshine." As Nintendo employees, that's pretty embarrassing.
• The announcement video for the Piranha Pit and Ancho-V Games stages stared off with a montage of dancing Inklings.
• Two of the new weapon types added following the game's launch were a Gatling Gun and a Bucket, the former of which has its default as the Heavy Splatling. Naturally, TF2 jokes◊ aplenty◊ were quick◊ to manifest◊.

Live from Squid Research Lab

• The "Live from Squid Research Lab" Tumblr is full of these, in particular some of the more unusual hashtags that the posts are labeled with.
• Special shout outs to them referencing real life events. When an octopus tried freeing itself from its tank, they posted that the Octarian threat is real and congratulated the person who prevented it.
  Splatoonus Tumblr: #Should have used the Splattershot
• Groundbreaking research footage of Judd taking a catnap.
• Now you can have your squid and eat it, too!^note Unless you are a squid, then just make a freakin' quesadilla!
• After one of the game's minor updates, part of a previous in-game update announcement about new gear being available was accidentally replayed. The tumblr's explanation? Callie and Marie were misinformed because someone forgot to update the teleprompter. Speaking of:
  Callie: I... Um... Uh... Stay fresh?
  Marie: Can somebody please fix the teleprompter?!
• The official Tumblr isn't above reblogging Splatoon posts from other blogs. Most of them are fanart, but occasionally stuff like this shows up:
  Gifs of a caveman activating a robot and running away as it shoots lasers at him
  Feazo: past vs future splatfest looks pretty promising
  Squid Research Lab: We agree.
• When the tumblr announced that the Splatoon servers would be down as a result of maintenance, it suggested an alternative for what to do during that time: Bake cookies. Complete with instructions on how to make them look like inklings.

The Hub Area

The Plaza

• Jelonzo's "Inkring" is worth a chuckle or two for the strange ways he shuffles words around.
• If you're in one of the shops, you can switch between them by pressing the L or R buttons. This causes the rooms to actually whoosh around, causing some funny reactions from the shopkeepers, such as Crusty Sean almost losing his balance and Sheldon hiding beneath his shell.
• The game makes use of Miiverse to post randomized Miiverse messages as graffiti onto the main plaza in Inkopolis and onto the game's single and multiplayer levels. This can sometimes result in amusing pieces of graffiti, with some of the most popular including SpongeBob SquarePants references and occasionally internet memes like Pepe the Frog. Super Mario Sunshine's graffiti "M" is also a popular Miiverse post too. The occasional "GARY WAS HERE! ASH IS A LOSER!" on the walls is sure to get a chuckle.
• In the American English version, trying to buy Spyke's wares without enough money produces the line, "YOU WOT, MATE?!" It gets funnier each time you cause a break in his usual laid-back demeanor.
• Callie and Marie don't always give the most useful advice...
• Sometimes, a pair of Inklings will be doing a perfectly synchronized breakdance in front of the café. Most of the time, there will be a jellyfish boy right next to them having the time of his life flailing about wildly, thinking he's dancing with them. The Inklings seem to be humoring him by ignoring him and letting him have his fun.
• Sometimes, we have this moment when describing Moray Towers:
  Callie: It's so foggy I can't even see the ground!
  Marie: That's called draw distan— Er... It's smog. *cough*

