Alterna (also referred to asThe Last Resort^[1]) is the main location ofSplatoon 3's single-player campaign,Return of the Mammalians. It is located beneath what was onceMount Fuji.^[2]

Description

Alterna is a large underground space located beneaththe Crater inthe Splatlands, built inside a massive geodesic dome lined with triangularliquid crystal panels depicting an artificial sky. Within this dome are six large islands—referred to as Sites—positioned around alarge facility. Each Site features a multitude ofkettles, which are used byO.R.C.A. to test Alterna residents' intellectual and physical prowess.Fuzzy Ooze covers large portions of the sites, blocking progress and hidingloot anchors orlocker decorations.

InReturn of the Mammalians, theNew Squidbeak Splatoon, consisting ofCallie,Marie, theCaptain,Cuttlefish, andAgent 3, are all present in the location. Other characters that make an appearance in Alterna areShiver,Frye,Big Man, andMr. Grizz.

History

Alterna is one of the few shelters created byhumanity to have survived the disasters that ultimately led to the species' extinction. Built within a vast cavern created by a volcanic eruption, its inhabitants found sustenance in the marine life in the cavern's waters that had survived the apocalypse that devastated the surface.^[3]

Led by scientists in hopes of not repeating the mistakes that had led humanity to near-extinction, the inhabitants of Alterna established a sustainable ecosystem and created 3D-printed replicas of some of humanity's favorite cultural artifacts. Additionally, they created theOmniscient Recording Computer of Alterna to act as an autonomous record keeper of their collective knowledge.^[4]

25 years after Alterna was first settled, one scientist discovered a method to refine liquid crystals from the bodily fluids of squid. These crystals reacted to the thoughts and feelings of humans by projecting images of their desires, and were mass-produced and placed to line the walls and roof of Alterna, ultimately creating an artificial sky.^[5] However, when arocket built by the next generation of humanity in order to return to the surface of the Earth performed a launch test, the energy from the boosters caused the crystals to overload, leading to a catastrophic cave-in that annihilated most of Alterna's population. What few survivors remained were left to wander until they too met their end.^[6]

The shattered fragments of liquid crystal dispersed within Alterna's bodies of water, drastically accelerating the evolution of the marine life within, imbuing them with echoes of the emotions they had absorbed—most notably including the humans' passive desire to see the Earth's surface once more.^[7] The marine life thus affected would eventually give rise to the majority of the life of theMollusc Era—including the firstInklings andOctarians—who would discover the tunnels used by humans to escape the initial apocalypse and follow them to the surface.^[8]

The ruins of Alterna were abandoned for millennia, until thesole survivor of theArk Polaris' crash landing located the subterranean facility using navigational equipment in the ship's wreckage.Mr. Grizz, as he would later come to be known, repaired some of Alterna's facilities and researched the remaining liquid crystals, eventually creatinga terrifying new substance by compounding the crystals with his fur.^[9] Alterna became the headquarters forhis plan to restore the planet to a mammalian paradise, with the still-intact rocket that had been Alterna's undoing to serve as the means of spreading theFuzzy Ooze worldwide.

Shortly beforeAgent 3's arrival in Alterna,Agents 1 and 2 alongside theirCaptain set up a camp onFuture Utopia Island.

Missions

Site 1:Future Utopia Island

Site 2:Cozy & Safe Factory

Site 3 -Cryogenic Hopetown

Site 4:Landfill Dreamland

Site 5:Eco-Forest Treehills

Site 6:Happiness Research Lab

Finale:Alterna Space Center

Quotes

Music

Each site has unique music made by different artists. As the player collectsGold records, elements are added to the music.

