Nintendo’s ink-stained shooter Splatoon coming to Wii U in the first half of 2015

By Will Fulton November 6, 2014

Splatoon, the ink-spraying third-person shooter for Wii U that Nintendo revealed at E3, has been given a release window of Q2 2015 and a new trailer showing off the single player gameplay.

The game is built around the interesting mechanic of shooting ink onto surfaces which you can then swim through as a squid. The original reveal showed the mechanic in a team-based, competitive shooter as a means of area control. This new trailer highlights how this will play out in the single player campaign. It looks like a fast-paced shooter/puzzle-platformer–Super Mario Galaxy meets Portal 2 (though sans Cave Johnson, unfortunately). The video also offers up a first look at the game’s villains — a group of autonomous tentacles that are extremely reminiscent of the classic LucasArts adventure, The Day of the Tentacle.

Nintendo has spent the better part of the last fifteen years cashing in on its established brands like Mario, Metroid, and Zelda. The results have frequently been excellent, but it is nevertheless refreshing to see a brand new IP for Splatoon. A new game based around innovative mechanics hearkens back to the company’s trailblazing creative roots, and shows that the legendary game makers aren’t ready to just rest on their well-earned laurels.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

Gaming

Red Dead Redemption is coming to Nintendo Switch and PS4 this month

red dead redemption switch ps4 release date key art

The original Red Dead Redemption is coming to two new platforms, PS4 and Nintendo Switch, later this month. It'll retail for $50 on both platforms.
Red Dead Redemption and Undead Nightmare Coming to Switch and PS4
Rockstar Games' open-world western game first launched in 2010 for Xbox 360 and PS3. It was critically acclaimed and a smash sales hit, creating a new franchise for Rockstar that could stand alongside the likes of Grand Theft Auto. It received a sequel, Red Dead Redemption 2, in 2019, but the original Red Dead Redemption remained stuck on older platforms outside of backward compatibility support on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
That's why fans got excited when a rating for the game from the Game Rating and Administration Committee of Korea popped up. We've now learned that this rating is for new Nintendo Switch and PS4 ports of Red Dead Redemption by Double Eleven Studios. Red Dead Redemption will release across both of those platforms digitally on August 17, with a physical launch to follow on October 13.

It will cost $50 and includes the base campaign as well as the zombie-infested Undead Nightmare expansion; the Red Dead Online multiplayer is not included. This is the first time Red Dead Redemption will ever be on a Nintendo system, although it doesn't look like the port will have much in the way of Switch-exclusive features. That said, a press release does reveal that this will be the first version of the game to include Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Latin American Spanish, Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese localizations.
Red Dead Redemption comes out on PS4 and Nintendo Switch on August 17.

Gaming

The best Nintendo Switch shooter games

Samus from promo art for Metroid Prime Remastered.

While the Nintendo Switch system is home to a variety of family games, platformers, and puzzlers, it also has a lengthy list of shooters. These range from third-person online shooters, to first-person single-player campaigns, and everything in between. Some are realistic, others are sci-fi, and some even blur the lines between genres.

But with so many options, it's easy to be overwhelmed. In this list, we'll go over the best shooters on Nintendo's latest platform.

Gaming

Before the Wii U eShop closes, pick up the best Zelda remaster ever

Link waving in Wind Waker HD.

As we approach the final days of the Wii U’s life span with the impending eShop closure, I’ve been reflecting on my time with that system. Although it’s considered a low point for Nintendo, the Wii U and 3DS era was when I truly became a fan of the company, closely following every new announcement and release. I enjoyed many great Nintendo games on Wii U, like Super Mario 3D World and Xenoblade Chronicles X. Still, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD is the Wii U game I still come back to the most.

Maybe it’s because I got the Wind Waker-themed Wii U that included the game as a pack-in, but I fell in love with the HD remaster. Not only did it show off the console's power with gorgeous updated visuals, but it fixed a couple of issues with the original and used the system's GamePad seamlessly. On top of that, it's a charming and surprisingly bold game that still stands as one of the best games in the series 20 years after its North American release on GameCube.