Splatoon 3: all the news of the Splattatutto for Nintendo Switch

Splatoon 3

With the latest Nintendo Direct dedicated to Splatoon 3 it seems to have gone back five years. When producer Hisashi Nogami introduced Splatoon 2 for Nintendo Switch in 2017, the feeling of many was that there weren't enough additions and changes to justify that "two" at the bottom of the title.

Not that it mattered, because a few months after that Splatoon 1.5 monopolized the summer of Switch, throwing a bucket of color on the Nintendo console and finding success even outside the game, with a mountain of merchandise , themed events and concerts complete with holograms. Not only had the arrival on Switch introduced the game to many more people than the Wii U original, but for the millions of "shrimp" gamers struggling with the craziest Splatfest, Splatoon 2 was fun and this was the one. the only thing that mattered.

Five years later, we are faced with a similar situation: Splatoon 3 largely reproduces what we saw in the previous chapter, mixes old and new maps, adds a series of weapons and new abilities, put a different outfit on the hub and hone the formula with a bunch of accessory elements and small UI improvements. Whether it will be enough to make Nintendo's long-awaited Splattatutto a new hit is to be seen, but a few weeks after the game's release we make an account of everything old and new awaiting us in Splatoon 3.

The game modes: "team that wins ..."

Splatoon 3: the Trizooka is a new special weapon similar to the Turbinator Who has played Splatoon 2 will find (almost) none news in terms of game modes, since Splatoon 3 proposes the same types of challenges already seen in the past. In the main, the Mollusca Scrum, the objective of the two opposing teams is to color the largest portion of the map, using the weapons and skills both to dye the surfaces, and to knock out. opposing players.

Among the rotating modes there are then Torre Mobile (in which you have to control, defend and accompany a tower to the opponent's base), Vongol Gol (a sort of basketball in which to collect clams scattered around the map and score in the opposite basket), Bazookarp (where you have to defend the player in possession of the bazookarp and accompany him to their destination) and a more traditional Zona Splat (where you have to conquer and protect areas of the map for as long as possible). function ready (fn) {if (document.readyState! = 'loading') {fn ()} else {document.addEventListener ('DOMContentLoaded', fn)}} ready (function () {window.addEventListener ('message', function (event) {let target_origin = 'https://aff.netaddiction.it'; if (event.origin! == target_origin) return; if (typeof event.data == "object" && event.data.hasOwnProperty ( "type") && event.data.type == "embaff") {let embed_id = event.data.embed_id; if (embed_id == '1101') {document.querySelector ('#_ aff_embed_1101'). setAttribute ('height ', event.data.embed_size);}}}, false);}) For PvE lovers, the Salmon Run mode also returns, where a team of four players must survive increasingly challenging waves of enemies, while they have to collect and deposit the eggs they drop. The possibility of passing the eggs to other distant players, much requested by fans, will be one of the few real news of Salmon Run, as well as a couple of new bosses that will join those already seen in Splatoon 2. Nintendo has however anticipated that, later in the year, a special event called Big Run will take place, in which the battle against the Salmonoids will move within the city, with Inkling and Octoling being called to defend it.

One of the new great salmonoids of the Salmon Run. It promises ... overwhelming If the modalities have remained essentially the same, it is likely that the action will be more fluid and faster, also thanks to the addition of two new techniques: the grapple allows you to perform a sprint along a wall to climb in an instant, while screwing it around consists of a leap and a sudden 180 ° inversion while swimming in the paint. If done with the right timing, this technique also allows you to repel the opponent's ink, but how decisive it will be in competitive matches is still to be seen.

Old and new maps

One of the maps returning in Splatoon 3 is Villanguilla's resort. In terms of content, Splatoon 3 once again offers a mix of old and new. Nintendo Direct gave a first look at the new scenarios, ranging from a canyon to a landfill, from a city suburb to a lively fish market. The new maps are joined by other footage from Splatoon and Splatoon 2 and, although some of the community favorites are missing (sorry, no Rione Storione and Manta Maria at launch), Nintendo has already confirmed that in the following months others will be introduced for free. arenas. Twelve scenarios at launch, all in all, aren't that bad.

Splatoon 2's arsenal of weapons has instead been revamped in its entirety, with the addition of a couple of new fin weapons, such as the calamarco (a bow capable of firing in three directions simultaneously) and the blade wiper (a melee weapon very effective at short distances). Similar speech for the special weapons, which can only be activated after having colored a lot of the map: in addition to those already announced in the past months, a refrigerator that momentarily enhances the team makes its debut, a shark-shaped float that snaps forward and explodes and a sonar that emits annoying sound waves intermittently.

SplatNet 3

Exactly as it did with the previous chapter, Nintendo will add a new version of SplatNet to the launch of Splatoon 3, the companion app accessible via the Nintendo Switch Online mobile app. Through SplatNet 3 it will be possible both to communicate by voice with your teammates, to check the statistics of the battles, to check the modes currently in progress and to order new clothes and accessories. There will also be a new feature called Gambertour, where you can spend points collected during battles in exchange for small rewards and digital souvenirs.

