As the Splatoon franchise has evolved, fans found a number of activities they can latch onto. Many enjoy the simplicity of Turf Wars, which take typical shooter mechanics and simplify them for Nintendo's audience by focusing on ground coverage rather than kills. Ranked game modes offer a more competitive edge, and side activities like Splatoon 2's Salmon Run or Splatoon 3's Tableturf Battle card game have their own meta to learn. However, the storytelling in Splatoon's single-player campaigns has also evolved, with Splatoon 3 recontextualizing older characters like Mr. Grizz for potent narrative reveals.
Given Splatoon is a multiplayer shooter franchise at heart, player characters are custom and defined by their Fresh apparel. While the original Splatoon's protagonist named Agent 3 has become a standalone non-playable character, most fans will instead identify the series via recurring individuals like the idol duo Callie and Marie. After the "Return of the Mammalians" story campaign, the once-enigmatic Mr. Grizz will likely occupy a similar niche. Major spoilers for Splatoon 3 ahead.
Splatoon's Salmon Run Game Mode
Salmon Run was the hallmark co-op mode introduced in Splatoon 2. It gave users the option to work together and defeat waves of new enemies called Salmonids rather than pitting Inklings (and later Octolings) against one another in competitive matches. In the Salmon Run demonstration from E3 2017, producer Hisashi Nogami said this idea was spearheaded to highlight the Switch's portability and easier local play, allowing groups of friends to defeat a handful of unique Boss Salmonid that drop Golden Eggs.
In the Splatoon universe, Salmon Run was contextualized as a side-gig for Inklings and Octolings to participate in between Turf War matches. Grizzco Industries was cleverly designed with a bear-themed aesthetic to reflect how players would be hunting salmon, but the only individual that players meet from the company is Mr. Grizz - even then, the character only appears via voice lines spoken through a wood-carved radio. Mr. Grizz oversees his employees to provide training and talk players through each Salmon Run wave. Splatoon 3's Salmon Run: Next Wave keeps this aspect of the character consistent as the mode moved from limited availability to open 24/7 access, but Return of the Mammalians shakes up how players will perceive the last few games.
How Return of the Mammalians Reintroduces Mr. Grizz
The latest Splatoon story begins similarly to Octo Valley and Octo Canyon, with players recruited by the now-retired Cap'n Cuttlefish to save the Great Zapfish after it has seemingly been kidnaped by the Octarian army. However, the tutorial area ends with a fight against mainstay antagonist DJ Octavio, who is revealed to not be responsible this time around. The New Squidbeak Splatoon enters a mysterious underground realm called Alterna to rescue a captured Cuttlefish, and find out the truth behind the infestation of Fuzzy Ooze.
Mr. Grizz will begin to interrupt the player's communication with Cap'n Cuttlefish as they defeat bosses across Alterna, made up of the three members from new idol group Deep Cut. Once the New Squidbeak Splatoon collects all three of these boss treasures, players begin a Mega Man-style final gauntlet up a rocket ship to test the abilities they've learned thus far. All the while, communications between Mr. Grizz and the former Captain reveal that Grizzco's CEO wants to use the transformative substance found throughout Alterna to "restore the balance" by turning the universe's sentient sea critters back into mammals.
Mr. Grizz as Splatoon 3's World-Ending Threat
By completing each region in Return of the Mammalians, players unlock the "Alterna Logs" that detail the effects of climate change and humanity's collapse. Alterna was the last stronghold for humanity, developed by scientists and using unique crystals to create live facsimiles of a pre-apocalypse skyline. While future generations ultimately destroyed themselves trying to escape Alterna, these crystals kickstarted the development of modern Inklings.
A secret log unlocked by completing the post-game gauntlet "After Alterna" reveals that a second venture was meant to save Earth's non-human species by sending them to a new planet using the Ark Polaris. This voyage failed due to unexpected hazards in deep space, and Ark Polaris crashed back into the planet some 12,000 years later, killing most of its creatures. However, Bear 3.0 survived - and was now sentient due to the centuries of hibernating consciousness.
This bear would become Mr. Grizz, an actual grizzly bear and one of the last living mammals in a world dominated by cephalopods. After discovering and starting to rebuild Alterna, Mr. Grizz found he could create Fuzzy Ooze by combining his fur with humanity's liquid crystal technology. He opened Grizzco Industries so others would collect the Golden Eggs he needed to increase production, ignorant to the fact they would be preparing their own demise. However, Mr. Grizz' plan to drop Fuzzy Ooze across the globe using Alterna's rocket is foiled by a coalition of Inklings, Octarians, and Salmonids, proving the mettle of Earth's new inhabitants.
Mr. Grizz is defeated by an empowered Smallfry and the player character guiding DJ Octavio's mech, though he can be seen floating through space during the end credits - open to return in a later game. However, in the meantime Grizzco continues running with recordings of his voice. It's unclear who operates Salmon Run in his absence, but players will find his old wood-carved radio replaced by a new carving that depicts the Hugefry transformation attacking a tiny grizzly bear.
Splatoon 3 is available now on Nintendo Switch.
