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Nerf has unveiled an all-new blaster range and what it claims to be its most advanced, effective dart.
Announced alongside news that the blasters will be hitting stores later in June, the 'N-Series' is made up of half a dozen different models. All of them use the 'N1' dart, the first major reinvention in a decade, that Nerf representatives said went through more than 1,000 designs to "find the sweet spot between precision, distance, and safety."
This latter point – of making sure the blasters are as safe as possible – was cited as the reason for customers only being able to use these official darts in N-Series models. Unfortunately, previous and third-party alternatives won't work; the N-Series is specifically designed to be compatible with the N1 alone. That means you'll need to pay if you want to use the best Nerf guns going forward.
Article continues belowHere's a breakdown of the different N-Series blasters heading our way in the not-so-distant future. You can actually pre-order them as we speak; they've already appeared on Amazon. Well, most of them - the biggest, the Infinite, hasn't yet.
Nerf's testing suggests that the N1 dart fires much more accurately than predecessors like the Elite 2.0. Nerf actually showed off a target graphic combining the results of tests using both darts during a press briefing, and the N1 seems far likelier to stay on target. It was also tested using computational models to track airflow - a first for Nerf.
This is where the 'extreme' distance, speed, and accuracy tagline came from - and Nerf seems to be going all in on the idea. While it's not been officially stated, I get the impression that the N-Series will be replacing the older Elite line from here on in. Many classic Elite blasters have a counterpart using the N1 dart.
I've been hands-on with two of these new blasters (the Pinpoint and the Infinite) and have been impressed with them so far. While it's a shame that the N1 dart essentially locks you into the Nerf ecosystem, they are noticeably more accurate than anything we've gotten in the past. I was able to aim down the sights and actually hit what I was trying to without much fuss. The actual firing of the blasters is incredibly satisfying too, particularly the bolt-action Pinpoint, and I'll follow up soon with more in-depth thoughts on the N-Series.
It's unclear when exactly these blasters will be launching, but seeing as they're due to arrive in June, keep your eyes peeled.
Want something a little different? Try out the best water guns, or stock up on ammo with the best Nerf bullets.
