Good morning, everybody, and welcome back to VG
Myths: the online internet video game TV show that has officially ripped off Nathaniel Bandy. After
years of anticipation, Splatoon 3 has finally been released to the bloodthirsty masses, and for some
reason the entirety of the internet has decided I'm the only person in the world bad enough at
video games to play it wrong. Which, I mean, Nathaniel Bandy, but I guess I'm a close second.
In How Many Shots Can You Complete Splatoon 3? The rules will be very familiar. We're doing
a segmented low-score run of Splatoon 3's single-player campaign with the ultimate goal
of 100% completion while firing as few shots as possible. Quote unquote "Segmented" means we
can retry each individual level as many times as are necessary to lower our score. Each level
attempt begins at the Start pad, and ends when you accomplish that level's goal. But there's a
bit of a wrench in the works making things more complicated than back in Octo Expansion. Splatoon
3's campaign features two explorable hub areas. Progress in these hub areas can't be reset by
simply leaving and coming back like you can with a normal level. For that reason, they're a
special exception. You can't reset their score. In order to get a better score on the hub areas
specifically, you must start from a fresh save file. I highly recommend doing it right the first
time. As for what a "shot" even is in the first place, we're using basically the same rules as
Octo Expansion, where each weapon type counts shots in whatever way I felt was most fitting.
For example, Machine guns increment the counter once per target hit, so holding the ZR button down
while Splatting 2 enemies counts as 2 shots. Most other weapons will increment the counter by 1 when
their ink is dispensed, since they generally only ink either all at once or in a volley once per
button press. Also, a clarification on machine guns that has never been relevant until now: if
you're unfamiliar with how shooting in Splatoon works, ink doesn't always travel its full
range. Some ink globs will fall prematurely, meaning it's nearly impossible to shoot something
without also hitting the ground inbetween. Not to mention with a machine gun it's difficult to
tell whether or not you stopped firing your gun with precisely the correct ink blob that took
out your target, potentially causing you to ink surfaces behind them accidentally. If we counted
collateral damage as a separate machine gun shot, things would start getting absurdly complicated
and difficult to even put a number on. Instead, we only count surfaces as targets if 1) You fire
your weapon without hitting any actual targets, or 2) Inking that surface helps you in some tangible
way. I know it's a bit semanticsy, but I hope you understand this is the best ruleset I could
find that doesn't require studying every single square millimeter of footage frame-by-frame. Also,
important note if you skipped the Octo Expansion videos, there are no semantics with quote unquote
"Hero Weapons" this time, especially since the majority of weapons in this campaign aren't Hero
Weapons. Whether it's a Main or a Special or a context-sensitive vacuum cleaner, if something is
both weaponish and uses the ZR button, then that function of the weapon will increment the counter.
There are some more specific nitty-gritty details about some weapons, but we'll get there when we
get there. We've done rules talk long enough. For now, let's get this run started!
Before even reaching the campaign, we have to complete Splatoon 3's tutorial.
There doesn't appear to be any way to skip this, and after a short walk you'll be locked in
place and forced to demonstrate you know how to shoot. I tried sitting back
and drinking a latte a few minutes, but like Splatoon 2's tutorial before it, this
tutorial refuses to let you go without staining your hands. This immediately adds 2 shots
to the counter and cements the run's status as minimalist. With that done, rush to the end
and you'll be transported into the title screen. Important note for ultra purists, it is
technically required to press ZR to get past the title screen. I personally don't consider
the menus to be a weapon, but obviously that is only my very biased opinion, so if you insist,
feel free to add one extra shot to the counter. Now we can finally drop into the Crater and
start the campaign proper. This is the first of the two hub areas, featuring only four
levels and almost nothing to explore. We're immediately presented with a problem: each
level is entered through a locked kettle, which must be attacked to open the lock. The
only subweapon available in the Crater is our little buddy, Small Fry, who completely ignores
the kettles. Since it's required to open and beat all four levels to exit the Crater, the
definitive best possible score is 4 shots. Crater Level 1:
Throwing Smallfry lets us clear the way up to this first Switch, which
must be inked to continue. While Smallfry can't directly spread ink, hitting those Pufferfish
earlier filled up our Splashdown special, which can hit the switch no problem.
There's a second switch along the way, but provided you left the other two Pufferfish
untouched earlier they'll refill your Splashdown all the way back up to full, letting you
casually walk to the end with 0 Shots. Crater Level 2:
After swimming along the conveniently pre-inked paths, you'll eventually be stopped at this wall,
which must be scaled to reach the level exit. Splashdown could theoretically ink the wall, but
this time there are no Pufferfish around to spread ink for us. You can charge up a little by having
Smallfry splat the Octarians nearby, but nowhere near enough to reach full charge. However, there
is still a way we can spread ink, and if you'd been paying real close attention in all three
prior games you should already be able to figure out how. If you plop near the edge of friendly
ink, that ink will very slightly spread along the same surface. The Special guage only cares that
you're spreading ink, regardless of the method, so while slow, plopping is an entirely valid method
of charging Special. However, it is, obviously, an incredibly tedious one, so I highly recommend
taking some extra steps to make the process as painless as possible. First, remap the Swim button
to whichever button on the controller you're most comfortable mashing. Over an extended period of
time this strat is literally painful. Second is learning proper technique. Tilt the analog stick
only slightly so your character is barely crawling forward, and tap the Swim button at a relatively
quick rhythm. Don't do it too fast or you won't plop properly. With just the right angle and
rhythm you'll be spreading ink at a lightning-fast snail's pace. Third, and most important, make
the most of your time by drawing pretty pictures. Squids are a good first step, but if you're
feeling particularly daring, go for a smiley face. Once proving yourself the face-painting
champion, your Splashdown will become available. Be sure to hug the wall directly, otherwise
it won't actually ink and you'll be forced to repeat Kindergarten. With the wall inked
properly, you'll reach the goal in 0 shots. Crater Level 3:
We're immediately presented with a very simple roadblock: the inkrail
forward is locked in a box, which can only be opened with a key down a very small ledge. The
ledge is too high to jump up from ground level, normally requiring you to ink it. That's no
problem, though, you can jump on the fencing near the key for enough of a height boost. From
there you can make a somewhat tight swimming jump through the upper fence and back above the ledge.
