Let's discuss about the music for Splatoon 3.

Has anybody seen the most recent Nintendo Direct? If not, you need to do so immediately. It's one of the greatest that we've seen in a long time, with plenty of gorgeous JRPGs. But as a Splatoon enthusiast, I thought the new trailer for the improved Salmon Run mode in Splatoon 3 was my favorite. It looks fantastic! The music playing over the clip elicited one of the strongest emotions. It worried my own editor, she remarked. So I reasoned, why not attempt to determine the true meaning of Splatoon's musical compositions?

I will thus go through it. As study, I've listened to every song on Splatoon. It certainly helps that I have spent my whole life listening to music. I believe I know enough to distinguish between various vibes and influences. That's the challenge—I may be totally incorrect. After that, I'll use a magnifying glass to examine the brief musical samples from the Splatoon 3 soundtrack and attempt to figure out why, despite what some others may find frightening, I find them to be so fascinating.

Determining what else is out there that sounds like Splatoon music is a difficult task. The closest thing I could find that sounds like it belongs on the soundtrack is Polysics' "It's Up To You." However, the impacts are broader than they would seem. And while some of the music seems like it might fit a goofy game, there are also very amazing pieces that blend a variety of genres together.

Splatoon's soundtrack

Three seasoned Nintendo composers—Toru Minegishi, Shiho Fujii, and Ryo Nagamatsu—wrote the soundtrack for Splatoon. They have collaborated on 53 different Nintendo games together, including Wii Fit, Mario Kart 8, Majora's Mask, and Wind Waker. These composers are diverse rather than having a particular fixation with the avant-garde. They have composed both easy-listening fitness music and large symphonies. What gave them the go-ahead to alter the audio of Splatoon so much?

That would depend on the cosmos for which the song is intended. The games are set in crowded cities with a preoccupation on music and fashion (someone with more knowledge than me could write a book about Splatoon's fashion). The world can't be just background noise when everyone is so focused on music.

Several in-game musicians are said to have contributed to the music of Splatoon. Numerous bands with unique sounds and catchy names exist: Wet Floor, the Bottom Feeders, Ink Theory, Diss-Pair, ω-3, Dedf1sh, DJ Lee Fish, Bob Dub, the Chirpy Chirps, Hightide Era, Turquoise October, DJ Octavio. Even the nasty corporation Grizzco Industries produces music; one of my favorite songs is "Happy Little Workers."

Pearl and Marina may be seen performing their Off The Hook songs as holograms during live concerts, demonstrating how fully realized Splatoon's music is. Every artist has a background story and a piece of art for their song that draws inspiration from several genres, ranging from New York hip-hop to vintage Japanese city-pop. The fictitious music scene is so rich in bizarre and humorous personalities that the music must be as substantial in its contribution. How could music sound in a world where these characters live? After a climatic catastrophe, what kind of music will humans make? These are presumably questions the composers pondered themselves. and then provided a fantastic response.

Now, I'm not undervaluing the more avant-garde elements found in any of the other compositions by the artists. There are plenty of instances of wonderfully bizarre and eccentric works of art. However, Splatoon is not like other games. The game's most simplistic tracks have massive percussion, forcefully slapped bass, squidgy synthesizers swirling around the edges of everything, and a somewhat violent rhythm guitar. They're a touch experimental, not quite avant-garde; they remind me of musicians like OOIOO and Melt-Banana. Listen to Inkoming! below. Although the song isn't very complex musically, it is definitely not a Splatoon tune.

But things really start to become fascinating when the tunes aren't so simple. The most bizarre melodies mix a variety of sounds that aren't often paired together, ignore time signatures, and give the impression that a wind gust programmed the drums. At this point, it becomes much more difficult to name inspirations since it seems like there may be hundreds. So let's investigate every aspect of Splatoon's soundtrack, from the unique compositions that have the potential to frighten, to the in-game musicians and their many personas.

Splatoon theme music

Okay, so let's go back to the beginning. When Splatoon first came out for the Wii U in 2015, it was a huge surprise. It's a cooperative shooter that resembles Overwatch in terms of advanced strategies. Nintendo didn't take such actions. It is mostly recognized for its highly regarded single-player adventures and arcade-style, kid-friendly multiplayer games. In terms of playability, it was thus a breath of new air. The music is no different.

From the beginning, Splatoon has catchy music. However, when you first hear them, it's not like the first time you see Celeste—you're not immediately struck by how amazing these songs are. It more resembles "what the hell is this?" In the most bizarre manner conceivable, the soundtrack is the epitome of genre fusion. Listen to this, please:

It's comparable to Gorillaz and Daft Punk in terms of mainstream appeal, and that huge drum in the middle is just screaming for a dance remix. However, it's a bit more startling, wonkier, and wackier than any of those well-known icons. Unusual trumpeting in the background is followed by a solo on distorted electric guitar. The vocalist's throaty vocoded sound changes into a higher-pitched hit as the beat picks up. It's mainstream electronic music that has been altered and reworked for the Splatoon world. It's also a ton of fun, which is essential.

