Judd

“	Judd the cat will tell you who won at the end of each match. No kitten!	”
— Splatoon's official website,

Judd (Japanese: ジャッジくん Jajji-kun) is a cat in Splatoon. Unlike other characters, he seems to play a bigger role in Splatoon's story that remains a mystery. In multiplayer, he plays the role of referee in Turf Wars . When he's done judging, he can be found sleeping on a trash bin in the Inkopolis Plaza, although he is said to live in Flounder Heights. The player can talk to Judd and he will give advice as well as a cash bonus depending on the player's online battle vibe, which increases and decreases with wins and losses. He will only give one cash bonus per vibe per stage rotation.

Personality and traits

Judd was born with the incredible ability to judge turf area at a glance to separate the winners from the losers. It may look like he’s wearing a snazzy cat tuxedo, but that’s actually just the naturally occurring pattern of his fur. He is also a bit lazy just like most cats but is much more active during the night.

Appearance

As depicted in the Sunken Scrolls, Judd's appearance has changed over time. Judd seems to resemble more of what he currently looks like in the present according to Template:Scroll, but looks much younger and smaller in appearance. In Template:Scroll and Template:Scroll, Judd appears to be much smaller and thinner than his current form. Template:Scroll, which was documented at the end of the Great Turf War, shows that between the time of scrolls #15 and #14, he has recaptured his much "heftier" appearance.

Before Splatoon

According to the Sunken Scrolls, Judd is more than 10,000 years old, as his original human owner is implied to have built a capsule designed to keep Judd cryogenically sealed for 10,000 years. Because of this, Judd was the only land life form that wasn't buried beneath the rising sea levels during the mass extinction at the beginning of the Mollusc Era.

Judd may have been released from cryogenic stasis at around 2,000 years before the events of Splatoon, as there are Sunken Scrolls depicting Judd judging ancient Turf Wars and the Great Turf War.

Judd's Advice

Main article: Judd/Advice

• "A Splat Bomb's timer is only active while it's on the ground! So they'll explode quicker when rolled than when thrown through the air!"
• "An Inkstrike lets you attack any location on the map! The tornado slowly expands from a central point, so try to be accurate! And don't let foes hit you while you're looking at your map! Stay alert!"
• "Chargers deal an awful lot of damage with each shot! But even so... If you just try to splat foes in one hit, you're going to have a bad time. Try using your first blast to block off the path ahead of them with ink... Then you can take them out more easily with the second! Painting the ground like this will help your allies too, so get shooting!"

Trivia

• Judd's name is derived from the word "judge," as he is the referee for all the ink battles in Splatoon.
• The tip of his tail is designed to look like an arrow.
• Along with a handful of birds and insects, Judd is one of the few non-aquatic creatures in the game, as he is a cat. As stated in a developers' interview, this is because of the fact that the main characters of Splatoon were originally going to be rabbits; Judd is a leftover from that stage of the game's development.
  • Also explained in the interview is the source of Judd's name; apparently, the pattern of his fur came first, and it caused some developers to nickname him ジャッジ, or "Judge", which is his current name in the Japanese version of Splatoon.
• There was a glitch in which the player could get their money back after purchasing a slot, reroll, or ordered gear from Spyke by talking with Judd after the purchase. It was fixed with the 1.2.0 patch.
• Cats generally have a lifespan of 15 years. Normally he may not have lived after being awakened from cryostasis and living throughout 2,000 years ago.
• During Splatfest, Judd can be seen dancing around happily on his pillow in Inkopolis Plaza. Instead of the usual "Zzz," he says "Meow!"
• According to Callie and Marie, Judd lives in Flounder Heights and can be seen commuting to and from Inkopolis.

Gallery

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  Judd Artwork.

• File:Juddt.png

  Transparent version.

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  Judd's dance before revealing the winner of a battle.

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  Judd judging ink coverage.

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  Judd declaring a knockout win for a Ranked Battle. (Click to animate)

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  Judd appearing in a story comic panel.

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  Judd sleeping in Inkopolis Plaza.

• File:WiiU Splatoon 050715 Splatfest screen 07-1024x576.jpg

  Still of Judd dancing during a Splatfest.

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  Animated GIF.

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  Judd judges a round of Turf Wars.

• File:Sunkenscroll4.png

  Judd performing his judging duties in the earliest depiction of a Turf War.

• File:Sunkenscroll14.png

  Judd declaring the end of the Great Turf War in result of the Inklings' victory over the Octarians.

• File:Sunkenscroll15.png

  Judd alongside his division; the Squidbeak Splatoon.

• File:Sunkenscroll25.png

  Judd alongside his unnamed human owner in an article dated at least 12 000 years prior to the events in Splatoon.

• File:Sunkenscroll27.png

  Judd being cryogenically frozen by his human master for his survival in preparation for the rising sea levels that inevitably flood the Earth.

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  Official animation of Judd and the Squid Sisters, from a promo video for Splatfests.

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  Concept art of Judd.

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  Concept art the .52 Gal, with a small charm of Judd hanging from it.

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  Japanese promo for Splatoon-themed stamps for the instant messaging app LINE, including one of Judd.