I should also note I was informed of an alternate strat after-the-fact. With a very precise Smallfry
throw, he'll somehow hit the inkline and let you proceed without need for the key. We can grab
the rest of the level's keys without issue, but in order to reach the boxes they go to we
need to ink this wall switch. There doesn't appear to be any friendly ink around which
would seemingly mean we can't use plop strats, but look closer. The checkpoint pad is legally
swimmable ink, and contrary to expectation, you can actually plop at its edge to spread it
onto the adjacent ground. Spend half an hour painting pretty pictures to charge up special and
finally ink the switch. Even if it doesn't ink all the way immediately, remember, you can still plop
in the ink to spread it. Final score: 0 shots. Crater Level 4:
Despite being the last level, this one is the simplest with absolutely
no roadblocks whatsoever. 0 shots. With all four Crater levels beaten, the final hair glob will appear. Throwing Smallfry at
this glob triggers the tutorial boss: DJ Octavio:
Things immediately look bleak, so I'm gonna come right out and tell ya you're not
beating Octavio without firing your gun. In order to progress, you must Splat either of Octobot's
fists four times total, at which point Octavio himself will be launched out of Octobot. Once
he's splatted, you move to the next phase and must repeat the process until Octavio has been
splatted 3 times. Splatting the fists is simply not happening with Smallfry. The fists require a
significant amount of ink before they're splatted, far more than Smallfry is capable of dealing
before their vulnerability period ends. We also can't charge up our special through plopping,
since there's no friendly ink on the ground when the fight begins. You might think you
could cleverly break your armor to spread some ink from the blast, but alas, that feature
from prior games has since been removed. With our options exhausted, we take our first shot. Not
to ink the fists, but to ink the ground. With one barrage you can cover it enough to charge your
Special all the way. Hit a fist with Splashdown, and enjoy that sinking realization that you're
gonna be spending the rest of your day headbutting the floor. Each charge will take even longer
than usual, since Octavio will be constantly attacking and forcing you to dodge out of
the way. Nevertheless, this is sustainable until Octavio is launched into the arena for the
first time. Smallfry is capable of Splatting him, but don't be so hasty: you're under absolutely
no time limit, meaning you can pre-emptively plop up Special while Octavio watches in
patient disbelief. With Special charged, send Smallfry to Splat Octavio and enter Phase 2.
Octavio clears the arena of all ink, but since we already charged up special you can get a two-fer
by Splatting a fist and inking the ground with one Splashdown. Octavio will start using the Octobot's
vacuum and the game will very strongly hint that it's totally a good idea to throw Smallfry at it,
but absolutely do not throw Smallfry at it. All the vacuum does is negate your airborne ink within
the air gusts. Clogging it is absolutely optional. Just keep charging up and expending Splashdowns,
and carry your charge between Phases 2 and 3, and after roughly 6 hours of concussions, you'll
defeat DJ Octavio with a final score of 1 Shot. With that, we leave the Crater and
enter the game's second hub, Alterna, where we'll be spending the rest of the game. The
devs have ever so sneakily designed the starting area such that the only accessible landmark
is the kettle to enter the very first level, in which you'd earn enough Power Eggs to clear
away a hair glob and start exploration proper. You might be tempted to accept inevitability and
fire a shot to open the kettle, but hold your seahorses. Floating in a circle along the edge of
Site 1 is an orange balloon containing 100 Power Eggs. This Balloon will respawn when the player
exits and re-enters Alterna, so theoretically if this balloon floats within range we can farm
it. The devs did their best to make the balloon frustratingly float just slightly too far to hit,
but they didn't try hard enough. Notice we have access to a normally useless binocular platform.
Binocular platforms are technically friendly inked surfaces just like checkpoints, and you can plop
at their edges to spread ink on the ground just the same. Spread this ink all over the nearby
corner, bide your time, and when the balloon is coming within range, do a swimming jumping
throw. Swimming in ink gives extra momentum, increasing Smallfry's distance just enough to
hit the balloon. That gives 100 Power Eggs, but unfortunately we need 600 total to
clear the hair glob, so you'll need to land this super precise throw 6 total times.
To make things go by just a little bit faster, spend your time while waiting for the balloon
to ink a path backward. If you miss the balloon, immediately die a painful death. The Balloon's
position rests upon respawn, and that ink trail will let you get back to the corner quickly.
