Splatoon has been on the market since late May and has proven to be a commercial and critical success on Wii U, yet Nintendo is naturally keen to push the title as an evergreen release. With the continual free content updates, that's not surprising.
Intriguingly, it's now been confirmed that there'll be another run of Splatoon Testfire events. In Europe those on a mailing list have been sent eShop download codes - with a link to auto-download to the Wii U using a Nintendo Network ID - for the Splatoon Testfire demo, while it's also available once again on the store in the region and in North America. With the online servers well established there are daily match times for newbies to give the game a try.
The details are different depending on region, below:
North America
- 3pm Pacific / 6pm Eastern until 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern on Friday 21st August
- 3pm Pacific / 6pm Eastern until 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern on Saturday 22nd August
- 3pm Pacific / 6pm Eastern until 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern on Sunday 23rd August
Europe
- 7pm UK / 8pm CET until 8pm UK / 9pm CET on Saturday 22nd August
- 7pm UK / 8pm CET until 8pm UK / 9pm CET on Sunday 23rd August
- 9am UK / 10am CET until 10am UK / 11am CET on Monday 24th August
- 9am UK / 10am CET until 10am UK / 11am on Tuesday 25th August
- 3pm UK / 4pm CET until 4pm UK / 5pm CET on Wednesday 26th August
- 3pm UK / 4pm CET until 4pm UK / 5pm CET on Thursday 27th August
- 3pm UK / 4pm CET until 4pm UK / 5pm CET on Friday 28th August
Are you on the fence with Splatoon and planning to give the Testfire a try?
Comments 55
Awesome!! But I'll just stick the actual full game
Interesting. How much do you want to bet that the servers will be full of veteran players looking to massacre newbies?
Is it bad that I'm tempted to play the demo? It would be SO relaxing to massacre some newbies after all the hard battles in rank mode XD
Then again I don't want to ruin their fun and risk to damage Nintendo's sales on this awesome title >.>;
@Nicolai You got me even before I could say/post it...
Is the Testfire download new, or will the old one still work?
Interesting schedules, Europe gets a whole week but just one hour per day.
I will stick to the normal game, but this is a great way to entice people on the fence. I am having so much fun with Rainmaker, and giving Tower Control a chance too.
Being the cheap freeloader that I am, I will definitely participate in at least one of those days.
I'd rather stick to the full game. As much as I'd like to troll noobs, it isnt as fun when you cant hear them rage quit. That and I'll give them a chance to learn the basics of Splatoon.
@BakaKnight: That is what turf war is for, LOL. (But I only play it to power up new gear . . . honest . . . no really!)
@TrueWiiMaster in Japan there was a new one so I'm guessing it is the same for other regions.
This is great news, because believe it or not I don't have this game yet - so I'm looking forward to giving it a try to see if I like it
Haha! Good thing I already have plans for all three NA dates. Sheesh, at least on Xbone they give us a week.
glad that nintendo re-release the global testfire, the last time i play the testfire was when i only played one match and sever went down and stuff! still haven't got the game but this will help me make my decision of if i should get splatoon! also i got the download code of the testfire from nintendo newsletter for some reason(even though it was free)! also i'm glad that people in europe is having a whole week but i feel bad for people in america as they have 3 days! i might not join in the monday and tuesday because i might be still sleeping but i would join in the other 5 days!
Heck yeah!!!!
@ekreig If they did a permanent demo it would be to hard to find other players, they want everyone playing at the same time
I'll download this again if you can play with friends, if not I'll stick with the full version.
Europe gets more than America. This is the f*cking new 3ds all over again. Yay. What fun. Happy happy joy joy. This is the most joy I have ever felt in my entire life.
/s
@ianolivia really 1 extra hour and you're moaning.
If I want to masscacre noobs I'll just enter regular battle lol.
Not sure what Nintendo's goal is here but I guess they know what they're doing.
@ianolivia You mean like, the US gets tons of stuff (regarding games, game events and entertainment in general) that the EU don't get (or only later) and now you're complaining?! Seriously dude, if anyone had a right to complain about these things, it's everybody outside the US and Japan.
@ianolivia except that Europe get less hours in total
@BakaKnight @Nicolai Not sure I'd call it fair sport Besides for those of us who mostly play Ranked mode we're not exactly going to see sudden increase of level 10 players... Pretty sure it would take more than hour of play to get to level 10... I'm also wondering whether they'll fence off those playing the demo, otherwise it'll be be like shooting fish in a barrel...
Brilliant move, now that the big updates have released the game is at a level more people would be interested in buying. Despite owning it since release I understand why this makes sense. Hope it spurs some more sales, so far Splatoon has been a huge success for being a new IP on a platform with a lower install base.
I've probably played two hundred hours of Splatoon, but I'm curious how the Testfire will work, so I'll give it a try!
@DarthNocturnal Target near me has had a demo since Day 1. I do think it's only single player but it might be the entire first area, so that's 3 levels and a boss. But the point is, there is a non-timed demo that could be on home consoles, there are always plenty of playable demos in Target.
