Splatoon 3’s first Splatfest disappoints as Tri-Color Battles fail to show

Splatoon 3 has been out for a little bit and it’s already become one of Nintendo Switch’s highest-selling games ever. And honestly, it’s pretty great. I never really got to heavy into the first two but playing the third alongside my kids has become a great bonding experience. Not only that but this one is kind of fun.

And then they announced the first Splatfest. As it was in the previous games, you pick a team and compete over a weekend for the right to claim certain prizes and bonuses. A fun time is had by all. And this one was looking to be the biggest yet with the introduction called Tri-Color Battles.

For the first time, there were going to be THREE teams competing against each other. The team that had the lead got four players in the middle and then two people from the other two teams would start on the opposite ends of the map. The two losing teams would work together to stomp the one in lead.

They introduced the question that was going to decide the teams, “If you were going to a deserted island, what would you bring? Gear, Grub or Fun.” The question bonded my two children in the fact that they both let out a disappointed “why?” This was the question they started with. Fair enough. I, personally, went with Frye’s team, Grub. Not just because I’m a fat guy but I’m also Team Frye-or-Die. My youngest went with me while my oldest went with Team Gear.

That Saturday we all played for two hours. It felt like regular Splatoon 3 with the only exception being we couldn’t change our shirt and our ink color was yellowish-orange the entire day. It was alright and I racked up a ton of clout, whatever that was for. That Sunday was supposed to be the day they brought in the Tri-Color Battles. I let the kids start technology time about an hour early so they had a little extra time to mess with it as Splatfests are rare birds.

For the entire three hours we all played the mode called Tri-Color Battle. Me and my youngest were teamed up, and my eldest, who was a different team, by himself. All of us encountered standard two team battles. Then about two hours in, me and my youngest got placed into our first Tri-Color! Which we won, thank you very much.

We had a good time and got really hyped to finally play this mode. Little did we know that we’d never play another one. In the three hours we played that was our only one. My oldest, who’s on Team Gear, never played a single one. It was really unfortunate as that was the big draw.

The rest of the event was okay. Like, I know Splatfest is supposed to be all about Turf Wars and all that, but I will give them credit on one thing. I didn’t expect the decorations to be that good. It looked like a full on party that Sunday complete with the Deep Cut hosts dancing on a stage to their own music.

It reminded me of the shows you could watch Calie and Marie put on in Splatoon 1 when you scanned their Amiibos.

But yeah, playing for three hours and only getting one Tri-Color Battle was a major letdown and so far I’ve talked to a lot of people that never even got to play a single one. Here’s hoping the next Splatfest fixes this.