What About the Octolings?

OLM Presents:

What About the Octolings?

edit created by Dr.Napkins

I was extremely happy when the Inklings were shown in the first Ultimate teaser back in March, Inklings have been my top newcomer ever since Splatoon came out. So you could probably sense my disappointment when they were shown as measly Mii costumes. Nevertheless they’re here and look amazing.

As far as we’ve seen so far, they look about high tier, maybe even better. Inkling appears to be a very mobile character with great options for about every situation so I’ve excited to pick them up day 1. But after this is got me thinking, will there be another newcomer representing Splatoon? It’s a very popular series regardless, then I realized there’s only one other logical choice.

Judd!

The Octolings!

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Who are the Octolings?

In the original Splatoon, the Octolings were the octopus counterparts to the Inklings, who were squids. Thus they were made antagonists are a part of DJ Octavio’s army. You fought against them many times and came in a couple of forms.

That was basically it for the Octolings in Splatoon 1, they didn’t get much of a role and the same carried over for the most part in Splatoon 2’s hero mode. But we did get a small hint in Marina, who was an Octoling but appeared to be friendly.

Take a shot every time I say “octo” in this blog.

Then nearly a year later, in the same direct that Ultimate was revealed, Nintendo dropped the bomb that was the Octo Expansion. A brand new DLC single player story mode which had you take control of an Octoling. Once you complete the Octo Expansion story mode, you now have to option to play as an Octoling instead of an Inkling. As of now, I like the Female Octoling a lot, but I still really enjoy the Inklings from now and then.

Unlike their antagonist counterparts, these Octolings are a little different, for one their hair was a lot different and resembled the Inklings much more. The only obvious differences between the two species are that the Octolings have the suction cups on the outside of their hair instead of on the inside. Also the little strip between the black spaces on the Inkling’s eyes was removed making them looks more human.

Along with a couple more minor details such as the head shape, their ears being more circular, and the Octolings being a little bit taller. But these differences go beyond aesthetic differences. Their personalities are actually different as well. While the Inklings are clearly very eccentric and sporadic, the Octolings appear to be a bit more calm, having movements that are much more fluid, especially in their victory animations.

So that’s the basic gist of what the Octolings are, they’re overall fairly similar to the Inklings but not carbon copies. In Splatoon 2,

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Echo-Fighter of Inkling

The most likely way Octolings would ever appear in Smash would be as Echo-Fighters, of course, echos of Inkling. Since in Splatoon 2, they are basically the exact same gameplay wise, the Octolings and the Inklings control exactly the same. So this would likely transition over to Smash as well.

But as with the echo fighters we have, there are some slight differences that can be made. But first of course, we need to cover their similarities. Being echo fighters, or clones as I prefer to call them, they basically act exactly the same. Their movement, moveset, and methods of attack.

This carries over to the Octolings, including their neutral special, the Octoshot.

The Octoshot is a weapon in Splatoon 2 which is unlocked alongside the Octolings upon completion of the Octo Expansion DLC. But, this weapon is simply a reskin of the Splattershot. Acting exactly the same, so it will do the same here. Octoling and Inkling have the same neutral special.

But their other specials (besides squid jump) are different. But only in slight ways. The roller is a weapon type in Splatoon, meaning there are several variations of it. The default being the Splat Roller, the one the Inklings have in Smash. Octolings will replace it with the Carbon Roller.

It won’t have the ability to bury players, but it is faster and deals basic knockback. Along with this, their Splat Bombs are replaced with Burst Bombs. Which explode on impact instead of having a fixed timer.

The final change would be in their forward smash, instead of an Ink Brush, it would be an Octo Brush. To go with the octo theme we have going for them. It would be slower but more powerful.

Something with echo fighters is that their Final Smashes can be different, like Pit and Dark Pit. So to make Octoling more unique, I decided to give them the Tenta Missiles special weapon.

I was also considering the Stingray, but found it to be too similar to the Killer Wail.

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Semi-Clone Possibilities

With the far likelihood of Octolings simply becoming echo fighters, I’d much rather have them as semi-clones. Characters that have similar movesets to others but still have many things different.

