At the top of the Recent list in the Nintendo Store this morning was the Splatoon 2 Global Testfire, which caused a violently happy noise to escape my body as I hit the Free Download button to check it out.
For the uninitiated, Nintendo ran a Global Testfire with the original Splatoon game for the Wii U. These are demo weekends where you're able to play the multiplayer portions of the game against players from all over the world, to help Nintendo balance weapons and make sure the servers can handle the load.
With Splatoon 2, this Global Testfire will be especially important because of the way people will be playing. The Switch is a portable console, which means many people will be playing in environments where the network connection could be variable and unstable. How Nintendo handles players in those environments is particularly important for the online multiplayer parts of this game, which were some of the most popular in the original game.
Downloading the Global Testfire app doesn't do anything right now, but there's a schedule to let you know when that will change. Currently, Splatoon 2 servers will be available:
- 3/24 from 12pm-1pm PT
- 3/24 from 8pm-8:59pm PT
- 3/25 from 4am to 5:59am PT
- 3/25 from 12pm-1pm PT
- 3/25 from 8pm-8:59pm PT
- 3/26 from 4am to 5:59am PT
This is unlikely to be the only weekend Splatoon 2 is available to test, and you probably won't be able to join every single session due to the wide array of play times, but this is a good way to give Nintendo data. Go to a coffee shop and play, tether to your phone and give the game a shot, or grab your Pro Controller and establish dominance early in this new Inkling Arena.
I will absolutely be playing as much of this over the Global Testfire weekend as possible. What about you?
