Patch notes shared for Splatoon 3 Version 4.0.0

Season and Catalog Changes

On June 1st, 2023, data relating to Sizzle Season 2023 will be added to the game. This includes:

• A new catalog, including new gear, titles, Splashtags, decorations, stickers, and emotes.
• A new battle stage: Barnacle & Dime.
• A returning battle stage from the Splatoon 2 game: Humpback Pump Track.
• 2 new main weapons.
• 9 new sets of existing main weapons paired with different sub and special weapons.
• A new Salmon Run stage: Jammin’ Salmon Junction.
• 11 new Tableturf Battle cards.

Changes to Multiplayer

• Added 3 songs that play during battle.
• New main weapons have been added.
• New weapons have been added.
• Specifications for some main weapons have changed.
• Specifications for some special weapons have changed.
• Points required for some special weapons have been changed.
• Made it so that players cannot Super Jump to a teammate’s position in Tower Control mode when that teammate jumped from a tower to a wall and their current position is separated from the position of the tower that would be the Super Jump destination.
• Made it so that when certain conditions are met, two players on the winning team who made great efforts will celebrate each other’s brave fighting after performing their victory emotes.
• Made it possible to select from two different ink-color combinations when Color Lock is enabled.
• Color Lock combination number 1 is close to the previous setting.
• When battling with two teams, the colors will remain the same as when Color Lock was enabled up until Ver. 3.1.1.
• During Tricolor Turf War, the colors will remain the same as when Color Lock was enabled in Ver. 1.2.1 or earlier.
• Color Lock combination number 2 is a greater adjustment that provides support for cases where it was still difficult to play with Color Lock enabled previously.
• The color combination will be different from when Color Lock was enabled previously, both when battling with two teams and during Tricolor Turf War battles.
• Adjusted the animation when a Reppin’ Inkopolis emote was performed with a splatling equipped.

Changes to Challenges

• Data relating to a new multiplayer mode called Challenges has been added.
• Challenges are limited-time battles with special rules. They can also serve as online-tournament qualifiers.
• Players can participate solo or form a group with friends and join together.
• Challenges can be broken up into as many as 3 time slots so that players from various regions can join. Each time slot will be two hours long.
• As players battle, their Challenge Power will be calculated, which changes based on the player’s wins and losses during the time slot.
• Challenge Power will be calculated individually for players who participate solo and as a group for players joining as a group.
• If a group’s members change, the group will be considered new and Challenge Power will be recalculated.
• Once a certain amount of time has passed since the end of the Challenge, players will be able to check the lobby terminal to see how high their Challenge Power power was overall.
• Challenge Power distribution is measured in three divisions: solo, duos, and teams.
• 3-player groups are considered part of the teams division.
• Made it possible to use the Shell-Out Machine with Shell-Out Tokens.
• Players who win 5 battles within a Challenge will receive a Shell-Out Token.
• Players can only earn 1 Shell-Out Token per Challenge.

Changes to Anarchy Battles

• Made it so that Anarchy Power will be calculated for your team as a whole when participating in Anarchy Battle (Open) with friends.
• Anarchy Power changes based on wins and losses and is reset when modes or stages switch.
• If a group’s members change, the group will considered new and Anarchy Power will be recalculated.
• Once a certain amount of time has passed since the mode or stage switched, players will be able to check the lobby terminal to see how high their Anarchy Power was overall.
• Anarchy Power distribution is measured in two divisions: duos and teams.
• 3-player groups are considered part of the teams division.
• Greatly changed the matchmaking mechanism in Anarchy Battle (Open) to improve matchmaking efficiency for groups of 2 players.
• Made it possible to select Change Gear, Then Go! after the battle ends in Anarchy Battle (Open).
• This allows players in a group to change gear while maintaining the group.
• Made it so that selecting Stop after a battle ends will return players to the awaiting Ready! state instead of forcing them to leave the room when participating in Anarchy Battle (Open) with a group with friends.

