Nintendo held a Nintendo Direct for their upcoming ink-based shooter, Splatoon 3. Whether you are a kid now, or a squid now, the overview of the game was a welcome sight! The Direct covered a variety of elements from the game, including its setting, new stages, and more. For fans of the series, there are a lot of returning mechanics and elements, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that there aren’t surprises for you too.
The game is set in Splatsville, a Chinese-themed, high-density area set in the heart of the Splat Lands. Its described as a city that has seen “enormous growth in recent years.”
Turf War
The Direct spent quite a while going over the Turf War game mode, but that’s not what is important here. The keen-eyed among you might have spied that the inkling in the first scenario shown was using a bow, but we will get into that very soon with the weapon showcase. There are some minor changes to the way the character works, like a quick redirect jump while swimming in ink which can deflect some opposing ink for a brief period of time.
We got to see a total of 12 new and returning stages which are:
- Scorch Gorge
- Eeltail Alley
- Mincemeat Metalworks
- Undertow Spillway
- Hagglefish Market
- Museum D’alfonsino
- Hammerhead Bridge
- Mahi-Mahi Resort
- Inkblot Art Academy
- Sturgeon Shipyard
- Makomart
- Wahoo World
More stages will be added through future updates.
Weapons and Special Weapons
Following this was a weapon showcase. For starters, every weapon from previous games will be returning which is great to see! We also got to see new weapons like:
- Stringers – bow-like weapons
- Splatanas – an ink katana that sends spinning discs/blades of ink toward your target through your normal swings, and also has a charged slash/uppercut which sends a small blob of ink to your target and can defeat an opponent in one hit
Special weapons. These exist as Splatoon’s supers/ultimate abilities in a sense, which offer unique, powerful attacks.
- Tacticooler – puts down a fridge which has in-game beverages which offer a variety of buffing effects
- Wave Breaker – unleashes waves in a large radius from the source point while also marking an opponent’s location if they draw too near while causing damage; jumping over the wave will prevent you from being marked and damaged
- Reefslider – shark-themed inkmobile that charges up its power/momentum and unleashes a powerful burst of ink. People caught in the burst of ink will be KO’d
There are, of course, returning Special Weapons like the familiar Tenta Missiles, Inkjet, Ink Storm, Ultra Stamp, and the Booyah Bomb. There are some other Special Weapons briefly shown but not explained, like some form of powered-up grapple and the Crab Tank which just sounds awesome.
We get a nice look at Ammo Knights, the weapon vendor of Splatoon 3, and its minion-like shopkeep, Sheldon. Like previous games, the weapon vendor will help explain how a weapon functions. Levelling up weapons will reward you with Weapon Licences which is the currency needed for acquiring new weapons. Each weapon can roll with different equipment/special weapons. Being consistent and offering a higher number of weapon licences will cause Sheldon to stock higher-level versions of your favour.
Gears and Accessories
Fashion, the most important part of any game. Like how it was previously, you can customise your headgear, clothing, and shoes. New gear can be obtained from the various shops within Splatsville. They gave us a quick tour of each shop and their associated shopkeep:
- Naut Couture, run by Gnarly Eddy – a store that specialises in headgear. Want to get a funky new hat? This is the place that you will be headed to! Headgear ranges from hats to masks and glasses.
- Man-o’-Wardrobe, run by Jel La Fleur – a store that specialises in clothing. Want new t-shirts or a new jacket? Head on over and talk to Jel!
- Crush Station, run by Mr. Coco – a store that specialises in shoes. Whether you want closed-toe shoes, or sandals/things, Crush Station will have what you need!
Your fashion isn’t just a matter of form over function, however, and each piece of gear will have its own perks. These perks range from running speed increases and improvements to the squid dive and squid roll manoeuvres. There is also an NPC called Murch who can swap the abilities on your gear should it not roll the way you want it to.
Gearsets/loadouts now exist in the form of “Freshest Fits.”
Multiplayer Lobbies
Anarchy Battles are a new form of PVP battle available in Splatoon 3 which also served as the Ranked Gamemodes. Objectives are much more than just splatting everywhere, with pseudo-King of the Hill objectives or delivering payloads. They are as follows:
- Splat Zones – King of the Hill style
- Tower Control – Deliver the payload style
- Rainmaker – like Destiny’s Rift game mode
- Clam Blitz – collecting tokens and scoring them into a goal of sorts
Private lobbies are in Splatoon 3, with all the new game modes included. There also exists a test range now which allows you to kill time during matchmaking, try new gear and practice your movements.
The multiplayer lobbies serve much more of a purpose now, allowing you to see friends who are hosting lobbies via a hologram/ghost. Being in a premade group during matchmaking will also allow you to see all your friends in the test range. While searching for a game, you can also call out for friends, which will place your ghost/hologram in their game.
Battle replays can now be viewed, so if you want to flex a particularly good game, it is much easier to do so! Additionally, you can share your replays with people.
