Tag: Splatoon 3

Nintendo Direct September 2023 recap: Paper Mario, SpyxFamily, F-Zero, and more

The September Nintendo Direct crammed dozens of Nintendo Switch game announcements and updates into 40 minutes, and these are the highlights

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The September Nintendo Direct crammed dozens of Nintendo Switch game announcements and updates into 40 minutes, with a few surprises sprinkled on top. A classic Paper Mario game is coming back to life, along with F-Zero, and a DS adventure game that never launched outside Japan. Nintendo showcased new Splatoon 3 updates, more on Princess Peach’s new solo venture, a SpyxFamily game, and a whole lot more.

There’s no Switch 2 news, though, so if you’re looking for that, you’ll probably have to wait until 2024.

Nintendo teases Splatoon 3 roguelike DLC in September Direct

After months of silence, Nintendo brought Splatoon 3’s DLC Side Order back out for the September Direct and teased a roguelike element

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After months of silence, Nintendo brought Splatoon 3’s DLC Side Order back out for the September Direct and teased a roguelike element. Side Order takes place in an alternate realm devoid of color – but rocking some pretty slick techno vibes anyway – and while we don’t know what the narrative premise is behind it, the trailer suggests your goal is restoring color.

Or maybe it’s just splatting robotic-looking otherworldly sea critters. Either way, you, Agent Eight, meet with new character Acht – “eight” in German – and get a range of color chips you can slot into a fancy computer system to augment your ink. It’s not just your ink color, either. Different color chips boost your stats in different ways.

Nintendo didn’t go into detail about Side Order, but they did say it’s designed “to be replayed over and over.” Between that and the different, possibly random, power-ups, it sounds a lot like a roguelike.

There’s plenty of Splatoon lore in the mix as well. You, Eight, have a sassy robot companion, and Acht apparently knows Pearl from Splatoon 2. You go it alone in Side Order, though. As Nintendo previously said, the Splatoon 3 DLC is a single-player campaign – no online multiplayer this time.

We still have a while to see how it all fits together, though. Splatoon 3’s Side Order DLC launches on Nintendo Switch sometime in spring 2024.

Nintendo is bringing online servers back for Wii U multiplayer games

Almost half a year after taking Wii U servers offline, Nintendo is letting fans play their multiplayer games online again

Almost half a year after taking Wii U servers offline, Nintendo is letting fans play their multiplayer games online again. The news comes five months after Nintendo removed online play for Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon following the discovery of critical vulnerabilities in both games.

At the time, Nintendo only said the takedown was for “extended maintenance” and didn’t mention the vulnerability issue. Dataminer OatmealDome originally suggested the problem stemmed from an ENLBufferPwn exploit, a critical problem that affected multiple Nintendo first-party games, including Animal Crossing New Horizons and even Splatoon 3, along with older games on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. 

ENLBufferPwn lets the hacker execute code in your console just by playing an online game with you. The result could give the hacker control over your game or the entire console, which is particularly problematic given the sensitive financial and personal information that may be on there.

A group of software-savvy dataminers pointed out the problem to Nintendo in 2021, and since then, the Big N has issued patches for a wide range of its games to fix the vulnerability. It’s unclear why Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon had to remain offline for so long, but whatever the case, it’s fixed – for now. 

In Nintendo’s statement on the matter, the company said they may have to disable online functionality again at short notice if further problems arise.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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Nintendo fan buys stocks so he can complain about Splatoon 3

A Nintendo fan bought enough stocks so he could attend the company’s shareholder meeting and complain about Splatoon 3 customization

A Nintendo fan bought enough stocks so he could attend the company’s shareholder meeting and complain about Splatoon 3’s customization options. The man interrupted the shareholder’s meeting and went into a lengthy ramble about how all the multiplayer game’s best poses are for the girl squids, while boy inklings get much less attention.

“The company has blatantly given the boys in Splatoon the cold shoulder, and I would like to see some improvement,” the man said (translated by GLHF’s Georgina Young). “It makes me extremely sad when people say ‘If you enjoy playing as a boy, then you won’t enjoy playing Splatoon.’”

He also expressed concern over Splatoon 3’s marketing, which he said raised concerns that there would be no male characters in the game. He wasn’t entirely wrong. Splatoon 3 doesn’t ask your character’s gender when you begin and lets you pick any clothing, hair, and customization options. 

The man’s “question” continued on until company president Shuntaro Furukawa interrupted him and said it was too long. He continued undeterred and, when he finally finished, Furukawa just thanked him for his time and moved to the next question. 

It’s an odd situation, made even more peculiar by the means the man used to attend the meeting. He reportedly bought several Switch OLED models with a credit card, sold them, and used the cash to purchase enough stocks to make him eligible for attending the meeting. All this happened after the man sent multiple letters to Nintendo demanding changes in Splatoon 3, letters that, unsurprisingly, went unanswered.