There will still be a lengthy waiting period, but don't worry, I've actually got one more special
trick up my sleeve capable of speeding up time. By the time you figure out what was
wrong with that, it won't matter anymore. With 6 well-timed throws, you'll have 600 Power
Eggs and can finally clear away that first hair glob without firing a shot. That's not the end
of the grind, though. We're still not capable of entering any levels, and there are tons of hair
globs blocking the path forward that require even more Power Eggs to clear, but from now grinding
for Power Eggs will at least be much faster. As for why we're even grinding in the first place:
each site in the hub is home to 3 Sardinium, which can be used to unlock upgrades in the Hero
Gear's upgrade tree. Among those upgrades are Splat Bombs, Burst Bombs, and Curling Bombs. Your
first instinct will be Splat Bombs since they're the closest to the beginning of the upgrade tree,
but they unfortunately aren't much help. The devs decided to make kettles explosion-proof this time
around, so even with Splat Bombs we still can't enter any levels. Instead, make the even-longer
grind to unlock Curling Bombs. Curling Bombs deal melee damage on contact, and that melee
damage is fully capable of damaging kettles, thus finally granting us a method to enter a
friggin' level. Obviously I started entering and clearing levels at this point since they're way
better for farming Power Eggs, so I'll just jump ahead a bit and let you know you can 100% complete
the Alterna hub area while firing 0 shots. However, that doesn't mean your Hero Gear
will be fully upgraded yet. There are still 9 more Sardinium inaccessible to
us, locked behind 3 boss fights. Level 9999: Big Man and
Level 9999: Shiver Both of these two are relatively easy to beat
in 0 shots thanks to both Curling Bombs and Burst Bombs, both of which you can unlock in
advance. Neither Master Mega nor Big Fry's swim form seem to have regenerating
health, so as long as you don't flub yourself to death you'll eventually win
automatically. Slightly harder will be Level 9999: Frye
In order to make Frye herself vulnerable, you must Splat each of the masked eels that appear
during Frye's attacks. While there does seem to be carryover of how many eels you've splatted between
attacks, they will eventually respawn, meaning if you can't splat them all on the quick you'll
never be able to advance the battle. Whether or not you'll have enough time is largely dependent
on which attacks Frye uses. The absolute best attack is Eel Vision, during which the eels will
be very close together, allowing for easy damage from explosives. You could also theoretically hit
a ton of them with Splashdown, but there's a bit of a caveat: Frye only becomes vulnerable for
a limited amount of time, so I recommend having Splashdown charged specifically to deal damage to
her. Even so, don't be afraid to use a Splashdown on a giant group of eels if the opportunity
presents itself. If you play your cards right, you might be able to recharge Splashdown before
taking out the final eel. This will be a long endurance battle, but with a lot of patience
and a bit of luck, you can beat Frye in 0 Shots. Now that you have all the Sardinium, the
entire upgrade tree is open. I recommend buying almost all of it, with the caveat that
you should skip both Sensor upgrades. These are actually downgrades in disguise, permanently
cluttering your screen with annoying squares and an insufferable beeping noise. Otherwise, I
highly recommend prioritizing the final upgrade on the tree early. The Smallfry damage increase
makes him the most powerful weapon in the game, one-shotting most enemies
while using almost no ink. With the upgrade tree finished, let's *finally* get to the part of the
game this video is ostensibly about. Level 0101:
As you'd expect being the first level, this is one of the easiest in the game, especially
since we're allowed to bring in all our upgrades, but what if hypothetically you didn't know about
the balloon and came into this level without upgrades? Early on in routing this run I did the
level that way, and screw it, I wanna show it off! When trying to get one of the keys, there's
a rolly wall across the way you're intended to hit with the Trizooka special. Instead, do a running
hop off the ledge, throw Smallfry, then reverse direction to land back on solid ground. With
just right timing Smallfry will extend the bridge towards you. For the last key, since we don't have
bombs in this hypothetical, you'll need to plop up a Splashdown to get up this first wall. Up above
you might be worried you'll have to plop another Splashdown, but no worries! You can mess with the
Squee-G's positioning by throwing Smallfry at it; get it to make a low enough arc and you can
jump onto it from the nearby fence, then ride it to the top, no ink required. Even without
upgrades you can reach the goal in 0 Shots! Level 0102:
This level gives us a choice of three loadouts to use. Remember if you
use anything other than the Hero Gear loadout, none of your purchased upgrades apply.
Of course, if you can choose Hero Gear, that's almost always the correct choice, since
that means you'll have access to all of your subweapons in addition to all the passive buffs.
This level in particular is an incredibly simple straight line to the goal, so with Burst
Bombs you can easily clear it in 0 Shots. In addition, to save on time, I'll just quickly
let you know that most levels in this game, seen on screen now, can be cleared Shotless
trivially. This includes levels with simple goals that allow subweapons, levels built
primarily around subweapon usage, and levels where you literally don't have a gun in the first
place. Don't worry, you're not missing much. Level 0108: So I'm checking my notes and not even looking
at the footage while I write this script, and uh this is the one that they just copy-pasted
from Octo Expansion, so uh, I'm doing the same! History's greatest squid researchers
will be debating this for years, but the best conclusion with our primitive modern-day
technology is that this station requires 1 Shot. Level 0109: While we don't have Burst Bombs, we are given
Curling Bombs which still allow for just enough inking and Splatting potential. Near the end
you'll have to do a very annoying upward Curling Bomb throw to take out four Shielded Octarians.
Try to throw the Curling Bomb at the wall behind them in the hopes it stays bouncing up on
the platform. With patience you'll either take out the shield or get a lucky throw that
Splats an Octarian early. Final total: 0 Shots! Level 0204:
Seeing an on-rails shooter level might be giving you Octo Expansion flashbacks,
but don't worry, this is far easier than any inkrail segment seen in that game. Burst Bombs are
accurate and strong enough to clear out all boxes easily in the first two checkpoints. The only
stickler is the final set of boxes, including a very durable orange box. Rather than just spamming
Burst Bombs, do a few jumps backwards to stall for time and you'll have more than enough ink to take
out the orange box and clear the stage in 0 Shots. Level 0205: I mention this level only in case you hadn't
realized the Crab Tank features a cannon as its subweapon, which does not increment
the counter, clearing the level in 0 Shots. Level 0207:
This is a limited ink challenge with no subweapons, which I'm sure you realize
means shots are absolutely required. First, we'll need one shot on the inkwheels at the
level's beginning, serving the dual purpose of inking the wall up and triggering the geyser.
