Not quite reaching the goal in Tower Control [10(2)-3, Tri-slosher]

I dawdle a little off the base, on purpose, so I am not splatted needlessly. I suppose my first splatting isn't needless, but I am quite out-manoeuvred by the Hero Dualie Replicas. My defensive game is a little weak, as is my attack. I drop off the stage, under the Inkjet's exhaust, and am splatted again. How embarrassing.

But maybe my luck is turning. I sensibly hang on the wall as the Tenta Missiles fly in, and get a good Burst Bomb throw for my first splat. Falling off the stage works to my advantage this time as well, letting me avoid the Splashdown and slosh upwards to get the splat instead. Nice!

I get a bit confused as the Tower moves to the other side of the stage, and settling with staying unsplatted and inking turf. My squidmates seem to be doing well without me anyway. And once they are splatted away, I've managed to get in to the right place to splat two purple inklings off the Tower, and although I don't quite manage to stick to the Tower, I splat a third inkling who has the same trouble.

My inking lets me activate Ink Armour, and shortly afterwards the fourth purple inkling rolls around in to my sloshing. This is going better. I even somehow manage not to get splatted when stuck half-way up a wall, and slink away somewhat aimlessly to heal.

Once better, I come back to the sponge and push ahead aggressively. It gets me splatted, but it seems like a good distraction. My squidmates take advantage of it if it was, and push the Tower to the goal as I wait to reappear at our base. Respawn Punisher helped, but stops me celebrating at the goal.

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Tags: console, splatoon 2, starfish mainstage, switch, tower control, tri-slosher

Going ahead in Tower Control [7(3)-2, Tri-slosher]

I've got to practice more with the Tri-slosher. It is my favourite weapon, second only to the Carbon Roller, but these new conditions are shaking my confidence. Only the Splattershot Jr gives me reliable results at the moment. I probably just need practice. So here we are. I try to be sensible to start, which keeps me unsplatted for a while, but failing to notice the green ink coming to flank us comes back to splat me.

My return is confidence-boosting, splatting an Inkjet, but I perhaps run with that too soon. I'm splatted by a Tri-slosher on the Tower. Some simple maintenance next ends up with my chasing an inkling backwards, but at least they ran and gave me a chance, rather than turning and splatting me quickly.

My inking lets me activate Ink Armour, and as my squidmates are pushing the Tower I try to take advantage of both by hopping across to the green side. That works quite well, although I can't quite tell if the sound I hear is my destroying a Sprinkler or hitting an inkling. Even so, an inkling appears, but somehow ducks under my sloshed ink, and the best I do is damage him. And I survive.

The Tower keeps moving, I get more Ink Armour, and go around for another circuit. This time I splat an inkling coming my way, before giving chase to another. I don't catch him, but get in to a good position, and one a green inkling clearly doesn't expect me to be.

I nearly catch another inkling flying around the corner, but before I can give chase the Tower hits the goal. Woomy!

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Tags: console, splatoon 2, starfish mainstage, switch, tower control, tri-slosher

Stealing the dunk in Rainmaker [15(7)-4, Splattershot Jr]

I do some general inking to start the battle, making it easier for us to move around and try to end up in a beneficial position for whatever happens with the Rainmaker. The teal team grab it, and I accidentally squid through a grating, but it mostly works out. We have some nice turf inked, and we hold the teal team to a minor early lead.

Those two assists that look to be nothing to do with me are because of the Ink Armour, so I have learnt. I'm pretty sure I deserve them anyway. And those splats by my squidmates open up the opportunity for my moving the Rainmaker, and I aim for the short-cut. So do the teal team, and I don't quite wait for the Splashdown to clear the path.

Our position looks strong, and there's a Beakon that looks good to me. I super-jump there, and retreat from an Inkjet by hitting the flank, which drops me on the teal Rainmaker trying to advance. That'll do. I make another dash up the side, but am stopped again, my Rainmaker blasts not quite accurate or quick enough. So it goes.

I am perhaps a little cautious approaching the Rainmaker from below, but only because I've been splatted by the shield exploding so many times. I nearly manage to jink to the side, but get bounced back down, so settle with letting the teal team grab the Rainmaker and splatting it again. I try to forge a path ahead, but am really pushing my luck.

A super-jump back to support the next push is partially successful, in that I get a triple-splat, but am splatted in the process. I try to rush back to join in the celebrations, but the Rainmaker is lost just short of the podium. I try to keep the ink flowing, but I soon realise I don't actually know where the Rainmaker is.