Welcome to Splatville

Inevitably, Inkling and Octoling also make the dub Unlike so many other competitive games, Splatoon 's central hub is an almost essential part of the experience. Of course, if you want you can still ignore it and navigate the different options and modes through the game menus, but the social square has always given character to the series, allowing players to show off their fashionable clothes or to share memes, illustrations and messages through balloons.

Splatville may not be as vibrant, modern and colorful as Inkopolis, but the new hub city of Splatoon 3 promises to be just as full of activities and shops to visit.

To underline the time passed from Splatoon 2 to Splatoon 3, Echino has also grown. Also in this case, the sense of déjà vu is strong: from the glasses Armand and his gun shop to the various bazaars in which to buy glasses, hats, t-shirts and trendy shoes. There is also Echino, now in a teen version, which this time allows you to customize both the secondary skills conferred by the clothes, and the main skill. However, this reinterpretation of Inkopolis does not lack some new additions: a new shopkeeper allows you to buy stickers, posters and various types of objects, which only serve to embellish the player's personal locker.

Another outline addition is Splattanza, a minigame that takes the basic rules of shellfish melee (ie "color more than your opponent") and converts them into a competitive 1v1 puzzle game, in which to play use collectible cards.

The single-player mode

Splatville, the new hub city of Splatoon 3 Similar to Splatoon 2, through one of the manholes in Splatville you then enter the mode Game history. For the Splatoon 3 single-player Nintendo seems to have listened to community feedback and taken a cue from the excellent work done with the Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion DLC (this is the review, in case you are interested), between scenarios full of traps and enemies, welcome cameos and fierce bosses. The Story mode will also act as a tutorial, prompting you to experiment and test the different weapons in a series of increasingly complex levels. However, it is not clear how full-bodied or how demanding the challenge will be, considering that the DLC of Splatoon 2, especially due to some clashes with the bosses, was distinguished precisely by its high level of difficulty. The Splatoon 3 single-player adventure will presumably be a simple introduction to the game, but if in quality and substance it were to even approach the eight splendid hours of the Octo Expansion, then there would be very little to complain about.

DLC and post-launch support

Against the tide of games that offer a free-to-play model based on Season Passes and microtransactions, Splatoon 3 will be sold at full price exactly like the previous ones, promising at least two years of free updates, including new scenarios, weapons and items to collect. Impossible to predict today what Nintendo's intentions will be in two years (the updates to Splatoon 2 were interrupted after the same time), but the Japanese company has already confirmed that a paid DLC will arrive in the future. It is not a gamble to imagine a content along the lines of the Octo Expansion of Splatoon 2, but at the moment the only clue released by the Tokyo giant is the silhouette of two characters that indisputably resemble Alga and Nori: after all, while the Sea Sirens will play a role in the single-player adventure, so far there is no trace of the Tenta Cool.

Idol and Splatfest: 3 is the magic number

The Trio Triglio is the new musical group of Splatoon 3 Tra all characters in the Splatoon universe, few are more popular and revered than idols. Each episode has so far had a duo of singers whose function was to welcome the player when the game starts, tell the news and updates, but also celebrate the different editions of Splatfest, the most anticipated and important event of the game. Like the city in which each episode is set, the local music group also contributes to giving personality to the experience, and that is why there was enormous curiosity in finding out who would take over the Sea Sirens and the Tenta Cool. Surprisingly, Splatoon 3 will not have a duo but a trio called Trio Triglio.

Composed of Morena, Pinnuccia (with two "year olds") and Mantaleo, this new musical group is already unleashing the community of fans, including surveys on who is the best and a flood of fanart that, as happens from always on the Internet, they are not all "appropriate". The fact that there are three characters instead of two is also tied to another big change in Splatoon 3, probably the biggest change in the game. Until now in Splatfests, players have split into two teams according to their favorite theme ("Mayonnaise vs Ketchup", "Fantasy vs Sci-fi", "Cake vs Ice Cream", "Was the Egg or the Chicken born first?", And so on ...), and the results obtained during the festival determined the winning team. Obviously each team was represented by one of the two idols of the group. Now that there are three idols, Splatfest will also have three themes to choose from, with players splitting into as many teams.

The tricolor battles are the biggest news in the Splatoon 3 festivals The winning faction in the first half of the festival will have to defend the result in a second heat, in which the three teams will face each other in 4v2v2 tricolor battles. To make these particular matches even more interesting is the fact that the winning team, despite being in numerical superiority, will be at a disadvantage, in the center of the map and therefore attacked from both sides. You don't have to wait long to understand if and how well this new formula works. We meet on August 27th, when Nintendo Switch owners will be able to try the Splatfest World Premiere with a demo playable only that day.

Errata corrige: the most crayfish users point out that we have taken ... a crab! In an earlier version of the article, the Villanguilla map - which returns from the first Splatoon - was mistakenly mentioned among the unpublished scenarios. We corrected the text before we got caught in the face.

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