Super Sea Snail



"Super Sea Snails are powerful creatures that can upgrade your gear. But you'll need to find a specialist... Someone who knows how to unlock the power of Super Sea Snails. I hate to say it, but maybe you should check that sketchy back alley. Super Sea Snails are mega valuable. Don't let 'em go to waste!"

- In game on first getting Super Sea Snails

Super Sea Snails (Japanese: スーパーサザエ Super Sazae) are a species and also type of currency in Splatoon. They were previously obtainable by participating in Splatfests, but can now only be earned from Judd after winning a certain number of games. Their sole use is to be given to Spyke, who uses them to increase the number of slots on gear or reroll all gear abilities on a select piece of gear. Spyke can also do this without a Sea Snail, but the player must be level 20 or higher, and it costs 30,000 Cash.

Judd
Judd awards Super Sea Snails to players that talk to him after winning 30 Regular Battles or Ranked Battles. The wins do not need to be part of a consecutive win streak. Judd will stock up multiple snails as the player racks up wins, and he will keep the snails even if the stage rotation changes. If more than 9 snails are stockpiled, Judd will give the player 9 snails for every instance he is spoken to and will continue to give out 9 snails until the amount of snails that were stockpiled is reached. As of the final Splatfest, this is now the only way to acquire a Super Sea Snail.

Splatfest
While Splatfests were occuring, Super Sea Snails were awarded to participants based on the size of their team and matches won, which dictated each player's Splatfest title. Users who participated could win at least two Super Sea Snails and up to twenty-four if the player's team was the winner while the player was at the highest tier.

Trivia

 * The Super Sea Snails appear to slightly resemble Maiamai from A Link Between Worlds and Mushrooms from the Mario series.
 * The gear slot properties of Super Sea Snails seem to lie more in their actual shells than the snails themselves, which according to Spyke are "juicy". This implies the snails are irrelevant to the process, but can be consumed by certain species like urchins.
 * Super Sea Snails seem to be capable of fear: when looking at the ones owned by Spyke, it is possible to see them shake as if certain of their fate of being consumed by Spyke.
 * A total of are needed to fill every gear slot, if the player does not use cash. As of Version 2.10.0, if one wanted to gain at least that many snails—excluding any that Judd awards for winning matches—they need to have won at least 6 out of 16 total Splatfests (assuming they reach King/Queen rank every time).