‘Splatoon 2’ New Character & Ability System Revealed By Nintendo Japan

Splatoon 2 global testfire just invaded Switch last week, but Nintendo Japan isn't curbing its drip feed of new information about the game. In a series of tweets, the developer introduced a new character called Spiky. He’s in charge of brand new ability mechanics.

Thanks to translations from frozenpandaman of the Splatoon subreddit, here’s what we know about Spiky so far.

A confirmation of a character whose face we've seen previously, this boy with an urchin-like head's identity is about to be made clear. He's "Spiky." Somehow, it seems that he really admires Spyke! As follower of Spyke, he helps him out doing various business.

For gear with attached slots filled up, these additional ability slots can be detached and restored to their initial states. Detached gear abilities become "ability pieces" (lit. gear power fragments) and can be held on to individually.

After collecting a number of "ability pieces," it seems you can put these in empty slots of your favorite to restore abilities. If you "clean" gear repeatedly, you can combine and join together your favorite abilities. Huh? Is it possible this boy is even more skillful than Spyke?

While the explanation here isn’t totally complete, it appears that Spiky offers an alternative to the previously randomized, stackable secondary abilities. Once you’ve maxed out certain pieces of gear, the assumption is that you can collect these “ability pieces” to attach the specific buffs you want.

Read: Splatoon 2 Global Testfire Maps & Weapons Revealed

This benefit looks a bit limited, though. After all, the suggestion is that several ability pieces must be combined to get one particular buff. We also don’t quite know how the pieces are earned.

Regardless, the implication is that Spiky intends to offer players of a Splatoon 2 a more strategic way to customize gear to suit individual playstyles. When used correctly, the adjustment can potentially make the game’s best players even better. That being said, because we’re translating content that hasn’t been localized, the character name and feature descriptions above are subject to change. We anticipate an English version fairly soon.

As we inch closer to release, we look forward to learning even more about the new critters that populate the revised Inkopolis Plaza.

Splatoon 2 is scheduled for release on Nintendo Switch this summer.

What do you think of Spiky so far? Will ability pieces make your secondary buffs better? Tell us in the comments section!