Seeing all these details broken down gives me such a greater appreciation for the work that goes into all these games

NO matter your view on Nintendo and their games I think we all have to appreciate the fact that they target 60fps in 90% of their exclusive games and that's on a mobile chip from 2015 with 3GB of slow af ram for games!

The prebaked GI works wonders for the game's looks. It also makes it quite a bit more readable.

These days I tend to forget how how good Switch games can look- but this reminds me they can look bloody great 😊

The first time I played any Splatoon was in the recent Splatfest trial. It was super fun despite my being absolutely terrible at and getting destroyed by clearly more advanced players. I only wish there was an actual local multiplayer option for couch co-op. Head to head battles would fun if it didn’t require a second Switch and game purchase. Thanks for demonstrating the improvements in Splat 3 so clearly. Very excited for this release.

Even if I haven't played previous Splat games I think this one would be great in my collection 🙏🏽👍🏾

Something Splatoon 2 and 3 both do graphically is they simulate global illumination from light reflecting off ink. Characters and objects sitting on top of ink will pick up a bit of colored under-lighting from the color of the ink on the ground. Test it in the Lobby using the moving targets! Put some ink on the ground and notice how the targets get a bit of colored light underneath them when they move onto the ink. I think they might even do it on walls as well!

Hey John and DF, could you guys please start covering input latency in your analysis?

60fps and 1080p was good enough for me in SP 2 , so happy to hear that ! Iv got over 1000 hours in splatoon 2 , I’m very excited for 3 it has so much new stuff if your a hardcore fan

Despite everything you can blame them for, i will never stop loving Nintendo. God i needed these colours and these vibes.

I played through the campaigns of Splatoon 1 and 2 and dabbled with the multiplayer. I am excited to play 3 and actually give this series more of an attempt. Actually get a little more involved, play the multiplayer a lot more.

Use Motion controls!

I am sure the "nice looking water" guy from WiiU Miiverse would appreciate this water.

John actually got me hyped on this game. This was really great. I just love the DF angle on games next to your standard reviews. Both are valuable

There's just something soothing about the way I feel every time I watch a digital foundry video

Fantastic video! Really enjoyed this, and can’t wait to play on Friday!!! It’s almost time!!!

Splatoon 1 still has an active online community. Makes sense seeing how Splatoon 2 requires paid online. I went back to Splatoon 1 because of that. However, Splatoon 3 looks to be a proper sequel as opposed to a Splatoon 1+.

I’ve never heard anyone call the first Splatoon drab. I bit dramatic. 😂

It’s amazing of what devs are continuing to pull out of the switch hardware.

High respect to them for not showing spoilers unlike the leakers!

I love digital foundry and especially John's work. I always look forward to his videos.

I replayed it so many times that I already know the background music at the beginning is from El Shaddai. XD

👍 I love Splatoon single player. I played it on WiiU first. Octo Expansion for Splatoon 2 is fantastic.

thank u for the review. I had the impression that there was moving clouds in the sky making shadows on the maps of Splatoon 1 and 2 but not in the 3.

DF has never mentioned this, but Splatoon 3 uses FSR 1.0 to render the surfaces of ink and through transparent windows at a lower resolution (possibly 50%) as a subtle way of reducing the amount of pixels rendered. This FSR scaling is also forced on for the overhead and objective camera in replay mode as DRS in those scenes may have been too distracting. The DRS implementation still uses bilinear scaling like previous games as FSR upscaling would lead to a noticeably blurrier image and its performance overhead may create a feedback loop and cause the game to lower resolution further.

10:42 What's the music name??

Bright neon contrasty graphics is part of the Splatoon appeal. I don’t want realistic looking squid kids.

