Splatoon 3’s Fresh Season Update Is On The Way, Here Are The Full Patch Notes

It’s a big time of change for Splatoon 3. The February Direct brought with it the announcement of two DLC waves that will be heading to the game (the first of which launches tomorrow, 28th February) and the next huge update is right around the corner in the shape of Fresh Season 2023.

This new season is set to kick off in just a few days on 1st March, so Nintendo is releasing the relevant update now so that all of our systems can be inked up and ready to go for the big day. The update will be available today (27th February) for those in North America and it looks like it will be coming tomorrow for players in Europe and Japan.

Worry not! The actual season itself is still set to start on 1st March, so we’ll all get our hands on the new content at the same time. For a reminder of everything that is set to come to the game with the new season, be sure to check out our handy guide below.

With the latest update rolling out in some parts of the world today, Nintendo has now published the full patch notes so that we can see all of the planned additions and tweaks that will be heading to Splatsville over the next few days. You can find all of the details in the following rundown.

Splatoon 3 ver. 3.0.0 (Releasing 27th/28th February 2023)

Changes to DLC

• Added support for Inkopolis DLC.
  • Players who have purchased the Splatoon 3: Expansion Pass – Inkopolis & Side Order DLC can now travel between Inkopolis and Splatsville using the train station in the square.
  • Inkopolis has the same shops and features as Splatsville.
  • The shops in Inkopolis also have the same lineup of products as Splatsville. If you buy something in one location, it will be sold out for the day in both locations.

Season and Catalog Changes

• On March 1, 2023, data relating to Fresh Season 2023 will be added to the game. This includes:
  • A new catalog, including new gear, titles, Splashtags, decorations, stickers, and emotes.
  • A new gear brand, Z+F.
  • About 126 new items added to store product lineups.
  • 2 new battle stages: Um’ami Ruins and Manta Maria.
  • 2 new special weapons: Kraken Royale and Super Chump.
  • 12 new sets of existing main weapons paired with different sub and special weapons.
  • 23 new Tableturf Battle cards.
  • Prizes that can be obtained by trading fish scales at Grizzco.
• You can earn more Catalog Points than usual during the week before the end of the season thanks to a special Closeout Bonus.

Changes to the Notififcations Feature

• Added the Pool feature.
  • The Pool feature allows players to send and receive notifications with other players in the same Pool.
  • Players can enter a phrase to join a Pool by opening the Lobby menu, selecting the Notifications tab, and pressing the + Button.
  • For example, if you enter “Turf War Fans,” you’ll be able to send and receive notifications with players who have also entered “Turf War Fans,” and you will be able to join or drop in on each other’s games using notifications.
  • While there isn’t a limit on how many people can join the same Pool, there may be cases in which notifications won’t be sent to all members if a large number of players are connected to the same Pool simultaneously.
• When you receive an invitation to play or a “Fresh!” notification, it will be displayed on the screen.

Changes to Multiplayer

• New special weapons have been added.
  • Weapon sets with these specials will be available in the shops at the start of Fresh Season 2023.

  Special Weapon	Details
  Kraken Royale	Transform into a huge squid or octopus and attack by pressing the B Button to jump or by holding and releasing the ZR Button to do a charge attack. You’ll be vulnerable for a moment before and after transforming, but you won’t take any damage from attacks while transformed.
  Super Chump	Aim and scatter a bunch of balloon-like decoys in a certain area. Markings that look like Super Jump landing spots will display on the ground where the decoys will land. The decoys can be destroyed if hit with an attack. Decoys that aren’t destroyed will explode after a certain amount of time, inking the turf around them and dealing damage.

• New weapons have been added.
  • These weapons will be available in the shops at the start of Fresh Season 2023.