Site	Artist	Song name	Gold record phases
Future Utopia Island	Stars in the Deep	Sandcastles	https://splatoonwiki.org/wiki/File:RotM_Sandcastles_Phase_4.mp3
Cozy & Safe Factory	Mimicry	Sudden Depth	https://splatoonwiki.org/wiki/File:RotM_Sudden_Depth_Phase_4.mp3
Cryogenic Hopetown	Wash Out	Two Shadows in the Sun	https://splatoonwiki.org/wiki/File:RotM_Two_Shadows_in_the_Sun_Phase_4.mp3
Landfill Dreamland	Firefly	Dead Sea	https://splatoonwiki.org/wiki/File:RotM_Dead_Sea_Phase_4.mp3
Eco-Forest Treehills	On the Clock	Whirlpool Tune	https://splatoonwiki.org/wiki/File:RotM_Whirlpool_Tune_Phase_4.mp3
Happiness Research Lab	Anxiety Society	Hyper Diver	https://splatoonwiki.org/wiki/File:RotM_Hyper_Diver_Phase_4.mp3

Gallery

• 

  The logo related to Alterna in theReturn of the Mammalians trailer.

• 

  The same logo can also be seen on the Mission Complete! screen.

• 

  The circular logo of Alterna.

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  The stylized "A" part of Alterna's logo.

• 

  The "cursive text" part of the Alterna logo.

• 

  A render ofPangaea, occasionally used as an alternate logo for Alterna.

• 

  A version of Alterna's logo found exclusively atEco-Forest Treehills. It overlays the Pangaea logo over the stylized "A", and has text around the border.

• 

  All sixAlterna locker stickers pieced together, obtained by talking toMarie after fully exploring every site in Alterna.

• 

  Debris from a rocket seen in the water between Future Utopia Island and Happiness Research Lab.

• 
• 

  Parabolic Antennas seen in the background of Alterna near Cozy & Safe Factory.

• 

  A model of "The Thinker" found on an inaccessible island near the transition pipe between Cozy & Safe Factory and Cryogenic Hopetown.

• 

  Large radio towers seen in the background of Alterna, visible from Cryogenic Hopetown.

• 

  A half-sunken unidentified building on an inaccessible island, visible from the pipe between Cryogenic Hopetown and Landfill Dreamland. Manytetrapods are visible in the water.

• 

  A view of theAlterna Space Center and the surrounding areas.

• 

  Front side variants of an unknown Alternan album cover seen throughout the sites

• 

  Back side variants of an unknown Alternan album cover seen throughout the sites

Clear screen variants

• 

  First pose

• 

  Second pose

• 

  Third pose

• 

  Fourth pose

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  Fifth pose

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  Sixth pose

• 

  Seventh pose

• 

  Eighth pose

Promotional screenshots

• 

  Fuzzy Ooze blocking the path.

• 

  What happens when the player makes contact with Fuzzy Ooze.

• 

  Callie,Marie, and theCaptain on Future Utopia Island.

• 

  The player aimingLittle buddy at Fuzzy Ooze to clean it up

• 

  A promotional image for one of the single-player stages.

• 
• 
• 
• 

  A promotional screenshot of the missionThose Aren't Birds.

• 
• 

  A promotional screenshot of the missionThe String's the Thing.

• 

  A promotional screenshot of the missionOctopods at Rest Tend to FLIP OUT!.

• 

  A promotional screenshot of the missionZip, Splat, and Jump.

SplatNet 3 rewards

• 

  Future Utopia Island (Portrait)

• 

  Future Utopia Island (Square)

• 

  Cozy & Safe Factory (Portrait)

• 

  Cozy & Safe Factory (Square)

• 

  Cryogenic Hopetown (Portrait)

• 

  Cryogenic Hopetown (Square)

• 

  Landfill Dreamland (Portrait)

• 

  Landfill Dreamland (Square)

• 

  Eco-Forest Treehills (Portrait)

• 

  Eco-Forest Treehills (Square)

• 

  Happiness Research Lab (Portrait)

• 

  Happiness Research Lab (Square)

• 

  Story mode clear (Portrait)

• 

  Story mode clear (Square)