If someone asked me to do a word association with “Nintendo” I’d have to say the first word that comes to mind is “Polish”. Whether the games are your cup of tea or not the games are polished to a bright glow by release. If only more devs had that knack

I played the Splatfest Premiere demo and I absolutely loved it. My only gripe would be how powerful the ranged attacks weapons like the Splatana and Brush have. Those attacks were a little irritating but I still had a blast playing and I'm looking forward to playing the final game. TEAM ROCK!!! Oh and I was genuinely impressed that I experienced minimal lag. Now maybe Nintendo should apply these servers to their other games.

12:48 Do you think Splatoon 2's renderer was working in gamma space, and 3 maybe linear space? The lost detail in sky and clouds in 2 could be down to aggressive post processing, but the hot whites also remind me of gamma space blowouts 🤔 Either way, the bounced light in the shadows makes a huge readability difference for the better.

How it's even possible is a technical feet onto itself.

This one is such an improvement in playability everything is fast and snappy could do with less errors like

Splatoon is like having fun in an aquatic park using super soakers XD

I prefer the WiiU look of the colors. Fits better the overall tone of the game.

Thank you for making this review. I like that Splatoon 3 makes improvements over predecessors.

12:38 the only thing that kinda bothers me is the lighting on the old stages, i'll probably get used to it after a while but the colours just look a bit dull compared to splatoon 2

Surprised that you never mentioned Salmon Run in neither Splatoon 2 or 3. At higher difficulties, the frame rate can drop a lot when there are many bosses on-screen at a time. The mode really pushes the Switch to its limits.

What is the song that plays at 9:13 ?

Being able to overclock the switch and erase the dynamic resolution was great for me.

I preorder it a few minutes ago. It’ll be my first splatoon game

Will there be an analysis of multiplayer modes? I notice a LOT of prolonged frame drops in battles and especially salmon run.

I'm honestly impressed by the massive hub world this time. Just think about it, the map is almost 4 times larger and significantly more complex than the previous game running on the exact same hardware, and they didn't compromise on the visual fidelity or performance targets at all. Not to mention Big Run takes place in this hub world now, so there's another version of this same map in the game that is optimized for 60fps Big Run gameplay. With these results, I wouldn't be too surprised if someone ported the Splatoon 2 map to Splatoon 3's engine and got it running at 60fps with the ability to ink the map as if inside a match. There's some significant software optimization improvements here, FidelityFX or not.

10:03 "Deez nuts" lmao

Getting a Switch OLED soon. I haven't played a Nintendo game since the original Wii when I bought it just to play Mario Galaxies. So many games to catch up on. Haven't even played Breath of the Wild yet..

What bout the tracks that were in the splatfest is that music in the full game

Well Johnny boy I think you sold me on getting the game, nice video

12:22: Completely beside the point, but is that the same jellyfish making the same painting? 13:28: Again, completely beside the point but I am really enjoying that shade of purple (and, checking, I think it's a new Salmon Run colour - The S2 colours were Pink - a more fusciaesque shade than anything resembling that purple, Orange and Blue (which while a purpley shade of blue was, again nowhere near that shade of purple)

By far, the best breakdown of this game. Thank you

Honestly runs really well. I got some gameplay

I want digital Foundry to make a Video about Dreamlight Valley game

Finally the switch should see real usage again. My wife has been waiting over a year for this.

Is this a MP only game?

8:11 what's the name of the track playing in the background?

It is going to be my first Splatoon game. Im excited

I'm glad they didn't change the formula. I could ask for more but the way things go nowadays, I'm glad we have an excellent game on a better format.

I wonder how haters react to a DF Tech Analysis of a Switch game.

Great vid, as usual! But it's not paint, it's ink.

for my eyes, the water in first splatoon reminds me of the sea rendered in Xenoblade 3.

"The way cutscenes are presented is kinda not much of an improvement from the other games, BUT hey! At least there's a nice Bokeh Depth-of-field in use here". Made me chuckle. 🤣. That's a very Digital Foundry humour right there..