@I_Am_Kappa 7 is less than 6? Do tell.
Maybe I can finally get my brother in law to get his wii U online for this, I'm sure my 9 year old nephew would love it, and my son wants to play online with him. Might even finally use Wii U Vidon't chat after 2 years.
And I'm OK w/ the timing, 3 2 hours blocks over the weekend isn't too horrible. How long have Mario Kart 8 and SSBU demos lssted?
Not sure why anybody thinks the testfire will hook up w/ the game. The test fire had no ranking, no cumulative, no continuation, nothing at all. Every match existed in its own stand alone world. So yeah, we could go crush the newbies, but they won't be in our games, and we won't have our gear or weapons to choose from, probably just the basics, I doubt Nintendo updated it, no ink brushes or gaitling guns or buckets.
I'd love to play Splatoon but sadly my time just isn't there to divide between SSB, MK8, this and other backlogged games. I hate my life sometimes
Great move by Nintendo! I have the full game so the global test fire doesn't interest me
So it's only available by using a DL code!? It should be available to EVERYONE and have it visible on the eShop main page!
Will the arenas be the same as before? They should show off arowana and blackbelly - my favourites! Then again, I have the full game, so doesn't concern me!
@rjejr Maybe they will figure the demo download thing with the NX. I think the way they handled the DS Download Station and Nintendo Channel was closer to the right way. They could have put an app/channel/software on the eShop featured a different demo/demos depending on the console's available storage (user definable to pull the latest demo or everything in the kiosk "volume") with some videos.
This meets in the middle for players and Nintendo. New Wii U owners can get a taste of something new every month or quarter, and Nintendo gets demos that are only available for a limited time.
Wait, I'm confused. Is this another server test or is it a demo run to haul in more players? Cause I don't wanna waste space next to on-the-fence folks when I already have the full game.
Also, I don't wanna scare off potential new players - the community shall grow!
SPLATOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!
AAAAND... DOWNLOADING NOW! despite no intention to play. LOL!
@BakaKnight Well, Splatoon is team based, right? I doubt that it will be that much of a massacre. Us noobs will probably be at a disadvantage, but that's how you learn best, isn't it? You spend a few matches getting killed learn the ropes and you get better.
@Thomas Whitehead: Any word from Big N if this Testfire is simply to give more folks a free trial or if any new game play elements or delivery systems are being tested?
So tbe testfires are region based? I might give it a go to enjoy the lack of laggy Japanese players...
@Kaze_Memaryu It's a marketing thing. Japan had a test fire similar to the new NoE one about a week ago. IIRC, this is an updated app compared to the May test fire app.
Aah, some relaxing games after playing while in S rank.
AEST times?
In all honesty veterans, please don't come on and wreck us noobs. These test fires decide whether I buy the game or not, so splatting me is splatting Nintendo's sales. I'm sure it's the same for others,
Do you NEED that download code for it, or is it available to everyone?
Seems like a good opportunity to get my bro into Splatoon.
@JubilifeRival great Idea I'll come shrekt u.
This will be my first time playing this game. I'm not expecting to win, but dang if I try.
More Splatoon is always a good thing. I'll skip the test fire since I already have the full game, but its good to get the word out! Don't go too hard on the new guys; save that for when they get the full game.
If you need to try out this demo fine, but folks, if you don't own this game, buy it. Some of the most fun I've had playing online in a long time.
@jariw - "this is an updated app compared to the May test fire app."
So many questions, but I'm going to give you the night off and go Google them myself.
@DarthNocturnal Yes, the Target near me has a Wii U w/ a Spaltoon demo on it. It isn't available for home downloading though. Didn't know you were in Canda, or maybe I did but I forgot.
@Captain_Gonru - craycray
I think I'm going to start having you edit all my posts, we same the same stuff but you are very succinct.
Couldnt try it last time cos of the server crash. Still won't if it's only NA and EU
Great! Another chance to bring more people on board! For those of you who are still on the fence, give it a try, this game is fantastic!
Might download it again just to see if it's any more stable than the actual game is after that update.
Might even be able to finish 2 matches in a row
@Peanutosan The game is stable. I can play several hours without any connection issues. If you can't play 2 matches without issues, it's your connection that needs to get fixed.
I bought the game Friday, but a friend of mine is still on the fence about it. Now he has a bigger, better chance to try it out and play it.
Well ain't that nice.
I'm sure it will net them quite a few more sales.
@Nicolai
More than likely, testfire participants will be handled on seperate servers.
They're planning to add a lot of new players in general, so they will be expanding the capacity anyway.
@Pod But my guess is that there will be some people who are already experienced at the game, but will want to download the testfire just to knock some easy targets for fun. Especially for people like me who are frustrated by how good everyone is online, cuz man, do I get my butt kicked in this game!
@Nicolai
Ah yes, that's of course a possibility.
So I missed the test fire last weekend (I only read "starting march 25th" and didn't realise I had to log in at specific times) now I have to wait until august for the relaunch???
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