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Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Splatoon 3: Side Order/archive1

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The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted by Gog the Mild via FACBot (talk) 19:01 26 March 2026 FACBot (talk) 23:06, 26 March 2026 (UTC).[reply]

Splatoon 3: Side Order


Nominator(s): TheBrickGraphic (talk) 22:47, 22 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Splatoon 3: Side Order is a single-player DLC for Splatoon 3 that features much of the cast from the previous game's single-player DLC, Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion. More specifically, it follows a humanoid octopus trapped in a virtual universe tasked with destroying a rogue AI who wants to strip away the free will of everyone in reality to instigate a sterile world of pure orderliness. Y'know, pretty standard Nintendo stuff.

I improved this article to GA status (courtesy ping for @Z-Gamer Guys:, the GA reviewer) earlier this month, and after fairly extensive copyediting of my own, now think it qualifies for FAC. This is my first time nominating an article for FA, so any feedback is appreciated! TheBrickGraphic (talk) 22:47, 22 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

  • One quick comment. May I politely ask why this PC Magazine review isn't factored in? It's English-language, the magazine specializes in gaming, and the writer specializes in video games, so it meets the high-quality source criteria there. HUMANXANTHRO (What you say about his company is what you say about society) 17:11, 23 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]
    • @HumanxAnthro: I initially did include the PCMag review (see in this revision ). However, I was recently looking over the many failed FA nominations for Yoshi's New Island and saw an Opposing comment from longtime Wikipedia user Hahnchen; to quote them directly: "Why do I care about what PCMag has to say about a 3DS game?" I guess their line of reasoning was that PCMag, judging by its name, specializes in PC games, and shouldn't be used to back up critical commentary for Nintendo games on Nintendo consoles. As much as I found this a tad too strict, I did end up removing the PCMag ref, wanting to avoid any potential roadblocks to FA. That being said, the PCMag source is present in the current revision of Yoshi's New Island, which has since become an FA, so maybe this isn't actually that important? I'd like to get your input on this if possible. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 22:58, 23 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]
      • Oh, brother... This was seriously a comment than a reviewer made?... Like, seriously? What I'm about to say isn't at you, so you do you with the PCMag review (as long as the section still meets 1c at the end of the day), but this needs to be said. I'm absolutely sick of comments like that one for the Yoshi game, and anyone who genuinely interprets sources like this not only puts the WP:AGF rule to the ultimate test, but is flat-out WP:NOTHERE. This should be common sense to users who interpret the reliability and quality of sources for so long: Just because a publication began life primarily covering one subject doesn't mean they're idiots on the other subjects they branch out to later on. You know why? Because despite all the bad takes The Guardian and Rolling Stone may have from time to time, they're not stupid. They still have a fucking editorial board and hiring team pursuing journalists who have a background writing on the very general topic area they're creating a section on. If this was a video game publication being cited for facts on the civil rights movement, or People doing a feature on the death counts of fascist regimes, let's say, I could for sure see this reaction because nobody goes to those sources for high-level subject matter like that. But video gaming simply isn't politics or sociology, and PC gaming is still fucking gaming. Unless this is the N64 era, there's not much difference between console and PC besides maybe the controller methods. And even if Habnchen had a valid argument, the proper metric is how much of a credible professional intellect the individual writer of the review is, PC source or music magazine be damned. The writer for the PCMag review of Yoshi's New Island, for instance, was Will Greenwald, who primarily focuses on consumer electronics in general, one type of which is... electronic games, PC and console. So yeah, that sounded like a comment made simply to win more points as part of the WP:Wikicup. HUMANXANTHRO (What you say about his company is what you say about society) 01:03, 24 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

ZooBlazer

Thanks for doing a review for the Horizon Zero Dawn FAC. I noticed that you also had a nomination so I figured I would add some comments. Sorry about the order being a little all over the place. -- ZooBlazer 00:46, 25 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Wow, those were a lot more typos than I would've liked, lol. Just addressed all of them, thanks! TheBrickGraphic (talk) 01:52, 25 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • The infobox image should have alt text
    • Done.
  • The development of Side Order begun shortly after... - Should be "began" instead
    • Done.
  • gameplay mechanics into the rouguelite genre - Should be "roguelite"
    • Done.
  • foes and allowing for airborn gliding - Should be "airborne"
    • Done.
  • Justin Berube crtiqued - Should be "critiqued"
    • Done.
  • expansion's lack of variey - Should be "variety"
    • Done.
  • the group leaves the Memverse and return - Change to "returns"
    • Done.
  • long-term replayablity - Should be "replayability"
    • Done.
  • CD release of the expansion 's soundtrack - Remove the extra space in "expansion's"
    • Done.