  Weapon	Sub Weapon	Special Weapon
  Neo Sploosh-o-matic	Squid Beakon	Killer Wail 5.1
  Neo Splash-o-matic	Suction Bomb	Triple Inkstrike
  N-ZAP ’89	Autobomb	Super Chump
  .96 Gal Deco	Splash Wall	Kraken Royale
  Custom Jet Squelcher	Toxic Mist	Ink Storm
  L-3 Nozzlenose D	Burst Bomb	Ultra Stamp
  Rapid Blaster Deco	Torpedo	Inkjet
  Clash Blaster Neo	Curling Bomb	Super Chump
  Krak-On Splat Roller	Squid Beakon	Kraken Royale
  Z+F Splat Charger	Splash Wall	Triple Inkstrike
  Z+F Splatterscope	Splash Wall	Triple Inkstrike
  Tri-Slosher Nouveau	Fizzy Bomb	Tacticooler

• Specifications for some main weapons have changed.
  

  Main Weapon	Change Details
  Big Swig Roller	Roughly doubled the amount of damage dealt to nonplayer objects (Splash Walls, brellas, etc.) when striking them with ink.

• Specifications for some sub weapons have changed.
  

  Sub-Weapon	Change Details
  Burst Bomb	Increased the amount of time it takes for ink to begin recovering after being used by about 0.16 seconds.

• Specifications for some special weapons have changed.
  

  Special Weapon	Change Details
  Trizooka	Damage dealt to Crab Tank armor increased by about 20%.
  Killer Wail 5.1	Made it easier to activate the effect from the Special Power Up gear ability, even when the player only has a few items with that gear ability equipped. The effect gained from equipping the maximum number of Special Power Up gear abilities will not change.
  Inkjet	Damage dealt to Crab Tank armor increased by about 2.5x.
  Ultra Stamp	Damage dealt to Crab Tank armor increased by about 3x.

• Points required to use some weapon specials have been changed.
  

  Weapon	Before	After
  Aerospray MG	190	180
  N-ZAP ’85	190	180
  Tri-Slosher	190	180
  Ballpoint Splatling	200	190
  Tri-Stringer	190	180

• Changed the terrain in some stages for some modes and reduced the impact of weapons shooting from far away.

• Stage	Mode
  Eeltail Alley	Turf War Splat Zones Tower Control Rainmaker Clam Blitz
  Hagglefish Market	Turf War Splat Zones Clam Blitz
  Mincemeat Metalworks	Turf War Splat Zones Rainmaker Clam Blitz
  Hammerhead Bridge	Turf War Splat Zones Tower Control Rainmaker Clam Blitz
  Museum d’Alfonsino	Turf War Splat Zones Rainmaker Clam Blitz
  Mahi-Mahi Resort	Turf War Splat Zones
  MakoMart	Turf War Splat Zones Tower Control Clam Blitz
  Wahoo World	Turf War Splat Zones Clam Blitz

• The sound effect when activating Ultra Stamp is now less audible to teammates.
• The sound effect when activating Inkjet is now less audible to teammates.
• The sound effect when activating Crab Tank is now less audible to teammates.

Changes to Salmon Run

• A new King Salmonid called Horrorboros may appear.
  • Whether a Cohozuna or a Horrorboros appears will depend on the schedule at the time.
• Data relating to the upcoming Big Run event has been added.
• Data relating to the limited-time Eggstra Work event has been added.
  • In Eggstra Work, players can assemble a group of two to four friends or members from the same Pool and then compete against other teams—all using the same job scenario—to collect as many Golden Eggs as possible during five waves.
  • Both the initial hazard level and the job scenario for Eggstra Work are fixed, which means that every team will face off against the same Salmonids under the same conditions every time. However, if your team manages to exceed the Golden Eggs quota by enough, your hazard level will go up, making it possible to get a higher score.
• You will now be able to preview items when exchanging fish scales, similar to how you can preview items at Hotlantis, etc.

Changes to Connectivity

• Made it so that players will be notified when their connection is unstable. If the connection continues to be unstable, player controls will temporarily be disabled.

Changes to Splatfests

• Changed the amount of XP required to level up a Splatfest Tee. Splatfest Tees with more gear abilities will no longer require more XP to level up than those with fewer gear abilities.
  

