Nintendo have announced new details for Splatoon 3, thanks to their recent Direct for the game and there was a lot included, but there was also more revealed after the event, so let us get into it, starting with the story mode.

Return of the Mammalians

While the story mode is a part of the game, it was only in the direct for a brief moment, but the new details we got are interesting. In this new story, you will take the position of Agent 3, the latest recruit of the New Squidbeak Splatoon and your role is to help fight back against the Octarian Army. This time you won’t be going alone as Smallfry, your own little buddy, will be along for the ride, as you attempt to discover the secrets of Alterna, the mysterious Fuzzy Ooze and how it connects to Octarians with hair… ok. Strangely, there were no new screens for that mode revealed by Nintendo, so hear are some from earlier in the year.

Turf War

The main multiplayer mode for the Splatoon series is back again in Splatoon 3 and the general concept hasn’t changed. In Turf War, two teams of 4 players will battle it out in matches that last three minutes, in an attempt to cover the most ground as possible.

New techniques have been introduced, like the Squid Surge where players can swim up walls in a single burst, and the Squid Roll, which makes it possible to jump out of ink while turning around. When the players’ character glows while executing the move, it also repels ink from opponents.

Stages

For those who are keen to brave the battles that Turf War and the other multiplayer modes offer, there are some new stages to enjoy, with 5 new ones revealed to be set within the Splatlands and some coming back from Inkopolis, here are the new ones.

Scorch Gorge

Eeltail Alley

Mincemeat Metalworks

Undertow Spillway

Hagglefish Market

In addition to those new stages, there are some returning ones as well, in fact with the 5 new stages, there will be 12 available at launch, but sadly unless you play in private battles, the game will still force you to play through their rotation of maps. Here are the other maps coming at launch:

Museum D'Aldonsino
Hammerhead Bridge
Mahi-Mahi Resort
Inblot Art Academy
Strugeon Shipyard
MakoMart
Wahoo World

Weapons

New maps mean new weapons and the game has you covered. There is one that we have seen quite often in the existing marketing materials and that is the bow-like Tri-Stringer, which can fire in three directions simultaneously and unleash charged shots that briefly freeze before exploding. Revealed during the direct is the Splatana Wiper, which will send blades of ink flying with the centrifugal force generated by swinging it. If swung after charging up, it’ll transform into a charged slash.

Plus, all main weapon types from previous Splatoon games will be available in Splatoon 3 from the start. Check out the video below to get a breakdown of all the weapons and sub-weapons coming.

Shops

One of the key aspects of the series is the gear, from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet, there is a lot to enjoy, if you like dressing up, there are a host of shops in Splatoon 3, here is a breakdown on each.

Ammo Knights
- This works a little differently than past games, as the new Sheldon Licence is needed to buy weapons, you can earn them from battles and using weapons often. One licence will provide one purchase, so if you want to get all the guns you have to play a lot. You can over use them to level up over normal weapons, unlocking spicy versions.

Naut Couture
- headware shop

Man-o' Wardrobe
- clothes shop

Crush Station
- shoe store

Players will also be able to deal with Murch, who can tweak items, allowing you to apply special effects to items, if you want to have a set look and don’t like the effects they come with normally.

Finally, there is another shop you can visit, Hotlantis and it is here where you can buy things to customise your Splashtag (banners for your name), as well as your locker in the lobby and a few other places.

All of those customisation options can be saved to presets within the game, but if you own any Splatoon amiibo, you can save it to them as well. While the game only allows for 5 slots of saving, you can save one preset to one amiibo and as there are 17 Splatoon amiibo, that is a lot of sets you can swap between.

When you scan an amiibo from the series, you will also unlock some exclusive gear, and it’s possible to snap in-game photos together with them.

There are also three new amiibo coming out for the game, but while the game itself is coming in September, this triple pack of amiibo won’t be releasing until the Summer, but there is no exact time yet.

The Deep Cut Trio

With a new game, comes new hosts for the in-world TV show, Anarchy Splatcast and this time the hosts are Shiver, Frye and Mr Big

As with the other games, this trio of hosts provide information on battle stages currently available, as well as other news bulletins. For the first time in the series, these updates can even be read on the go while exploring Splatsville, as all Inklings have sea-cumber phones.

Battle Modes

Turf War is a fan favourite mode, but sometimes you want a little more chaos and that is where the other Battle Modes come into play. With a name like Anarchy Battle, you know that they are going to be different and you would be correct. In Anarchy Battles, players compete for rankings in objective-based battles. There are four separate modes, which are on rotation: Splat Zones, Tower Control, Rainmaker and Clam Blitz.

Wanna take on a challenge solo? Select Anarchy Battle (Series). But if players want to team up with friends, joining Anarchy Battle (Open) is the way to go.

Post-Launch Support

Finally, after the game launches, a free in-game season catalogue will be distributed every three months for two years. Additional weapons will also be added around the same time as each in-game catalogue. In addition, X Battle and League Battle are planned for future updates. X Battle is unlocked after attaining an extremely high rank in Anarchy Battle. In League Battle, players can compete every two hours in teams based on their Anarchy Battle results. Large-scale paid DLC is also planned for the future. More details will be shared at a later date.

Nintendo have revealed a lot more details about the game here, including that folks with save data on their console from Splatoon 2 will get some bonus goods for the new game.

The game is set to launch on September 9, but the Splatoon 3 OLED Switch, Pro Controller and console case, will be on sale come August 26.