Nintendo dropped a new video on their Nintendo Music app, featuring the most popular Splatoon songs, and gamers are… well, the list is longer than it ought to be because gamers are doing everything else except chilling to the soundtrack. The Sega of America gale spawned the insane cocktail of excitement, confusion, and demand in the replies.
Let’s talk about the music now for the first issue. Splatoon music has always been insanely catchy; you might be one of those people who have never even played a single round with an inkgun and still find that you have been humming “Calamari Inkantation” in your shower today. Nintendo Music app (which really feels like Nintendo’s rather clumsy attempt to grapple with the streaming wars) currently sports tracks of Splatoon 1 and 2, and the players are showing an astonishing level of love for squid-retific tunes.
Now, for the crux of the matter. Several eagle-eyed listeners immediately honed in on the fact that Nintendo actually got the wrong “Calamari Inkantation” track for their promotional video. “That is the 3Mix, not the original like advertised!” one user ranted, while another user poured crying emojis all over him with “Yall that’s the wrong version 😭.” Classic Nintendo – they get 90% all the way right but ruin the fleeting 10% that hardcore fans get to cherish.
The replies soon grew into a full-fledged suggestion box for Nintendo (or complaint box, depending on your perception). Users increasingly pleaded for the inclusion of Splatoon 3 tracks on the app, one going so far as begging “update the splatoon 3 soundtrack… thank you kindly 🙏.” The others, meanwhile, took this rare opportunity to beg for other franchises too, interspersed with shouts of “Add Xenoblade, for the love of God,” and “Mario kart soundtrack plz!”
Amid this was the ongoing brouhaha about Nintendo’s whole music-distribution thing. “Can you please just drop these soundtracks on Spotify?” asked one, voicing what many have felt for years. Nintendo’s been notoriously protective of their music, only offering limited access through their own app rather than putting bangers like “Kraken Up!” (which one user highlighted as their number one favorite) on mainstream platforms.
Some of those reactions were…interesting. Some even exclaimed the end of Nintendo ever asking for more songs “FOR 5 TRILLION MINUTES?????”. Another declared, “we not using your shitty service fraudtendo 🥱.” That said, the discourse turned towards physical game cartridges at some point because, well, Twitter threads never fail to go sideways.
Splatoon-related music very much has a blood-thirsty following, Nintendo. They’re just struggling with catching up with the audience when finding out how the audience wants to listen to them (spoiler: definitely not through their app). As one appreciative user put it all: “Finally a reason to redownload Nintendo Music” -which pretty much sums up the entire sentiment toward the app.
While Nintendo sorts out their options on Spotify, at least we know what Splatoon tunes are stealing the crown by now. And, worse for me, time now to get myself a repeat listen to the “Calamari Inkantation” track-the right version, of course.