  	Before	After
  0 Abilities	2,000	7,500
  1 Ability	8,000	7,500
  2 Abilities	14,000	7,500
  3 Abilities	28,000	7,500

• Winners of 10x Battles, etc., will be announced during the Anarchy Splatcast.
  • This announcement will display automatically when in the lobby. It is not related to the timing of stage changes that happen every two hours.
• Slightly adjusted ink colors during Tricolor Turf War battles when Color Lock is turned ON.
• When you win a 10x Battle, a notification will be sent to your friends and members from the same Pool.

Changes to Lockers

• Added a feature to store all items placed in your locker at once.
  • Press the – (Minus) Button while editing your locker to use this feature.

Changes to Tableturf Battle

• It is now possible to play Tableturf Battle against friends and players in the same Pool.
  • You can create a room for Tableturf Battle in the lobby.
  • Up to 10 players can join a room for Tableturf Battle.
  • If two players in the same room take a seat at the Tableturf Battle tables on the second floor of the lobby, a game between the two will commence.
  • You can watch a game between two players by approaching them and pressing the A Button.
  • You can also play with nearby friends via the same process at the Shoal. Up to eight players can join a room for Tableturf Battle at the Shoal.
• Increased the responsiveness to quick inputs made on the Edit Deck screen.

Changes to the Lobby

• Added a jukebox to the lobby.
  • You can use 100 cash to temporarily change the music playing in the lobby to a song of your choosing.
  • You’ll gain more songs to choose from as you progress in the game.
  • When using the jukebox in a Private Battle room, the music you choose will also play in the lobbies of other players in that room.

Other Changes

• Increased the number of badges that can be obtained based on player level.
• Increased the number of items on display in the gear shop at once to nine.
• Any titles, banners, decorations, badges, or emotes from previous catalogs that haven’t been obtained will now be available in the Shell-Out Machine.
• Increased the image quality on some screens in Photo Mode.
• Increased the amount of time before screen burn-in reduction activates in certain modes, such as while playing Story Mode or viewing replays.
• To improve the matchmaking efficiency in Open Anarchy Battles, teams will be disbanded and new players will be added if only a few current players select Keep Going.
  • As before, when playing in a group with friends, the team will stay together regardless of the number of players remaining.

This update focuses on adding support for the Inkopolis portion of the Splatoon 3: Expansion Pass – Inkopolis & Side Order DLC, as well as adding data and features relating to Fresh Season 2023 and making adjustments to battles.

For battles, changes are primarily focused on ensuring special-weapon balance.

We’ve made other changes with the intent of curtailing strategies that employed repetitive use of certain sub weapons.

By analyzing data in this state at an early stage, we hope to release update data that includes main-weapon adjustments before long.

For Salmon Run, we have introduced the limited-time Eggstra Work event in addition to a new King Salmonid enemy.

There will be one or two Eggstra Work events during Fresh Season 2023.

For now, you’ll need a group of players to participate in Eggstra Work, but we will consider adding the option to join as a solo player in the future.

In addition to this, we have implemented various features, improvements large and small, and bug fixes.

We plan on releasing the next update sometime around the end of March or the first half of April, and it will focus primarily on balance adjustments.

