A direct-feed still ofCallie,Pearl,Marina, andMarie posing at the end of one of their concerts.
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Since 2016,Nintendo has been holding virtual concerts featuring theSquid Sisters,Off the Hook, andDeep Cut as a response to the popularity theSplatoon brand and its characters have had since launch. The idols are presented with higher-quality 3D models than what can be found in their respective games and are animated with motion capture technology.[1] Live musicians are present in concerts, playing along to an audio track of the idols singing.[2] The idols speak to the audience in between songs with a "translation" of their dialogue displayed as supertitles on a larger screen behind them. The songs that are performed at these concerts are given a special arrangement that extends their length and adds a proper conclusion. In some of Off the Hook's songs, new verses that are not present in-game are added as well. All concerts have been made viewable from an official source in one form or another, with some getting a remastered audio recording released on CD.
On15 December 2015, it was announced that theSquid Sisters would be holding their first live performance at Makuhari Messe as part of Niconico Tokaigi 2016 on30 January 2016, titled Shiokalive 2016 in Japanese. The name is a portmanteau of "Shiokarazu" (Squid Sisters) and "Live". It was held after thefirst annualSplatoon Koshien regional finals for the Tokyo area.
The concert was live-streamed on Niconico without region locking on Nintendo's Koshien livestream. It was officially uploaded online on8 February 2016. An English-subtitled version first was uploaded by Nintendo of America on YouTube on2 May 2016. A remastered recording of the concert's audio is available in the live albumSplatoon Live in Makuhari.
On24 March 2016, it was announced that the Squid Sisters would perform again at Niconico Chokaigi 2016 as part of the event's Music Festival. It was later announced that they would perform on29 April 2016. The concert was livestreamed on theSplatoon Gachi Bon Matsuri stream, which was not region-locked. It featured the surprise debut of Callie and Marie's solo songs,Bomb Rush Blush andTide Goes Out, respectively. The following day, the Squid Sistersamiibo were announced, revealing how their songs would be integrated into the game.
The concert was officially uploaded by Nintendo onto YouTube and Niconico the following day. An alternate version of the concert with different angles is also available on Niconico, but it is region-locked outside of Japan. A remastered recording of the concert's audio is included in the live albumSplatoon Live in Makuhari.
On1 June 2016, Nintendo of Europe announced that the Squid Sisters would perform at Japan Expo 2016 in Paris, France. This concert was the first to be held outside of Japan, as well as the first not to be livestreamed. It was held on8 July 2016 and then uploaded online on12 July 2016, translated by Nintendo of Europe into various languages. It featured the same setlist as the Chokaigi 2016 concert.
The Squid Sisters made a short appearance at Niconico Cho Party 2016 on3 November 2016.
After the initial live stream of Cho Party 2016, the concert was first rebroadcast during the SecondSplatoon Koshien Regional Tournament for the Kinki region on5 November 2016, making it viewable for people outside of Japan. A higher-quality version with different camera angles and on-screen transcriptions for dialogue was eventually uploaded onto Niconico on21 July 2017 to coincide with the release ofSplatoon 2. A remastered recording of the performance's audio is included in the live albumSplatoon 2 Live in Makuhari.
From14 January 2017 to15 January 2017Nintendo held the Nintendo Switch Experience 2017 event at Tokyo Big Sight in Odaiba, Japan. One of the attractions at this event was a live concert by the Nintendo Special Rock Band, a band formed exclusively for the Nintendo Switch Experience 2017. The band would perform on both days of the event, twice on day one and once on day two, largely performing songs from theSplatoon series with the addition of songs fromXenoblade andMario Kart 8.
Notably, the Nintendo Special Rock Band were the first live performs to hold aSplatoon concert without the presence of anyidols.
On13 December 2017, it was announced thatOff the Hook would have their first appearance in a concert, titled Haicalive in Japanese, during Tokaigi 2018 at Makuhari Messe on10 February 2018. The name is a portmanteau of "Haikara" (Inkopolis, orInkadia) and "Live". An official video was made available on YouTube on13 February 2018. A remastered recording of the concert's audio is available on theOctotune soundtrack, as well as the concert itself in 1080i on a Blu-ray that comes with the soundtrack's limited edition.