Changes to Salmon Run

• Specifications for some main weapons have changed.
• Doubled the number of fish scales normally obtained after fighting Ka ing Salmonid in a Big Run.
• Made it possible to join Eggstra Work solo.
• When players join solo, a weapon that does not overlap with the other players will automatically be selected from the weapons available in that round of Eggstra Work.
• When joining Eggstra Work with a group of fewer than 4, other players will be gathered so that it becomes a 4-player attempt.
• Players with similar high scores during that round of Eggstra Work or similar regular job ratings will be gathered.
• Made it so that when a player joins an Eggstra Work group, a weapon that does not overlap with players who are already participating is initially selected.
• Made it clearer when it is not possible to select Ready! because a player has joined an Eggstra Work group and selected a weapon that overlaps with another player.
• Made it so that friends and members from the same Pool will be notified when you set a new high score in a Big Run or Eggstra Work.
• Players who do not wish to be notified about new high scores can disable it by selecting Options on the main menu and then selecting Other > Lobby Notifications > OFF.
• Adjusted the position where normal Power Eggs appear when a Salmonid is hit with an attack so that they appear from the position where the attack hit.
• This does not apply to all attacks.
• Made it so that the total number of Golden Eggs deposited and the total number of normal Power Eggs obtained both display when viewing Recent Jobs at Grizzco Industries.
• Made it so that newly added items available for trade using fish scales are clearly marked.

Changes to Tableturf Battle

• Increased the Tableturf Rank limit to 999.
• Adjusted the results announcement screen’s animation to make the winner clearer.
• Made it possible for players to check their own deck or give up after placing a card and waiting for their opponent to make a decision.
• Made it easier to distinguish between cards in the deck and cards not in the deck while on the deck-editing screen.
• Made it so that the player’s win streak in a particular room displays in online matches.
• When a player leaves the room, their win streak returns to 0.
• Made it possible for the player who created the room to leave even when other players are in an online match.
• Made it possible for other players to continue online matches in a room even after the player who created the room leaves.
• Made it so that when a player is spectating another player’s online match and a different player in the same room begins playing, that information displays on-screen.
• Made it so that when a player is editing their deck in an online match, a speech bubble indicating that they are doing so will appear above their head.
• Changed the control to stop accepting online matches to the B Button.
• Made it so that players will automatically give up if they do not take any actions for a certain amount of time in online matches.

Changes to the Lobby

• Added 3 songs that will play in the lobby.
• Supported the Room Creation feature of SplatNet 3.
• Room Creation is a feature in SplatNet 3 for creating Private Battle rooms in advance.
• When players create a room, they can generate an invitation URL and share it via social media, etc. to invite other players.
• After creating a room with Room Creation or receiving an invitation to a room that another player created using Room Creation, players can join the room created with Room Creation by selecting Private Battle from the in-game lobby.
• Made it possible to send notifications inviting players to join the group as many times as desired.
• Once a certain amount of time has passed after sending a notification once, players will be able to send another.
• Made it possible to select Put Away when grabbing a shelf or locker organizer while editing your locker, as long as they aren’t touching any other objects.
• Made it so that food or drink effects that are currently active will display when ordering new food or drinks at Crab-N-Go.
• Made it so that when another player is operating the jukebox in a Private Battle, a speech bubble indicating that they are doing so will appear above their head.
• Made it possible to use some features even during matchmaking. These include: Displaying notifications, displaying your Friends menu, displaying ghost details, viewing lockers, rating a player or a locker as Fresh!

This update focuses on adding features for Sizzle Season 2023, which starts in June, as well as adding Challenges and the Anarchy Battle (Open) features. It also adjusts the balance of battles and Salmon Run.

Regarding Challenges, we have implemented the features of League Battles from Splatoon 2 separately. Special events like tournaments and monthly battles are now a part of Challenges, while you’ll be able to test your skills with friends anytime in Anarchy Battle (Open).

In terms of battle adjustments, we’ve added new main weapons, powered up some special weapons, and made adjustments to certain weapons.

In particular, the Sloshing Machine was designed for fighting in places with height differences or lots of obstacles, but it has proven highly effective even in battles in flat places. So, by lengthening the interval between continuous swings, we’ve maintained the characteristic wide attack range while decreasing its ability to defeat opponents.

For the Splatana Stamper, we’ve increased the accuracy of the aim for follow-up attacks with horizontal slashes and lowered the ability to continue fighting solo, all while maintaining the unique nature of fighting by relying on the powerful charged slash (which balances a wide inking range and high attack performance).

Regarding the Splash-o-matic and the Neo Splash-o-matic, we’ve made adjustments to slightly alleviate the situation where they are able to effectively exchange fire with foes at a greater distance than intended.

Our next update is planned for the middle of Sizzle Season 2023 and will primarily focus on balance adjustments.

