Splatoon must surely rank as one of Nintendo's most unlikely hits. If you doubt that, try relaying a story about a favourite multiplayer moment and consider how ludicrous you must sound to a casual observer. Our moment of triumph, for example, came during the final Splatfest, a contest designed to crown the global favourite of the two Squid Sisters, the game's resident idol duo.
It happened at Moray Towers, a parking lot spread across two elevated structures, with ramps zigzagging down towards a central zone liberally coated in lurid neon ink. Wearing our pink T-shirt with pride, paired with a fashionable snorkel and a pair of turquoise trainers, our time came in the final 30 seconds of battle, as we swam up a wall carrying a washing-machine drum, passing unseen behind an opponent too busy gazing down his scope at our hapless teammates below to notice us sloshing our colours onto the ground behind his perch. We finished with no kills and six deaths, yet rarely have we felt so responsible for turning certain defeat into narrow victory at the 11th hour.
