yes... i'm THAT marie. you know... from the squid sisters.

appearing in all splatoon games, marie is known for her roles as half of the squid sisters, co-host of inkopolis news, agent 2, boss of deep cut, and one of the baddest bitches in video game history.

together, marie and her cousin callie make up the pop duo, the squid sisters. they make the background music for splatfests in first splatoon game, but they've released new songs with each game in the series. the music you're hearing in the background is marie's solo song, tide goes out.

her laid-back personality is what she's best known for, but she has a passionate and caring side, too. she often pokes fun at callie, but she won't hesitate to help her when she's in trouble. moreover, she's amiable, prone to complaining, quiet, mischievous, and a pro at doing impersonations.

lastly, she moonlights as a secret agent- how cool is that?? more than just a pretty face, she works in the new squidbeak splatoon alongside cap'n cuttlefish, callie, and the player to rescue the ever-missing great zapfish. she's the only main character to appear in all story mode campaigns, even appearing in octo expansion briefly (despite it totally not being about her).

keep reading to discover the history of marie, and why she's one of my favourite characters of all time!

SPLATFESTS

(marie's teams are the 2nd ones listed)

north america

won: cats vs. dogs, autobots vs. decepticons, pokemon red vs. pokemon blue, snowman vs. sandcastle, spongebob vs. patrick, early bird vs. night owl, callie vs. marie

lost: roller coasters vs. waterslides, marshmallows vs. hot dogs, art vs. science, cars vs. planes, pirates vs. ninjas, burgers vs. pizza, naughty vs. nice, past vs. future, fancy party vs. costume party

europe

won: north pole vs. south pole, zombies vs. ghosts, [on pineapple on pizza] delicious vs. disgusting, pokemon red vs. pokemon blue, spongebob vs. patrick, callie vs. marie

lost: rock vs. pop, eating vs. sleeping, singing vs. dancing, messy vs. tidy, cats vs. dogs, fit vs. rich, barbarian vs. ninja, hoverboard vs. jet pack, black tie event vs. fancy dress party, world tour vs. space adventure

japan

won: lemon tea vs. milk tea, boke vs. tsukkomi, mountain food vs. sea food, red fox vs. green tanuki [again], pokemon red vs. pokemon green, go all out! vs. focus on healing, mushroom mountain vs. bamboo shoot village, callie vs. marie

lost: rice vs. bread, red fox vs. green tanuki, grasshopper vs. ant, squid vs. octopus, love vs. money, perfect body vs. perfect brain, tuna mayonnaise onigiri vs. red salmon onigiri, fancy party vs. costume party

splatoon (2015)

in the first splatoon game, we're introduced to marie as early as booting up the game- she appears alongside her cousin callie to deliver information via inkopolis news. in this segment, her tendency to make sarcastic comments and otherwise balance out callie's peppy attitude has made her a fan favourite.

one of the events that can be announced on inkopolis news is a splatfest, a limited time event where players join a team to fight for, with each team being aligned with callie or marie. during this event, the squid sisters can be seen preforming live. you can catch marie singing and dancing to city of colour while standing on top of a truck. like i mentioned before, she also sings in the battle music during splatfests.

marie may not have won the most splatfests, but she won arguably the most important one of all, which i will get to later...

octo valley

in splatoon's first story mode, the great zapfish has gone missing. this is a little bit of an issue, since it's a major power source for inkopolis, but no one gives a shit lol!! callie and marie, known as agent 1 and agent 2 respectively, are members of the new squidbeak splatoon, lead by their grandfather, craig "cap'n" cuttlefish. their objective is to recover the zapfish from the evil octarian army, with the player's aid.

marie plays a prominent role after the fourth great octoweapon is defeated. at this point, cap'n cuttlefish has been kidnapped, so she and callie take over his role of a mentor. they both keep their identities hidden though, communicating through radio.

during the final boss, she reveals her identity and performs calamari inkantation alongside callie. the music gives cap'n cuttlefish the strength to escape from where he is held captive. this legendary concert forever changed anyone lucky enough to witness it, including splatoon 2's marina. she was so overwhelmed by the song that it undid her octarian brainwashing. hell, it clearly left an impression on my younger self, too.

final splatfest

the last (and most infamous) splatfest in the first splatoon game was callie vs. marie. i was grounded on the first day, but 12-year-old me was ready to go to (fictional) war and (fictionally) die for this (fictional) woman. needless to say, i played as much as i could on the last day. to this day, i can still proudly say that i'm on team marie.

after 48 hours of pink and green coloured chaos, on july 24th, 2016, the winner was finally announced. the squid sister who won across all regions was none other than...

...marie!

she won by a close margin too, in north america at least. 49%/51% i believe. i watched this whole announcement with bated breath, only for the tension to be interrupted by my younger brother shouting "SHE SAID CRAP!!!!!" when in fact, marie had said "holy carp".

it was a little bittersweet however, as marie worries about overshadowing callie. but in the end, it was good fun for everyone involved.

aftermath

after the events of splatoon, the squid sisters' fame was at an all time high. this point is where marie's solo career really started to take off. she released tide goes out, and even began a career in theatre. her and callie became too busy to see each other often, but they kept in touch. one fateful day, callie went missing. devastated, marie moved to inkopolis square where she waited for the player's assistance in finding her beloved cousin.

at some point after the final splatfest, a marie amiibo was released (which i have!). it's also worth noting that the squid sisters continue to preform via hologram for real life concerts across the world, with the very first one being on january 30th, 2016. i'd love to catch one of these shows in person someday.

