Splatoon Idol Music Tier List 

13:49 in my opinion I think it fits cuz I think the game recognizes how ridiculous and unserious the situation is. In what other game do you fight a giant capitalist CEO who wants do destroy the planet with a rocket ship, so you go to space with the help of your pop star friends to stop him and it turns out your fish friend is suddenly a secret kaiju and then also your old nemesis shows up to help? the final showdown is kinda nonsense so having tense/serious music wouldn't have fit very well

You left out Ebb and Flow (demo)! It's such a fun component of Marina's backstory to see her jamming out what sounds like a Fisher-Price MIDI keyboard, with the Octarian motif mixed in where Pearl would later be.

i have cried SO MANY times after listening to into the light that at this point my memories with it are literally of crying while listening to it. I still remember being 14 finishing octo expansion for the first time, and crying because of it. I have only ever felt this way with octo expansion and never more from persona 4 and somehow octo expansion still hits me harder.

28:00 for me using calamari inkantation in wave goodbye is 100 times more forgivable based on the fact it uses human voices to sing it. it's not just meant to be a reference to the song, it's a connection to the story we just went through

One interpretation of Wave Goodbye that I really liked was that the voices you hear when Calamari Inkantation starts are human voices, symbolizing a bond of music that spans both millennia and species. I love both this song and Maritime Memory, having skipped Splatoon 2 it'd been a while since I heard Splatoon music so it was very nostalgic. With that said, much as I love Calamari Inkantation... can we please have a new final boss song for Splatoon 4?

I much prefer fresh start over mritime melody, and I might have a bias from the live performances. The performance very clearly shows that the song is about their falling out and reconciliation, and I love how they show that by the two singing their own solos only to then come together to sing eachothers solos. Fucking love thay shit

pausing the video and listening to the songs from another video? no. i’m using the in-game jukebox and nobody can stop me edit: wait, off the hook’s music isn’t in the game yet 😅

Something that really elevates liquid sunshine for me (which they should really hint at in game more often) is that supposedly big man composed the music and especially at the chorus, you hear a tinge of melancholy (or at least i do hehe). Not only does this really help with your description of liquid sunshine, but i think it helps characterize big man a teensy bit more than the story mode certainly does

For Ebb & Flow, I believe that was a standalone song (maybe splatfest song? can't recall), but then they used bits of it as kind of the Now or Never! of the final boss of Octo Expansion, which I believe was the 'Ebb & Flow (Octo)' that was also in the list that I'm guessing you got confused about and discarded off camera.

I watched a video where someone layered hide and sleek and shark bytes on top of each other. Frye's solo and Pearl's rap kick in at pretty much the same time and it elevated both song for me. And they're both some of my favourites. Also, I completely agree with liquid sunshine. It feels so fitting of how splatfests should be treated. A *FUN* competition. There's no edge to it, it makes me think of like. Running around in my garden as kid lol. It's just really good and makes me smile.

Never let this man touch the aux for splatoon in his life he didn't put City of Color in the top tier and he put Tomorrow's Nostalgia Today

Dr Octavio is probably my favorite thing you have ever said

did not expect gem to mention 1812 overture and now i can never unsee that

To add to your liking of Ink Me Up: during a match when the song is playing, the team that has the most paint covered on the map has the corresponding idol cheer them on during a part of the song (watch a video of splatfest gameplay, youll see what i mean)

Ebb and Flow is a very different song to Fly Octo Fly!! They just use remixed bits of Ebb and Flow in Fly Octo Fly (Which is why there's Ebb and Flow (Octo), which really should be the one that's combined with Fly Octo Fly)

The wind waker references are so true that game had such an amazing ost and the ending of the game really got me in my feels. Such a good ost

You know, Into the Light is really good. It's the only single piece of music that brought me to tears since hearing Super Mario Galaxy's live orchestrated OST for the first time as a tiny little smol child, and that alone is worth something. Octo Expansion is unironically one of the best stories I've played in the last decade, and I probably changed on a fundamental level as a person after playing through it.

Deep Cut as cyberpunk anti-capitalist hackers is such a cool idea.