In that case, I am happy to support. -- ZooBlazer 02:27, 25 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Z-Gamer Guys

Image review
Source review

Planting this section for now, will work on it very soon. - Z-Gamer Guys (talk) 23:53, 26 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

  • Refs. 11 and 12 do not mention the "Spire of Order" by name, with Ref. 12 simply calling it the "Spire". Ref. 11 does call it a tower, but nothing else.
  • It should likely be specified that upon entering each floor, the player begins their attempt, rather than simply "upon entry".
    • I worded it that way because technically the first floor (1F) doesn't begin as soon as you entire the spire; you first have to select a scenario in the menu which from there serves as the first floor/level. To me the elevator is more of a limbo between floors, not the floor itself, given that the top right of the selection menu reads "Next... [number]F". Would wording it as "Upon entering the Spire..." read better? TheBrickGraphic (talk) 20:29, 1 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • I see no mention of Splat Zone being a "king of the hill-style" game mode. I think this is an important descriptor, so a source could possibly be used from a Splatoon 3 review.
  • Change the "or" in "covering the ground with opponent ink or inducing a blackout" to "and", as the source (Ref. 7) claims this danger effect was simultaneous.
  • The name of the final boss "Order" is not mentioned in Ref. 3.
  • Ref. 8 does not mention the diary entries being collected "at the base of the Spire".
  • The opening of the Development and release section makes it sound like the DLC started development in September 2022, when in reality it was just sometime after the game released. You could rephrase this, but I also could be stupid and not be reading it properly. Otherwise, a source will be needed for Splatoon 3's initial release date, and you could include the full date if you want (9 September 2022) since it released the same day worldwide.
  • The art direction for chaos and order should be supported by Ref. 18, which may have been moved, but I don't see mention of the Chaos vs. Order Splatfest inspiring it from either Refs. 18 or 19.
  • I'm not sure I can find mention of the music group "Free Association" in Ref. 16.
    • @Z-Gamer Guys: So, for the foreign lanugage interviews, in this case the Famitsu one, I made partial use of a fan translation by internet user rassicas . In the original article, Google Translate seems to render the group's name as "Mnemonic Clouds", while the English version of Side Order refers to them as "Free Association", which is reflected in the fan translation. Obviously I can't source the Google Doc, so I chose to just reference the original interview. Here is the fan translation of Ref 18 Nintendo Dream Web , also by rassicas, that could prove useful. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 12:19, 3 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • While Ref. 16 states Agent 4 is from Splatoon 2, it doesn't mention them being part of the campaign or base single-player mode. This will need an additional source.
  • Ref. 20 from IGN does not give the date of the Nintendo Direct that initially revealed the Expansion Pass, nor does it really talk about its Nintendo Direct debut. Since its instead covered in Ref. 21, should it also be moved up for clarity? (appearing after "featuring two waves of content.")
  • OpenCritic has different general ratings from Metacritic when used in the prose. Instead of "a positive rating", use "a strong rating" or "a strong approval" instead.
  • While the quote "like an anime set inside an evil Apple Store." is indeed from PCMag, I think either the conjunction "like" or the "as" leading into the quote can be removed for grammar.
  • Small note, but the "<nowiki>" text in source mode that appears for apostrophes can be replaced by ' in brackets.
  • Jordan Minor is the writer for PCMag, not TouchArcade; that would be Shaun Musgrave. Additionally, less important, but I'm not sure "charming" is the right word, instead, they seemed to prefer the campaign's story over the other campaigns.
  • I'm unsure if either Automaton or Siliconera refers to the Color Chip experimentation as addictive, as they seem to be describing the general gameplay of the chips.
    • Automaton says this (by way of Google Translate): "The fun of these unexpected combinations is what motivates you to keep playing, and before you know it, you'll have been playing for half a day straight," while Siliconera says this: "It made me want to not only play once, but keep playing so I could experiment with different tactics and earn more fun things." I interpreted both of these comments as implying the chips system was addictive, since the reviewers wanted to keep playing over and over to experiment. I'm open to other ideas though if you disagree. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 12:19, 3 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • @TheBrickGraphic: All the sources look great! After a very thorough image and source review, I am very happy to Support. - Z-Gamer Guys (talk) 18:25, 3 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
    • @Z-Gamer Guys: Hello again! I'm pinging just to inform you that I've added a new subsection to the article per another reviewer's recommendation in what was once called "Plot" (now "Synopsis") titled "Setting". Serving to provide background informaton on the game's narrative, it includes a brand new image and an additional, Japanese-only source (a Nintendo Dream interview). If it's not too much, I'd like for you to look over this subsection to confirm everything's a-OK. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 01:23, 17 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

