Splatoon 3 has been a huge hit, selling over 3.45 million units in Japan alone over three days - eclipsing other blockbusters like Animal Crossing: New Horizons in the region. While that's good for a competitive multiplayer shooter that needs to populate Turf Wars and ranked Anarchy Battles, it also means a lot of people have experienced Splatoon 3's single-player narrative advertised as an "epic finale" to the saga. While Return of the Mammalians offers a strong story, a post-game mission truly stands out for adapting the same formula as popular Super Mario levels like "Champion's Road."
A number of connections can be drawn between games like Super Mario Sunshine and Splatoon 3, suggesting the new guard at Nintendo are longtime fans of the company's work who want to iterate upon some of its best ideas. There are few better examples in Return of the Mammalians than "After Alterna," a gauntlet of four levels strung together that players unlock upon completing every other Kettle. After Alterna tests players on all the skills they've learned, and beating it rewards them a seventh Alterna Log that describes the backstory of Splatoon 3's main antagonist. More games should take this groundwork and apply it as well as Splatoon 3 does.
Mario's History of Challenging Final Levels
Plenty of video games are built on a philosophy of growth through experience, starting with basic mechanics that become more complex and mix over time. Nintendo's platformers have pioneered this game design going back to Super Mario Bros. on the NES, which begins with World 1-1 siphoning players toward lone Goombas and one-tile gaps before ending on a series of World 8 levels full of Hammer Bros. and platforming challenges that weave around timed Fire Bars.
That design style often culminates in a final level or area which puts everything a player has learned to the test, but few examples are as widely recognizable as the Grandmaster Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy 2. Whereas the first Galaxy opens an exploratory "victory lap" level around Peach's Castle upon collecting 240 Power Stars, Galaxy 2's final level is a gauntlet called "The Ultimate Test" that sends Mario across seven planets featuring mechanics encountered throughout the game. A Daredevil Comet will even turn this level into "The Perfect Run," with players having just one health and no checkpoints.
Nintendo replicates this idea in a few Mario games to follow: Super Mario 3D Land has Special World 8-Crown, Super Mario 3D World has the aforementioned Champion's Road, and Super Mario Odyssey has Darker Side of the Moon. The portly plumber isn't the only one who goes through these culminating challenges; Capcom's Mega Man franchise is infamous for its final castles that mix up gimmicks with a boss gauntlet (cribbed wholesale by more modern titles like Shovel Knight). Yet the single-level gauntlet approach has a certain appeal that's captured by Splatoon 3's After Alterna.
More Games Should Update the 'Champion Road' Approach like Splatoon 3
Story levels in Splatoon 3 take after the more mission-based approach of Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion, and many of them offer players multiple weapon options to further challenge themselves. After Alterna only utilizes the Hero Shot, but really runs players through the wringer if they pay the 333 Power Eggs required to enter.
The first section of this gauntlet is about tricky platforming, requiring players to ride ink-covered blocks in midair, cross a conveyor belt of level chunks, and utilize Splatoon 3's new abilities like the Squid Roll. After that comes a rail-grinding portion about hitting targets on the move ala missions like "One-Way Ride through Target Town," followed by a section that connects disparate areas with Return of the Mammalian's Soaker Block mechanic. Finally, players have to beat multiple waves of Octolings using every weapon type to prove their mastery over the mechanics seen in multiplayer matches.
Splatoon 3 isn't breaking new ground by including a take on the Champion's Road-style final gauntlet, but it does show the merits of this design outside the Super Mario ecosystem. It's often frustrating to go through long sections that require precision with few checkpoints, but that makes victory all the sweeter. By culminating in a pseudo-Turf War, After Alterna also proves how well story missions can tie into the skills required for multiplayer. More games should take on a similar challenge, especially as optional post-game content.
Splatoon 3 is available now for Nintendo Switch.