The future of Splatoon 3’s customization probably won’t change, but Nintendo has plenty of new plans in store for the ink splatter, including some big changes to the formula in the upcoming single-player DLC campaign.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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Nintendo teases fresh single-player campaign in new Splatoon 3 DLC

Upcoming Splatoon 3 DLC is probably going to add a single-player campaign to the multiplayer game, if Nintendo’s teases are true

Upcoming Splatoon 3 DLC is probably going to add an innovative new twist on single-player campaign to the multiplayer game, if Nintendo’s teases are anything to go by. Splatoon creator Hisashi Nogami briefly mentioned something “completely new and different” for the ink-splatter’s second wave of DLC in a recent interview with Famitsu, which Nintendo Everything translated, and said it’ll star fan-favorite characters from previous Splatoon games as well.

“As everyone has guessed, [Off the Hook and the Octolings] are definitely making an appearance,” Nogami said in the interview. “We can’t give away any details yet, but it’s going to be a new story that Off the Hook will be part of. We also plan on making the gameplay completely new and different, so please look forward to it.”

Nintendo already mentioned at the end of the Splatoon 3 expansion pass description that Side Order, the pass’ second part, would introduce a single-player experience, but it sounds like Nogami and his team have something more ambitious in mind than Splatoon 2’s single-player mode. That game’s DLC, Octo-Expansion, adds a series of challenging platforming levels, but doesn’t really change how you play the game.

Splatoon 3‘s single-player story mode already follows a similar pattern, so hearing that the Side Order DLC won’t just be more of the same is welcome indeed.

Co-director Seita Inoue said that while Splatoon 3 is based on a world where Team Chaos won the Splatoon 2 Splatfest between order and anarchy, the Side Order expansion is meant to unfold in a dimension where Team Order won. What that actually looks like remains to be seen, though it explains why the hub cities look so drastically different in the expansion’s announcement trailer.

Splatoon 3’s Side Order DLC has no release date, though the expansion pass’ first half is available now.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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Splatoon 3 season 3 brings back a fan-favorite special weapon

Splatoon 3 season 3, or the Fresh Season, is coming up soon, and Nintendo is bringing one of the multiplayer game’s most popular weapons

Splatoon 3 season 3, or the Fresh Season, is coming up soon, and Nintendo is bringing back some of the multiplayer game’s most popular weapons: The Kraken, or the Kraken Royale to give it its new name. The Kraken Royale transforms you into a massive squid or octopus, and while the effect lasts, you can execute a wide-ranging spin move or save energy and unleash a powerful dash attack.

Fresh Season begins March 1, 2023, and has more than just this Wii U classic in store.

The Krak-On Roller is also returning, a wide roller weapon with the Kraken Royale as its special and a Squid Beakon for its sub-weapon. The .96 Gal Deco will also show up for the first time in Splatoon 3. This is essentially the .96 Gal, but redone in art deco style and packing the Kraken Royale special. It also has the Ink Wall sub-weapon, perfect for hiding while you take potshots at the enemy team.

If Fresh Season is anything like season 2 was, Nintendo probably has even more up its sleeve and possibly new maps as well. Also coming to Splatoon 3 in the next few months is the first round of expansion pass content, which brings back Inkopolis from the original Splatoon. This is purely a nostalgia thing, as the map rotation and everything important stays the same in Inkopolis, but it’s nice to see the old favorite return.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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The best games of 2022: Splatoon 3

Splatoon 3 refines the series’ formula almost to perfection and brings new life to an already-vibrant community.

I have a fractious relationship with competitive multiplayer games, which is to say I think they’re neat, but am generally terrible at them. Splatoon was different. Your aim doesn’t matter much when you’re a squid kid, fashion is just as important as skill, and since almost everything you do helps the team in some way, the whole atmosphere is just fun. The problem was that I found the series in 2021, during a quiet period as Splatoon 2 was laid to rest and before Splatoon 3’s announcement reignited widespread interest in the series.

Nintendo dropped support for Splatoon 2 two years after the game launched. That meant no more Splatfests, the quirky community events themed around such complex ideological positions as “mayonnaise vs. ketchup.” The steady drip of new weapons dried up, and the player pool gradually diminished. 

People like me with healthy, normal lifestyle habits could no longer expect to find a match at 2 a.m. without waiting 10 minutes or longer, even if teammates were usually still easy to find during the day. Salmon Run, the grueling PvE mode where teams of four fought off invading hordes of mutant fish, shut down as well.