@Z-Gamer Guys: - The FAC coordinators have posted note that this FAC review may need more work done on the source check. See Wikipedia_talk:Featured_article_candidates#Image/source_check_requests. I'm not involved in this FAC, but I'm jumping in to help clarify if more work is needed or not. I see you did some great source review work above ... thanks for doing that. Is this the first FAC nomination by the nominator? If so, roughly 20% of the the citations should be randomly selected and then "spot checked", meaning individually validated. If any of those cites are found deficient, the source reviewer should increase the number of citations validated to maybe 40% or more. Does the source review above meet those guidelines? (PS: I ran the Earwig Copyright Violation Detector tool, and it reported no issues with this article). Courtesy pings to Gog the Mild and TheBrickGraphic. Noleander (talk) 19:40, 20 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there Noleander. Z-Gamer Guys' source review was very thorough but looked, to me, a bit thin to constitute a full first-timer's source to text veracity check. Hence my asking for someone to dig into a few more random cites to ensure that everything checks out. Cheers. Gog the Mild (talk) 21:13, 20 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
@Gog the Mild - OK. I'll look at the sources and make sure everything's in order. I'll post my notes below in a new section. Noleander (talk) 21:15, 20 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Gommeh

I'm interested in doing this FAC review, ping me if I haven't commented by this time next week. Gommeh (talk! sign!) 21:44, 4 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Gameplay
  • "Side Order is also a roguelite in that..." The wording here seems off to me, I'm not sure how best to fix it though.
  • Explain what Off the Hook is.
  • From my experience playing Splatoon, if I remember correctly Pearl is a person, so how does she become a drone? Does she simply pilot one like you would in real life? Or does she transform into one?
  • "Hordes" of enemies seems subjective as to how many enemies there are.
  • "A vending machine floor that sells abilities for Membux, acting as a shop, can be offered as a scenario." Does the wording here sound okay to you? Personally I am 50-50 on it and want your opinion.
    • I removed "acting as a shop" and added "occasionally" (as in, "A vending machine floor that sells abilities for Membux can occasionally be offered as a scenario.") since, reading it over, it sounds kind of clunky. If you're referring to the "can be offered as a scenario" portion, I did deliberate on how best to word it previously. The game centers on the combat, objective-based scenarios most so I introduced them first and appended the vending machine scenario at the end, since it's lacking in actual gameplay (for reference, it's a single platform with a vending machine that you buy stuff from, afterwards you immediately return to the elevator) and thus isn't as important. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 20:20, 12 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • Are there any more sources you can cite regarding bonus or danger modifiers?
    • The only other source I can see that uses "danger floor" verbatim is the Nintendo Life one , which I added to the end of the paragraph. I couldn't find anything saying "bonus floor" specifically. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 20:20, 12 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • What is "Order"? I see it is defined in the plot section but not here.
    • The Shacknews review says the following about Order: "The Memverse has been hijacked by a rogue entity called Order, which has gone overboard in its mission to reduce chaos by looking to transform all of reality into a colorless void" and "Order sits atop the 30th floor of the Spire of Order. Players need to climb each floor, one-by-one, in order to force a final showdown...", the latter of which implies it's the final boss. I added the following to the sentence: "a rogue virtual entity that acts as the expansion's final boss..." Is this sufficient? TheBrickGraphic (talk) 20:20, 12 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
    Yep. Gommeh (talk! sign!) 13:22, 17 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
Plot

