Squid Research Lab

Squid Research Lab, often abbreviated to SRL, and previously referred to as Live from (the) Squid Research Lab, is an official SS undefined news outlet run by Nintendo. It has been used as a continuous source of information and is usually used for new weapon and stage announcements as well as Splatfest information and results.

The Squid Research Lab posts information on Tumblr, Twitter, and Nintendo websites covering many different languages and regions.

Pre-release


Prior to the release of the game, the account was used to announce basic information, including several weapons and information on Octo Valley. Pictures of gear, modes, weapons, and more were posted leading up to the game's official release on 2015-05-29.

Splatoon art competition


On 2015-04-27, almost a month before Splatoon was released, the account revealed an art contest to promote the game running until launch on 2015-05-29, with the promise of prizes for the top entries.

A few weeks after finishing, the account posted the five runners-up and one winner with notes from the Splatoon development team explaining why they liked the picture. frogbians came in sixth, stupjam came in fifth, bluegenesis123 came in fourth, nelnel-chan came in third, and cowsgomoose came in second.

The winner was funkgamut, who drew a picture of the subway that can be seen in the background of Inkopolis Plaza. The account later posted a picture based on funkgamut's as thanks for participating.

Stage and weapon reports


Starting on 2015-06-02, four days after the game was released, the account began posting information on upcoming stages and weapons (the first being Port Mackerel and the N-ZAP '85). Since then, the account has become most notable for its weapon reveals. They are usually revealed on the morning of their release in the account's local Pacific Time, or the night before in UTC.

Ranked Splatometer


The Tumblr account was also the source of the Ranked Splatometer, which showed how many players had to reach Level 10 before Ranked Battles would be added. The account made five posts related to the Splatometer. The first announced that Ranked Battles would be made available when a certain amount of players reached Level 10. The second post showed an empty Splatometer and stated that updates would be given. The third and fourth posts showed updates on how full the Splatometer was, and the fifth and final post announced that the Splatometer had been completely filled and Ranked Battles would be released that night, on 2015-06-02 at July 27, 2024.

Other
Other reveals, such as characters (specifically the Squid Squad), Splatfest teams, ranked battle modes, art, and more, were also posted on the Tumblr account, most notable of which was the reveal of Version on 2015-07-27, framed as a construction notice for Urchin Underpass.

The account was notable for its lighthearted tone at this time, frequently using highly informal language, fourth-wall breaks, and references to popular memes, as well as occasional reblogs and responses to content from fans. For example, one recurring joke focused on the unseen Squid Research Lab intern "Milton", whose poor skills were commonly cited as the reason for mistakes in posts.

Pre-release
Following the announcement of Splatoon 2 at the Nintendo Switch presentation on 2017-01-12, the Tumblr account started posting information on the upcoming game, including information on Inkopolis Square, Turf Wars, stages, and the new mini-map.

As the release drew nearer, Live from Squid Research Lab also began to post information on characters and weapons, though, unlike the posts leading up to the release of Splatoon, much of this information was outdated and had already been revealed in other media such as Nintendo Directs or at Nintendo's E3 presentation. Still, occasional pieces of new information could be found on the account.

Shortly after the reveal of Splatoon 2, the account changed in overall tone to become less lighthearted and more informational, typically reusing the same formal wording from Nintendo's other social media accounts.

One day before release, a Nintendo Switch news channel called Squid Research Lab Bulletin was released.

Pre-release
Following the announcement of Splatoon 3 at the Nintendo Direct on 2021-02-17, the Tumblr account started posting information on the upcoming game two days later. However, the website's design was not updated for Splatoon 3.

Nearly a year later, following the 2022-02-09 Nintendo Direct, the Tumblr account was officially superseded by the @SplatoonNA Twitter account, leaving the Tumblr account essentially defunct. From this point onwards, the Twitter account began reporting on previous reveals and, starting in late April 2022, followed the Japanese account's timetable of usually posting three small news items each week, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings.

This account immediately returned to the informal style set during the Splatoon era, using a more conversational tone than other official English-language accounts that posted at the same time. For example, several fictional research branches of the lab were repeatedly mentioned, such as the Ballistics Team, Bucket Logistics, the Fashion Desk, the Footwear & Glasses division, Linguistics, the Musicology Department, the Tweet Printing Team, and the Weapons Division. Although the wording was different, the account detailed the same information as other official accounts.