I drop down to get my bearings and find the Rainmaker, and with the entire teal team splatted away, rush to burst the Rainmaker free. It's perhaps a little selfish, but I aim to squid through the shield's explosion as quickly as possible and nab the Rainmaker to get the dunk, and it works! Woomy!

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Tags: console, rainmaker, splatoon 2, splattershot jr, starfish mainstage, switch

Worth it for the end in Rainmaker [7(3)-5, Splattershot Jr]

Holy crap, my aim is bad. The Rainmaker is under my nose, but it still takes me two minutes to splat him. I really need to work on this, but it seems like practice just isn't enough. So it goes, at least I still have fun being bad. And I'm not stacking Quick Respawn, so I have that going for me.

The best I can do on my return is stall the purple team a bit, but that's not a bad result, particularly considering my next outing, where I fail to spot an uninkable patch of wall quickly enough. How embarrassing. But lesson learnt! My squidmates are doing better, which isn't saying much, but they have pushed the Rainmaker in to the lead. Nice! I drop in to mid-distance support to try to be helpful.

I start being a little helpful, but that goes awry when I try to hit the purple team's flank. They push when I move around, and when I try to chase I hit a stage light, then bounce a Splat Bomb off of it. The purple team re-take the lead, and I feel a bit useless. Victory doesn't look promising from here, but I take point and ink a path to the podium, if only to remind myself of one definite route.

We get the Rainmaker away from our podium, and hold the purple team close to their side of the stage. I hit the flank and seem to go unnoticed, and as the Rainmaker is burst with no inklings to be seen, I sneakily grab it and make a run. One blast gives me a nice path, and I nearly make the jump up the ramp to steal the lead. It's not quite redemption, but I'm feeling better about my contribution.

The purple team get the Rainmaker back to the stage, and I lob a Splat Bomb under its explosion in case of a swift pick-up. But no one grabs the Rainmaker, so again I decide to see what I can do with it. This time, the first path I reconnoitred is available. I hit a small purple patch, but just about get clear. And with purple ink tickling my heels, I make a dash up the block.

My squidmates do a bang-up job of splatting the purple inklings and keeping them occupied, Only one chases me, but I have a good head start. One blast from the Rainmaker inks my path, and a squid and a jump later I dunk the Rainmaker. Woomy!

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Tags: console, rainmaker, splatoon 2, splattershot jr, starfish mainstage, switch

Sneaking some splats in Tower Control [12(5)-3, Splattershot Jr]

There's a lot of blue pressure around the Tower at the start, with the charger and Splatling covering it, which results in a squidmate of their's hopping on for an early push. I narrowly miss a Curling Bomb in a bid to clear the Tower, which I don't do, and get splatted by running in to a Suction Bomb soon after anyway.

We soak up some forwards pressure to prevent the Tower from coming too far our way, and squidmates start pushing it the other way as I succumb to too much ink from a few blue Bombs. I take the long route back, having a kind of compulsion to do my own thing, which works out quite well when I push past an abandoned Tower, skirting various hazardous obstacles, to splat two inklings out of the way. This lets us have a clearer run with the Tower ourselves.

I push forwards aggressively, with a minor retreat to help shoo a blue inkling off the Tower, and surprise a couple of inklings at the top of an inkable block. Jinking to use the sponge as well surprises more inklings, but maybe not as surprise as they would have been with better aiming. They are, at least, distracted from the Tower.

I start to make my way back, aiming to hit the flank opposite the Tower for more surprises, but we've done enough. The Tower trundles to the goal. Woomy!

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Tags: console, splatoon 2, splattershot jr, sturgeon shipyard, switch, tower control

Just about surviving the Salmon Run [21-13-20, 14/541]

There's little drama for the first half of this Salmon Run. A Stinger is an easy start, and the Scrapper and Maws aren't too troublesome, even if a couple of inklings succumb to the salmonids. Naturally, it's the Flyfish that starts causing trouble, as we still try to deal with a Maws and deliver Golden Eggs.

As I try to line up a Splat Bomb throw, whilst recovering the ink to throw one, and repel the salmonid hordes, I realise I'm the only inkling standing. Thankfully I manage to do something about that, and combine two Maws converging on me with a Splashdown, but it was close. The Maws aren't splatted, though, and there's the Flyfish and a Scrapper around. I just do my best to stay afloat, as my squidmates recover and rejoin the fray.