No issues that I can see. Gommeh (talk! sign!) 13:25, 17 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Granted, it is unsourced, however I wasn't really expecting too many sources to cover it because it is a DLC and not a separate game. Still, I think it would be beneficial to include sources anyway if you can find them. This won't affect my stance on the FAC though. Gommeh (talk! sign!) 13:27, 17 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • Not that I would mind adding such sources, but kind of like what you said, most of the reviews barely divulge the storyline beyond just, "You're Agent 8, you team up with Off the Hook and Acht, and you ascend a spire to defeat this rogue creature," which is... y'know, barebones. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 20:41, 17 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
Development and release
  • The first sentence checks out source-wise, although something about the wording after "2022" strikes me as odd.
  • I like the inclusion of the quote from Inoue about an alternate world where Team Order came out on top.
  • "The development team also felt the tower locale lent itself to repetitive challenges, a gameplay framework decided early on. A roguelite format was conceived to offer players a novel way of engaging with Splatoon, as the levels of previous installments' single-player campaigns were mostly linear and derivative of each other." Roguelite, which is a redirect to Roguelike#Roguelites and procedural death labyrinths, should be wikilinked. And I don't see the word "roguelite" in source 18, which raises a slight WP:V issue here too. This could be an issue with Google Translate however.
    • There do actually exist full English fan translations online, in the form of Google Docs, of both the Nintendo Dream Web and Famitsu dev interviews, which I did use extensively for this section since I have a probably even more rudimentary understanding of Japanese. Here is the Famitsu one and the Nintendo Dream one , both by internet users rassicas and MagicalGirlFia. Pertaining to your comment specifically, this is what the Famitsu fan-translation says: "In particular, the story mode in S3 was the culmination of all of our previous single-player games, so we thought Side Order would be a good time to propose a new way to play Splatoon. By creating a game mode that can be played over and over again, we aimed to provide a quick challenge when one has spare time or no internet connection, so that players can enjoy a different experience each time." I do get that "roguelite" isn't used here, so could the beginning of the sentence be perhaps reworded as: "Including a distinctly replayable game mode was conceived to..."? TheBrickGraphic (talk) 20:41, 17 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • Same with the quote "a mixture of tenderness [...]" which as far as I can tell does not appear in the source, or at least not word-for-word. This could also be a translation issue, however. Instead, the developer used the phrase "なくしてしまった、温かくて懐かしい記憶" which according to Google, translates to "lost, warm and nostalgic memories" and does not mention a "mixture". I should add that my Japanese is rudimentary at best though, so I'd want someone who's more fluent to double-check this.
  • Free Association is mentioned in the source, but I have a feeling readers will get confused by the fact that in Japanese they are named "Mnemonic Clouds".
    • I'm assuming some kind of textual note would be best to clarify this. Do you think adding a note in parentheses ("'Free Association' (known as 'Mnemonic Clouds' in Japanese)"...) or an efn ("'Free Association'[efn]The group is known as 'Mnemonic Clouds in Japanese.[]") would be better here? TheBrickGraphic (talk) 20:41, 17 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • Source 31 and 18 both back up the claim about the skeletal fish.
  • Sources 5 and 34 do not mention Pearl taking a drone form at all. Source 18 does, however, so I would recommend adding a citation to it after "working well for this role".
    • Done.
  • Similarly, sources 5 and 34 do not mention sea urchins, Agent 4 or conveyor belt sushi by name. Source 18 mentions all of them.
    • There is a passing mention of Agent 4 in source 34 as the protagonist of Splatoon 2 though, so this is OK by me.
      • Source 5 was added to back up the claim of Agent 4 being a squid, which is essential to understand how Agent 4's inclusion relates to a "a marine-related concept"; Source 34 is meant to establish, partly per another reviewer's suggestion, them as Splatoon 2's protagonist for reader context. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 20:41, 17 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • Is the name of the expansion pass supposed to be in italics?
    • I honestly wasn't sure whether the name should be in italics or not. The fan Splatoon wiki renders it with italics, but as the expansion pass is not a full "game" itself (which italics are always reserved for), I've changed it to the following: "...'Splatoon 3 Expansion Pass'...", with only the name of the game in italics. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 20:41, 17 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • In my opinion, you could add another citation to source 35 and/or 36 right after "later that month on 28 February". Or, you could move the citation accordingly, as both sources verify the claim about February 28th.
Reception
  • Metacritic and OpenCritic ratings both check out.
  • The citation to source 3 should be moved, in my opinion, to after the word "Jelletons", but this is minor and I won't require it.
    • The reviewer below suggested to move all refs to the end of the sentence to make reading not so visually clunky. It's not what I would do personally, but I find the reasoning sound and currently don't feel like changing it again. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 20:41, 17 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • I wouldn't say that the Logan Plant article describes the Jelletons as aesthetically pleasing, but rather that he found the Jelletons frightening yet fantastic.
    • Unless you're referring to something else, I wrote "aesthetically intimidating", which I think conforms to this line in the review: "These fish skeleton creatures are intimidating to look at..." TheBrickGraphic (talk) 20:41, 17 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • I don't see the word "straightforward" in my translation of source 2, but I do see the word inferior.
    • This is the part of the review I took the sentence from, by way of Google Translate: "You slowly climb one floor at a time, and before you know it, you've reached the top floor, defeated the final boss, and it's over—it's quite anticlimactic." "Straightforward" was more of a paraphrase to emphasize that she found the story simple, quick, and non-exciting with very few compelling narrative elements outside of the main gameplay loop. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 20:41, 17 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • Is the word "chips" supposed to be lowercase? The sources have it capitalized.
    • "Color chip" is rendered in lowercase in the game itself, (in-game quote from Acht: "OK, Pearl. Now check out what happens when you set this color chip into that Palette.") so that's what I chose to use throughout the article. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 20:41, 17 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • I can't say for certain that Takenaka described the color chip combinations as addicting, and Lada also does not use that word to describe it.
    • I tried to address this in the above reviewer comments; I wrote the following: "Automaton says this (by way of Google Translate): "The fun of these unexpected combinations is what motivates you to keep playing, and before you know it, you'll have been playing for half a day straight," while Siliconera says this: "It made me want to not only play once, but keep playing so I could experiment with different tactics and earn more fun things." I interpreted both of these comments as implying the chips system was addictive, since the reviewers wanted to keep playing over and over to experiment. I'm open to other ideas though if you disagree." Would you say this checks out? TheBrickGraphic (talk) 20:41, 17 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
    • This is a game guide source, but I feel you could maybe add that Lada describes the color chips as "always good picks" from the headline: https://www.siliconera.com/best-color-chips-in-splatoon-3-side-order-dlc/
      • I'm not totally sure what I would do with this given that the headline is referring to "Some Color Chips..."; other than maybe saying "...who also found particular chips to be more powerful than others"? But personally this doesn't really feel important as critical commentary goes; I think with a game like this (maybe even with any roguelite), certain enhancements are inevitably going to be better than others for the sake of balance or other game design reasons. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 20:41, 17 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • I have no issues at all with the last paragraph.