Bug Fixes

Fixes to Player Controls

• Fixed an issue that caused the distance a player could move after spawning onto a stage but before landing on the ground to change if they adjusted the direction of the camera.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused an ink-spray animation to play when a player changed into swim form midair.
• Fixed an issue where it was sometimes difficult to get on top of a wall when swimming up a wall with a grate above it.
• Fixed an issue that made it possible to use throwing-type special weapons slightly faster than intended by activating the special weapon in the interval between pressing the ZR Button and when the ink actually fired.
• Fixed an issue that made it difficult to ink the ground when a blaster was fired while directly adjacent to a wall.
• Fixed an issue where the ink consumed by a horizontal swing of a roller while moving was slightly more than when a horizontal swing was performed while standing still.
• Fixed an issue where the animation appeared to show ink flying on the player’s screen even if another player was using a roller that was out of ink.
• Fixed an issue where the intended sound effect would not play on the player’s screen when another player was swinging a brush while out of ink.
• Fixed an issue where, when a player Super Jumped and opened a brella just before landing, foes who touched that brella and were pushed by it sometimes clipped inside the terrain.
• Fixed an issue where, when brellas with different durabilities clashed and one of them broke, the one that remained sometimes was not damaged.
• Fixed an issue where the area for Splat Brellas and Undercover Brellas blocking enemy shots was smaller than it appeared.
• Fixed an issue where players who fired a Tenta Brella and followed behind it could appear slightly in front of the brella on other players’ screens and be attacked. The issue has been mitigated by increasing the thickness of the area of a fired brella that protects against enemy fire.
• Fixed an issue where Undercover Brellas did not recharge after defeating an enemy or assisting in defeating an enemy if the player used a special weapon.
• Fixed an issue where the animation appeared to show ink flying on the player’s screen even if another player was using a splatana that was out of ink.
• Fixed an issue where there was a roughly 1/60 second delay before the explosion when a Fizzy Bomb hit an enemy’s Splash Wall or similar barrier.
• Fixed an issue where an enemy player inside a Big Bubbler sometimes took damage when a sub weapon hit the Big Bubbler and destroyed it.
• Fixed an issue where Angle Shooters sometimes rebounded in unintended ways when used on a surface with a slight elevation difference.
• Fixed an issue where the Zipcaster arm didn’t pass through the perimeter fence on certain stages.
• Fixed an issue where players who used the Zipcaster to attach to the wall while their feet were in enemy ink would continue to take damage even though their feet were not on the ground.
• Fixed an issue where some animations wouldn’t display when looking inside a Tacticooler through the glass.
• Fixed an issue where the projectiles from some throwing-type sub weapons would not land in the correct spot when thrown to the space between a Tacticooler and terrain.
• Fixed an issue where players were unable to set up Tacticoolers on certain terrain.
• Fixed an issue where Tacticoolers set up on moving towers sometimes disappeared immediately after being set up.
• Fixed an issue where the animation of ink spraying from another player’s Inkjet occasionally didn’t show on the player’s screen.
• Fixed an issue where the controller didn’t rumble when an enemy’s Tenta Missiles locked onto the player or a nearby ally.
• Fixed an issue where the sound of the player taking damage played consecutively when they used the Ultra Stamp within the area of effect of an enemy’s Ink Storm.
• Fixed an issue where, if a player sent a Booyah! in certain situations (like when they were splatted) and an ally’s special gauge didn’t increase, the ally’s special gauge would appear to have increased when they sent a Booyah!
• Fixed an issue where another player’s position occasionally appeared to move unnaturally on the player’s screen when that player touched terrain while using a Booyah Bomb and was pushed away.
• Fixed an issue where a player who used a Booyah Bomb under a tower’s grate would sometimes be pushed away by the tower and clip inside terrain. This was fixed by making it so that the player can pass through the grate.
• Fixed an issue where walls were sometimes not inked properly when players activated a Kraken Royale near the wall and then immediately climbed it.
• Fixed an issue where players occasionally landed in an unintended spot after Super Jumping to an ally who was submerged in ink on the side of a tower.
• Fixed an issue in Rainmaker mode where multiple sound effects played when the player got in between the Rainmaker shield and terrain with a Kraken Royale.
• Fixed an issue in Rainmaker mode where a minimum charge Rainmaker shot was automatically fired when players obtained the Rainmaker immediately before firing certain main weapons.

