Splatoon 3 Seems To Reference A Boss Battle From Super Mario Sunshine

thegamer.com:

Splatoon 3 has officially been released into the wild and players are discovering all the paint-splattering threequel has to offer. This includes the boss battles you face as you make your way through the singleplayer campaign. One boss battle is making waves for its similarity to another that fans of Super Mario Sunshine might remember.

The good folks over at Polygon noticed that one of the later in-game boss battles of Splatoon 3 is very reminiscent of The Manta Storm you face on Sirena Beach in Super Mario Sunshine. The boss in question is the giant manta ray known as Big Man from the in-game band Deep Cut.

Related: I’ve Never Played Splatoon, So Why Am I Excited For The Threequel?

For the battle, Big Man will disappear into the ground, leaving only his paint-spewing shadow visible. If you manage to get a shot off at the roaming shadow, it will divide into smaller shadows. Honestly, it is quite a pain in the paint can.

This moveset is eerily similar to The Manta Storm fight from 2002’s Super Mario Sunshine. That fight has Mario and the player taking on an evil, shadowy stingray who like Big Man leaves a trail of paint in its wake. Plus, if you land a hit on the stingray, it will also divide itself into smaller stingrays. Again, another pain in the old robotic water-spewing backpack.

The biggest difference between the two fights is that Mario’s foe is electrically charged. That means if you get up close and personal, you will feel it in the morning. Plus, as GamesRadar points out, both boss battles utilize the blue and yellow color scheme, making it seem like Manta Storm heavily influenced Big Man’s design.

If you haven’t made it that far in Splatoon 3’s campaign, you now know what manta ray horrors await you down the