I'll work on everything else probably later today.

I'm sorry, I forgot about this! I should get to the rest within the next few days. Gommeh (talk! sign!) 00:23, 17 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
No worries! Take your time. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 00:28, 17 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
@Gommeh: Pinging just in case my new comments get buried. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 02:43, 18 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
Consider this a support from me. Gommeh (talk! sign!) 11:38, 18 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, I haven’t actually inputted some of the fixes yet; I was preparing for feedback on some of them, but if every proposed adjustment looks good to you I’ll get to adding them in a couple hours’ time. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 12:46, 18 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
I've now implemented everything. Thanks for reviewing! TheBrickGraphic (talk) 19:51, 18 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Comments by Vestigia Leonis

  • General: I would suggest to move sources from between sentences to the end whenever possible. It would improve readability, and I usually put the sources in order of their usage then.
  • Gameplay: "The player navigates through a vertical structure known as the Spire of Order, which consists of 10 levels — known as floors — during the tutorial and expands to 30 afterwards, earning the Membux currency as they progress." Suggest simplifying this specific sentence.
  • Plot: As someone who has never played the Splatoon series, I would suggest adding the setting and characters as a subsection. I am a bit confused about who each character is, what worlds / places there are, and how they are connected.
    • @Vestigia Leonis: Ah, that's a good idea; I saw an example for this in the article for Portal and admit it's probably best to include something like that for the unitiated. My only inquiry is how in depth it should be. The aforementioned Portal article goes all in with divulging its setting, even explaining stuff that only happens in the sequel. I've already written a "Setting" section for the article on the greater Splatoon series if you'd be interested in looking that over, and I presume any information there can be paraphrased into this article. That being said, I think a "Characters" subsection would be pretty short given that they're already succinctly explained in "Gameplay", and Side Order follows, like, four characters that actually matter to the plot. There is reliable information on Pearl and Marina's backstories though; do you think that should be mentioned? Sorry if this reply is a bit long, but I'd like your input on just how particular these subsections should be. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 16:22, 15 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
      • Since this is an expansion, I would suggest focusing on the elements that are necessary to understand its plot. Background information from the main game can be included if it is needed for context. After reading the gameplay section again and comparing it to another expansion FA, it should be fine to keep the character part where it is and only add an explanation of the setting before the plot summary. Vestigia Leonis (talk) 17:48, 15 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
        • @Vestigia Leonis: I'm currently working on the section, but I need to ask a quick question. Since I believe the Kamabo Corporation is fairly essential to Side Order's plot, I tried to find a secondary source that discusses it, but all I found is this ScreenRant article . I am very aware of the... issues with Valnet sources and I've seen much pushback on this source specifically. Do you think its usage here would be okay? Per WP:VG/S, it's not discussing anything controversial and was written in 2021, apparently when consensus was reached that ScreenRant was "marginally reliable". Then again, that puts a hamper on the "high-quality sources" clause for FA. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 18:21, 15 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
          • Actually, I just found a Japanese Nintendo Dream interview (reliable per WP:VG/S) that mentions Kamabo Co. when translated into English. I'll just cite that, since a copy exists on archive.org. Sort of as a follow-up, do you think it'd make sense to attach an image of Kamabo's in-game logo (this, for reference) The Portal article does a similar thing for its own Aperture Science, and I don't see why it couldn't be added. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 18:39, 15 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • Plot: Is there a difference between Inkopolis (mentioned in dev / release) and Inkopolis Square (mentioned in plot)? I assume Square, and possibly other areas, are just parts of Inkopolis?
    • The "Inkopolis" mentioned in Dev/Release is actually Inkopolis Plaza, the hub world of Splatoon 1, while Inkopolis Square is the hub world for Splatoon 2; Inkopolis Plaza has no real bearing on the plot. Both Plaza and Square are part of the greater city of Inkopolis, though. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 16:22, 15 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • Plot: Control shifts over to Agent 8, but how and why? I watched a couple of minutes of the game's intro, and it seems like you get an Octopus on your head that controls you?
    • To be honest, there's no satisfying answer for this. The cinematic is quite literally this: your regular avatar falls sleep, the glitch effect takes over the screen, you teleport into the Memverse, and you just... start playing as Agent 8. It's that random; there's not much I can do here for clarity, really. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 16:22, 15 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • Reception: If you introduced an author like Logan Plant once, you can continue to only use the last name throughout the reception section.
  • Reception: 4gamer.net -> 4Gamer.net.
  • Reception: "Engaging marriage" -> Can this be rephrased, or is this common and I don't know about it? I think "engaging fusion" or "engaging combination" would be better.

Comments added. Vestigia Leonis (talk) 13:38, 15 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]


