Here’s when you can play the Splatoon beta on Wii U this weekend

Time to paint the town pink, orange, red, blue or whatever color you are.

Ready your Wii U Gamepads and Wiimotes. This weekend we're getting a free Splatoon demo. 

Nintendo has revealed a "Global Testfire Demo" will be available for download on the Nintendo eShop at some point today, but will only be playable at certain times of the day this weekend. If you want to get in on Splatoon action, you will have to log-on at specific times to play the 4 vs 4 online multiplayer Turf War battles.

"Players will have to think strategically when participating in Splatoon’s Turf War mode. Two stages are refreshed every four hours, meaning players will have to carefully consider weapons and tactics for the stages on hand. Different weapons work better in different stages, so players will discover depth in the weaponry as they focus their strategies on different two-stage pairings. After each four-on-four match, players are randomly reshuffled to form new teams, so sometimes players will be working with their friends and other times they’ll be looking to take them down."

The demo will go live for 1-hour periods at the following times:

EST:

  • May 8th, 2015 at 11:00 PM
  • May 9th, 2015 at 7:00 AM
  • May 9th, 2015 at 3:00 PM

PST:

  • May 8th, 2015 at 8:00 PM
  • May 9th, 2015 at  4:00 AM
  • May 9th, 2015 at 12:00 PM

If you download the demo you will be able to purchase the digital copy of Splatoon for 10% off when it releases on May 29th. The 10% discount will only be available until Thursday, June 4th.