Arcade machine

The arcade machine in Splatoon.

The arcade machine offers retro-style minigames in Splatoon and Splatoon 2. In Splatoon, all minigames are played on the Wii U GamePad. They can be played in the lobby while waiting for a battle to start as well as accessed on their own via the physical arcade machine in Inkopolis Plaza (Splatoon) or Inkopolis Square (Splatoon 2).

When a minigame is interrupted by a battle, it is paused and can be unpaused the next time it is playable. However, progress is not saved when Splatoon itself is closed; the game will start from the first level the next time it is played.

Judd's Advice

Meow! (While waiting for players to join, you can play minigames on . It can make a nice change from all that intense battling!)

Splatoon

The arcade machine features four minigames in total: Squid Jump, Squid Racer, Squidball, and Squid Beatz. Only Squid Jump is unlocked by default. The other three are given as rewards for defeating The Ravenous Octomaw! in amiibo challenges.

Squid Jump

Squid Jump

Squid Jump is the first of these games, and was the only game playable in the Splatoon Global Testfire.

This game has the player make a squid jump from platform to platform, holding down the button for longer to get a higher jump and using the or the to move. Purple ink will continuously rise for a certain amount of time, effectively requiring the player to reach the goal within a certain amount of time. As the stages progress, different types of platform are added: ice (which is slippery), clouds (which move back and forth), and conveyor belts (which run at multiple speeds and move a squid resting on one). The game has 25 stages and after every ten, the background changes. The score awarded for a stage is doubled after clearing each stage. The player has three lives. The player gets an extra life for every 10,000 points. Once they have lost all of their lives they can choose to either reset the game or go back to the last checkpoint, which are at stages 1, 6, 11, 16, and 21.

Power-ups:

• The fish makes the player jump immediately upon contact.
• The Jellyfish lets them jump once in the middle of the air for about 10 seconds; they cannot jump in the air again until they either land on the ground or pick up another Jellyfish.
• The starfish increases the player's acceleration for about 10 seconds; this means that the squid will immediately begin falling faster. If the squid is jumping upward while the star's effect wears off, the result can be an extremely high jump.

Squid Racer

Squid Racer

The second game is Squid Racer, which is unlocked by the Inkling Boy Amiibo.

This minigame is a race between the player, as a white squid, and their blue jellyfish foes. The aim is to reach the end of the map before time runs out, avoiding touching the jellyfish and the sides of the stage, which slow the player down. The or the is used to steer, is used for accelerating and is used for drifting. While the player drifts, they cannot change direction, but steering still causes the player's squid to rotate. Releasing it shoots the player's squid in the direction it faces. Holding the button during the second half of when the number 2 appears during the countdown triggers a starting boost very similar to the rocket start in the Mario Kart series.

There are thirty stages and after every five stages is a checkpoint. Every track has a time limit. Once time runs out, the player will lose a life. The player gets three lives, with additional lives being earned every 10,000 points. Once they have lost all their lives, they can continue from the last checkpoint reached, or restart from the beginning. While the player gets a bonus to their score based on both their time and how many jellyfish they beat to the end, it is not necessary to place to proceed. The red fish gives the player a speed boost. The Zapfish lets the player swallow jellyfish by touching them, making the squid larger and faster. The green sunfish dramatically increases the player's turning speed while drifting. The player can benefit from only one power-up at a time, so it can sometimes be advantageous to avoid picking one up so as not to replace a more useful one.

Squidball

Squidball

The third game is Squidball, which is unlocked by the Inkling Girl amiibo. There are thirty stages in it.

In this game, the player (a squid) has to hit the Jellyfish on the other side of the net with a ball (shaped like a Zapfish) to score points. The mechanics are similar to volleyball, with a bump, set, and spike. First, the squid is stuck to the ground and can move using the stick or the and can only bounce the ball upward (at an angle based on where on the squid the ball struck) by letting the ball bounce off it. Second, the player must press to jump, then press while touching the ball to hit it, or the player can continue to hold the from jumping to hitting the ball to hit it. The angle of the ball changes with the direction held when launching it, which can be either neutral, back or forward. The player must spike the ball for it to count; a ball immediately bounced over the net will pass through the jellyfish harmlessly.

The player gets three balls per stage: one small, one medium, and one large. If the specified number of targets is not reached with all three balls, the game is over and the player can restart from either the beginning or the last checkpoint. After every five stages is a checkpoint. Each stage has a fixed number of points awarded for completing it, with bonus points awarded for having balls in reserve or exceeding the required number of hits.

