Splatoon 2 just had its first Splatfest, asking players to fight and see which dessert is better: ice cream or cake. The competition was rigged from the start thanks to the popularity of Marina, the Octoling pop singer.
This is my confession: I love cake. Cake is fluffy, delicious, and pretty much perfect. Cupcakes are little bundle of joy and I hope to die as large cakes, slathered in frosting, fall on my from a great height. But I didn’t fight for Team Cake in this Splatfest; I fought for Team Ice Cream because Marina loves ice cream. I betrayed my beloved cake because Marina is basically Splatoon Beyoncé, with eyeliner so on point that it could stab a man to death with a stray wink.
In Splatfests, the winner is determined by popularity and how many games their side wins. I suspect Marina had many more fans than Pearl given how many times I was dropped into ice cream v. ice cream battles instead of fights against teams championing cake. It must have been nine out of every ten matches. The Ice Cream army seemingly dominated the field.
Let’s be real here: while Splatoon’s squid sisters Callie and Marie were both pretty cool, Marina and Pearl are pretty different. Pearl’s got a lot of heart and can spit some fire on the mic but Marina is stylish and style always seems to triumph in Splatoon. This is reflected in fan art, where Marina is a stand out star and Pearl has her own malformed Gremlin version that is cute but just a little bit frightening as well.
I battled through the Splatfest on our Twitch channel and achieved the title of Ice Cream Queen. By the end of the night, there was no doubt in my mind which team was going to win. I fear Marina’s popularity will make future Splatfests a nonstop Marina Mania. If there’s a matchup between Hugs and Poison, the latter will win if Marina is supporting it. Pearl had plenty of support expressed through in-game art this Splatfest, but when push came to shove, more people seemed to love Marina.