splatoon 2 (2017)

in the second instalment in the splatoon series, pearl and marina have taken over the squid sisters' roles as newscaster-idols, but marie makes a major appearance in story mode.

octo canyon

the great zapfish is gone again, and now, so is callie! marie recruits the player to help find both, acting as a mentor figure in cap'n cuttlefish's place. she provides witty comments, hints, and occasional concern for callie's wellbeing. with such a huge role like this, marie fans were eating good.

after finally finding callie's whereabouts, it's revealed that she has been brainwashed by dj octavio's hypno shades, now unofficially dubbed "octo callie". unsurprisingly, the great zapfish is also there. and so, the final boss fight begins.

phase one consists the player fighting off dj octavio to buy time for marie to arrive, while a bastardized remix of bomb rush blush, callie's solo song, plays in the background. once marie shows up, she snipes callie's hypno shades with her weapon of choice, the hero charger. while callie's stunned, the player must continue to fight while tide goes out and bomb rush blush clash in the background. in the third and final phase, marie begins to sing calamari inkantation, as callie breaks free from her hypnosis and joins her in song. the player eventually defeats dj octavio, and all is well. both squid sisters can be spotted chilling at cuttlefish cabin once the story mode is cleared.

i must stress that this story mode was intense as hell for the time. you can hear the emotion in marie's voice as she sings tide goes out. fans theorize that callie and marie's roles were decided by the results of the final splatfest, and they realized that their choices have impact. i often wonder what octo marie what have looked like, and how the tide goes out remix would've sounded.

other

aside from a cameo in octo expansion's chatrooms, marie kept a low profile for the rest of splatoon 2's lifespan. she makes an appearance in super smash bros. ultimate as an assist trophy, alongside callie. for the final splatfest, she aligned herself with marina's team, team order.

splatoon 3 (2022)

upon release, marie's involvement in splatoon 3 was mostly limited to the singleplayer campaign. however, with the expansion pass dlc, you can return to inkopolis plaza where she retains her role in the first splatoon game- with new and remastered songs, too!


alterna

marie and the rest of the new squidbeak splatoon were investigating an abandoned underground area named alterna, when the player falls into it, kickstarting the events of my personal favourite singleplayer campaign in the splatoon series.

once again, marie serves as a guiding figure, now alongside callie and captain 3 (the player character from the first splatoon game, now as an npc).

as the player beats defeats the individual members of deep cut, this game's idols, they take pieces of a "treasure" they're guarding. once all the parts are collected, marie and company assemble them to create a... shaving machine of sorts. this allows the player to access the last area of alterna and board the rocket to fight the final boss. once the treasure has been used, marie thoughtlessly returns it to deep cut, who are so grateful that they make marie their boss, affectionately referring to her as "boss lady". unfortunately, this title continues to give marie a great deal of paperwork.

no splatoon final boss fight is complete without a rendition of calamari inkantation, so marie and company fucking deliver!!

i wish to spoil as little as possible, as the mystique of alterna is best experienced on your own. that, and this is the latest splatoon game.

other

marie also appears on a tableturf card and a fightable opponent. she's one of the last rivals you can unlock, and therefore poses quite a challenge.

additionally, the squid sisters released a new song called liquid sunshine with a mysterious collaborator known as "ian bgm". it first debuted during the nessie vs. aliens vs. bigfoot splatfest. this "ian bgm" character sings suspiciously like deep cut's big man, who later got his ass beat for making this song without either of his bandmates' knowledge. this caused a domino effect, leading deep cut to release big betrayal, a diss track for big man which he wrote, produced, and sings in. at least it's a banger.

splatoon 3 is still being updated, so i may have to update this section later..!

november 12, 2023 update: lo and behold, i did have to! for the splatoween 2023 splatfest, all idols got spooky new outfits. callie and marie wear matching orange dresses. kinda a big deal.

splatoon has always been a series i've had a strong personal attachment to. my interest is almost as strong as it is for the mario series, which is saying something.

up until summer 2014, all of my favourite video game series had began well before i was born. i remember being immediately enamoured with the first splatoon trailer as soon as i saw it- it's even more special that i've been able to experience the series since the very first testfire.

due to not owning the game immediately at launch, and having limited internet access as a kid, my first introduction to marie was through a splatoon guidebook. it had a picture of the squid sisters, as well as concept art for them. i found them both so cool that i took a picture of them... despite fully owning the book. i still own the camera i took that photo with, but i can't find it. here's a recreation of that photo, shakiness and poor lighting included!

so, in a way, marie represents splatoon to me.

due to being an autistic child with a tendency to hyperfixate, i became quite attached to her, despite not knowing lots about her yet. i did the same thing with callie, but to a slightly lesser extent. this is a marie shrine, after all.

once i did learn more about her, she did not disappoint. i adored her personality, and i found it super cool how she was a pop star and a secret agent! her music slaps too- i continue to listen to it regularly to this day.

i was overjoyed to see her in splatoon 2. her devotion to her loved ones is quite apparent in this game- another admirable trait of hers. her presence was something to look forward to with each coming game in the series. my fondness for her grew as the years went by, as splatoon was still as relevant as ever.

when i got older, i was able to put a finger on another, bittersweet reason why i like her. she's a female character who has a solid personality and story, and does her own thing, completely removed from gross fanservice and unnecessary love interests. she gets to be irritable and messy, as well as funny and mature. come to think of it, splatoon's main casts are full of awesome women of the same caliber. it's comforting to see.

longtime attachment, a cool multifaceted lady, and awesome music... all these traits come together to form one of my favourite characters ever. marie is someone who i won't forget anytime soon, as she'll always be an icon to me!