In addition to jellyfish, other creatures can appear on the far side of the net. Starfish are just like jellyfish, but one starfish is worth three jellyfish. Green sunfish burst into fragments when hit, and the fragments can hit other creatures. Sea urchins are obstacles: a small ball will be stopped completely, a medium ball will destroy the urchin but will itself be rebounded, and a large ball will destroy the urchin and keep going, but with greatly diminished momentum. This is useful if the ball has overshot.

Squid Beatz

Squid Beatz

The last minigame is Squid Beatz, which is unlocked by the Inkling Squid amiibo.

This game is a music player featuring all 31 tracks from Splatoon and is also a standard rhythm game. switches between no game, normal mode, and hard mode, and is the play/pause switch. The player has to press the control pad and buttons represented on the line at the bottom at the correct time to turn the Jellyfish into yellow rabbits. The player can press any direction on the (or ) when a control pad icon shows up, or , , , or when an icon representing the buttons shows up, to play the song correctly in tune, but there is no penalty and risk of losing rabbits if the player presses any of the aforementioned buttons.

Each of the buttons has two different sounds depending on whether the normal or hard mode is selected.

	Left on		Down on		Up on		Right on
Normal	a Japanese-sounding drum	a Japanese-sounding drum	A female Inkling voice clip	A male Inkling voice clip	a cymbal	a light cymbal, or bell	a clap	a clap	A diminuendo Inkling chant	a crescendo Inkling chant
Hard	a lower sounding drum	a higher sounding drum	an electronic sounding drum beat	an electronic sounding drum beat	similar to a hi-hat cymbal	similar to a crash cymbal	a drum beat	a drum beat	similar to a high sounding crash cymbal	similar to a low sounding crash cymbal

While waiting for a match to start, Bob Dub's Dubble Bath is the default song played. By pressing and at the same time, any selected song can be played as if one was using the arcade machine.

Squid Beatz was updated in version 2.0.0 to include the four new tracks added and their information.

It is the only game not to have a numbered scoring system - instead, it uses yellow rabbit-type creatures to track the score. It is also the only game not to save progress between matches.

List of tracks

Track number	Track	Artist	Unlock condition
1	Splattack!	Squid Squad
2	Ink or Sink
3	Seaskape
4	Kraken Up
5	Metalopod
6	Now or Never!
7	Battle Victory
8	Battle Defeat
9	Cap'n Cuttlefish's Theme
10	Octo Valley
11	Eight-Legged Advance	Turquoise October
12	Tentacular Circus
13	Cephaloparade
14	Inkstrike Shuffle
15	Octoling Rendezvous
16	Octoweaponry
17	I am Octavio	DJ Octavio	Complete Enter the Octobot King!
18	Calamari Inkantation	Squid Sisters
19	Sunken Scroll
20	City of Color	Squid Sisters	Has to be heard in a Splatfest
21	Ink Me Up
22	Now or Never!
23	Maritime Memory		Complete Enter the Octobot King!
24	Inkopolis News
25	Lookin' Fresh	DJ Lee Fish
26	Lobby
27	Dubble Bath	Bob Dub
28	Shellfie	Chirpy Chips	Added in version 2.0.0
29	Split & Splat
30	Hooked	Hightide Era
31	Sucker Punch

All text is stylized in capitals in Squid Beatz.

Splatoon 2

Squid Beatz 2

The arcade machine in Splatoon 2.

In Splatoon 2's Inkopolis Square, there is only one arcade game, Squid Beatz 2. As the sequel to Squid Beatz, it is also a rhythm game in which the player presses buttons to the beat of songs from Splatoon 2.

Tracks 1 through 8, 20 through 30, 43 through 49, and 51 through 54 are available from the start; 35 through 42 and 55 through 57 are unlocked by amiibo; the rest are unlocked after they have been heard in-game for the first time. Prior to version 5.2.0, tracks 20 through 26 had to be heard in-game in a Splatfest in order to be unlocked.

Registering the Pearl or Marina amiibo as supporters and fulfilling certain requirements allows the player to unlock two new themes for Squid Beatz 2, which are based on the corresponding character.