Bug Fixes

Fixes to Player Controls

• Fixed an issue that caused some players who changed direction quickly to look unstable for a short while on other players’ screens.
• Fixed an issue that allowed players to do a Squid Roll for a brief time when jumping from an inked floor onto an un-inked floor while touching a wall.
• Fixed an issue that prevented players from being able to submerge themselves in ink on the ground if landing on the ground while touching an un-inked wall.
• Fixed an issue where players who held the R button after doing a Squid Roll off a wall could end up in the pose for using a Curling Bomb, Fizzy Bomb, or Smallfry.
• Fixed an issue where players who did a horizontal swing with a roller and made contact with a Torpedo after it changed shape could sometimes be pushed back slightly.
• Fixed an issue where players who attacked an enemy with a roller by rolling into them—but did not splat them—could sometimes be pushed in an unintended direction.
• Fixed an issue where, if certain special weapons were activated while a roller was being lifted up, ink would still fly forward, even if the roller’s movement was cut off by the activation of the special.
• Fixed an issue that made the ink from a Carbon Roller, Carbon Roller Deco, or Flingza Roller look like a different texture than that of the ink from other rollers.
• Fixed an issue that caused the barrel of a charger to move a lot when standing still and firing with low charge, causing the aim and trajectory to greatly differ from what was intended.
• Fixed an issue where, if another player did a Dodge Roll as they slipped through a grate, that player would appear on other players’ screens in a different place than they actually were for a longer time than expected.
• Fixed an issue that caused a delay of up to one second before damage to a brella began to recover if the brella was closed directly after blocking damage from a foe.
• Fixed an issue that caused brellas fired on a slanted surface to tilt up and down more than usual.
• Fixed an issue that caused brellas to be able to climb up steep inclines that they normally wouldn’t be able to climb.
• Fixed an issue where, if your brella was broken the moment you launched it, it would appear broken on your screen but continue moving on other players’ screens.
• Fixed an issue that made other players using a Splatana Wiper appear to have ink in their weapon to everyone else, even if they were out of ink.
• Fixed an issue that enabled players to climb to otherwise unreachable high terrain in rare cases when getting pushed back after touching an enemy’s Splash Wall.
• Fixed an issue that enabled players to climb otherwise unreachable high walls in certain stages while in Crab Tank’s mobile mode.
• Fixed an issue where assists were incorrectly assigned when players who were moving slowly due to being sucked in by an Ink Vac were splatted.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes sent a player’s Wave Breaker far away when they tried placing it on an edge.
• Fixed an issue where players may not be returned to the spot where they activated a Zipcaster or Inkjet special if they activated it right after landing on a grate in swim form after a Super Jump and subsequently fell off the stage.
• Fixed an issue where players would still appear to be taking ink damage if they took damage from an enemy’s Ink Storm while submerged in ink, even if they swam around in ink.

Fixes to Multiplayer

• Fixed an issue that caused the point at which a player is considered to have fallen off the stage to be lower than intended.
• Fixed an issue where ink from an enemy’s Sprinkler that hit a wall wouldn’t drip on other players’ screens.
• Fixed an issue that allowed Fizzy Bombs thrown a certain way to damage players within a Big Bubbler when the Big Bubbler was on moving terrain.
• Fixed an issue that allowed certain Zipcaster, Crab Tank, and Reefslider attacks to deal damage to opponents behind thin terrain.
• Fixed an issue that prevented a Crab Tank’s armor from taking damage if it touched the Rainmaker shield while in mobile mode.
• Fixed an issue that caused a Tacticooler to sometimes appear in a different location on the screen of the player who placed it than on the screens of other players.
• Fixed an issue that allowed the ZR Button to be used to stop a Reefslider even after a battle ended.
• Fixed an issue where players who tried to use Ink Storm while the rain cloud from their last Ink Storm was still on the stage would have their special gauge freeze for that battle.
• Fixed an issue where, if you splatted a player who had a gear ability enabling them to see through terrain equipped (like Thermal Ink or Haunt, etc.) using a special weapon that has an ink tank (like Inkjet, etc.), sometimes the ink tank would be the only thing the splatted player could see through terrain when they respawned.
• Adjusted the density of the border of Splat Zones when displayed through terrain and addressed an issue with visibility depending on ink color.
• Fixed an issue in Tower Control where using a Crab Tank on terrain around the tower would sometimes cause the Crab Tank to take control of the tower even if it wasn’t on the tower.
• Fixed an issue in Rainmaker that caused players to sometimes clip into the terrain if they got caught between the terrain and the Rainmaker shield.
• Fixed an issue in Rainmaker where performing a Super Jump onto checkpoints or the goal at a particular moment as they rose sometimes made players clip into them.
• Fixed an issue in Clam Blitz where the splash of ink that displays when throwing a power clam looked different than intended.
• Fixed an issue in Clam Blitz where, if an enemy’s power clam was sitting on top of a closed basket, it would automatically count as the power clam going into the basket when the basket reappeared.
• Fixed an issue in Clam Blitz where, if you repeatedly throw and pick up clams for a short time, clams you picked up would sometimes not display or follow you.
• Fixed an issue in Clam Blitz where breaking an opponent’s barrier as time ran out in a special three-minute overtime after a scoreless regular match would not count.
• Fixed an issue in Turf War and Splat Zones modes that allowed you to climb over certain obstacles and cross terrain in unintended ways on the Scorch Gorge stage.
• Fixed an issue in Eeltail Alley that caused ink to fly up above a bridge if a player splatted an enemy while they were jumping under the bridge.
• Fixed an issue in Rainmaker that caused the goal distance in Undertow Spillway to change significantly if you jumped on an enemy sponge of a certain size while holding the Rainmaker.
• Fixed an issue in Clam Blitz where clams were not placed symmetrically at the start of a battle on the Mincemeat Metalworks stage.
• Fixed an issue in Tower Control that allowed you to unintentionally climb walls from above certain fences on the Museum d’Alfonsino stage.
• Fixed an issue in Mahi-Mahi Resort that caused the water level to not change if participants disconnected at certain times.
• Fixed an issue in Rainmaker where the announcement that your team had broken through the checkpoint wasn’t displayed when you broke through a checkpoint first on the Mahi-Mahi Resort stage.
• Fixed an issue in Sturgeon Shipyard where, if another player Super Jumped onto a moving drawbridge, they would appear on other players’ screens as having landed on the ground regardless of whether or not they actually landed on the drawbridge.
• Fixed an issue in MakoMart that sometimes caused players to become stuck in the terrain.
• Fixed an issue in Wahoo World that allowed players to unintentionally climb certain walls.
• Fixed an issue in Wahoo World that sometimes caused players to clip into the terrain when Super Jumping to certain locations.
• Fixed an issue in Clam Blitz mode where clams were placed at the start of battle in such a way that they got stuck inside sponges on the Brinewater Springs stage.
• Fixed an issue in Tower Control, Clam Blitz, Turf War, and Splat Zones modes where you could climb up certain unclimbable walls on the Flounder Heights stage.
• Fixed an issue in Tower Control and Rainmaker modes that allowed you to climb unclimbable walls and terrain on the Flounder Heights stage using methods not intended to be used.

