Explore Booyah Base and more when Splatoon 3 Expansion Pass Wave 1 Inkopolis arrives later this month

Go back to the place this ink-spraying series began.

Image via Nintendo

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Nintendo has confirmed that Splatoon 3 Expansion Pass Wave 1 Inkopolis will launch for the game later this month. It gives players a chance to explore the hub from the original game, and every shop long-time fans will fondly remember from the first game.

The release date for Splatoon 3 Expansion Pass Wave 1 Inkopolis is February 28, which is also when Chill Season 2022 ends and the next season begins. This follows from the details shown during last week’s Nintendo Direct. A recent video for the Expansion Pass explains how players can take a train from Splatsville to Inkopolis and visit all the shops they will remember from the original game. The shops will sell all the same items as the shops from Splatsville, but the vendors will be different. If you’ve been playing the series for a while, you might recognize a few of them.

🚨 Attention Inklings and Octolings!

Head over to Inkopolis when the first wave of DLC from the #Splatoon3: Expansion Pass releases on 28/02!

Buy the Expansion Pass now: https://t.co/k7IbIVScrx pic.twitter.com/JR66QDOnem
— Nintendo UK (@NintendoUK) February 15, 2023

Nintendo also confirms in this video how Inkopolis will function during Splatfests. The Squid Sisters will perform there during these events, meaning you can get a dose of old-school partying outside of Splatoon 3’s comparatively huge and modern setting.

Also revealed during the Nintendo Direct was Splatoon 3 Expansion Pass Wave 2: Side Order. This is a new piece of single-player content that comes to the game at some point in the future. While we do get to see a new trailer and get a hint at the world this expansion is set in, at the time of writing, there’s no word on a release window.

The world of this expansion is blank, devoid of color. Given that Splatoon 3 gives you ink-spraying weaponry, we’d guess that the story of Side Order will revolve around restoring color and life to this new region. Images in the trailer hint that the story will focus on Off the Hook from Splatoon 2, Pearl and Marina. These iconic characters were the main hosts of Splatoon 2’s newscasts, and fans will enjoy seeing their story continue when Side Order comes to Splatoon 3 later this year.