List of tracks

Track no.	Track	Band	Unlock condition	Max score (normal)	Max score (hard)
1	Inkoming!	Wet Floor		155	325
2	Rip Entry			136	277
3	Undertow			124	291
4	Don't Slip			121	271
5	Endolphin Surge			202	426
6	Now or Never!			122	219
7	Turf Master			45	82
8	Ink Another Day			27
9	Low Tide		Has to be heard in-game first	55	93
10	Octo Canyon	Turquoise October		49	92
11	Octo Eight-Step			112	225
12	The Girl from Inkopolis			89	234
13	Buoyant Boogie			93	156
14	Shooting Starfish			127	313
15	Octarmaments			145	371
16	Bomb Rush Blush	DJ Octavio feat. Callie		230	402
17	Tidal Rush	DJ Octavio feat. Callie vs. Marie		235	402
18	Spicy Calamari Inkantation	Squid Sisters		293	544
19	Fresh Start			238	394
20	Color Pulse	Off the Hook	Has to be heard in-game first (prior to version 5.2.0)	158	256
21	Ebb & Flow			141	219
22	Acid Hues			149	331
23	Muck Warfare			169	333
24	Now or Never!			132	203
25	Fest Zest			46	64
26	Party's Over			22	30
27	Inkopolis News			28	50
28	New You	DJ Real Sole		143	326
29	Without a Dop Doubt			60	119
30	Dubble Bath (DIY Remix)	Bob Dub		47	96
31	Happy Little Workers	Grizzco Industries	Has to be heard in-game first	91	166
32	Deluge Dirge	ω-3		117	339
33	Fishing Frenzy			140	333
34	Ever Further	Grizzco Industries		45	108
35	Splattack!	Squid Squad	Final reward from Inkling Boy amiibo	280	528
36	Seaskape		Final reward from Inkling Boy 2 amiibo	140	278
37	Shellfie	Chirpy Chips	Final reward from Inkling Girl amiibo	147	226
38	Split & Splat		Final reward from Inkling Girl 2 amiibo	146	321
39	Hooked	Hightide Era	Final reward from Inkling Squid amiibo	223	285
40	Sucker Punch		Final reward from Inkling Squid 2 amiibo	206	338
41	Bomb Rush Blush	Callie	Final reward from Callie amiibo	96	178
42	Tide Goes Out	Marie	Final reward from Marie amiibo	85	175
43	Shipwreckin'	Bottom Feeders	Added in version 2.0.0	167	358
44	Fins & Fiddles			132	253
45	Seafoam Shanty			332	529
46	Broken Coral	Ink Theory		150	201
47	Riptide Rupture			266	299
48	Blitz It!	Chirpy Chips	Added in version 3.0.0	141	299
49	Wave Prism			199	318
50	Frantic Aspic	ω-3	Added in version 4.0.0, has to be heard in-game first	150	323
51	Seasick	Diss-Pair	Added in version 4.1.0	168	450
52	Kinetosis			186	304
53	Chopscrewey	SashiMori		150	326
54	Entropical			194	311
55	#5 thirsty	Dedf1sh	Added in version 4.1.0, final reward from Octoling Girl amiibo	116	234
56	#9 party		Added in version 4.1.0, final reward from Octoling Boy amiibo	89	157
57	#14 crush		Added in version 4.1.0, final reward from Octoling Octopus amiibo	128	161
80	Nasty Majesty	Off the Hook	Requires the Octo Expansion, has to be heard in-game first	179	316
81	Shark Bytes			197	339
82	Splattack! (Octo)	Dedf1sh		297	666
83	Fly Octo Fly ~ Ebb & Flow (Octo)	Off the Hook		318	550
84	Into the Light			285	499

Splatoon 3

The arcade machine in Inkopolis Plaza reappears in the Splatoon 3: Expansion Pass, but it no longer functions as an arcade machine, instead being covered by a sheet with a monitor placed on top. It functions as a terminal for remote access to Hotlantis in Splatsville. This terminal also appears in Inkopolis Square next to the Galleria, with the original Inkopolis Square arcade machine being removed entirely.

Although the games are not featured in Splatoon 3, several locker decorations reference them:

• The front cover of the Squidgital Game Guide is one of the frames from the jumping animation in Squid Jump, and the game's layout is referenced on the back cover of the Nostalgia Power Magazine.
• Squidball's layout is referenced on the front cover of the Nostalgia Power Magazine. The Commander Cephaloid game box features Squidball's icon, though it uses a monochrome yellow palette.
• A vertical version of Squid Racer's icon is featured on the front cover of the sports comic.
• A slightly altered Squid Beatz icon is used on the Volley Volley Panic game box, and the Squidgital Gameguide references the game's layout on its back cover.

Gallery

Splatoon

• 

  The Squid Jump icon.

• 

  The Squid Racer icon.

• 

  The Squidball icon.

• 

  The Squid Beatz icon.

• 

  Icon on .

• 

  Arcade machine selection after unlocking all four games.

• 

  The selection menu on for Squid Beatz.

• 

  Clear view of the arcade machine in Inkopolis Plaza.