Next we'll enter a puzzle room full of switches and inkwheels. Normally you'd expend another
shot on the one inkwheel that clears the room in a chain reaction, but hold on a second.
Remember our old plopping strats? Turns out, even though these switches are elevated a
bit, you can still spread ink onto them by plopping the adjacent ground. If you've got a few
minutes on hand, you can plop this entire room, thus shaving a shot. The next section has no such
shenanigans available, requiring our second shot to extend the inkline. There's an upcoming sniper
with a wall of boxes seemingly blocking the path, which you can very simply hop around. I'm
pretty sure it's dev-intended. You'll still have to fire a shot to open the goal,
thus giving a final score of 3 Shots. Level 0208:
This one is a huge doozy, that on multiple separate occasions I thought I
was done with before new discoveries and strats dragged me screaming back. To ease us in, and get
an idea of how the level is actually structured, let's finish the level normally. We're trying to
hit 9 switches scattered around a maze. Once a switch is hit, the block it's attached to will
travel out of the maze and into its assigned space to create a tower toward the goal, with all
9 switches required before the tower is complete and the bridge toward it will extend. Before
even entering the maze, you need to ink the first switch across a gap. While a grounded bomb at the
far edge is capable of hitting the switch, the angle makes it difficult, and I've found it's more
consistent to aim for the wall above. Important note, bombs seem to be explicitly programmed to
never count down their timer while in midair, so if you were hoping for a midair detonation,
that isn't an option. Switch #2 and Switch #3 can be inked with grounded bombs no problem.
Switch #4 is too far above for bombs to reach, requiring 1 Shot. Switch #5 is unforgiving: you
can ink it by lobbing a bomb on top of the boxes, but obviously that means the boxes will break in
the process, giving you only one attempt per life. Switch #6 is too high, requiring Shot #2. Switch
#7 is close to the ground, but Switch #8 is on the ceiling behind it. I've tried both throwing bombs
directly under and Splatting a nearby Octarian directly under, but both have been unsuccessful,
always only inking a very specific straight line on one of the switch's edges. I assume this is
some kind of programming quirk, and I'm doubtful it's actually possible to ink the switch with
bombs, so here we make Shot #3. Finally, Switch #9 is very simply too high up to hit, requiring
Shot #4. This completes the tower and allows us to finish the level. That means 4 shots to beat
the level like God intended. But what if we're feeling a little bit demonic? Remember, the blocks
travel from the maze and move into the tower. They try to exit the maze in ways that would throw the
player off, but with some clever movement you can hitch a ride. This is even a dev-intended trick,
albeit one that is supposed to be fruitless. But hold on one second: since each block moves to its
assigned point in the maze, if we pre-emptively trigger all blocks above the one we hitch a ride
on, all blocks below become optional and we can climb the incomplete tower up to the goal. In
a minimum shot attempt, any uninked walls above the block we ride would require 1 shot each.
And just a reminder, plopping won't work here, since plopped ink refuses to travel between
separate blocks. To make this strat viable, we'll have to hitch a ride on as high a block as
we can while simultaneously inking as many of the same side of the blocks above it as we can. The
topmost block is the very first seen in the level, before entering the maze. Riding it is out of the
question, but theoretically we can get some ink on either its left or right side by throwing a bomb
to that side as it's rising out of the maze, just before it takes off. We don't normally have enough
time to recharge ink for a second bomb throw after inking the switch, though. But, pay close
attention when you ink the switch. The bridge that raises IS inkable ground, and before hitting
the switch it's oriented as a wall below us. With a very precise and lucky splat bomb throw,
a random ink splotch can hit and ink this wall, allowing us to dip in and paint a generous pool
with plops. Now that we've got an ink well, get back to trying to ink the switch, always
dropping down to recharge ink between throws. If you minmax your time properly, you'll be able
to ink whichever of the side walls you're aiming for. Keep in mind you want your ink to land as
high on the block as possible, because it turns upside down on its trip to the tower. Block #2
and #3 are the upper and lower stacked blocks, respectively. As established previously,
we'll always need 1 shot to switch Block #2. As for inking its sides, it seems too high
for that to be possible, but let's put a pin in that for later. Block #3 we're fully capable of
hitching a ride on. This is a dandy skip and all, but once we arrive you'll notice a problem:
we didn't ink Block #2's switch, for obvious reasons. You might think that makes Block #3 a
nonviable ride, but we've got another trick up our sleeves. Ink up both the switch side of the
block as well as the side to the switch's right. Now for the outer wall. While bombs can't detonate
in midair, they can detonate at the last second while falling off a ledge while still technically
legally grounded. With luck the bomb will be at the proper angle to ink the outer wall. Now you
can very slowly and carefully plop into the ink on the wall to spread it up to the block. With all
preparation done, you can go for the main event. Normally, if you'd inked Block #1 properly
at the beginning of the level you'd be done now and could very easily Squid Surge up.