On19 February 2018, Nintendo of Europe announced that an Off the Hook concert would be held at Polymanga 2018 in Montreux, Switzerland, before the finals of theSplatoon European Championship. It was held on31 March 2018. Despite happening in a primarily French-speaking region, this concert was the first to be shown with English dialogue.
The concert was uploaded by Nintendo of Europe and Nintendo of America onto YouTube on13 April 2018. The upload had enhanced audio that corrects the timing of some sound effects, transcriptions for omitted dialogue, and translations into other languages. It featured the same dialogue and setlist as the previous concert,
On13 April 2018, it was announced that Haicalive would be held again at Chokaigi 2018 during the Music Festival on28 April 2018. In the initial announcement, it was teased that an additional song had been added to the setlist. On the day of the concert, it was confirmed to be the song used in theOcto Expansion trailer,Nasty Majesty. An official video was made available on Niconico on8 May 2018.
On13 December 2018, it was announced thatOff the Hook would be having their first solo concert at Tokaigi 2019 on26 January 2019, titled Tentalive in Japanese. The name is a portmanteau of "Tentacles" (Off the Hook) and "Live". The concert was streamed simultaneously on Niconico and YouTube by Nintendo, along with the rest of the events of thefourth annualSplatoon Koshien tournament. On25 April 2019, Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Europe uploaded localized versions of the concert online. A remastered recording of the concert's audio is included in the live albumSplatoon 2 Live in Makuhari.
On1 August 2019, it was announced that there would be two concerts, titled "Haicalive Kyoto Mix" in Japanese, to be held at the Nintendo Live 2019 event in Kyoto, Japan on13 October 2019 and14 October 2019.[3] Within Japan, these were the firstSplatoon concerts to be held outside of the Kanto region. They were based on previous concerts. The main act lasted for approximately fifty minutes, the longest yet for the franchise.K.K. Slider from theAnimal Crossing series served as the opening act.
Before the release ofSplatoon 3, on21 July 2022, Nintendo announced that the Nintendo Live 2022 event would be held atTokyo Big Sight for two consecutive days starting on8 October 2022. Among the festivities confirmed were live music performances featuring music fromAnimal Crossing: New Horizons andSplatoon 3. Later, on1 September 2022, it was revealed thatDeep Cut would be making their real-world debut in a concert called "Bankalive" in Japanese, a portmanteau of"Bankara" (the Splatlands) and "Live". Deep Cut's performance was one part of a larger show, with the other half featuringDJ KK in a set titled "DJ KK Paradise Mix!!".
The show lasted an hour and was held three times a day, making six performances throughout the event. The last performance on the second day was livestreamed on YouTube.[4] A remastered recording of the concert's audio is available on theSplatune 3 soundtrack.
On30 August 2023, another Nintendo Live event was announced to be held at Tokyo Big Sight for two consecutive days starting on20 January 2024.
Included in the event was a brand new concert featuringSplatoon 3'sDeep Cut, along with an orchestral performance forThe Legend of Zelda series, which were planned to be shown twice a day for a total of four showings, with the final performance of the second day being live-streamed on YouTube on21 January 2024 at09:00 UTC. Unlike the previous Nintendo Live in 2022, these two shows would have been separate and attendees would have only been able to view one of them in person.[5][6]
The event, including theSplatoon 3 live concert, was later cancelled on7 December 2023 due to Nintendo receiving threats towards employees and attendees.[7]
A prerecorded version of the concert was eventually uploaded onto Nintendo's official YouTube accounts on10 February 2024. It lasted forty minutes and was initially premiered on the Japanese Nintendo YouTube account, with other translations being uploaded soon after.[8]
The song recordings and related choreography appear to match that seen during theGrand Festival's in-game live performances, accompanied by a largemusical fountain installation. Promotional videos of the performances were uploaded toNintendo Today!'s news feed in August 2025.
Splatoon - Japan Expo 2016 Concert Rehearsal
@SplatoonJP on Twitter
Nintendo Live 2022 (JP) (Archived)