• 

  The pixelated squid, seen when starting up the arcade machine.

• 

  An Inkling looks at an arcade machine at Ancho-V Games.

• 

  Two jellyfish in a small room next to another arcade machine.

• 

  Magazines at Ancho-V Games, with the squid and a scene from Squid Jump as well as a scene from Squid Beatz.

• 

  Another set with Squid Jump (center).

Splatoon 2

• 

  The title screen for Squid Beatz 2.

• 

  Icon on the map.

• 

  The rhythm game

• 

  The unlock screen for new styles

• 

  Pearl's Squid Beatz 2 style

• 

  Marina's Squid Beatz 2 style

Splatoon 3

• 

  The Inkopolis Plaza arcade machine, converted into a terminal for Hotlantis

• 

  The Squidgital Game Guide

• 

  The Nostalgia Power Magazine

• 

  The Commander Cephaloid game box

• 

  The sports comic

• 

  The Volley Volley Panic game box

Trivia

• The gameplay of Squid Beatz and its sequel, Squid Beatz 2, are based on the Bandai Namco rhythm game series Taiko no Tatsujin.
  • Squid Beatz 2, in particular, takes its aesthetic cues from the Konami rhythm game series Beatmania, particularly the dancing Inkling and jellyfish silhouettes.
• Jellyfish are featured in some way in each of Splatoon's arcade games.
• The rabbits in Squid Beatz are likely a reference to an early stage of Splatoon's development wherein the protagonists were to be humanoid rabbits.
• The art for each of the four games parodies that of NES games from popular studios. Squid Racer's artwork is based on Irem's titles, Squid Beatz' is based on Namco's, and Squid Ball's is based on those of Nintendo.
  • The art for Squid Jump resembles the Famicom box art for Super Mario Bros.
• The arcade machine is also featured in Ancho-V Games, with four individual machines throughout the stage. Unlike the one in Inkopolis Plaza, they cannot be interacted with.
• Ancho-V Games is said to have developed Squid Beatz.
  • Several official sources also cite them as the developers of Squid Beatz 2.
  • According to an Inkopolis News quote from the Squid Sisters, they also created Squid Jump.
• The red fish from the minigames are similar to Cheep Cheeps found in Mario games.
• There is no reward for completing any of the minigames. Once the player has passed all of the stages in one of them, a sign saying "Congratulations!" will pop up and the game will reset to the first level.
• In Splatoon 2, arcade machines featuring the artwork from Squid Jump, Squid Ball, and Squid Racer can be seen inside the Shoal when looking in from outside the entrance.
• In Squid Beatz 2, songs from the Octo Expansion go out of order and start at 80, following the prominent theme of the number 8 in the Octo Expansion. However, the Dedf1sh songs unlocked through the Octoling amiibo do not follow this pattern.
• In Splatoon 2, when standing near Murch in Inkopolis Square, the sound effects of Squid Jump can be heard from his phone. However, the screen of his phone is blank.
• In Squid Beatz 2, in the arcade machine, and on the title screen, the title "Ika Radio 2" can be seen. 'Ika' in Japanese means squid.
  • This is also referenced in the Japanese name for Squid Beatz 2.
• In Ancho-V Games, the walls can be seen to have the arcade games silhouette.
• In the Octo Canyon level The Octogalaxy, Marie references Squid Jump while talking to herself, saying that she misses it.

Names in other languages

Squid Jump

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	イカジャンプ Ika janpu	Squid Jump
French	Saute-qui-peut	Jump for your life
German	Squid Jump	Squid jump
Italian	Saltaseppia	Jumping Cuttlefish
Spanish	Brincalamar	Jumpsquid

Squidball

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	イカボール Ika bōru	Squid Ball
French	Smash-qui-peut	Smash for your life
Italian	Seppiavolo	Cuttlefishball
Spanish (NOA)	Sepiabol	Cuttlefishball
Spanish (NOE)	Chipivóley	Cuttle-volley

Squid Racer

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	イカレース Ika rēsu	Squid Race
French	Sprint-qui-peut	Sprint for your life
Italian	Turboseppia	Turbo Cuttlefish
Spanish	A toda tinta	Full Ink

Squid Beatz

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	イカラジオ Ika rajio	Squid Radio
French	Swing-qui-peut	Swing for your life
Italian	Radio Seppia	Cuttlefish Radio
Spanish	Jibia FM	Cuttlefish FM

Squid Beatz 2

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	イカラジオ２ Ika rajio 2	Squid Radio 2
Dutch	Ika Radio	Similar to Japanese
French	Calam FM	Squid FM