To those who think Nintendo relies too heavily on characters from the 1980s, enter the lovable goofballs that populate the Splatoon universe, a franchise that originated in 2015.
The third edition of the mega-popular series is launching next month, and Nintendo is celebrating the release by readying a brand new Switch console to ship just ahead of it, the clumsily named Nintendo Switch—OLED Model Splatoon 3 Edition.
This is the first cosmetic refresh of last year’s OLED Switch, affectionally called the “SWOLED,” and the new exterior is as colorful and off-kilter as the games that inspired it.
There’s plenty for Splatoon fans to love here, including blue and yellow Joy-Con controllers adorned with popular characters and a white dock covered in tell-tale graffiti.
Otherwise, the console is the same one launched last year: a standard Switch model with a snazzy, slightly larger OLED display. Nintendo is also releasing a Splatoon-centric Nintendo Switch Pro controller and a colorful carrying case, but you must purchase them separately.
Oddly, Splatoon 3 does not ship with the system. In the past, the company typically threw in the reference game with these special edition consoles.
The third version of this cartoon squid-inspired “shooter” promises a beefed-up single-player campaign, a 4v4 multiplayer mode with plenty of new maps, and a brand new cooperative mode called Salmon Run.
The console releases on August 26, ahead of Splatoon 3, which launches on September 9.
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