Fixes to Salmon Run

• Fixed an issue that prevented players from escaping a Flyfish’s container if they entered while in life-ring form.
• Fixed an issue that prevented players from moving while on top of a gusher in life-ring form.
• Addressed an issue that caused the timing of each player’s Super Jump to be off.
• Addressed an issue that caused Salmonids to deviate from their set movement path and become stuck in the terrain under certain conditions.
• Addressed an issue where players could be considered inactive and have communication cut when performing a ground-rolling attack with a roller at a very slow speed, despite this being an action one can usually perform.
• Adjusted the animation of the Grizzco Brella when being launched and reduced its brightness.
• Fixed an issue that caused players to sometimes clip into the terrain if they touched the lower part of a Maws after it attacked.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Triple Inkstrike guide to not follow the movement of a Flyfish when it hit the Flyfish’s cockpit.
• Fixed an issue where the Grizzco Splatana couldn’t damage a Stinger.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused multiple Big Shots to spawn from the same spot.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused Golden Eggs to land on top of the egg basket if a player defeated a Snatcher flying over it.
• Addressed an issue that caused slowdown to occur when players are in certain places on the Marooner’s Bay stage.
• Fixed an issue during Cohock Charge mode that made a cannon unusable if a player got splatted while in it.
• Fixed an issue during Goldie Seeking mode where, if a gusher was activated just before the wave ended, the gusher would stay active in the next wave as well.
• Made it so that if the Mothership comes to steal Golden Eggs from the egg basket when it has no eggs inside during Mothership waves, Chinooks will not come out of the Mothership.
• Fixed an issue that caused Slammin’ Lids to rise unnaturally high in certain areas on the Spawning Grounds stage.
• Fixed an issue on the Marooner’s Bay stage that sometimes caused Golden Eggs to fall and stick onto the side of the boat when the Snatcher carrying them got splatted.
• Fixed an issue that caused Stingers and Drizzlers to greatly overlap in certain areas on the Marooner’s Bay stage.
• Fixed an issue where a player’s friends that they had just worked a shift with didn’t appear in front of Grizzco afterward.
• Fixed an issue that prevented players from getting a Big Run badge if a communication error occurred at a specific time.
• Fixed an issue that affected a player’s lesson progress if they did “Lesson One: On-the-Job Basics” after a special wave occurred in their prior shift.