The Locker Room is an instanced space that will show your customisation as well as other people who you have recently played with. This exists as the player card displays that many games do nowadays, like Pokémon Sword and Shield. To obtain items to display, you will need to head to Hotlantis, which is a General Store in Splatsville.
The customisation options continue with Splashtags; Splatoon 3’s version of player emblems/banners. These Splashtags can be customised with new banners, badges, titles, and even the emote that plays when you win a battle. All these customisation options for the Splashtags are obtained from catalog, which will be available in Hotlantis. A new catalog is planned to be released every three months, so it is Splatoon’s version of a battle pass.
Table Turf Battles are a new 1v1 game mode that is almost like Tetris but rather than filling lines to eventually clear space, you want to occupy as much of the board with your colour as possible. Each player has cards that they can use, which allow for different shapes and sizes of paint to occupy the grid-based board in one attack. There are over 150 cards to collect. So, Splatoon 3 has a deck builder now. It wasn’t shown if this will have a player-versus-player mode, but it was shown that you can battle against the unique inhabitants of Splatsville.
Salmon Run
Salmon Run sees its return from Splatoon 2. The inky Horde Mode is now titled Salmon Run: Next Wave. Those who prefer cooperative game modes will have great fun with this. There are, of course, new kids on the block in the form of new Boss Salmonids. We got to see a couple which are:
- Slammin’ Lid – can create a barrier to protect Salmonids on the ground. A slam can be baited by entering its barrier area of effect.
- Big Shot – fire heavy projectiles from a distance which send out powerful shockwaves when they land
King Salmonid is a new boss-style enemy which can spawn at the end of a wave, prompting a large “emergency” to gently flash across the screen. There is a pack on your bag which is known as the Egg Cannon. This can fire Golden Eggs that deal massive damage to the King Salmonid. These encounters are under a time limit, so just try your best to survive and hold them off!
Big Run appears to be a limited-time version of Salmon Run where the Salmonids try to invade the more populated areas of Splatsville. Big Run is said to occur every few months.
Story Mode
Titled “Return of the Mammalians”, Splatoon 3’s story mode can be accessed in the same way you accessed the story mode in Splatoon 2. You assume the role of Agent 3, the newest recruit to the new Squidbeak Splatoon. You fight against the Octarian Army, whose members seem to have gone through puberty and are now sporting hair!
If you’ve played the Story Mode in the previous game, you would know what to expect. Tight 3D platforming level design with great onboarding that exists as the perfect place to get comfortable with the movement and weapons of Splatoon 3!
Return of the Mammalians serves as the conclusion to the “Splatastic Saga,” so who knows what it holds!
Other Features
- The mailbox returns, allowing you to draw and post illustrations
- Vertical illustrations are now supported
- Food and drink buffs return
- Local communication can be used instead of online play
- Photo Mode allows for various photos to be taken and sent to your smart device. Photos can also be displayed in your locker!
- The Recon Guide allows you to familiarise yourself with each of the twelve stages found in Splatoon 3 without the hassle of other players
- SplatNet 3 is a smart device app that can be used to check things like your latest battle stats and order gear unique to the app
- Crusty Sean’s Wandercrust Tour – support Crusty Sean’s journey using ink points which are earned depending on the areas you ink during your battles
- Special wallpapers for your smart device are available from within SplatNet 3
- It will be available on launch day from inside the Nintendo Switch Online App
- Amiibo can be scanned at a specific spot inside Splatsville
- Special gear can be obtained from the amiibo
- Can snap photos with your favourite character amiibo
- Three new Splatoon 3 amiibo
- X Battle – available after obtaining an extremely high rank in Anarchy Battle
- League Battle – compete in teams based on your rank in Anarchy Battle
- A major paid DLC will come in the future, hopefully, similar to Splatoon 2’s Octo Expansion. More details to come at a later time
- Deep Cut is the group that hosts Splatsville’s Anarchy Splatcast, which provides details on battle stages and other news bulletins
- Sea-cucumber phones, a little gadget that allows accessing the news while out and about in Splatsville
- Splatfest will be making a return, there are three teams to choose from this time, however
- Splatfest consists of two halves. The first half is your standard 4v4 battles. The second half is the Tricolour Turf War, where there are three teams on one stage. The team in the lead of Splatfest will have four people spawned in the centre of the stage, while the other two teams will have two people spawned on opposite ends of the stage. The leading team needs to defend against the other two teams to claim their victory.
- Splatfest World Premiere – a limited-time demo of the game will be available from August 27 at 6pm AEST to 6am AEST. The theme is Rock, Paper, Scissors.
That’s it for the Splatoon 3 Nintendo Direct. There’s a lot there, so it is clear that Nintendo has put in a lot of love with this new sequel!
Splatoon 3 is set to release for the Nintendo Switch on September 9.
Are you excited for Splatoon 3? Let us know in the comments or on our social media!
