Splatoon 3 devs on Deep Cut origins and backstory

The developers of Splatoon 3 have commented on the origins of Deep Cut, including why Nintendo didn’t just settle on making more idols.

Each entry in the series has introduced their own musical group. In Splatoon 1, we saw Callie and Marie of Squid Sisters fame. Splatoon 3 then introduced Pearl and Marine with Off the Hook. Both of those were essentially protagonist idol groups, but Splatoon 3 mixed things up. Deep Cut has the trio of Shiver, Frye, and Big Man and are actually more like antagonists. 

The developers of Splatoon 3 explained the approach in an interview with Famitsu, with director Seita Inoue explaining that if the team simply came up with another similar group, “they’d have to compete head-on with the already-popular Squid Sisters and Off the Hook.”

Tell us more about Deep Cut, who liven up Splatsville every time during Splatfests.

Inoue: For Deep Cut, we began with the concept that they would represent the Splatfests, and also be “lovable antagonists”. If we just added more idols, they’d have to compete head-on with the already-popular Squid Sisters and Off the Hook. Therefore, we brainstormed a unit that would have a different type of role. Since they’re antagonists, we used sharks, eels and rays as motifs, all predators of squids or octopi. While they are troublemakers, they are popular as representatives of the town because of their history, and were designed to operate in both Splatsville and Hero Mode.

Indeed, they do seem a bit bad.

Nogami: That’s because they’re from Splatsville (laughs).

The Sunken Scrolls call them a “hometown hype squad”, but do they secretly lead double lives as bandits?

Inoue: They’re mainly a hometown hype squad, but since their hometown is doing terribly financially, they started committing theft to earn money.

I see! Big Man not being humanoid is also quite unique.

Inoue: Since this is [Splatoon] 3, we thought about making a trio. Even though he looks like that, we wanted him to be the one with the most common sense.

Nogami: Big Man has his own biases too, though (laughs).

By the way, the battle against Big Man in Hero Mode seemed like a callback to the manta rays in Super Mario Sunshine, perhaps intentionally…?

Inoue: When it comes to ink, manta rays and bosses, we had no choice but to do it (laughs).

Indeed (laughs). The way Shiver talks is quite Kyoto-esque, but what was the exact motif?

Inoue: Since [Splatoon] 1 and 2 leaned more towards western motifs, we mixed some influences that were opposite of that.

The developers of Splatoon 3 also recently discussed the game’s Expansion Pass DLC, including Side Order. Read about that here.

Translation provided by SatsumaFS and Simon Griffin on behalf of Nintendo Everything.