The Crater is a location in the Splatlands and the tutorial world of Return of the Mammalians in Splatoon 3. It consists of 4 Kettles, Camp Cuttle, a Kettle to return to Splatsville and a large structure leading to Alterna.
It additionally hosts a spot where the player can change the look of the New Squidbeak Splatoon's Captain.
The Crater is a massive crater located in the Splatlands that has an upside-down structure similar to the Eiffel Tower. It also contains the first four levels of the single-player campaign, Return of the Mammalians. When the player finds themself in the Crater, they meet a retired Craig Cuttlefish. He believes that the sudden disappearance of the Great Zapfish is caused by the Octarians yet again. He recruits the player and calls them the new Agent 3. For the first four levels of the campaign, he will help them out like in Splatoon and the Octo Expansion. After a sudden fight with DJ Octavio, who seeks answers for the sudden disappearance of his troops, the ground falls and Smallfry, Cap'n Cuttlefish and Agent 3 fall into Alterna. Agent 3 and Cap'n Cuttlefish get separated afterwards. Agent 3 can return to The Crater by interacting with the Zapfish Doll behind the Squid Sisters. When they interact with the doll, they will be promoted to relive it.
Upon returning, they will have 1300 power eggs. They will have their Hero Suit and Hero Shot. However, they will not have the bombs from upgrading their Hero Suit, only Smallfry. All the kettles will be cleared, as well as all the Fuzzy Ooze except for the last one. Agent 3 can rematch DJ Octavio there by removing the last of the Fuzzy Ooze. To return to Alterna, the player can open the menu and select the “Return to Aterna” icon or defeat DJ Octavio again. When opening the menu in the Crater, they can only access the first tab and the last one.
If the player interacts with the portrait sitting on a chair in Camp Cuttle, Craig Cuttlefish will ask the player if they ever heard of the New Squidbeak Splatoon's Captain. After a short conversation, he will ask the player if the portrait looks good or not. This is the part where the player can decide the hairstyle, skin tone and eye color. To keep consistency, the options will be limited to those from the first game. If no Splatoon 2 save file was imported, the captain will always use the female hairstyle and green eyes by default.
There are two Loot Anchors hidden on the map. The first, which is close to the first kettle contains a Zapfish doll which can be used in the locker room to decorate the player's locker, while the other is close to the third kettle and hides a pack of cards which can be used to play Tableturf Battle.
Craig Cuttlefish’s dialogue at the beginning of the mode is a reference to the very first game.
The player can return to the Crater at any time by simply interacting with the Zapfish doll at the Squid Sisters Camp on the first site, Future Utopia Island.
If the player imported their Splatoon 2 save file and have customized the original Agent 3 (referred to as "Captain" in Splatoon 3) in Octo Expansion, their customization will be carried over into the campaign. However, it can then be changed if desired.
The Captain's portrait in Camp Cuttlefish is the same one that Craig drew in the Octo Expansion.