Pass Source review by Noleander

This table lists 13 random passages from throughout the article (20.3% of 64 total passages). These passages contain 22 inline citations (21.8% of 101 in the article). Generated with the Veracity user script. Noleander (talk) 22:57, 20 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Reference #LetterSourceArchiveStatusNotes
It is also a roguelite, meaning the player traverses through a randomized gauntlet of levels, during which they can enhance their abilities, and losing all lives prompts a reset to the beginning.
3anintendolife.comweb.archive.org Okay
4automaton-media.comweb.archive.org ?
The player navigates through a vertical structure known as the Spire of Order,
7bign.comweb.archive.org Okay
Color chips are perks attached to the player's Palette that strengthen particular gameplay mechanics such as player movement or weapon strength.
7eign.comweb.archive.org Okay
16ndw.jpweb.archive.org ?Japanese language
17ashacknews.comweb.archive.org ?
In the selection menu, "bonus" or "danger" modifiers can be randomly attached to floor scenarios. Bonus floors come in two forms: they either assign a secondary and optional objective whose completion awards additional Membux, or enhance the player's Pallete for that floor alone. Danger floors add a debilitating side effect, such as covering the ground with opponent ink and inducing a blackout.
3cnintendolife.comweb.archive.org ?
7fign.comweb.archive.org Okay
Such creatures include the Inklings and Octolings, humanoid squids and octopuses respectively, whom players take control of.
5bkotaku.comweb.archive.org Okay
24gamingbolt.comweb.archive.org Okay
During the events of Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion, Pearl and Marina remotely assisted Agent 8 in escaping the Deepsea Metro, a network of subterranean rapid transit facilities owned by the Kamabo Corporation. Kamabo's primary activities consisted of kidnapping Octarians, the overarching group of which Octolings are a part, and subjecting them to rigorous experimental tests. The best-performing test subjects would be killed, with their bodies blended into a fluorescent green paste. This paste, when doused onto other creatures, caused them to lose their memories and free will, ultimately becoming subservient to Kamabo in an act known as "sanitization". Kamabo's ultimate goal was to create an apex species, loyal to the company's ideals, in an attempt to instigate a world of pure harmony and non-conflict. Prior to Octo Expansion, Acht, a friend of Marina when the two served in the Octarian military, willingly partook in sanitization to devote themselves solely to music production under the pseudonym Dedf1sh.
18bfamitsu.comweb.archive.org okay Japanese language
27イカ研究所スタッフが答える「オクト・エキスパンション」の謎 [Squid Research Lab Staff Answer the Mysteries of "Octo Expansion"] (…archive.org okay Japanese language
28nintendoworldreport.comweb.archive.org okay
29ign.comweb.archive.org okay
A virtual reality environment was chosen to stress that Side Order's gameplay would differ from that of previous Splatoon entries.
31bndw.jpweb.archive.org Okay Japanese language (used online translator). Cite is okay; but the wording in article may cause readers to think it is a VR game. Rather, within the in-game universe, there is a "virtual environment" ... quite different.
While the music is usually ambient, the background tracks of levels in the Spire become more distorted as the player nears the top, done to elicit a gradual feeling of "excessive order."
31cndw.jpweb.archive.org OkayJapanese language. Used online translator.
Side Order would ultimately release on 22 February 2024.
1bign.comweb.archive.org OkayHowever, source was published in Jan 2024, a month before the game release date.
Fellow aggregator OpenCritic gave the expansion a strong approval rating, being recommended by approximately 83% of critics.
39bopencritic.com Okay
Tea Can had conversely mixed opinions on the narrative, calling it straightforward and inferior to that of Octo Expansion. She additionally felt its thematic examinations of chaos versus order were underwhelming.
2djp.ign.comweb.archive.org OkayJapanese language. Used online translator.
Kosuke Takenaka of Automaton found it addicting to constantly experiment with new color chip combinations, a view shared by Jenni Lada of Siliconera.
43automaton-media.comweb.archive.org OkayOkay after text change.
44siliconera.comweb.archive.org Okay'Okay after text change.
Plant opined that the expansion's pacing felt slow at times, saying that it thus lacked "that 'just one more run' feeling the best roguelites nail."
7lign.comweb.archive.org Okay
  • @TheBrickGraphic: - Regarding the source spot checks in the table above, can you help me with these two:
    • "Prior to Octo Expansion, Acht, a friend of Marina when the two served in the Octarian military, willingly partook in sanitization to devote themselves solely to music production under the pseudonym Dedf1sh. "