Alas, on this attempt my ink splotches were too far to reach with a Squid Surge. Very very
astronomically luckily though, after about 5 hopeless minutes throwing my controller out
of every window I could find, I figured out yet another trick. If you very quickly exit and
re-enter Swim form at the peak of a Squid Surge, you'll be allowed to enter ink higher than usual,
saving this run and allowing us to finish 0208 in 1 singular Shot! This level alone delayed this
video by multiple days and is by far the hardest level in the entire Splatoon 3 minimum gun run.
Yes, even that one. I'm happy. Let's move on. Level 0302: This level's incredibly easy in 0 Shots,
I just wanted to note you don't actually have to dodge the missiles, you can
just sit between them and sip a latte. Level 0305:
Going shotless here is absolutely definitively impossible, since we don't have
subweapons. Of the three available weapons, the Flingza Roller is the easy obvious choose. Roller
shots are incremented when they fling ink, but you can keep that one shot going by keeping the ZR
button held down and transition into melee mode. You can even jump while in melee mode to hit upper
targets, but that isn't quite enough to clear this stage in 1 shot. Eventually you'll need to
stop and refill ink. Even if you keep the button held down, entering Swim mode exits melee mode,
automatically firing another shot when you stop swimming. That means refilling ink functionally
requires a shot. Don't give up hope, though, we just need to minmax our ink a bit better!
Instead of walking to your destination, go bunny mode. Ink is not expended if the roller isn't
touching the ground. Hop between every set of boxes and your ink will last just long enough to
break every box, completing the stage in 1 Shot! Level 0306: You might be happy seeing Burst Bombs, but
sorry, this is without a doubt one of the hardest levels in the entire game. We have
exactly 1 minute to destroy 60 balloons, meaning we need to hit roughly 1 per second.
Burst Bombs simply don't recharge fast enough, even when factoring in multikills. Taking shots
is inevitable and exactly how many shots is a HUGE question mark. What isn't a question is
weapon choice: you should absolutely use the H3 Nozzlenose. It fires in bursts, meaning a single
shot can hit up to 3 balloons. Most later balloons are clumped together, so we'll be taking our shots
early. The following footage is my personal best. Best Score: 4 Shots. Though I will note, I
absolutely expect 3 or less to be possible, but I've decided I don't hate myself enough right now.
By the way, random fun fact, back in Octo Expansion if you hit the Mission Complete trigger
after the timer ran out you'd still get credit for beating the level. In Splatoon 3, basketball
rules no longer apply, if the timer hits 0, you're a dead corpse, whether your dead
corpse passes the finish line or not. Level 0404:
Our only subweapon-capable option here is a preset loadout with Smallfry,
meaning we won't be bringing in any of our upgrades. While not particularly difficult, this
level is fun subweapon only since you'll end up in some tight spots without much room to move
around while Smallfry very slowly whittles down enemy health. This includes an encounter with
a sniper at the end who will inevitably clear the ink from your soaker block and leave you at
Smallfry's mercy. Otherwise, an easy 0 Shots. Level 0405:
This level is one of the big ones I was dreading: the return of the adorable
sculpting minigame. If you're not familiar, we have to destroy some of the boxes on one
side of the level to match those seen on the other. Unlike the Octo Expansion equivalents we
now have a huge convenience of the Zipcaster, allowing for totally shot-free box clearing. The
really dreadful part, though, is the Zipcaster deals splash damage near its point of impact. On
top of that, the splash damage radius increases on box break, guaranteeing that you'll be dealing at
least some damage to boxes that fail the mission once broken. The hardest section to clear will
be the backside, where you'll need to leave three 1-box spaces inbetween intact boxes, a very
stressfully specific order. Remember, though: the splash damage radius increases when a box is
broken, and conversely is lower when a box does not break. Butter up the boxes you need to break
in advance while the splash damage is low-range, so when a box-breaking splash inevitably occurs,
it will break the boxes you want it to while leaving the others technically intact. Once the
backside is done, the rest will be a victory lap. Despite the stress, I was able to clear this
level in 0 Shots my first try! I'm sorry Bandy. Level 0406: This target practice level seems like it'll be
easy enough at first: the yellow boxes can be destroyed with one Burst Bomb and give you more
than enough time to recharge. There's one holdout, though: a single orange box halfway through.
This box just barely aggravatingly seems impossible to damage enough by the time the
box enters our range. But here's the thing: why wait for it to enter our range? While the
early boxes are spawning in, minmax your time to ink the side of the stage near the fence. When the
box prior to the orange one is getting prepped, swim over and up the side of the arena, take
care of the box, and quickly swim jump onto the fence itself. This effectively increases
our range to include the box's spawn location, getting in a few early burst bombs, just enough
to close the damage gap. Final Score: 0 Shots! Level 0407:
With only a Goo Tuber and no subweapons, this level absolutely requires
shots, and those shots will need to be carefully considered to get the count as low as possible.