If you like the squid sisters now or never i reaaly recommend the 2016 live performance of it its one of my favourite splatoon songs ever its so nice

I can see the resemblance to Closer now that you point it out. But the first thing I thought of when I heard Wave Goodbye was When Can I See You Again by Owl City. And since that's also a credits song, I have a stronger feeling that that's where they pulled their inspiration from. And if you want a Splatoon song with even more resemblance to an EDM song, Color Pulse has almost the exact same chord progression and rhythm as Cut the Kid by Madeon.

You're right, 3mix is very cool in a "vacuum"

LONG COMMENT INCOMEING My story with the squid sisters is quite the strange one While I did play Splatoon 1 my parents got me a Wii U after all of the splatfests were done so I never experienced S1 fests And 9 year old me thought unskipable news with barbie lookin pun saying girls were the most cringy things ever and I was actively embarrassed to turn on Splatoon 1 in front of my parents And then quite a long time later I rented Splatoon 2 (which was a thing you could do before those video store places shut down) and when I went to play the story mode (my favorite part of Splatoon 1) and I saw that captain cuttlefish was replaced by MARIE 12yr old me was furious And I took back the game and decided the game was bad just from that (I was a weird kid) But... eventually after all of the Splatoon 2 fests ended about 4 months before Splatoon 3 was released I grew up and realized maybe Splatoon 2 wasn't so bad just because of marie... and so I bought the game and alongside loving the fresh gameplay compared to splatoon 1 I slowly started to grow fond of the squid sisters and I actually really liked the story told in Splatoon 2 And then fast forward to Splatoon 3 the ending of Splatoon 3 with another remix of the Calimari inkantation hit me right in the feels and when they Revealed that the squid sisters would get new music in this game for splatfests I was beyond happy (I legit balled my eyes out at the reveal of Tomorrow's nostalga Today) And now today IF I had the "squid sisters fan" banner title I would boldly wear it but alas I don't so I swap between Callie fan and Marie fan pretty regularly Thank you Nintendo for these amazing yet imaginary and fake squid people they have marked my life which may sound stupid but I don't care

i like to think of in into the light marnia saying "its a whole new world, all in your hands" in that one part

i think the point is that splatoon 3’s final boss, even though how serious it is in lore, is definitely not supposed to be taken seriously by the player. it’s a giant kaiju battle in space between a mutated capitalist bear orb and a hungry salmon who just went through a pokémon evolution via the power of friendship and musical fish dna. and to that effect, to hype the player up for what it meant to be both a silly and climactic moment, it works extremely well. also i love it so i’m biased but ignore that part

Smeared Canvas got done dirty

The second you asked if you should put nasty majesty as no. 1 I gained so much respect for you ✊✊

as a HUGE laszlo fan, i can absolutely see the similarities between closer and wave goodbye, laszlo always has a really uplifting and hopeful vibe to his music and i think wave goodbye captures the same feel closer goes for closer is a REALLY good ep btw you have great taste

Oh, interesting! It’s cool to see your thoughts on the music in the games, especially since music is such a huge part of Splatoon’s culture. Kind of disagree with your placement of Tomorrow’s Nostalgia Today 💔but still, great video!

*Hears "Calamari Inkantation", and has immediate Inner Agent 3 flashbacks* >

spicy inkantation is my favorite inkantation just bc the synth stabs & runs in it itch my brain so gooood though i agree bomb rush + tidal rush elevate it. those songs make one of the coolest musical moments in the series, if only the boss fight lived up to it...

I feel the same way with Calamari Inkantation 3mix not quite working in context, if anything it would have fit a lot better in Splatoon 2 since the final phase of the fight feels like more of a victory lap then a legit threat. Not that it would actually make sense though since deep cut aren't even in that game

Ink me up is wow. Hearing it for a day straight got old but DAMN it was groovy

gem is really a very eloquent speaker and it’s really apparent in these sort of videos. even beyond any investment in seeing which song he’ll think is cool and good (tidal rush sweep let’s go‼️), it’s just very pleasant to hear him describe what feelings the music evokes and how it sounds

Deep Cut feeling like Team Rocket feels PERFECT to me

Gem putting Bomb Rush Blush Ft Octavio In High Top Tier Healed My Soul

I know you said it wasn't used in a trailer (referring to Liquid Sunshine) but it did *technically* get its own music video so eh?

I have little memories of the Splatfests I've played in Splatoon, the original and it really helps that the EU themes were not memorable in the least, but Ink Me Up was a banger each and every time.

