Side Order

Side Order is an upcoming single-player campaign mode that is part of the Splatoon 3: Expansion Pass' Wave 2 of paid downloadable content. It was revealed through a teaser trailer during the February 2023 Nintendo Direct and is scheduled to release before 2024-12-31.

Story
The mode takes place in "what has become of" Inkopolis Square, the main hub of, in "what would've happened" if Team Order had beaten Team Chaos. In the teaser, an Octoling is shown standing in the square.

Characters

 * Unknown Octoling

Teaser
The teaser trailer for Side Order features a slow pan across a dull, stark white version of Inkopolis Square from, focusing on an unknown Octoling character. The Octoling wears their hair in the Tentacurl hairstyle, their ink color is a faded brown, and they are dressed in a short-sleeved white jumpsuit with matching white knee-high boots, as well as a thin, translucent brace on their left forearm. Throughout the trailer, various cryptic static images and short clips briefly flicker on-screen; the images primarily depict the Octoling in strange bright white locations, as well as Off the Hook, while the clips seemingly depict biological components such as cells, blood, and organs. The ground appears to be coated in a thick layer of snow or bleached coral and bits of snow/coral-like specks can also be seen floating in the distance. Branches of presumed dead or bleached coral are present throughout the plaza. Deca Tower looks significantly different in its blanched-out state, resembling a normal building with various billboards affixed to it rather than a battle tower. The tower's entrance is entirely different, and the Great Zapfish is absent from its resting spot. A swarm of fish-like objects "swim" around the Octoling towards the end.

A dull, slightly out-of-tune music box melody with steady electronic percussion accompanies the teaser, which slowly grows more intense; towards the end, someone can be heard speaking.

Quotes
"As for the second wave, we're flummoxed! What is that strange tower? Why has everything turned white and ghostly? What's on that Octoling's mind? We're going to get to the bottom - or maybe the top - of this, so stay tuned for further updates on our research."

- @SplatoonNA on Twitter

"A new single-player campaign called Side Order super jumps to the Splatoon 3 game in the second wave of this DLC. See what has become of Inkopolis Square, the central area featured in the Splatoon 2 game!"

- eShop description

"Challenge yourself to a new single-player campaign, Side Order! See what has happened to Inkopolis Square from the Splatoon 2 game, and what would've happened if Order thwarted Chaos to rule the city!"

- Official DLC webpage

Teaser images
Throughout the teaser trailer for the mode, several cryptic static images flash on screen very briefly.

Trivia

 * Side Order marks the second DLC to feature a central Octoling character separate from the player character and Off the Hook as supporting characters, the first of which was.
 * One of the images shown in the teaser resembles the "spike field" concept art published in a report by Sandia National Laboratories regarding nuclear semiotics.

Etymology
A side order is another term for a side dish, a food item meant to accompany a larger main item as part of a meal. The title is a pun on the mode being a side story about Team Order, the Splatfest team lead by Marina that lost the Final Fest in.

The mode's title in other languages appears to name the unknown tower shown in the teaser trailer as "Tower of Order" or "Order Tower".