• 

  Alterna 100% Exploration (Portrait)

• 

  Alterna 100% Exploration (Square)

Audio

Trivia

• Unlike the other single-player campaigns, excluding bosses, there are no level-specific Mission Clear screens. Instead, eight different screens exist and one is selected at random regardless of the player character's style. For this reason, there are also no end screens for subsequent clears.
• Throughout Alterna various eerie audio clips of English-speaking voices that seem to berocket launch announcements can be faintly heard. Totaling at seven clips, these announcements play at random, with each consecutive unlocking of a Site bringing a new clip into the "rotation".
  • These clips most likely emanate from theAlterna Space Center, as they are most easily heard when the camera is facing the facility.
  • During the infiltration of the Space Center during the finale, announcements 05 and 06 can be heard in the "intermission" segments between stages.
• Dialogue from talking withAgent 1 onFuture Utopia Island and fromAgent 2 when first visitingCryogenic Hopetown implies that the snow in Alterna is not real, with the latter quote outright referring to it as "fake snow".
• In the Japanese version, the Alterna mission names parody "apartment poems" (マンションポエム) — slogans used by many real estate companies to advertise apartments in Japan.^[12][13]

Etymology

"Alterna" is a clipping of "alternative" (the latter also being one of its internal identifiers), referring to Alterna's purpose as a failsafe settlement for the last remnants of humanity. Its adjectival form and/or demonym appears to be "Alternan", based on an unlockable Splashtagtitle part.

Its title as "The Last Resort" is also a play on its importance to humanity's survival, but may also be a double meaning using "resort" in the sense of e.g. a recreational destination; Alterna's citizens are mentioned or implied to have engaged in various casual activities in addition to their work, such as 3D printing replicas of nostalgic artifacts and landmarks, creatingmusic, or engaging incurling (allegedly Alterna's "11th most popular athleisure activity").

Names in other languages

Alterna

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	オルタナ Orutana	Alterna
Dutch	Alterna	Alterna
French	Alterna	Alterna
German	Alterna	Alterna
Italian	Alterna	Alterna
Russian	Альтерна Al'terna	Alterna
Spanish	Alterna	Alterna
Chinese	幻界 Huàn jiè (Mandarin) waan6 gaai3 (Cantonese)	Fantasy World[note 1]
Korean	얼터너 Eolteoneo	Alterna

Site

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	サイト saito	Site
Dutch	Sector	Sector
French	Secteur	Sector
German	Sektor	Sector
Italian	Sito	Site
Russian	Область Oblast'	Area
Spanish	Zona	Zone
Chinese	地域	Region
Korean	사이트 saiteu	Site

Pipeline

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	パイプライン paipurain	Pipeline
Dutch	Buis	Pipe
French	Tuyau	Pipe
German	Pipeline	Pipeline
Italian	Condotto	Conduit
Russian	Трубопровод Truboprovod	Pipeline
Spanish	Tubería	Pipeline
Chinese (Simplified)	管线	Pipeline
Chinese (Traditional)	管線	Pipeline
Korean	파이프 라인	Pipeline

The Last Resort

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	もうひとつの地球[14] Mou hitotsu no chikyuu	Another Earth
Dutch	Het Laatste Toevluchtsoord[15]	The Last Refuge
French	L'Ultime Alternative[16]	The Ultimate Alternative
German	Die Letzte Zuflucht[17]	The Last Refuge
Italian	L'Ultima Speranza[18]	The Last Hope
Russian	Последнее прибежище[19] Poslednee pribezhishche	Last resort
Spanish	La Última Esperanza[20]	The Last Hope
Portuguese (NOE)	A Última Esperança[21]	The Last Hope

Translation Notes

Internal names

Alterna

Internal name	Meaning
Alternative[22]
BigWorld

Site

Internal name	Meaning
Msn_AreaOfAlternative[22]

Pipeline

Internal name	Meaning
Msn_WorldObj_03[22]

References