With its colourful cartoon visual style, Splatoon's multiplayer looks like it'll be child's play - but don't be fooled.
As with any online game it can feel overwhelming at first, so here are a couple of beginner's tips to give you the upper hand during the initial stages.
Our Splatoon review: Wii U's colourful shooter is inventive, refreshing fun
1. Stick with the default controls
The first thing you'll notice when you start playing Splatoon is how damn weird it is. I'm not talking about the fact you're playing as humanoid squid either - the aiming controls are completely alien, with the GamePad's motion function controlling vertical movement.
You will likely be tempted to change them to a more traditional dual stick setup. Don't. You will get used to them eventually.
Sticking to the default controls allows you to aim up and down much faster. Changing them would be similar to playing an online first-person shooter on PC with an Xbox controller - you're at a speed disadvantage.
Also, if you're aiming with the motion controls there's no need to take your right thumb off the jump button unless you're turning a corner, meaning you'll be more agile than your opponents.
2. Killing is secondary
We all like shooting people in video games, but in Splatoon your primary concern should be with inking your surroundings and covering over enemy ink. Not only is this how you win the game, but enemies get stuck in it. You can also enter squid mode by squeezing the LZ button and swim quickly through your colourful goo, so it'll speed you up and slow the enemy down.
More ink gives you more places to hide, lets you move faster, allows you to reach vantage points and replenishes your ammunition. All this has the handy side effect of making killing easier, too.
You should rarely be hunting other players, instead only killing the ones who get in your way - it's sometimes a better tactic to sneak around the enemy team and ink all over their territory as they try to push forward, oblivious to your cunning plan.
3. Take the high ground
You don't have to be using a charger - Splatoon's answer to the sniper rifle - for the high ground to be advantageous.
Not only can you easily take stock of the battlefield and enemy positions, but you'll also be impossible to reach for enemies using rollers and hard to hit for people using shooters.
Even if you're using a shooter yourself, you'll easily hit enemies below you as they struggle against gravity to hit you - like urinating into a wind tunnel.
4. Keep moving
Why lay all that ink if you're not going to take advantage of the movement benefits you gain from spreading it around? Use the coverage to your advantage - if there's ink beneath you, you should be beneath it.
When submerged you'll be harder to spot, you'll be faster, you'll be able to swim up vertical surfaces and you can jump further.
If you only ever pop out to shoot enemies or create more inky pathways, you're playing it right.
5. Find the right loadout
Head over to the Booyah Base Shopping Mall once you're on the right level and you can pick up some new weapon loadouts.
Find the one that best suits your play style. You might be a demon with the roller, running around the stages and trailing a path for your allies, smashing through any opposition that gets in your way, or you might prefer to keep the enemy back with the charger while your team inks up the arena. Or you could grab a shooter and get stuck in.
As well as the main weapons, each loadout has its own special piece of equipment. Do you want to go on the offensive with an inkzooka, or keep yourself protected with a bubble shield?
6. Play the single-player
The single-player is absolutely brilliant - so you should play it just for that - but in case you need any more motivation, the campaign has a bit of everything you need to get good at the multiplayer.
You will fight bots with the same abilities as you in arenas taken straight from the multiplayer, so you get to hone your skills in familiar environments.
Outside of this, the single-player really makes you think about movement differently - it will challenge you much more in this department than the mutliplayer will, so by the time you get online you'll be one slick squid.
Have any Splatoon tips to share with the world? Let us know below!
