Happy Nintendo Music...... Wednesday??? But on a Thursday??????
Yes that's right, we've got another Special Release on our hands, and, not to brag, but I saw this one coming from a mile away (please care I'm very proud of myself).
Ahem. Anyway.
So, yeah, Splatoon Raiders, the first ever Splatoon spin-off, launches today. And, as has become tradition for most new Nintendo releases, a Special Release arrived on Nintendo Music last night three hours before the game launched here on the east coast, bringing a select few tracks from the new game to the service early.
This time around, we've got a total of 9 tracks, including a pair by Deep Cut, the idol group from Splatoon 3 that are key characters in Raiders. Other than that, though, if you're up to date on your Splatoon band lore, you'll notice every other artist in this sampling, of which there are 5 over 6 tracks, are brand new to the series, which is exciting! We've got The Mechanic (which I assume refers to the player character), DJ Spinsalt, purines, DHA, and The Maverick. Based on the thumbnails, some of the artists, namely DJ Spinsalt and DHA, seem to be Salmonid artists, which hopefully indicates we will get that deeper dive into Salmonid culture and lore that I've been craving.
You can view the 9 tracks, which total 30 minutes of music, in the screenshot below.
I've listened to them all, and there's some good stuff here, with Cartograffiti v2 and HubBubble being standouts. Though as a bird enthusiast, I must say that I'm incredibly interested in the title of Deep Cut's Avian Ascension, which seems to be the mysterious song we heard at the end of the Raiders Direct. I don't think there are any birds in Splatoon, so I'm very curious what the implications of that title could be. Not much longer to wait now...
Also, probably worth mentioning, but I imagine that this is our drop for the week, and we won't be getting anything tomorrow.
Oh yeah, let's close the book on those predictions. This was the last of the four predictions I made, and like with Bananza, I'm happy to say I was dead on. So, that brings me to a final score of 2/4. Gotta say, I'm pretty happy with that, but also a bit miffed over how incredibly close I was with the two Mario Kart World predictions. Those were total shots in the dark, so the fact that I was at the very least right about every playlist except Sunshine, down to the way they were grouped, and only missed Mario Paint and got the weeks mixed up? I'd say that's pretty impressive.
Okay, enough obnoxious self-glazing. I'll only do predictions like these again if there's an upcoming period with several guesses I feel strongly about, which I doubt will happen anytime soon, honestly.
For now, here's the final predictions update.
- (Almost correct: A week early, no Super Mario Sunshine)
Monday, 7/13/26: Mario Kart World Free Roam with Super Mario Sunshine, Mario Kart Double Dash, and Mario Kart Super Circuit - (CORRECT) Thursday, 7/16/26: Donkey Kong Bananza (in honor of its first anniversary)
- (Almost correct: A week late, missed Mario Paint)
Monday, 7/20/26: Mario Kart World Free Roam with New Super Mario Bros, New Super Mario Bros Wii, New Super Mario Bros U, and Super Mario Maker - (CORRECT) Wednesday, 7/22/26: Splatoon Raiders Special Release