You can dodge most enemies at the beginning, save for two Snipers. The walls they sit on
will only open after they've been Splatted, and the edges around the wall extend too far to
jump around. That means we start with two shots by default. Then we reach the final area: a fortress
with multiple waves of enemies, every single one of which needing to be splatted to proceed. This
section is impossible without climbing up the fortress at least partially, and there's no way
up without either activating one of the inklines or inking walls ourselves. Ever conveniently, this
Splatling Octarian is at a very inconvenient place for multikills while also being directly in line
with two climbable walls. Do a backwards Squid Roll at the top of the upper wall and you can
reach the grating on the opposite side. Here, take out both Snipers with one shot, then all
three shielded enemies with another. The next set of enemies can be done in a very simple and
obvious two shots. After is the final two enemies: a single sniper and a barrier-producing Octodisco
hanging out above. The Octodisco has so much HP it requires 2 shots to Splat, so you might
think this requires at least three shots, but there's still shave potential. Sit at just
the right spot and aim up at just the right angle. Eventually the Octodisco will get bored
and dissipate for absolutely not reason. Take one more shot to finish off the Octodisco, then
another to open the goal. Final Score: 10 Shots. Level 0408:
Being an grindrail target mission, this one seems like it'll be hell, but no worries! This is likely
the easiest grinding level seen in the series, giving almost no targets and plenty of time to pop
them. The one slightly tricky part is at the end, where you might need to slow down slightly,
but even then not very much. Score: 0 Shots. Level 0410:
Another target-shooting mission, but this time you stand in place and each set
of balloons moves around in front of you. They float away after their pattern completes, and
you automatically die if a Fail Balloon gets popped. While Fail Balloons pop instantly from a
direct Burst Bomb hit, they can always survive a single splash damage hit regardless of distance,
giving you a bit of leeway. The first three sets are relatively easy. The fourth set I genuinely
believe to be absolutely literally no-way no-how impossible. It's impossible to pop most of
the target balloons without dealing splash damage to at least one Fail Balloon, inevitably
leading to an overlap that causes failure. But, I have good news: failure is an entirely valid
option! After headbutting my controller for about half an hour, the game took pity on me and opened
the way forward despite not having popped all the targets yet. I have absolutely no idea why this
happens, but presumably it has something to do with targets that take splash damage getting
recognized as hit, even though they're totally not supposed to and most of the time don't. An
interesting consequence of this glitch is that the two balloons left over will still be in play
every time you respawn at the next checkpoint, and if you don't pop them within about 10 seconds the
game will change its mind on the freebie and Splat you. That's only a mild inconvenience, so go ahead
and get to attempting the final set of balloons, which is difficult to figure out but certainly
not impossible. Our final score: 0 Shots! Level 0412: This level is a simple connect-the-dots drawing
minigame with only a choice of two brushes and no subweapons. This naturally means we use 1 Shot
to ink some switches near the beginning, 1 to actually connect the dots, followed by 1 to ink
and open the goal, for an end total of 3 Shots. I will note I did briefly look into plopping ink
from the very first checkpoint to shave off the first shot, but there's an uninkable surface
in the way, crossing that strat off the list. Level 0507:
"Golly gee," you hear a Splatoon dev in the distance. "Wouldn't it be
sadistic to those Youtuber challenge weirdos if we made a grindrail level with Splat Bombs
instead of Burst Bombs?" Yes, in fact, it would, and wouldn't you know it, Splatoon's devs are
proud sadists! Shotless is explicitly impossible, and you'll need ludicrously perfect aim to get
the count as low as you can. Toss a bomb in the center of the first ring, get on the rail, and
prepare for hell. These first two boxes can both be hit will well-timed throws directly at their
front, where the bomb will hopefully stop in place. Remember to stall to recharge ink along
the way. There are two large boxes coming up, both of which are relatively easy to land a
bomb on. Next, a group of four boxes. Landing a bomb on them doesn't seem viable, since even
when I did land one it didn't destroy all four, so here we take Shot #1. Next, several more sets
of boxes on separate platforms. These platforms make bomb throws very forgiving, just aim for
the center and the bomb will rest inside. Next, two very cool-feeling throws in the center of
these sets. The following set of six I've tried bombs on, and that even looks like it should
theoretically be feasible, but in practice it didn't work out. If a bomb exploded at all it
wouldn't hit every box, and I kept encountering a glitch where the bomb would apparently think
it's in midair and just sit there endlessly. That means we take Shot #2. The upcoming stack of
boxes can be taken out easy with two bomb throws. Hello, good morning, it's unscripted
Gamechamp! So this video's like 90% done, like I already did almost everything, and...
okay, so, the next set of boxes like you can just- you can throw a bomb into the center, it's
really annoying but you can do it. But notice, on my- on th- the successful attempt, I threw a
bomb and missed, and then I threw a second one in the center. But the first bomb- the first
bomb, it didn't fully actually miss, it ended up in like the infinite not exploding glitch
thing! But then it exploded, like, immediately simultaneously with the second bomb, and that's
why I just- I just didn't even notice until now! The diagonal orientation of the next
couple sets prevents bombs from resting on them long enough to explode, so
we use one shot to clear out both. The next linear set of diagonal boxes has the
same problem, requiring 1 more shot. Now we circle around an orange box with a small yellow
box on top. By stalling there's more than enough time to blow them both up. I have absolutely
zero hope of bombing all the final boxes at all, let alone in the extremely tight time window, so
there we make Shot #5, finishing the level in 5 total shots. I'm reasonably confident this
is the true minimum barring some ludicrous extreme TAS shenanigans, but please let
me know if you manage to shave one off! Level 0510:
Yet another grindrail level, but thankfully this time we actually have Burst
Bombs, and on top of that it's incredibly easy. We have more than enough time to hit every
switch along the way to the final tower, and once you reach said tower you've practically
already won. All switches can be hit with jumping throws, and you'll be safely dropped
below even if you miss one. Score: 0 Shots. Level 0512:
We're immediately presented with a midair switch that must be
inked, but if you've been paying attention, you'll realize we already have a strat. Get down
below and throw up bombs, aiming for the bomb to explode at the absolute last possible moment
