The release of Splatoon 3 on September 9th will bring with it a brand new Splatfest event, allowing players to enjoy brand-new content, such as the Tricolor Turf Wars. The Splatoon series is one of Nintendo’s most successful modern franchises, selling over 18 million copies since the release of the first game back in 2015. The franchise consists of third-person shooter multiplayer battles in which players compete to paint the most of the map as they can while preventing the enemy team from doing the same. The two factions present in the game are the Inklings and the Octolings, which represent squids and octopuses.
The typical Turf War, which is the main game mode in the Splatoon games, consists of three-minute matches in which players compete to cover the map as much as they can in their ink. During the match, surfaces that are covered in their color will let players morph into “swim” form, which allows them to move faster, climb up walls, recharge their ink reserves and perform brand-new moves in Splatoon 3, like the Squid Surge. Standing in enemy ink, however, will slow down players and damage them a bit over time.
During Splatoon 3’s Splatfest event, players will have access to an all-new game mode, the Tricolor Turf War. This mode works similarly to regular Turf Wars but will instead pit three teams against each other. One of the teams will start in the middle of the stage and will need to protect the Ultra Signal, a mechanism that when used by any of the other two teams will activate the Sprinkler of Doom, which will paint a large portion of the map with their ink. Although Tricolor Turf Wars in Splatoon 3 are technically three-way battles, more often than not the middle team will find itself fighting the other two teams to keep them from using the Ultra Signal.
How Splatfests Work in Splatoon 3
Splatfests are Splatoon events that often introduce new factions that the players can ally themselves with to gain rewards. In Splatoon 1 and 2, these factions were Cats and Dogs, and players could choose one of the two and compete in Turf Wars to gain experience points for their faction. Players would then be rewarded with Super Sea Snails based on their Splatfest title and would receive extra if their faction won at the end of the event. Super Sea Snails are a valuable resource in the game, as they allow players to add sub-ability slots to gear but can also be used to reroll them. In Nintendo's Splatoon 3, players will have access to three factions during the Splatfest event instead of two, which are Rock, Paper, or Scissors, and will be able to gain experience points by playing the Open, Pro, or Tricolor modes.