Splatoon 3’s first post-launch update aims to fix its connection woes

Splatoon 3 is an utterly fantastic game – earning it a coveted 5/5 in our review – but since the game launched, players have been plagued with a host of communication errors that have made playing its online modes a nightmare. Today, Nintendo hopes to fix that, at least to some degree.

Splatoon 3’s first post-launch patch, version 1.1.1, is available to download now, and brings with it a bunch of bug fixes, tweaks, and some changes to how Splatfests will go down. The biggest addition, of course, is fixes to some of the communication issues players have been facing in online game modes such as Turf War, Salmon Run, and Anarchy Battles. The patch also now includes an auto-disconnect feature for matchmaking after a certain amount of time, so players no longer have to put their console to sleep to back out of a lobby after waiting for ten minutes to try and find a match. Yes, that’s a thing that happened, and yes, it sucked.

There’s also a huge amount of bug fixes for Salmon Run, story mode, weapons, and more. It includes a temporary change to Splatfests as well, after feedback from players during the World Premiere Splatfest prior to the game’s launch. In upcoming Splatfests, Tricolor Battles will become less common for the defending team, a small change that ultimately doesn’t fix the issues with the mode, but it’s a bandaid solution until the start of Season 2 in December, which is said to bring bigger changes that hopefully make it a little more enjoyable. The patch has only just gone live, so we can’t verify how effective this patch has been, but you can read the full patch notes from Nintendo below.

Ver. 1.1.1 (Released September 15, 2022)

Changes to Splatfests

• The rate of Tricolor Battle occurrence has been adjusted. From the defending team’s perspective, they will trigger somewhat less frequently than before.

Changes to Player Controls

• Fixed an issue where it was possible to jump farther than usual with a Squid Roll by performing a certain input while charging a Squid Surge.
• Fixed issues that appeared when playing for a long time without closing the software, such as shots from the player’s main weapon not firing correctly.
• Fixed an issue where the player could move through the surface of the water or stand on water when moving quickly. For example, when performing a Dodge Roll with Splat Dualies.

Changes to Multiplayer

• Fixed an issue where connection errors occurred with high frequency at the end of battles due to connection environment.
• Fixed an issue with the Bloblobber where the collision detection of the third and fourth blobs of a single volley became extremely small.
• Fixed an issue where cash and experience were not being awarded in certain circumstances when a battle ended early due to a lack of players.
• Fixed an issue where, in certain modes, a player would be unable to cancel matchmaking when not enough other players were gathered. Matchmaking will now be canceled automatically after a certain amount of time has passed.
• Fixed an issue in Sturgeon Shipyard in which it was possible to enter the back side of certain drawbridges.

Changes to Salmon Run

• Fixed an issue where connection errors occurred with high frequency at the end of jobs due to connection environment.
• Fixed an issue with Mudmouth Eruption events in which Mudmouths moved in unintended ways.
• Fixed an issue that caused some players with identical titles to be considered “rank supporters” and not gain Rank Points.
• Fixed an issue where continuously damaging a submerged Maws with certain special weapons would cause the game to crash.
• Fixed an issue where players were becoming trapped within the stage terrain.
• Fixed an issue where, at the end of battle, the amount of Grizzco Points earned would be shown as smaller than the amount actually added to save data, which caused cases where the player could not collect rewards.
• Fixed an issue where the messages at the beginning of Wave 3 could change based on whether or not a King Salmonid would appear.

Changes to Story Mode

• Fixed an issue where, after clearing the final stage, a communication error would occur in the middle of a certain scene and return the player to the square.
  • The post-clear cutscenes can be viewed by clearing the final stage again.
  • In cases where this error occurred, the final stage is treated as cleared, and the stage can be skipped from the pause menu when reattempting.

Other Changes

• Fixed an issue when starting the game for the first time in which the game could get stuck and not advance from the black screen after the screen where yellow and blue ink mix together.
• Fixed an issue when downloading a battle replay that occasionally caused the game to not advance.
• Fixed an issue in which the game would crash when the schedule was updated while attempting to join a friend.
• Fixed a rare issue where the game would crash while the player was visiting a shop.
• Fixed an issue where a communication error could occur while a player traded in gear at a shop.
• Fixed an issue where a connection error could occur when buying a weapon. A player would seem to then have the weapon equipped despite not having been able to buy it, which would cause a connection error if the player attempted to join a battle.

Because this update patch focuses on Splatfest-related changes and addresses bugs that can have significant effect on game progress, we have prioritized its release.

Please note that the changes to Tricolor Battle frequency should be considered temporary. For now, there will be somewhat more instances of players selecting Tricolor Battle but being placed in a Turf War battle instead. Going forward, Splatfest-matchmaking specifications will continue to be adjusted, and this issue will be rectified. We are planning to implement these adjustments with the new season beginning in December.

The next patch will focus primarily on balance adjustments and other issues that were outside the scope of the current patch.

We continue to observe and analyze battle data and are planning to make adjustments at the midpoint of the current season.