The rogue artificial intelligence that antagonizes Splatoon 3: Side Order is Order.
Order hijacks the Memverse, a virtual world created by Marina of Off the Hook. Its goal is to impose a world of perfect order by removing individuality and free will. To accomplish this, Order uses “grayscaling,” a process that drains color and leaves people outside the Memverse in a vacant, mindless state.
Agent 8, the Octoling protagonist of Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion, must climb the Spire of Order to rescue Marina and stop the artificial intelligence. Pearl assists as a drone, while the sanitized Octoling Acht helps explain the danger and the Memverse’s connection to the past.
Order is not the same character as Commander Tartar, the artificial intelligence behind Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion’s final conflict. O.R.C.A. is another AI, but it helps Agent 3 in Splatoon 3’s main campaign rather than serving as Side Order’s villain. After its defeat, Order is reduced to the childlike Smollusk, which remains part of the expansion’s post-game story.