Splatfests

• After the Marshmallows vs. Hot Dogs Splatfest results got posted, Marie calls Team Marshmallow "sweet-toothed tryhards". Looks like someone is salty!
• After the Art vs. Science Splatfest results, however, Marie manages to win the moment with a killer diss.
  Marie: You only won because us scientists have jobs to do.
  Callie: Ouch... That was uncalled for.
• The results of the Cats vs Dogs 2 resulted in yet another Callie victory. Marie is having none of it.
  Marie: You only won because Judd's on your side!
• This bit when Marie and Callie are announcing the Pirates vs. Ninjas Splatfest:
  Callie: It's time to swab the deck and plunder the booty!
  Marie: Whoa there, Callie. Let's keep it E for Everyone.
• When announcing the Naughty vs. Nice Splatfest, Callie questions why she's the one on Team Naughty, with how Marie can be in the American English version. This exchange follows.
  Marie: I'm PLENTY nice, you know! I care about-
  Callie: Yourself? Winning? Insulting me on live TV?
  Marie: [shocked expression] ...
  • Icing on the cake? Marie is rendered speechless for the rest of the announcement. No witty comeback this time.
• After Callie wins the Naughty vs. Nice Splatfest, Marie actually congratulates her on the victory. The lack of a diss or insult catches Callie off-guard, making it her turn to be rendered speechless for the rest of that segment!
  Callie: BAHAHA! Whatev- Wait, what?
• When the Pokémon Red vs. Pokémon Blue Splatfest was announced, Callie expresses shock that the Vulpix she was trying so hard to find only existed in Blue, which she believes is the "inferior version." At first, Marie seriously considers not trading her own Vulpix to her. When the Splatfest results were announced, Marie did trade her Vulpix after all... except she got the last laugh by naming it "BLUEISBEST", prompting further frustration from Callie as she tries to figure out how to rename it.^{The kicker?} Traded Pokémon can't be renamed.
• Callie tries too hard to sound hip for the Snowman vs. Sandcastle Splatfest. Marie, of course, wants none of it.
  Callie: Team Snowbae is so fleek that I literally can't even! It's cray. Like... crayfish cray.
  Marie: ...I was gonna go snowman too, but after that...
• SpongeBob vs. Patrick took every opportunity it could to make jokes.

Hero Mode

• Cap'n Cuttlefish actually points out one of the game's pieces of Fridge Logic in one of the single player levels
  Cap'n Cuttlefish: Don't fall, Agent 3! You know we sea creatures can't swim! (Heh heh...)
• If you fight the final boss after having beat it already, most of the NPCs' lines during the fight will change to paint a much less dire picture than it used to be. Apparently the snow globe Cap'n Cuttlefish trapped DJ Octavio in is a Cardboard Prison, he abducts the Cap'n again because he was too busy eating his Trademark Favorite Food, and Agents 1 and 2 don't even try to hide their exasperation at having to do this all over again. It's topped off by Octavio himself being the only one taking the fight seriously, with the three NPC Inklings just bantering amongst themselves; the Agents don't even try to hide their identities!
  • Also in regards to the final boss fight, when Agents 1 and 2 hijack DJ Octavio's radio broadcast and play their hit single over his boss music, his turntable scratching changes tempo accordingly, and he'll strike poses in time with music itself as if he knows it already!
  • Even before you win, the final boss battle has some gems in the American English version, almost none of which are missing from any future rematches.
    DJ Octavio: You can't handle my spicy wasabi beats!
    DJ Octavio: I'MA DUBSTOMP YOU INTO OBLIVION!
    DJ Octavio: It's time to... D-D-D-DROP THE SEA BASS!
  • If you look closely while shooting back his big octo-nuke, you might notice that the missile is adorned with a tiny pair of cute ladder shades!
  • If you fight the final boss again after beating him, he has new lines at certain points.
    DJ Octavio: GYAHAHA! No snow globe can contain this DJ!
    DJ Octavio: (when the Squid Sisters override his music again) I'll turn you into a RADIO EDIT!
  • The second time you play the final boss, instead of providing Mission Control, the Squid Sisters just... shoot the shit with each other.
    Callie: Hey, Gramps? I don't think we can make it to Squidmas this year.
    Marie: We're filming our holiday special on Squidmas morning!
• When you complete a single player mission again, the Zapfish you normally get is replaced by a stuffed toy Zapfish. Agent 3 appropriately treats it like a toy instead of being in his/her Item Get! pose.
  • Even better is the toy zapfish is wearing a blue captain's cap, just like Cap'n Cuttlefish. The implication being that you're stealing the replacement/calling card that the good Cap'n had you leave in place of the actual zapfish.
  • Behind where Cap'n Cuttlefish is standing in Octo Valley, there's a shed full of those stuffed toys.
• Sunken Scroll #12 reveals that in the early stages of the Great War, the Octarians won easily... because the Inklings couldn't wake up early enough to defend themselves.
  • Similarly, the Octarians failed in storming the Inklings' central stronghold due to a plug being carelessly pulled from its socket according to Scroll #13, and Scroll #14 says historians now agree the Inklings' victory was mostly due to their superior number of limbs.
• There's a doodle in the bottom-right corner of each Sunken Scroll which, when put together, make a flip-book animation of a Zapfish turning into Judd then turning into Shelldon.
• Throw a bomb at Octarian troopers and they will get distracted and look at it. However, land a bomb close enough to them if they don't have a shield, and they will panic and attempt to drive their hovercraft vehicle thingies away from it as fast as possible... sometimes even over the edge and to their doom!
• In Level 26 (Octoling Onslaught), go to the area where the Sunken Scroll is and hide in the ink. After a while...
  Marie: This just in! Agent 3 is standing around doing absolutely nothing!
• When Agents 1 and 2 are first introduced to the player, Agent 1 was holding the phone upside down and her text is written upside down as well. It gets even funnier when you realize that neither phones nor sound works like that.

