In preparation for playing the very well-received Splatoon Raiders , I just rolled the (unskippable) single player credits in Splatoon 3. Believe it or not, this is my first Splatoon game, and now I’m wondering what took me so long to wade into Nintendo’s brightly colored inky seas.

Somewhat begrudgingly, I’ll admit that I owned a Wii U back in the day, even though there were some absolute gems on that ill-fated tablet machine. Many of them have since been ported to other Nintendo consoles, like the 3DS ( Yoshi’s Woolly World ) and the Switch ( Mario Kart 8 ), but oddly, no modernized version of the original Splatoon exists. Without a proper remaster, it remains stranded on the Wii U, which is why I decided to throw caution to the wind and officially begin my Splatoon journey with this excellent third installment.

Nintendo’s chaotic and stylish ink-splatting franchise is famously multiplayer-focused, and while I have cautiously dabbled in several matches of Turf War and Salmon Run, I’ve mostly been focusing on Splatoon 3’s addicting campaign mode.

In it, you traverse a snowcapped stretch of industrialized islands in the faraway world of Alterna; these mysterious land masses are littered with fuzzy ooze pollution and so-called kettles that lead to various missions. The islands are connected by a series of pipes, and as you complete challenges and clear away ooze with the help of your fishy sidekick Smallfry, these pipes open up so you can continue your adventure.

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Each kettle mission is creativity designed, teaching you valuable weapon and traversal skills along the way, all of which you can utilize in the punishing multiplayer modes. These encompass everything from rail-grinding tasks, to demanding tests of speed and endurance and mind, with a particular challenge called One-Way Ride through Target Town making quite the frustrating impression. Take it from me—don’t use the Tri-Stringer, use the Rapid Blaster. You can thank me later!

There are also several interesting bosses to defeat in Alterna, captained by the ambiguously evil(?) band Deep Cut, although I thought most of them were a tad too easy. The story, by the way, was neat and enjoyable, if simple. I will mention that Splatoon 3 is begging for voice-acting, because a lot of dialogue occurs while you’re navigating enemies, and it’s difficult to read the conversations while fighting. Unless I was low-stakes exploring, I largely ignored the dialogue, and that was by necessity. Multi-tasking is not my strong suit.

Analog controls in Splatoon 3 are fantastic, especially with the Switch 2 Pro Controller (I’ve heard gyro is where it’s at, however), but jumping is probably Splatoon 3’s major weak point. I can’t tell you how many leaps I misjudged due to the apparent lag I experienced, even while wired into my Switch 2 via USB. I did get used to the seeming inaccuracy at some point, though it remains annoying.

On the note of the Switch 2, it took me a minute to remember that Splatoon 3 is actually an original Switch title, not an exclusive Switch 2 game like Splatoon Raiders . That said, the visuals in this 2022 release remain vibrant and alluring, even though I did experience some occasional stuttering on my Switch 2 hardware, strangely enough.

Apparently, Nintendo released a 2025 update for Splatoon 3 that improved the framerate and graphics for Switch 2 users, allowing for 4K/60fps in docked mode, and that seems to check out with my experience. Granted, I haven’t tried the game on my legacy Switch yet, so it’s hard to objectively judge things from that perspective.

It took me around 15 hours to complete the single player story in Splatoon 3 , and now it’s on to the infamous multiplayer trenches. Like I mentioned, I did dip my toes into some quick battle rounds here and there, and wow, are people good at this game. There’s a whole loot/upgrade grind here that I’m looking forward to exploring, especially before fully experiencing the cutesy looter shooter that is Splatoon Raiders , and I know I need to get way better at being an Octoling or an Inkling…or an aging millennial with gradually deteriorating gamer reflexes.

I’ve only scratched the surface of the surprisingly deep and robust Splatoon 3 , so wish me luck.

Disclosure: Nintendo provided a review code for coverage purposes.