The Shoal

The Shoal is a location in and Splatoon 3, which allows players to participate in the local multiplayer mode. It is an amusement arcade that is found to the right of Inkopolis Square, and to the right of the Battle Lobby in Splatsville.

Splatoon 2
The Shoal is a local multiplayer mode category selection screen of Splatoon 2 where players can choose a game mode to play locally, each player requiring separate consoles and copies of the game to play. The player can enter The Shoal from Inkopolis Square or tap on "The Shoal" on the map. There are two game modes available: Private Battle and Salmon Run. The player can either choose to host these modes or search and join other peoples' lobbies. These modes differ slightly from their online counterparts, as Private Battles at The Shoal do not allow for spectators in local wireless play and there are some extra options for the host, while Salmon Run has different selectable weapons, and the host can set the difficulty. A list of available weapons at the Shoal and the day they were made available are listed below.

A manual for Salmon Run is also available to read by pressing while on the main screen at The Shoal, where the first page is a summary of how to play the mode, while pressing  shows the Salmonid Field Guide.

The player can earn Crusty Sean tickets by playing in The Shoal and getting Shoal Stamps. The player gets a punched card with 8 empty cells and they get one stamp for each player played with per day. To commemorate the player's first visit, they get a free Shoal Stamp. The color of the card indicates the reward they'll get. The player gets a Crusty Sean ticket every time the punched card is completed with 8 Shoal Stamps. After filling the punched card, a new card with different color will appear above it. The color order of the punched cards is Yellow, Green and Blue.

Quotes
"SRL Tech Support here with Fashion Desk, Ballistics, and Linguistics... and we're ALL playing a local wireless Private Battle in the Shoal!

Have friends bring their Nintendo Switch systems over, and splat any way you like in the Shoal - or even set up a Salmon Run!"

- @SplatoonNA on Twitter

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🇺🇸 [[united states|us]] North America (English)
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 * "Welcome to orange! You've come to the right place to play via orange connection. Just talk to the receptionist to get started. After you choose your battle mode and stage, we'll get you right into the action!" - When entering the Shoal for the first time.
 * "Welcome to orange! You've come to the right place to play via orange connection. Just talk to the receptionist to get started. After you choose your battle mode and stage, we'll get you right into the action!" - When entering the Shoal for the first time.

LAN Play
LAN play is available in both and  as a feature in the Shoal. It is not on the game's menus, but is documented in the Nintendo support pages.

After The Shoal has loaded,

For, press and hold , , and the for a few seconds.

For, press and hold , , and the for a few seconds.

Spectators are allowed in this mode.

Trivia

 * In a Local or LAN room, in Salmon Run or Private Battles, the Salmonids and squids swimming in the background of menus will be replaced by pixelated versions.
 * Interestingly, when in the previously mentioned hidden mode, these pixelated versions do not appear for either mode.
 * According to Marina in the Dutch localization, The Shoal is not very popular anymore.
 * The arcade game Squid Beatz 2 is found in an arcade machine outside The Shoal.