Multiplayer

• The losing poses are both cute and hilarious:
  • Inklings wielding most pistol-like weapons will drop to the floor and smack their fist on the ground as if throwing a tantrum.
  • Inklings wielding Rollers or the Inkbrush will take on a flamboyantly sassy pose, as if saying "come on, guys."
  • Male Inklings wielding a Charger will stomp around and slouch over, slapping their thigh every now and then in a different kind of tantrum. Meanwhile, female Inklings with Chargers will kick out but slip and fall on their rear.
  • If they're wielding a slosher, they'll throw it up in the air in frustration, only for it to land on their head.
• If you win a match using a Splatling weapon, the inklings will hug the weapon as part of their victory pose. Brings to mind the Heavy's minigun taunt where he does the same thing...
• Even when rendered immune to damage by a Bubbler, Inklings are still vulnerable to knockback. More often than not, you'll be too amused by someone's Burst Bomb knocking you off a walkway or pillar to be offended. In fact, even if such knockback would land you clean in the water and force a respawn, you might even be laughing too much at the silliness of being flung away like that to be offended!
• It is possible to accidentally clip through the fences on the sides of Arowana Mall and fall off the map, forcing a respawn, if you're hopping about recklessly in Squid form in the side alleyways flanking the map. The first time it happens, you might be too amused by it to get angry.
• Being in the Kraken form when you activate the Special Ability of your weapon counts as being in Squid Mode. The really amusing part about this is that Krakens, like Inklings in Squid mode, will fall through grates. There's something inherently amusing about out-manuvering a Kraken by tricking them into chasing you atop a grating walkway, only to fall through. For extra points, trick them into falling through the grates into a water hazard or off the map, wasting their Special and forcing them to respawn. Alternately, you have every right to laugh if, still a Kraken, you come back up through the grates and splat the poor sap who tried to evade you this way.
  • You can also trick a Kraken pursuing you to ram him- or herself repeatedly against a Splash Wall or even just letting them chase you in circles pointlessly. It doesn't splat them, but it still completely wastes their special. Of course, if you're the Kraken, you have a right to laugh if you use the bounceback of the Splash Wall to escape your would-be victim, or manage to splat them anyway after reverting; nothing ever said you can't use your weapon once you've turned back.
  • Another Kraken-related bit of humor is that the Kraken has been patched to be a little more vunerable to knockback than at launch. With sufficient attack speed, a player who realizes a Kraken is after them in time can hold them back with a furious storm of attacks that prevents them from pouncing you! Extra points if they're so persistent they didn't notice their Special end and get promptly splatted when they stop being a Kraken. For bonus points, be a Brush user and call out "Oraoraoraora!" while forcing the Kraken back.
  • While in Kraken mode, you aren't restricted from super-jumping to a teammate. This, combined with the Kraken's exaggerated spinning animation while jumping, can lead to hilarious situations in which enemies are waiting for the Kraken player to come down so they can kill the poor soul that super-jumped deep into enemy territory, only to be splatted by a Kraken in the blink of an eye. Bonus points if the Kraken player happens to land in Tower Control's tower while multiple enemies are riding it.
• "Splatted by ink from a propeller!"^note "Splatted by propeller ink!" in Splatoon 2 Yep that's right, shooting ink at one of the Ancho-V Games platform propellers causes it to rebound and hit enemies, and it can splat them if they're low enough on health.

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