Splatoon 2 was the Nintendo Switch’s 2017 launch-era ink-shooting game starring Inklings and Octolings.
Nintendo released Splatoon 2 on July 21, 2017, several months after the Switch itself launched. The game expanded the team-based Turf War battles introduced by the original Splatoon on Wii U. Players cover arenas with coloured ink, transform into squid form, and use ink-covered surfaces for fast movement and hiding.
The title is sometimes mistaken for the original Splatoon because both games feature the same central Inkling concept. Splatoon 2 added new weapons, stages, abilities, Salmon Run cooperative play, and a larger competitive framework. Its Octo Expansion later added a separate single-player campaign centered on Agent 8.
Splatoon 3 followed in 2022 and introduced the Splatlands setting. It is therefore important to distinguish the Switch’s second entry from both the Wii U original and the later sequel.