Games of the Decade: Splatoon kickstarted Nintendo's revival

To mark the end of the 2010s, we're celebrating 30 games that defined the last 10 years. You can find all the articles as they're published in the Games of the Decade archive, and read about the thinking behind it in an editor's blog.

It's tempting to see Nintendo's past decade in two parts, split by the release of the Switch. It's not quite as simple as that, though - the Wii U, for all its failings, was a chance for Nintendo to take stock, reassess and shift course. It offered a chance to experiment, and a chance to usher in a new generation of talent. I don't think the Switch would have been half as successful if it wasn't for the work laid down during one of Nintendo's greyest periods.

All of which made Splatoon such a welcome shock of colour. A new IP from Nintendo when such things were a rarity - we'd had Tomodachi Life and Rhythm Paradise, but really you have to look all the way back to Pikmin for one of this magnitude - and a multiplayer shooter was something that seemed well out of the company's comfort zone. But, of course, Nintendo's approach to the online fragfest was perfectly Nintendo, and in Splatoon it's not so much about headshots as it is covering the map in gallons of gloopy ink.

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