I must say I like the water from Splatoon 1 more than in 3, but other than that it looks very good

I think Splatoon drops frames in salmon run fairly often. I also experienced a lower framerate in some situations in ranked battle

This might be an unpopular take, but I actually slightly prefer a few shots from the original Splatoon, not taking texture quality into account. The hotel map upon the water for example, its water while yes, bloomy, looks miles better than the warbling mess in 3. The Museum map as well, I feel, looks much more stylized. It's not a bit preference but that's just how I feel right now.

>stick controls lol, lmao even

Love your work but found it odd you made most of your comparisons of S3 to S1 and not S3 to S2 given S2 is the direct predecessor.

And do you know what guys? Splatoon 1 online is still up, free, and playable today! (avoid to play late night though, when matchmaking struggles more)

Non motion control gameplay always makes me so irrationally uncomfortable why do you do this to me.

Does anyone know the song that plays at 8:11?

Man this game looks great, especially with the minimized bloom effect. But why won't they just give us a 60fps hub ;c

I miss the the hazy look of Splatoon 1 and the bloom as well as the little particles in the air in inkopolis square Also the returning maps are kinda disappointing I loved the idea of hammerhead bridge having more of an arena-like design So it “finishing construction” is disappointing The grates really added some new strategies which other Splatoon maps really lack Splatoon maps are too open for my liking I love a lot of the game not just hating on it but I def got problems

12:20 feel it in my plummsss...

Can you guys do a video on the Sony Inzone M9 please

can you test the input latency especially the gyro, seems to be the same as Spaltoon 2 which feels quite sluggish

10:03 DEEZ NUTS

*sees intro* Is this Metro Exodus?

Soul Hackers 2 next gen comparison next plz

Its not actually paint you are spraying. Its ink. Hence the squids.

Switch was made for games like this.

Looks great. On a side note... will there be another DF analysis video on the new CP2077 1.6 patch?

Awesome! This is my first Splatoon and glad to hear the single player is meaty because during Splatfest multiplayer a couple weeks ago I got whooped.

Great to see a 60 FPS / high res game on the Switch, there have been quite a few games in recent times that don't bother.

Game looks fantastic , but it can’t really improve graphically much further without sacrifices .

Hey Rockstar, this is how it's done, three new titles on one system. Not one old title spread over three generations! Noted was on WiiU but still the same 😁

Wait how does it use AMD Fidelity FX when it have an Nvidia SOC?

I have a feeling that this game’s paid expansion is going to be phenomenal.

Somewhat ironic that the Switch uses Nvidia tech, but they're forced to use AMD's upscaling tech instead of Nvidia's.

I know for a fact that it goes to 45 fps or below in the hub area

Wouldn't a quantum leap be really really really small?

The fact Splatoon looks as great as it does while running on an ancient chip is outstanding! Easily my favorite Switch and Wii U games by a mile. They sold the consoles for me they're so insanely fun

Not my type of game but I might pick this up if I can convince the wife and son to play it with me. I'm always so impressed by Nintendo's commitment to stable frame rates and consistent quality. The game looks like a significant improvement over the Wii U version in both visuals and design. I'm very ready for a successor to the Switch, but it's pretty amazing what they continue to squeeze out of that little handheld.

So what’s the one game that’s worth having stadia for?

1:47 🗿

Finally... Something interesting.

Ok but why there is comparison between first Splatoon and Splatoon 3? I guess it means that I don't have to upgrade my S2 :)

Can yall test Fsr 2.0 in RDR2?

I like how they call it "hair"

So open world / open sandbox where you can paint everything in 1080p60fps on a freaking handheld. Wonder where stuff went wrong with games like Elden Ring where it's barely able to run even on the PS5 and XBX. Feels like developer sorta forget to just keep stuff clean and simple nowadays and make like stuff overly complicated.

Prior installments not prior versions

easy mistake, but it's ink not paint.

Is John okay? He sounded really tired in this video

yea im a single player kinda person since those around me dun play games in general .. tats y im kinda on the fence bout multiplayer games