The hype for Knack 2 is real, if the artwork being shared in the game's Inkopolis Plaza, where players hang out between matches, is to be believed. Nearly every time I've logged on to play a few matches, I've witnessed Splatoon fans sharing their collective desire to play the impending sequel to the 2013 cult platformer.

Like this:

And this:

And also this:

Image courtesy of Twitter user @OhPoorPup

I'm not the only one who's noticed this; a quick search on Twitter shows an equal amount of confusion and excitement over the surprisingly viral (and cross-platform) nature of fan anticipation for Knack 2.

"Imagine being the Splatoon developer and expecting all the miiverse art to be about Splatoon," said one Twitter user, "but no, it's all about Knack 2."

And while there's no proof Sony's purposely infiltrated Splatoon 2, there's no doubt that some are going out of their way to inform more people about Knack 2.

"Yo if anyone else sees my Splatoon 2 posts in YouTube videos," said one user, "send em my way, we need to spread the word about Knack."

It can only escalate from here, as we move toward its September 5th release date.

"Glad the Splatoon/Knack cross promotion is going well," reads a tweet from the definitely-not-official @Knack2Official account. "We're totally not going to put any Inklings in our game though. Don't tell Nintendo."