Nintendo's New Character Designs Feel A lot More Capcom/Sega-ish

[Soundwave]

Probably is just a changing of the guard from the old EAD era of Miyamoto/Tezuka-era Nintendo, but Splatoon and ARMS feel quite different style-wise from Nintendo's 80s/90s/early 2000s creations. 

Flash forward to today though ...

Definitely much more uh ... contemporary I guess? Splatoon definitely taps into snowboarding/hip hop/j-pop/2000s-era culture I would say with influences from areas in Tokyo like Harajuku and Shibuya. ARMS looks straight up like a late 90s/early 2000s Sega arcade game. 

Kinda interesting I guess. I think this is the influence of younger designers at Nintendo, whereas the older guard at Nintendo like Miyamoto/Tezuka etc. looked up more to like golden/silver age cartoons, Disney, and classic anime, etc.