Fixes to Multiplayer

• Fixed an issue where the unevenness of ink did not display as intended on certain terrain.
• Fixed a rare issue where an inkrail would sometimes vanish if the player hit the inkrail start point with an attack right before the inkrail stopped working.
• Adjusted the color of Tri-Stringer shots lodged in the terrain during Splatfests so that it’s easier to tell which team fired them.
• Fixed an issue where the animation of marking an enemy with weapons like the Point Sensor displayed darker than intended on certain stages during Splatfests.
• Fixed an issue where Sprinklers placed on the side or bottom of a tower would unnaturally ink the top of the tower.
• Fixed an issue in Rainmaker mode where fully charged Rainmaker shots did not explode immediately when they touched a brella after coming in contact with terrain.
• Fixed an issue in Rainmaker mode where the special usage was not counted when the Rainmaker was obtained after throwing a Tacticooler but before it was set up.
• Fixed a rare issue in Clam Blitz mode that caused terrain not to be inked in certain spots when hit with a power clam.
• Fixed an issue in Clam Blitz mode that caused the animation indicating a clam’s location to not display in certain spots even when the clam’s location was inked.
• Fixed an issue in Clam Blitz mode where it sometimes became impossible to obtain clams or power clams despite repeatedly picking up and throwing them while on an unstable connection.
• Fixed an issue in Undertow Spillway in Rainmaker mode where a “DON’T RETREAT!” warning would be triggered in some spots even if the team was advancing with the Rainmaker.
• Fixed an issue in Mincemeat Metalworks that allowed players to stay on top of grates in certain areas while in swim form.
• Fixed an issue in Hagglefish Market where it was possible to set up Ink Mines in certain spots that cannot be inked.
• Fixed an issue in Hagglefish Market in Clam Blitz mode where players could infiltrate the enemy base in an unintended way by using inkrails.
• Fixed an issue in Museum d’Alfonsino where players who used a Zipcaster to land on top of rotating terrain couldn’t stop at that location.
• Fixed an issue in Museum d’Alfonsino where players who used Inkjet to land on top of rotating terrain could float up higher than intended.
• Fixed an issue in Museum d’Alfonsino that sometimes caused Tacticoolers thrown near the rotating terrain to disappear as soon as they were set up.
• Fixed an issue in Museum d’Alfonsino in Tower Control mode that sometimes caused players to clip into the terrain when Super Jumping near the rotating terrain at certain times.
• Fixed an issue in Inkblot Art Academy that prevented players from submerging in ink on the edges of some terrain.
• Fixed an issue in Inkblot Art Academy that sometimes caused sub weapons thrown on certain spots to stop on those spots.
• Fixed an issue in Sturgeon Shipyard in Turf War mode that allowed players to ink the bottom of certain boxes that were not intended to be inked, which increased players’ special gauges and earned them points.
• Fixed an issue in MakoMart that made some of the terrain look like it could be inked even though it couldn’t.
• Fixed an issue in Wahoo World that caused some animations to not display when looking through glass.
• Fixed an issue in Wahoo World that allowed players to submerge in terrain that was not intended to be inked.
• Fixed an issue in Brinewater Springs that allowed players to choose to spawn in a spot outside of the stage, causing them to immediately fall.
• Fixed an issue in Brinewater Springs in Rainmaker mode that sometimes caused the animation above checkpoints and goals to not display correctly.
• Fixed an issue in Flounder Heights in Rainmaker mode where the tops of certain boxes weren’t treated as areas the Rainmaker couldn’t enter.
• Adjusted the placement of a box on the high ground in Um’ami Ruins in Tower Control mode to fix an issue that allowed players to use Kraken Royale and unforeseen methods to get to the high ground near the spawn point.
• Adjusted the placement of the goal in Um’ami Ruins in Clam Blitz mode to fix an issue where players could throw clams into the goal from unintended locations.
• Fixed an issue in Manta Maria where players could stand on the narrow ledge above the mast.
• Fixed an issue in Manta Maria that sometimes caused sub weapons thrown on certain spots to stop on those spots.
• Fixed an issue in Manta Maria that caused some terrain that was not intended to be inked to appear inkable in certain spots on the Turf Map.
• Fixed an issue in Manta Maria that caused players to be treated as if they had fallen off the stage and splatted if they were submerged in ink before moving to the floor in certain areas.

