Splatoon 3's Table Turf Battle Explained

"Splatoon 3," the newest installment in one of Nintendo's only competitive online multiplayer series, is splashing onto shelves on September 9. In "Splatoon," a team of four players is tasked with painting a map's surface using various weapons and abilities, all while battling against an opposing team with the same goal. The team with the most paint coverage when the timer runs out wins (via splatoon.fandom).

But fans of the series know that "Splatoon" is more than its flagship Turf War mode. Each "Splatoon" game has a sizeable amount of single-player story content on top of numerous spinoff multiplayer modes. For example, "Splatoon 2" introduced a mode called Salmon Run, where players face off against a horde of NPCs.

"Splatoon 3" follows tradition by adding a few new game modes for players to feast on. Recently, Nintendo showcased a sequel to Salmon run, titled Salmon Run: Next Wave, which will be accessible in "Splatoon 3." Additionally, "Splatoon 3" will feature a Lobby where players can practice at a Test Range, among other activities, while waiting for a match to start. But the most surprising announcement was for a new mode titled Table Turf Battle, a unique card game headed to Splatsville.

During the August "Splatoon 3" Direct, Nintendo showed off a new 1v1 competitive card battle spinoff of Turf War called Table Turf Battle. In this mode, players square off with a deck of 15 cards built from the catalog of 150 cards in the game. Currently, there is no information yet on how to collect these cards, but players will be gifted a starter deck to dive into the mode quickly.

Although Nintendo hasn't released the full details of the gameplay, the video preview gives gamers a good idea of what to expect. Each card in Table Turf Battle has a different shape attached, similar to a Tetris block. Players can move a card's shape onto a gridded playing field when it is played. Additionally, some cards have special abilities, like the Heavy Splatting card shown in the trailer, that can be activated by placing it next to one of the glowing blocks on the board. This attack nullifies the enemy's colors on those squares. Like in Turf War, whoever has the most coverage on the playing field, denoted by a number score, at the end of the match will be victorious.

Information on this new mode is sparse, but Nintendo announced they would release more information on the mode in the future. So, stay tuned to the "Splatoon 3" website for more information on the mode when it arrives.