      • Honestly I think part of the issue with the paragraph this statement comes from is that I moved all the references to the complete end of the paragraph, so it becomes unclear what citation is supposed to be supporting what. For your comment specifically, Acht's pseudonym being Dedf1sh, them being a friend of Marina, and them being a trainee in the military is supported by the Ref 18 Famitsu (quote from English fan-translation : " Q: By the way, is Dedf1sh Acht's stage name while they perform as a DJ?... A: Yes, it is. I think they came up with it by themselves. They probably think of it as a sort of username.", "The training school where Marina and Acht were taught is a school that specializes in training elite Octoling soldiers..." and "The pairing of Marina, an honor student who escaped to the surface, and Acht, a delinquent who went underground, both to pursue music, is also a contrast. It's very emotional." I think the last one does suitably imply the two were friendly, otherwise they wouldn't be "paired" together + the illustration attached has the two posing together, which seems amiable enough), while them being willingly sanitized is mentioned in Ref 27 Nintendo Dream (quote from English fan-translation : " It is said that Dedf1sh wasn’t against the idea of being sanitized, and did it so that they could give up their doubts and conflicts about production and devote themselves entirely to music.") Hopefully these are sufficient; if so I can move around the references to remove amiguity, since this also applies to the IGN and Nintendo World Report source. The former is meant to confirm the setting of Octo Expansion being the Deepsea Metro, while the latter is meant to support Pearl and Marina having remotely assisted Agent 8. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 00:45, 21 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
Alright, that seems satisfactory. It is normally okay to have cites at the end of a paragraph, but it is best to do that when there is only one source. When there are 2 or more sources, it is usually better (at least for the source reviewer) to have the cites at the end of each sentence. Noleander (talk) 03:45, 21 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
    • "Kosuke Takenaka of Automaton found it addicting to constantly experiment with new color chip combinations, a view shared by Jenni Lada of Siliconera."
      • Two other reviewers have commented on this sentence, so I'll attach what I responded with to one of them: "Automaton says this (by way of Google Translate): "The fun of these unexpected combinations is what motivates you to keep playing, and before you know it, you'll have been playing for half a day straight," while Siliconera says this: "It made me want to not only play once, but keep playing so I could experiment with different tactics and earn more fun things." I interpreted both of these comments as implying the chips system was addictive, since the reviewers wanted to keep playing over and over to experiment. I'm open to other ideas though if you disagree." Does this reasoning seem sound? TheBrickGraphic (talk) 00:45, 21 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
      The word "addictive" is pretty strong in English. Would "... they found the game compelling ..." be better? Noleander (talk) 03:41, 21 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
For both of those, can you provide a quote from the source(s) that supports the article statement? Thanks!
@Noleander: These have both been addressed. I additionally partially reworded the sentence cited by Ref 31 NDW to address your concern in the table. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 12:03, 21 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • I looked at the sources used in the article, and they meet the WP:RS reliability requirements. They are not academic journals or books, but that is okay if the only sources available are the usual modern video game sources.
  • Spot checks: Based on 20% spot checks for this first-time nominator, I assess that the article meets the WP:Verifiability policy requirements.
  • I notice that the other source review at Wikipedia:Featured_article_candidates/Splatoon_3:_Side_Order/archive1#Source_review resulted in some changes (to text or to citations). In future FA nominations, of course, the goal is to have all those kinds of issues resolved before the nomination. I know it is boring to go through all the cites, but the onus is on the nominator to review all the cites before the nomination, rather than waiting for reviewers to "catch" any problems.
    • I understand; I did try my best to do a thorough check on text-source veracity before nominating, and I think most issues during the source review were thankfully pretty minor. Thanks for taking the time to do the spot-check! TheBrickGraphic (talk) 20:16, 21 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • Minor formatting issue in a cite: Gameplay Report - has a double bracket.
    • @Noleander: Are you sure? "Gameplay Report" is in brackets in the original headline, which coupled with how Wikipedia formats translated titles ("Title [translated title]") I think makes it look like it has an additional bracket to its left. I guess I could replace the original brackets with parentheses; would this be better? TheBrickGraphic (talk) 20:16, 21 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
    OK that explanation makes sense... I didn't match up the brackets with each other. You can leave it alone as long as it's consistent. The brackets just caught my eye as something unusual. Noleander (talk) 21:26, 21 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