The first wave comes to an end, as I manage to stay unsplatted, but I turn around to see I'm the only one. That was too close again. And, oh good, it stays at high tide for the second wave. Shortly in to the second wave comes our first Steel Head. I nearly manage to splat it on the first go, thanks to a nice Splat Bomb rolled behind a Scrapper, but my aim wavers just slightly. So it goes.

I think my second Splashdown will be well used next to two Scrappers, but as it didn't splat both maybe it could have been saved. Either way, we have eggs to collect and we are all afloat, more or less. I get splatted when I get snagged by the basket, which is a pain. But I'm revived, and we make quota, so now we just need to survive a little longer. That seems simple enough, until Steel Eels are going this way and that, and ink is being Drizzled everywhere.

We nearly don't make it again, but our Slosher wisely chooses to run away than risk getting close to revive us, and we make it to the third wave. Now we have more room to work with. But the sky is darkening. Ah, fog. Just what we need. And two bosses, Great Zapfish knows where. The Steel Eels isn't so bad, and the Drizzler could have caused problems if I didn't get lucky with sloshing its missile back at it. Maybe this wave will go more smoothly than the other two.

Although the boss salmonids start accumulating and causing all sorts of inky trouble for us, we splat enough of them to keep the Golden Eggs available, and the increased room of mid-tide allows us space to run them around a bit. It all gets a bit hairy as the wave draws to a close, but nothing quite as bad as the first two waves.

In the end, it's a successful Salmon Run, with a decent enough tally of Golden Eggs. But it could have gone wrong quite a few times.

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Tags: console, marooner's bay, salmon run, splatoon 2, switch

Being green in Splat Zones [19(7)-1, Splattershot Jr]

Hitting the flank for a surprise attack works better when you move as quickly as possible. I dawdle a bit, but that just means I counter-attack the yellow inkling hitting our flank. It works well. We lose the Splat Zones to the quicker yellow start, but snatch them away from the yellow team as the power balance shifts our way with splats here and there, thanks to well-rolled Splat Bombs and some perhaps lucky stray ink.

I work my way around and above the Splat Zones, keeping as much turf blue as I can, and looking for splats, and get lucky in avoiding the brush. My squidmates have my back too, doing well to keep the ink flowing all over the Splat Zones, and it looks like we've got ourselves a quick knockout victory. But Tenta Missiles fly in, pushing us out of the Splat Zones, and letting the yellow team in.

The yellow team keep the Splat Zones inked for a good time, whilst I run away from a brush, dropping a Splat Bomb at just the right time, and happy to have my Ink Armour active as a Splattershot manages to squid behind my ambush. And with the Jet Squelcher despatched with a neat Splat Bomb, we have the opportunity to recapture the Splat Zones.

We don't hold the Splat Zones for long. I don't much help with that either, staying on the bridge to look for opportunity, but not quite realising that access to the Splat Zones is a bit limited from there. And I finally succumb to yellow ink thanks to a close encounter with a brush, before dropping in to a Splashdown. It was a good run!

The Splat Zones change tentacles here and there, as I skirt around inking turf and looking for splats. Our lead remains safe, but I really could shoot more blue ink in to the Splat Zones. After the Tenta Missile launcher is splatted, as is the brush, as well as an inkling on the other side of the Splat Zones, it seems safe to rush in and ink. The Splat Zones turn blue again.

A Splat Bomb bounces off a wall, and as I line up a better throw the brush tries to ink me. Something goes awry, though, giving me the opportunity to retreat and turn the tables. I squid this way and that, looking for more opportunity, but just as it turns up the battle is won. Woomy!

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Tags: console, splat zones, splatoon 2, splattershot jr, switch, the reef

Keeping my beak clean in Splat Zones [9(1)-0, Splattershot Jr]

I try to stay out of trouble whilst making some trouble, which isn't that easy. But flirting with the Splat Zones without pushing too aggressively seems like a good strategy at the start of a battle, and works for me this time. When the ink settles, we steal the Splat Zones from the green team and start our score ticking over.

Sneaking around the side and up to the green team's perch bags me an assist by raining ink from above, and I choose the right moment to drop down, splatting one inkling as a Special starts, and being behind a Baller after it explodes. I help clear up some green mess, then work behind the Splat Zones to keep our access smooth and simple.