Calamari Inkantation is the most popular game from the first release. Even though it's one of the most simple Splatoon tunes, with its rocky percussion, powerful bass, and warbling voice, it's still rather odd. Splatoon music has now established itself as a distinct genre, regardless of the style it adopts. Yes, the music from Jet Set Radio is generally recognizable, but all you have to do is listen to the first fifteen seconds of The Replacements' "Like You" and tell me you don't feel like Splatoon. Numerous factors have affected these tunes.

Soundtrack for Splatoon 2

In 2017, Splatoon 2 was released, only a few months after the Nintendo Switch's debut. It included all the improvements from the original game, sold a ton of copies (thanks to the luxury of being released on a very excellent, very popular Nintendo platform), and, happily, included an amazing collection of songs. But these songs aren't merely reworked versions of the ones from the first game. Everything sounds like it's being influenced by whole new sounds.

The music has been expanded and adjusted in all the appropriate ways, much like the gameplay. The songs seem like they originated from various in-universe genres, the bands have more distinct personalities, and the music seems to be pulling from a much larger range of influences. The famed Japanese electronic musician Towa Tei, who was once a part of the band Deee-Lite and is best known for their song Groove is in the Heart, is heavily featured in "The Girl from Inkopolis." Making a comparison to his song "Mars" makes the parallels quite evident, but there are certainly other factors at play as well. It sounds like Cibo Matto, with its off-beat, wavy beats. That being said, certain tunes are difficult to fully identify, despite your best efforts.

The music for the Octo Expansion also has a distinct vibe. The game's introduction video has a campy marching band cheerleader cry called "Nasty Majesty," which is mixed with dubstep and 90s hip-hop. This clip has music that sounds like it's from a big-budget gaming. In general, that's one of the nicest things about Splatoon. It stays true to the peculiar, wacky, and inventive essence of all Nintendo games even when it deviates from their typical genres.

"Deluge Dirge," the title music for Salmon Run in Splatoon 2, is one of my favorite songs. A highly unsettling atmosphere is created by the heavy, pounding cello and broken, dissonant rhythms. As the song progresses, synth splutters appear more often, and the arrangement becomes busier and more agitated. A metal riff that has taken a detour via swing music can be heard in the really bluesy strings, while the percussion split and crack like Aphex Twin. Despite coming from such different places, everything works well together. (Already, listen to 'Ever Further'; the song seems like it was merely pushed into the background—a harsh, meandering wind instrument makes it sound like a Tom Waits song).

Music from Splatoon 3

The song that opens the teaser for the improved Salmon Run mode in Splatoon 3 is called Deluge Dirge. Any gamer will be familiar with this song, which may trigger particular memories. However, things start to seem a little strange when the video pans to reveal more of the new features. The music ends and you hear some chanting. Everything builds gradually until the original track's symphonic beats reappear. Then everything becomes completely crazy.

It seems that Nintendo requested Harry Partch to compose a song for Splatoon. It has a strong, loud, and industrial tone. It sounds great. We can tell right away from the Splatoon 3 music that this game is unlike any other. The unavoidable peculiarity of it all is incredibly energizing. Nintendo released a video for one of their biggest titles of the year with music that sounds like it does, demonstrating their obvious confidence. It's astounding. There's nothing insightful to say about it, so I'd simply want to bask in the obvious creative freedom of these songwriters.

The idea that the musicians creating the music for Splatoon seem to be enjoying the time of their life is what keeps drawing me in. It's simply that it's really uncommon to hear such a vast smörgåsbord of genres. This is not to suggest that the artists who create the amazing soundtracks for video games like Assassin's Creed aren't having fun because they're under greater restrictions. Instead of being served on separate plates, each dish at this feast has a little amount of each other, but the proportions are always altered to create a new flavor.

You can see what I mean by contrasting the soundtracks of the Salmon Run trailer with the first announcement trailer. This trailer opens with barely audible sounds and ambient harmonics, but by the time we get to the large metropolis, we're back in known terrain. What excites me, however, is that this tune appears on the Splatoon 3 soundtrack next to the music that frightened my editor. There is simply so much overt creativity, manifesting itself in so many other forms. It brings me joy.

The Splatoon 3 music so far is exhilarating rather than frightening. It's usually humorous, if anything. It's expected that anything in a series with Splatoon-like humor would have some humor. But the diversity is amazing, regardless of your response. There will definitely be both straight-forward hits and oddball, opinion-splitting tracks when we hear more music. In any case, it demonstrates Nintendo's extreme experimentation, which should excite everyone eager to try something new.