toby

The notes below are what I've found. As someone who has never played Splatoon, this read well. I am happy to support. toby (t)(c)(rw)(omo) 20:24, 23 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

@Tarlby: All comments have been addressed. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 21:59, 23 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • The development of Side Order began shortly after... -> Development began shortly after...
  • As with its parent title, Side Order is a... It is also a roguelite... Probably nitpicky, but perhaps you can make it clearer here that the roguelite elements are unlike its parent title.
  • How exactly is Membux accumulated?
    • You acquire Membux simply by completing floors. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a single source that outright says this (like, two sources total even mention Membux by name at all), so I'm hesitant to include a descriptor even though I'd really want to. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 21:59, 23 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • I don't believe it is clear how this locker is accessed. Does it appear in a level?
    • There's a kind of hub world that has doors you open to enter the Spire; the locker is in this hub world, completely detached from the Spire. I originally had a descriptor saying that the locker is located "at the base of the Spire," but no source adequately clarified this, so I removed it. Every source I've found, at most, mentions the existence of a locker and merely implies it's outside the Spire. TheBrickGraphic (talk) 21:59, 23 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
  • You probably don't need to link humans.
  • ...with Kenji Matsumodo and Seita Inoue as directors, and Toshiyuki Sudo as lead musician, and Inoue as head artist. The second "and" should be removed.
  • ...the subterranean setting of Splatoon 2's own DLC... Remove "own" for conciseness.
  • You can unlink artificial intelligence considering it is also linked earlier.
  • ...a replica of Agent 4, the squid-like Inkling protagonist of... Is it necessary to say "squid-like" if the Setting section already explains what Inklings are?

Drive-by comment

Nice article. Impressively so for your first visit to FAC. Can I pick at:

  • "by introducing roguelite elements". MOS:NOFORCELINK states "Do use a link wherever appropriate, but as far as possible do not force a reader to use that link to understand the sentence. The text needs to make sense to readers who cannot follow links." and I don't think that the relevant sentence can be understood without knowing what roguelite elements are. (And having read the lead of the linked article I - as a video game non-aficionado - still don't know!) I suggest either deleting these four words - IMO the lead reads fine without them - are briefly explaining in line what is meant in non-technical language. Gog the Mild (talk) 22:06, 25 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]
    • Thanks for the kind words! I agree that the sentence may come off as too technical, so I removed "roguelite" reworded it partially to this: "The team sought to reinvent the traditional structure of Splatoon single-player campaigns, such as having the player's death force the loss of all progress from their current climb, and granting the ability to purchase upgrades to ease future attempts." TheBrickGraphic (talk) 00:08, 26 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]


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