Fixes to Salmon Run

• Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented players from being able to throw or deposit eggs in the egg basket if they were carrying a Golden Egg and approached the egg basket while pressing the A Button.
• Fixed an issue where a Golden Egg would appear to stay in place if a player who was carrying it while using the Inkjet entered swim form and then was splatted by a Salmonid.
• Fixed an issue where the explosion from a Steelhead or Horrorboros bomb would launch a Drizzler’s projectile back at it.
• Fixed an issue where the player would be splatted if a Flyfish’s container was broken and the player got close to the broken part.
• Fixed an issue that caused the number of Power Eggs a player earned from breaking a Flyfish’s container to differ depending on the order in which they were broken.
• Fixed an issue where the controller did not rumble when a Flyfish’s Tenta Missiles locked onto the player or a nearby ally.
• Fixed an issue that prevented a Flyfish from exploding even if it was hit with its own missiles.
• Fixed an issue that caused Flyfish to spawn at a lower height than intended.
• Fixed an issue where, in rare cases, the inside of a Flipper-Flopper’s ring would quickly appear to have been inked, even if it mostly hadn’t.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused a Flipper-Flopper to land on top of the egg basket.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented a player who was being targeted by a Flipper-Flopper from earning Power Eggs even after they stopped it from diving.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused the game to slow down when a player got on top of a Slammin’ Lid.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused a Slammin’ Lid that was splatted above a grate to fall beneath the grate and Golden Eggs to appear under the grate.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented rollers from dealing damage to Slammin’ Lids with a rolling attack.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused Slammin’ Lids to pass through the terrain when they attacked in certain spots.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused players to clip under the terrain if they attacked a Big Shot while touching it.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused multiple Big Shots to spawn from the same spot.
• When playing a job scenario with a special Fog wave, we made it so that the order in which Goldies appear and the corresponding number of Golden Eggs it leaves when defeated will be as close to the same as possible.
• Fixed an issue in special Fog waves where the number of Goldies that spawned was lower than intended in rare cases.
• Fixed an issue in special Mothership waves where the position of the Mothership was sometimes different for each player.
• Fixed an issue in special Cohock Charge waves that made a cannon unusable if a player was splatted as soon as they entered it.
• Fixed an issue in special Giant Tornado waves that sometimes caused the second box to be damaged as soon as it appeared.
• Fixed an issue in Spawning Grounds that sometimes caused Golden Eggs to fall in places that made it hard for players to collect them.
• Fixed an issue in Spawning Grounds that sometimes allowed Grillers to pass over higher elevations than they should normally be able to.
• Fixed an issue in Spawning Grounds that sometimes caused Maws to sink into the terrain and not be able to come out.
• Fixed an issue in Gone Fission Hydroplant that sometimes caused a Flyfish to overlap with a Fish Stick and prevent players from breaking its container.
• Fixed an issue in Marooner’s Bay that sometimes caused Maws to sink into the terrain and not be able to come out.
• Fixed an issue in Marooner’s Bay that sometimes caused Golden Eggs to fall in places that made it hard for players to collect them.
• Fixed an issue that caused players to only be able to collect 5 bonuses from a single job when they earned enough
  Grizzco Points to collect 6 or more bonuses.

Fixes to Tableturf Battle

• Fixed an issue that caused rotated cards to go back to their initial position if the player selected “Cancel” on the “Giving up?” screen to go back to the game.
• Mitigated an issue that caused a communication error to occur for players doing online battles in the same room for about 2 hours by extending the time it takes for an error to occur to 4 hours.
• We will consider adding a fix in a future update that prevents a communication error from occurring even if players stay in the same room for an even longer period of time.
• Fixed an issue that caused the spectators and players to see different things for an extended period of time when the connection was unstable in online battles.

Fixes to Splatfests

• Fixed an issue in the “Splatfest Top 100” part of “Splatfest Stats” in SplatNet 3 where, if 2 or more players were tied to the nearest decimal point, the player who recorded their score first would be displayed beneath any players who recorded their scores later.
• This fix will also be applied to the ranking order of Splatfests that were held in the past.
• Fixed a rare issue that caused the conversation about Splatfest results to not display when tuning into the Anarchy Splatcast at the exact time that the Splatfest result announcement began.
• Fixed an issue that caused the game to crash if the player selected “Watch Splatcast” while a Splatfest news flash was playing somewhere other than the lobby.

Other Fixes

• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused the number of Times Splatted to differ between battle replays and battle stats if a player was splatted right before the end of a battle.
• Fixed an issue where, if a communication error occurred while fast-forwarding in a battle replay, the subsequent audio would remain fast.
• Fixed an issue that caused certain hairstyles to appear differently than intended when the Special-Forces Beret was equipped.
• Fixed an issue that caused some shoes to not display correctly when placed in a locker.
• Fixed some emote icons that made it difficult to determine what the emote was.
• Fixed an issue where, if a friend created a room for a Private Job, it would display as Salmon Run on the Friends menu, making it hard to tell that it was actually a Private Job room.