Well, it is, lol. All of them require real time inputs and reactions, the more and faster you make them the better off you are.

because it is a Nintendo game...

That also applies to Tetris, but playing Tetris is not the same experience as playing Splatoon.

Erm, ok? Point is what you said here, "To play at a high level it seems like you have to be doing something constantly, and I just don't enjoy that," applies to the games you said you enjoy, "Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Pikmin, ZombiU, Team Fortress 2," a.k.a. a contradiction.

I remember haveing this problem with Portal games..... sometimes after long play seasons Id feel sea sick and have to take breaks (like say I played for 4-5hours, id be nausious the rest of the day/night and not want to play the game until then next day).

I still beat both of them, but yeah... I can get nausious from watching Long 3D movies too.
Not sure why, I dont have problems when I get in a car or Im on a boat or anything.

With the portal games I think it has something to do with how your perceptions change very rapidly, when your jumping around and suddenly your flying this way or that way, up and down, through walls, falling & bouncing and the camra sometimes goes with you in weird camra angles, and it can be shacky.....

Plus its nothing you encounter out in the real world.... its like your brain goes... this isnt how things work, and eventually you get sea sick.

@OP the_dengle

I dont think its something you can "train" away or get used too.

Some people are more sensetive to it than others, and some games just have poorly done camra modes or whatever it is that makes this effect happend.

Basically if just watching the movies is makeing you get sea sick, actually playing the game is probably gonna be much worse.

I voted

"if it means I will have to play with a bucket between my legs I'll do it"  , because thats more or less how I beat the Portal games.

( I didnt always end up sick after playing it, but id say 1 out of 3 gameing seasons, it happend)

I dont recammend going this path though, I think its better to just drop the game.

Why? because Portal games are about story and progression. I dont think splatoons is like that, so just write it off your game list.

That's not the case. ZombiU is a great example, as the Zombie King or whatever your moves have cooldown, so there are times when you cannot do anything at all. Since it's a game of suspense as well, not doing anything just to mess with your opponent's head is an option. You can pause for a few moments to plan ahead. Now Smash Bros (and other fighting games), mind games are half the fun. You can choose to stand still, or avoid your opponent. You can buy some time. Pikmin is a slow-moving game. In racers you have few if any direct confrontations with your opponents, it's mostly just you and the road. There isn't much you can do to avoid being hit with a shell. It would be constant action if the course was full of shells 100% of the time and you had to consciously dodge all of them.

I don't see what better example I could give than that I enjoy playing Warcraft 3, but I don't enjoy being good at it. Maybe if I played Pikmin against people who were absurdly good at it I wouldn't enjoy that either, but only one of my friends plays Pikmin and he's no better than me.

Also I don't think saying "I enjoy X but not Y" can be called a contradiction no matter what those two things are, even if you can't come up with a logical explanation for it. If I enjoy or do not enjoy something, that is the case. Maybe I'm not articulating my thoughts very well. Don't think I have it out for Splatoon and I'm just making shit up, because the game looks great and I'm really looking forward to it in spite of my concerns.

I can't tell whether or not this is a joke at my expense, but I think it pretty accurately sums up my discomfort while watching gameplay. Maybe I would instead say that the camera doesn't move in accordance with what I expect to see.

^ this, if camra movement isnt handled correctly it can happend.

Have you played Portal games? How did you feel after like 5hours or that?

The only 2 games I can remember where this really happends and I got sick after playing was:

1) Portal 1&2

2) Alien vs Predator (in mulitplayer mode, after playing the alien, for along time)

I played both Portal games, and I felt fine. I really think it's the shakiness of the camera in Splatoon, combined with the fact that I'm not the one controlling the camera. I think turning off gyro will do the trick. I really wish any journalist at all would upload some gameplay footage with gyro turned off so that I can try watching that for a comparison.

But it simply is. Doing more and doing it faster, that's the biggest part of how you play at a high level in most games. If not, feel free to explain to me what it is that seperates a great player from a not so great one.

Motion sickness for a gamer is such a drag. I feel your pain. I can't play Portal 2 because of it and I almost puked 45 minutes into Bioshock Infinite.

If it does bother you, try some ginger candy or one of those Seaband bracelets. Ginger candy works really well for me.