Fixes to Splatfests

• Fixed an issue that caused some of the floats being set up during the Splatfest Sneak Peek to not display.
• Fixed an issue that caused players to look different than usual when taking photos on a Splatfest Float.
• Fixed an issue that caused player avatars to not do poses designated by the player when taking photos on a Splatfest Float.

Other Fixes

• Fixed an issue that prevented stickers from the Splash Mob gear brand from showing up.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused the line indicating how many Rank Points were needed until the next rank to be displayed in the wrong position, giving the impression that the player had skipped a level. This occurred when players earned Rank Points equal to the amount needed to rank up.
• Fixed an issue where gear with ★★★★ star power would sometimes earn one fewer XP than it should.
• Fixed an issue with replays that caused the battle action to differ from the original battle while navigating through a video. For example, a player who should be on the stage could appear to have been splatted, etc.
• Fixed an issue where watching certain battle replays would cause the game to crash or cause part of the game display to disappear.
• Fixed an issue where selecting Start Over in the menu to replay a battle sometimes resulted in brellas being in a different state than in the first replay.
• Fixed an issue with Private Battles in the Shoal where only camera options and no player settings would be reset even if Reset Options was turned ON.
• Fixed an issue where, after a player turned Reset Options ON in the Shoal, the setting would remain ON when they started a Private Battle or Private Job in the lobby or at Grizzco.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented the sort feature on the Equip menu from working correctly.
• Fixed an issue in Ammo Knights and Hotlantis where, even if players tried to change their equipped gear, the changes would not be applied to some parts.
• Fixed an issue where, if a player was trying something on in a shop and then moved to another shop from the main menu, they would start out in the Trying On state in the other shop.
• Fixed an issue in Ammo Knights where dualie weapons appeared smaller than usual while players tried them out.
• Fixed an issue where performing certain actions after talking to Murch would cause the A Button to stop working on the menu screen, preventing the player from proceeding.
• Fixed an issue where, if the player switched from Listen to Splatcast to Watch Splatcast, the X Battle stages wouldn’t be shown on the Anarchy Splatcast when multiplayer maps and modes were updated.
• Fixed an issue in the match menu where performing certain actions would cause the battle-stats display to be duplicated in Notifications.
• Fixed an issue during recon where players who touched the Rainmaker shield while in swim form on an inkrail would continue to take damage until they got splatted instead of falling.
• Fixed an issue where applying certain filters during a photo shoot would cause the coloring of the stage to change after ending the photo shoot.
• Fixed an issue where, if a player used the timer during a photo shoot and then placed the Rainmaker on a checkpoint before picking it up again, the amount of time that player held the Rainmaker wouldn’t be reset.
• Fixed an issue where sub weapons held in a player’s hands wouldn’t show up correctly in photos if they used the timer during a photo shoot.
• Fixed an issue where the effect that indicates when a charger or stringer is fully charged wouldn’t show up in photos if a player used the timer during a photo shoot.
• Fixed an issue where applying certain filters during a photo shoot on certain stages would make it extremely difficult to see the screen.
• Fixed an issue where the ink color of an amiibo’s weapon would sometimes appear to be a different color than the amiibo if certain weapons (Splat Roller, etc.) were equipped.
• Fixed an issue where, if a player chose Change Gear, Then Go! and then changed their gear, the gear that they changed into would sometimes be applied to the battle result screen for the previous battle.
• Addressed an issue that sometimes caused slowdowns to occur when players regained control of their characters after finishing a battle and returning to the lobby.
• Fixed an issue that caused the shoulder part of certain clothing placed in a locker to stretch out unnaturally.
• Fixed an issue where players would be unable to enter the locker room if a communication error occurred at a certain time after they edited their locker for the first time.

What are you the most excited to see this time around? Ink your way down to the comments and let us know.