Today Nintendo held its Splatoon Direct, revealing details of a free demo which will arrive on 9th May, as well as detailing the 4 on 4 player online action, giving news of free post-content launch and detailing its Splatfests, which will allow players the chance to earn a special item.
You can watch the Splatoon Direct video at the bottom of the post.
Participants can download the free demo from Nintendo eShop for Wii U from 17:00 CEST today. This demo will then go live for 1-hour periods at the following times on Saturday 9th May: 04:00 BST, 12:00 BST and 20:00 BST.
When live, users will get the chance to jump online and play in 4-on-4 Turf War battles against other players from across the world, including representatives of Nintendo’s Squid Research Lab! Players who download the demo can also claim a 10% discount off the price of Splatoon on Nintendo eShop, with the offer starting on 29th May and lasting until 4th June.
– 4-on-4 online action: When the game launches on 29th May, players will need to think strategically when participating in online matches. Two stages are refreshed every four hours with an official announcement in-game to sound the changes, meaning players will have to carefully consider weapons and tactics for the stages that lie in wait. Different weapons work better in different stages, so players will discover depth in the weaponry as they focus their strategies on different 2-stage pairings. After each 4-on-4 match, players are randomly reshuffled to form new teams, so sometimes players will be working with their friends and other times they’ll be looking to take them down.
– Free post-launch content: Five stages available from launch – Urchin Underpass, Saltspray Rig, Walleye Warehouse, Blackbelly Skatepark and Arowana Mall – will get players off to a flying start, but new stages are set to be introduced every few weeks that require even more skill to master. As additional free post-launch content, players can also look forward to experiencing new weapons, as well as a Ranked Battle mode ominously named Tower Control. A major game update event in August will add further friend matchmaking functionality to enable 4 players to form a team and battle against other teams, as well as functionality to create private 8-player matches with just friends. Also coming in August is a mysterious third Ranked Battle mode, Rainmaker, a whole new line of items to spruce up a player’s battle appearance, plus more.
