Splatoon SOS Shows Up in Its New Year’s Message

Something is happening in the world of Splatoon. While its New Year’s message from Twitter seemed innocuous, it seems to be hiding a hint at something more for the series. More importantly, something Salmonid related is teased with this Splatoon SOS.

The Splatoon New Year’s message seems normal enough. It references the cooperative Splatoon 2 Salmon Run mode, wherein an unseen character known as Mr. Grizz hires people to collect Golden Eggs for his shady company, Grizzco Industries. The Salmonids, fishy foes trying to take back the eggs, are the constant enemies there, and the note on Twitter reminds people that Grizzco is hiring.

However, a clear message appears from the Salmonids themselves. The 202 in 2020 reflects in the water as “SOS.” In addition, the waves after each letter spell out words. The phrase, as a whole, is “Save Our Salmons.” I’ve highlighted it more clearly in the image below.

While the Salmonids are a very fearsome foe in the Salmon Run modes and can seem mindless, there are hints in Splatoon 2 that there is more to them than meets the eye. Omega-3, the Salmonid “band,” plays the songs “Deluge Dirge,” “Fishing Frenzy,” “Frantic Aspic,” and “Tutorial” for Salmon Run. They create their own weapons, not unlike the Octolings, and the boss Salmonids especially can seem very intelligent during runs. Plus, while they are fought in-game, it is when the Inklings working for Grizzco are going into their territory and stealing their eggs.

Splatoon 2 is available for the Nintendo Switch. It will be getting a rather substantial balancing update in January 2020.