before it's technically no longer grounded. The switch is close enough that it will get inked by
the explosion. A bit later in the level is this room with three Octarians on the ceiling, all
too far to hit with bombs. I've toyed a little with exploding a bomb on the bag in the center of
the room, but that's obviously still going to be too far away, so instead we take 1 shot with the
Ballpoint Splatling to Splat all three. The rest of the level can be traversed mostly easily with
bombs, but one note when you reach this point: do not immediately splat the switch. If you do,
then the wall that raises will be unclimbable, since it's split between two blocks. Beforehand,
hop up to this ledge and throw down bombs. With a precise splotch, you'll be able to ink
the wall before it's raised. From there, ink the switch as usual, plop up the wall, and
walk to the goal with a final score of 1 Shot. Level 0604
This minimum ink challenge was actually already designed for
the minimum shot run by the devs on purpose, so you can very easily walk past every
hazard and open the goal with 1 Shot. Level 0607: This level is under a soft time limit, with
the level gradually falling into the water below segment by segment. Don't panic, though,
it's not as scary as it sounds. Each section will only begin falling when you set foot on
its floor. Setting tentacles on its walls is completely safe, so before jumping up, sit on
the wall for a second to recharge your ink, ensuring you always have enough for a Burst
Bomb when you need one. Score: 0 Shots. Level 0610:
This level forces us into a permanent Inkjet special. That means our only shotless method of
attack is the jets fired directly below us. At this gap with ink sticks, you can get through
with careful timing. Position yourself just to the side of the ink stick, wait for the inkfurler
to bounce back, and follow it. At this long fall, you're intended to fire at the Inkfurler across
the way, but by exiting a swim just before dashing forward you'll get a bit of extra height, letting
you close the distance shotless. Next is a wave of flying Octarians, all of whom must be Splatted to
proceed. They very much do not enjoy being inked and will fly out of your range quickly, so you'll
need a bit of cheese to make this possible. Lure them low to the ground and adjacent to the tall
pillar, and sneak around the opposite side. Once they exit Alert mode, hop to the top of the pillar
and rush 'em. This likely won't deal enough damage in one go and they've got regenerating health, so
set them back up and repeat the strat immediately. If done well you'll hit them again before they
can fully recover, eventually stacking enough for a Splat. Repeat with every member of
the group, and the next wave will spawn in: four hopping Octarians. These guys are much
worse at their jobs. If you very quickly exit and re-enter your ink, you can gradually approach.
Every time the Octarians will see you, jump back, and promptly forget you exist. Corral them
near the end of the stage, and while they're theoretically trying not to bounce off the
edge, eventually they'll mess up and fall to their deaths. Repeat 4 times to continue to the
final checkpoint. Bad news, this section is pretty simply impossible, with a gigantic gap we have no
way of traversing. Fire 1 Shot at the Pufferfish, then avoid the judging eyes of Smallfry
as you slink pathetically to the goal. Level 0611
This one is easy, but I include it anyway because it was still fun! Go with the Burst Bomb
loadout. In addition to old-fashioned stealth, you can also exploit the very stupid AI. This is best
seen on the two at the end. Position yourself just right, and you can get them stuck in a pattern,
constantly wiggling back and forth while getting noting of substance done and eventually succumbing
to your Burst Bombs. Final Score: 0 Shots. Level 0612
The melee attack of the Ultra Stamp is activated with ZR, and is thus off limits. We
can still throw it, however, and by choosing the Ultra Stamp loadout we'll have infinite ammo. Not
only can throws clear the level, I actually had an easier time than in my casual playthrough. Throws
are apparently the faster option. Score: 0 Shots. That marks the end of every main level. Next
stop: endgame! We unfortunately won't be having much buildup at all, since these levels are all
exceptionally easy due to the allowance of the Hero Gear. One important note is that we're
counting the finale as six separate stages, based on information given by the game. In
addition to the obvious loading screen labels for the first four stages, if you attempt to return
to camp the game explicitly says that you're allowed to skip any stages you've previously
cleared. The skip button just so happens to align its skips with the loading screen labels,
with only the two final levels being unlabeled: Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the final boss fight
against Mr. Grizz. Phase 1, as all prior levels, is incredibly easy shotless, but Phase 2 is where
things get tricky, tasking us with piloting the Octobot King to vacuum hair globs off Mr.
Grizz. If you think we're going to pull out some semantics and say the vacuum actually gives
us negative shots, I appreciate the enthusiasm, but hell no! We're fully committing to sucking
as little as possible! I define a "Shot" with the vacuum as each unique session of vacuuming.
Once you either let go of ZR or get ejected from the cockpit, that shot ends and further use of
the vacuum increments the counter once again. There are four hair blobs we need to hit,
and to make our jobs as hard as possible, waves of enemies will appear while vacuuming
Globs 1, 3, and 4. If you get hit by an enemy, you'll instantly be ejected from the cockpit.
There's a trick to minmax this, though: each wave of enemies waits until you begin vacuuming before
they spawn. When they do spawn, they'll be in an ink form and must travel from the hair glob to the
Octobot King before they actually properly appear. Get as close to the glob as possible, start
vacuuming, and immediately reverse direction, stopping as you near the edge of the vacuum's
range. This allows you to take out Glob 1 in a single shot! There's still a problem though, which
I'm sure most of you have already been screaming. When the Glob explodes we're ejected from the
cockpit instantly, with no warning. As you have probably already noticed, that does *not* cause
the ZR button to stop being held down. We have to do that manually, meaning if we don't let go of
ZR with astronomically pixel perfect reaction time we'll inevitably be taking an extra shot with the
Hero Shot once per Glob. That is, unless we use a very particular and obscure piece of knowledge I
never imagined would ever be important! Have you ever wondered what happens if you press both the
R button and ZR button at the same time? Try it right now, and comment below what happens. About
half of you are going to comment the R button took priority and about half are gonna say that ZR took
priority. But don't worry! Nobody's a filthy liar. Turns out, the game doesn't directly prioritize
either of the two buttons. Instead, the game will prioritize whichever of the two buttons was most
recently pressed. If you press and hold ZR then press and hold R, you'll aim your subweapon, but
if you press and hold R then press and hold ZR, you'll shoot your gun. See where this is going?