(Super) Jumping into Splatoon 3 from the day it launched on the Switch was a completely different, and much more exciting, experience. Much like Splatoon 2 was more of an expansion than a full sequel, Splatoon 3 doesn’t drastically change the formula Nintendo established in 2015 on the Wii U, but it does still make a range of substantial improvements The new weapon types such as the close-range wiper blade seem like tame additions, but they create entirely new playstyles and encourage you to think differently about team formations and how best to use even old, familiar maps.

Splatfests are back, and while the Tri-Color Turf War battles aren’t a hit with many fans, I enjoy how they shake up the familiar ground-splatting mode and force teams to plan more strategically than usual. The festivities will come to an end eventually, but Salmon Run is, thankfully, here to stay as a permanent mode.

If you get tired of all the splatting and trying on clothes, there’s even a surprisingly immersive tabletop card game to while away some time with.

All this is without even getting into the smaller quality-of-life improvements, things like letting you skip the intro segment every time you log in and the option to change gear between matches without leaving the lobby. It may only be a refinement instead of an advancement, but it’s certainly a welcome one.

Better yet, the community is more vibrant than ever. Fans are happily churning out art, creating backstories for the new idol trio, and delving into everything from the music to the stage layouts to find cleverly hidden bits of Splatoon lore. 

I’ve had more fun with Splatoon 3 than I have with other games in a long time, and with the promise of new seasons and substantial DLC just over the horizon, I don’t see that changing any time soon.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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The first Splatoon 3 DLC adds new maps, weapons, and more

Splatoon 3 DLC is incoming, with a brand-new map, changes to Salmon Run, and the promise of splat-tacular new weapons

The first round of Splatoon 3 DLC is just around the corner, Nintendo announced in a new trailer for the multiplayer game. The DLC is officially called Splatoon 3 – Chill Season and launches Dec. 1, 2022, as a free update for all Splatoon 3 owners with an active Nintendo Switch Online subscription, which, if you’re playing Splatoon outside of its single-player mode, you have to have anyway. 

Splatoon 3 Chill Season introduces a brand-new map called Brinewater Springs, set in the middle of a bubbling outdoor sauna, alongside a returning map – Flounder Heights from the original Splatoon. This one is a dream for charge shot users. It’s set on top of an apartment complex with plenty of high vantage points to splat unsuspecting foes on the grates below.

13 weapons are rolling out with the DLC as well, including 10 modified weapons from previous Splatoon games and 3 brand-new devices: a roller, a shooter, and a charger. 

Competitive players at the top of their game can finally join the elite-tier X rank battles in Splatoon 3’s ranked mode. The PvE Salmon Run mode is getting a bit of a shake-up as well in the form of a new-ish map. Salmonids are invading Wahoo World in Chill Season, Splatoon’s theme park-inspired map, instead of the usual coastal location.

This is just the first round of Splatoon 3 DLC. Nintendo previously promised to support the game long after it launched, including with substantial new DLC, likely in line with the Octo-Expansion for Splatoon 2.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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Splatoon 3 is the all-time fastest-selling Nintendo Switch game in Japan

The inky third-person shooter Splatoon 3 is shattering launch records overseas.

Much to the surprise of nobody keeping score, Splatoon 3 is ridiculously popular.

On Monday, Nintendo announced that Splatoon 3 has already sold more than 3.45 million units in Japan. That staggering number is only from the first three days of sales, too. 

According to Daniel Ahmad, senior analyst at Niko Partners, that seemingly makes Splatoon 3 the fastest-selling title ever in the country’s history.

“What’s notable here is that this isn’t just a record for the Splatoon franchise in Japan – It’s a record for any game launch in Japan,” Ahmad said on Twitter. “In other words, the game sold more in 3 days than Animal Crossing New Horizons for Switch, the previous fastest selling Switch game in Japan, and Pokémon Black & White, the previous fastest selling game of all time in Japan.”

As a frame of reference, it took the original Splatoon several years to reach 4.94 million copies sold. In fairness, it was a Wii U exclusive — the console that only sold 13.5 million units globally. Splatoon 2, which came out on the Nintendo Switch in 2017, has sold 13.30 million copies as of March 2022.

Yes, that means Splatoon 3 will likely have outsold the original soon. It turns out kids plus squids is a winning formula.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Splatoon 3 Direct: 5 biggest announcements

The Splatoon 3 Direct has given us a detailed look at what’s coming when the game launches next month, here are all the biggest headlines.

With the release date just a month away, Nintendo has treated fans to a sneak peek at everything they can expect from Splatoon 3. We’ve now got a look at all the new weapons, stages, game modes, and so much more. There was a lot to dig through, including the plans for post-launch content, so we’ve gathered all the major headlines here for you, so you know exactly what to be looking for when you get your hands on the game.

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