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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.
Here'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.