Even though it won’t happen, I’d like to propose a couple of things to make them the slightest bit more unique. I do use the Octolings now so you can probably tell I like them enough to be doing this.

So the first obvious thing would be to make their normal moves a little more unqiue. Keep basic necessities the same such as their jab, but change other things in subtle ways. Like the animations of other moves, like make their aerials look more fluid since it matches their personality.

The first major changes would appear in their special moves. First off, the roller is gone. We’re replacing it with the E-liter. Or in other , a Splat Charger type weapon. Charger weapons are the sniper rifles of Splatoon, you hold the fire button to charge up ink and release it to fire. It would work similarly here. The more you charge it, the further and more powerful it is.

Instead of a Splat Bomb, the Octolings will be using the Auto Bombs as their sub weapon. Basically what it does is that it follows the closest player and explodes. But to allow it to work in Smash, we’ll make it so that it goes in the general direction of the closest enemy player.

For one more change, one of their smash attacks will be changed.

(We’ll be keeping the Octo Brush I mentioned earlier by the way...)

We’ll be replacing their down smash, which was originally the Slosher, with the Splat Dualies. Making them spin around while shooting them in opposite directions. Simple, but still a change.

Hopefully with these changes they could be seen as semi-clone instead of full on clones. Even with them basically moving the exact same way since it’s accurate to Splatoon. But, bringing in the Octolings could present one itsy-bitsy problemo.

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The Problematic Ink

Yeah, the ink. Kinda the whole gimmick with the Inklings. What the ink does is if you cover an opponent in ink, they take more damage from your attacks. But only your attacks.

This is why all of the Inkling alternate costumes have different colored ink.

People are saying that this could present a problem since people would confuse the Inkling’s ink with the Octoling’s ink. Well, guess what? There’s more colors!

Splatoon has a vast array of different shades of colors. Even of they are similar, they’re still different enough to not be confused. The only way that one could confuse the colors is if they were color-blind, or if the sun was shining directly at the TV or Switch screen.

So using these different colors (and one from a Splatfest) I present to you the alternate colors for the Octolings!

Of course, their clothing would vary from the hundreds of combinations there are in Splatoon. Including of course the outfit they wore in the Octo Expansion DLC.

But before you try to say (but the colors are too similar), please take a look at these two.

They’re practically the same color, just a slightly different shade. So yeah, my point with the colors still stands.

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Chances Appearing in Ultimate

In the base game, the chances for the Octolings appearing in the game are very slim, close to impossible even. Octolings were only really popularized when the Octo Expansion DLC was released only a couple of months ago. And I think that Sakurai would want to use the design for the playable Octolings instead of the ones you fight in Hero Mode.

The only chance they have for appearing in the base game is as a very late addition as an echo fighter of the Inklings. But even still, their chances this way are very slim. But we haven’t even talked about DLC yet!

Like the Octo Expansion itself, the Octolings do have a chance to appear as DLC. But this is assuming that echo fighters can appear as DLC. I’m assuming they probably will, what’s the point of introducing the whole concept if they’re not gonna have one or two as DLC? If this is the case, I’d expect them to either be like a buck or flat out free.

Anyway, the Octolings have become very popular over the last couple of months. Many Splatoon 2 players, including myself, have swapped in favor of the Octolings as their playable character. So hopefully their popularity could be enough to get them in as potential DLC. It could also be a very good way to promote Splatoon 2 some more along with the Octo Expansion.

Either way, I really want to see these guys in.

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Extras

So yeah, now for the stage. I was thinking two ideas. Either the final boss of the Octo Expansion, or Shifty Station, the stage that appears in every Splatfest. I chose the latter to avoid spoilers.

Music time!

Ebb & Flow

Fly Octo Fly

Nasty Majesty

Inkoming!

Color Pulse

Feel free to include some more in the comments!

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Conclusion

That’s about it! The Octolings are the only echo fighters I want in Smash Ultimate, even though they do have a pretty low chance of appearing overall.

So hopefully I’ve convinced some of you to give the Octolings a chance. See ya!