I head around the side in the other direction, avoiding the grating just to be different, and end up interrupting a Curling Bomb Launcher with a single Splat Bomb. That's being efficient. All those Curling Bombs stop our counter briefly, but we get it going again before too long.

I just about avoid another Baller, and retreat quickly as more green inklings rush the Splat Zones, but don't go too far away. I ink the edges and throw Splat Bombs, helping push back the green team. And when they try to super-jump their way back, I stop that too. We remain in a pretty commanding position.

Checking the side doesn't see any inklings approaching our flank, and I see no need to endanger myself by going that way when we're holding the turf well enough already. And the battle finishes without any more drama, our counter hitting zero just as the green team make their final push. Woomy!

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Tags: console, splat zones, splatoon 2, splattershot jr, starfish mainstage, switch

Too blue Splat Zones [26(7)-5, Carbon Roller]

Okay, maybe I'm still getting the hang of the vertical flick. I almost never jumped whilst flicking before, so I'm learning fresh. I like that my first splat comes from an Autobomb, though, particularly as I had forgotten about it whilst trying to flick for a splat. I keep going for a bit, getting my first Ink Storm going, but ink management is my downfall.

I come back to tidy up a bit, and ink a nice path for us as I charge my Special, as the Splat Zones are yellow anyway. But they could always use maintaining. I move up to ink and look for splats, and drop back to avoid being hit. We take the lead, which is good, as my flanking gets another splat, but, despite all that, and a couple more splats, the blue team re-capture the Splat Zones.

I worry we've lost our Tri-slosher, but he's probably just checking the map. I head back to the Splat Zones to protect our lead, and make them pretty yellow and splat a couple of inklings, but the blue ink comes from somewhere, and the other team snatches the lead from us. I keep myself unsplatted and make a circuit to be more effective, and help to capture the Splat Zones again, as an Autobomb sneaks up on an unsuspecting inkling. Another one acts as a good decoy, too. Good boys!

A bit of a melee follows, with the blue team winning the turf battle, and extending their lead somewhat, but we're putting up a good fight still. I help capture the Splat Zones back, and keep inking the turf, up until I am shown my lack of experience of flicking ink down a steep slope. The Tri-slosher sloshing upwards doesn't have the same problem.

I think a lack of ink will get me splatted again, but my squidmates do a great job to splat the blue inklings away, letting me line up a super-jumper. The super-jumper anticipates this and lands with a Splashdown. I'm not even mad, that was excellent! The blue team own the Splat Zones again, though, and we're going to have to work hard to take the lead now.

I manage to launch an Ink Storm and get a quad-splat of sorts, and follow-up with more inking and splatting, but my focus drops just enough from the Splat Zones to let enough blue ink through that we aren't able to continue in to extra time for long. That was a fun battle! Well played, blue team.

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Tags: carbon roller, console, musselforge fitness, splat zones, splatoon 2, switch

Not just Autobombs in Splat Zones [13(4)-3, Carbon Roller]

I let my Autobombs do the work to start the battle, but it's a bit lame and I know it. It also doesn't help maintain the Splat Zones effectively, so I move in, and get splatted. That serves me right for holding back. I don't rush in next time either, but that's because it would be foolish to do so. Instead, I hold back and flick ink, pop my beak over the crest to look for splats, and retreat when it isn't.

Opportunity comes when I launch my Ink Storm, giving me dots of ink to move around in. I spot an inkling being passive, much like I was, and punish him, moments before he gets covered in Ink Armour. And with inklings being splatted and turf being inked, more opportunities arise, and we re-capture the Splat Zones. That's better.

Now I can use my Autombombs with better conscience, launching them in to green territory from captured Splat Zones. One gets a nice assist on the Squiffer, and although an Autobomb can't help me with an Inkjet, my Caron Roller's vertical flick does nicely. That's when the Octobrush finds me once again. Not a problem! We're nicely in the lead now.

Another Autobomb splat, which I don't witness, and moving up nearly catches the Octobrush and Squiffer, but the Octobrush catches me slightly overshooting my mark. So it goes. I cross paths with the Octobrush again, but I manage to avoid him, and am able to help capture and hold the Splat Zones instead.

I get a lucky splat here, and a nice flicking splat there, the latter to avenge two squidmates, and before an Inkjet can splat me, the battle is won. Woomy!

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Tags: carbon roller, console, musselforge fitness, splat zones, splatoon 2, switch