Nintendo has announced that Switch owners will be able to sample Splatoon 2 from Friday 24th - Sunday 26th March as a preview of the Wii U sequel will be available in one hour bursts.

The preview available will be the same one that has been playable at the Switch events (read our impressions here), but obviously from the comfort of your own home.  You will be able to test out four different main weapons, including the new Splat Dualies, as well as remixed versions of the Splat Roller and Splat Charger.

The event will take place for an hour at a time, starting at the following times:

Nintendo has also confirmed some new details about the game during the Tokaigi Game Party Japan 2017 event that took place over the weekend.  A new mode, known as Private Battle Spectator View, will allow up to two people to participate in a Private Battle as a camera-person to observe the action.  If you have your own recording tools hooked up to the Switch you will also be able to broadcast videos (seemingly confirming that inbuilt streaming isn't in the pipeline).

If you happen to have 9 other friends with a Switch and Splatoon 2 you will be able to dock 10 consoles via wired Lan, or play up to 8 players via a local wireless connection.

The Switch smartphone app will allow players to set play appointments with friends on their friend list or via social media and match up with these people directly in the game and do voice chat via the smartphone.  You can voice chat with all friends in a Private Battle while setting up the teams, but once set you can only communicate between teammates.

Nintendo also confirmed more features will be revealed in the future.

If you're interested in joining the preview and want some people to play with check out our Splatoon 2 forum thread.