These rules apply even while piloting the Octobot King, with one crucial difference: without a
subweapon, even if we press R the vacuum won't be interrupted. But even so, the R button was
still technically pressed after the ZR button, thus once you're ejected from the cockpit the
R button takes priority! Let go of ZR before letting go of R, and you're golden! 4 seemingly
impossible to dodge shots successfully dodged! One important but currently inconsequential note:
it's entirely possible to vacuum later Globs than you're supposed to be targeting. However, as
far as I could tell, doing this is completely pointless. I spent a ton of time vacuuming
a later Glob and it refused to ever burst, plus upon reaching the point where I was supposed
to target that Glob it appeared to still be at full health. As mentioned previously, Glob
#1 requires 1 shot. Glob #2 doesn't spawn any enemies, making it easy to take out with 1
shot. Glob #3 has more health then the prior two, so I'm pretty sure doing it in just 1 shot isn't
possible. However, if you minmax you can totally skip the second wave of enemies and take it out
in 2 shots. Glob #4 will be tackled in much the same way. I hope that doing it in 2 shots might
also be possible, but I've never managed it, and have only done it in 3 even with minmaxing.
With all globs gone, if you've still got time, the rest is a victory lap! Fire one very big and
very final shot to end Mr. Grizz's ambition once and for all! With the physical manifestation of
capitalism obliterated and the path opened for the next manifestation in the form of DLC, The
Splatoon 3 Minimum Gun Run ends with a final score of 46 shots! But "final" is in quotation
marks. Remember, we're out to complete the game, and there just so happens to be a tiny asterisk
in the postgame. Welcome to the true finale, Level 0000: After Alterna
The good news is you've got the Hero Gear, so while theoretically this is the hardest level
in the game, in a minimum shot run almost all of it is about the same difficulty as a casual run.
The bad news is I just said almost. Before heading in, I recommend finally buying both sensor
upgrades. They'll actually genuinely have at least one practical purpose in this level, so
they're worth the annoyance. Near the end of the first loadzone, you'll need to jump through
a very quick set of moving platforms. Luckily, these are the same platforms rotating around
over and over, and any ink from Burst Bombs thrown down will stay there. Spend a few minutes
throwing bombs down until the path is pre-inked, giving you a simple and easy path to jump across.
Loadzone 2 is where the suffering starts. Once again, a grindrail target-shooting mission.
This time, we've got all our Hero Gear upgrades, including access to both Burst Bombs and max
damage Smallfry. Nevertheless, this is still going to be the hardest grindrail mission in the
game, forcing us to play a very careful balance of throwing Burst Bombs for speed and throwing
Smallfry to keep progress going while our ink recharges. All the while, you'll need to be
constantly hopping off the rail to stall yourself, otherwise you don't have a hope of popping every
balloon in time. And even that won't be so simple: in order to recharge our ink efficiently, we
need to legally be in submerged ink recharge time when we jump. If you jump out of ink, you'll
momentarily keep the submerged ink recharge rate. However, you can't recharge ink at all while
the ink used from a subweapon is in the process of subtracting. After throwing out a Burst Bomb,
wait out your jump just slightly to get that extra recharge. Otherwise, you'll need to carefully aim
your shots, in particular trying to pop multiple balloons with each Burst Bomb whenever possible.
It's not totally necessary all the time, but it helps. After multiple downward spirals, you'll
reach a set of three side-by-side rails. Hitting every balloon in time would normally not be that
much harder than usual, but the directional window for hopping between rails is very forgiving in
a bad way. I would constantly lose runs hopping between them for no reason. I recommend trying to
stay on one of the edge rails as long as possible. Every balloon is still within range, and having
no rail on one side makes accidental railhopping easier to avoid. With that set done, you'll move
onto what is thankfully the easiest section: an upward climb surrounding groups of balloons which
spawn up to three at a time. A Burst Bomb aimed near the center will combo all three. If you miss
one, don't panic. With some precise movement you can hop off the rail and land back on it a floor
below. Next up are another couple free groups, until a freefall with the final set. You might be
tempted to panic, and yes, please panic! That is indeed the correct strategy! If you're lucky, your
burst bombs will hit every balloon just in time, spawning the final rail to save you from a
watery death and let you shift back into easy mode. Loadzone 3 is a totally simple and easy
Octomissile autoscroller, and Loadzone 4 is a simple and very lightly challenging battle
against an army of Octolings. This is why I suggested grabbing the sensor upgrades, seeing the
Octolings around corners gives you a very slight edge. It isn't totally necessary though, keep your
distance and you can leisurely splat them with Smallfry one by one. With the final final level
conquered we increase our true final score by 0! Before heading out, special thanks to
basically every Splatoon fan on the planet, who helped shave the shot count down by sending
in their home-baked strats. This episode was, once again, a collaborative effort,
and wouldn't have been possible without you. And just a reminder: the final
total is always in quotation marks. And finally, special thanks to
all Patreon backers including Let me know how much this video
sucks and how to improve in the comments below! Ba-nun-nun-nun-nun
for watching, and get out of my house! By the way I forgot to feed the elephant it's
dead it's canonically dead that's it the end