I feel like deep cut not being that cyberpunk thing is bc that's kinda ordered themed not chaos themed. If order won that prob would have happened in an order society

Cancelled% speedrun

MatPat references never get old

You should make a playlist of the finished order

I don't need to have the music played in the background when I have them all in my brain

That end is literally my favorite part, I was dying! 😆

19:50 SO TRUEE

i am double tabbed and ready

I gotta disagree that the 3MIX was _too_ fun. It’s fun for sure, but in the moment it felt more epic to me. Like all my friends had my back during the battle

6:26 GEM YOU NEARLY GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK

41:45 I feel like they nuked anarchy rainbow in game tho with the spacial -ness they added to the hub songs for splatfest, this one they added this crowed sound and it just takes away from the raw song. weird bc the s1 music and the 1st half with the solos benefits from this spacial -ness but the new music for the new place doesn't? it's weird when tomorrow's nostalgia today sounds much better bc of this spacial-ness too.

I’m calling it now. Calamari Inkantation in the top tier right next to woomy dudes be veemo sleepin. The best one two punch in the series imo. Also squid sisters are the best idol group by far. Edit: thanks for mentioning Wind Waker. That game is amazing.

the additional video no longer exists 😭

TOMORROWS NOSTALGIA TODAY IS SO GOOD BOOOOOOOOOOOOO :((((

WET FLOOR SWEEP

smeared canvas is "im fine with it? this is criminal

"3Mix is good in a vacuum" was that pun intended? because it did not sound like you intended that pun

Isn't it funny how the idol fans are much more unhealthily competitive than the idols themselves? Not just for Splatoon, with real idols too, specially in the east.

I will actually implode if ink me up and fresh start aren't up there

I thought you were in to chiptune? Tomorrows Nostalgia Today has a little bit and its cute and fun

Dr Octavio 💀

Gem chorus of calamari County isn't from inkopolis, it's from calamari County which callie and marie are from, which is east of inkopolis in the rural area

Deep Cut being compared to Team Rocket is way too accurate

Did you forget the inner agent 3 mix of calamari Inkantation?

I'm going to get violent if the squid sisters have anything below I'm fine with it

Big man can sing a lullaby for me 😍

Nasty Majesty better be top tier

Squid sister at the topppp!!!!

WHAT DID TOMORROWS NOSTALGIA TODAY DO TO YOU THATS IN MY TOP 3

Spoilers: In space, fighting a capitalist bear, via salmon-ex-machina

I think the one I disagree with the most here is Muck Warfare being forgettable, other than that I can definetly agree with this tier list

Heehee, pearl is short

Clickbait: put in mid tier because it repeats the same two melodies Ink Me Up:

Ink me up is far better in the live version. 😊

Bomb Rush Blush > Tide Goes Out imo

All s+, easy

Deep cuts one is my least favorite it’s make me so panicked like why is it like that????? Off the hook is the best one like you say “it like everyone screaming at each other” but not really and that kinda just gose with peals personality and with marinas DJ and stuff. kinda hate how people don’t care about who’s making the song, they just care about how it fits in splatoon

to be honest im not a fan of the first two idle now or nevers, they kind of take away the speed and drive of the song like you mentioned, but Deep Cut's now or never is so goooooood. that air horn never fails to wake me up from the battle, and with all three of them chiming in to the song at similar but slightly off times and in their own manner, i feel like i can see them playing tri battles in my head lol. shiver walking right into the middle of the map with their proud belts of lyrics, frye flanking shiver with her vocals hopping about, and big man only sometimes showing his face because hes passively painting the map. also controversial opinion, shark bytes is mid. i CANNOT take the song seriously when marina chooses to sample the 1700's kid clams country guitar riff. everything else is nice, i might rate it higher if it didnt have the kid clams interlude.

second!

tbh spicy calamari inkantation is not up there with original and 3mix original is just massive for lore reasons and it's just pretty amazing in general 3mix is just SO CINEMATIC that it capping off the "cuttlefish trilogy" (hero mode 1, octo expansion, return of the mammalians) is so perfect spicy calamari inkantation is just a slight remix at the end of the most mid (and i use this to mean "average, mediocre" not mid as in "trash" like how twitter users use it) story mode

Deep cut music ranked too low 😭😭😭 anarchy rainbow rightfully at #2 at least

3mix was trash you gotta bring that down

Nasty majesty is overrated.