Great Zapfish

Template:InfoboxCharacter Template:InfoboxCharacter The Great Zapfish are characters in the Splatoon series. They are extremely large Zapfish that can power entire cities. There are at least two known Great Zapfish, with one that powers Inkopolis and another that powers Splatsville. In Splatoon and Splatoon 2, DJ Octavio captures the Great Zapfish of Inkopolis, and in Splatoon 3, Mr. Grizz captures the Great Zapfish of Splatsville; in all three games, the player rescues the Great Zapfish in a single-player mode.

Appearance

Unlike other Zapfish, the Great Zapfish is massive and more similar to the real-life electric catfishes. It has an orange mouth, a peach face, a dark blue body, a small, dark blue tail with lime green along the edges, similarly colored fins, and curled, yellow whiskers with electricity pulsing through them. Unlike Inkopolis's Great Zapfish, Splatsville's Great Zapfish has gained a single strand of hair on its head after the events of Return of the Mammalians.

History

Splatoon

The Great Zapfish in Inkopolis Plaza.

The Great Zapfish is a giant animal circling Inkopolis Tower, powering the city. According to the first Sunken Scroll, the Great Zapfish is 100 years old (having been born shortly after the end of the Great Turf War) and powers the entirety of Inkopolis. However, when the player enters Inkopolis Plaza for the first time, an Inkopolis News broadcast states that the Great Zapfish has been stolen and that this event is believed to be linked to the UFO that crashed earlier outside of the city. When the player goes to Octo Valley for the first time, Cap'n Cuttlefish tells them that the Great Zapfish has been stolen by the Octarians as an act of revenge for their loss in the Great Turf War. Cuttlefish recruits the player as Agent 3 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon so that they can reclaim the Great Zapfish (as well as many regular Zapfish, which were stolen as well in order to power the Octarian domes), starting the Octo Valley story mode.

After collecting all regular Zapfish and entering the final mission (Enter the Octobot King!), the player finds the Great Zapfish in the possession of DJ Octavio, leader of the Octarians, who baits the player into approaching it before sucking it up into his Great Octoweapon, the Octobot King. After the player defeats Octavio, the Great Zapfish is saved and can be seen resting on Inkopolis Tower afterwards.

The Great Zapfish makes a cameo appearance in the stage Piranha Pit, where it occasionally rises from the water in the background. Embroidery depicting the Great Zapfish also appears as decoration on the Zapfish Satin Jacket.

Splatoon 2

As the player enters Inkopolis Square for the first time, an Inkopolis News report reveals that both the Great Zapfish and Callie have gone missing. When the player goes to Octo Canyon for the first time, Marie explains that the Great Zapfish has been taken by the Octarians and enlists them as Agent 4 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon to rescue it and the other Zapfish, starting the Octo Canyon story mode. After collecting all regular Zapfish and entering the final mission (Tide Goes Out), the player encounters DJ Octavio, who sucks the Great Zapfish into his Octobot King II mech. With the help of Sheldon and Marie, the player defeats DJ Octavio and saves Callie and the Great Zapfish. After DJ Octavio's defeat, the Great Zapfish returns to Inkopolis Square and can be seen resting on Deca Tower or on the tracks above Grizzco Industries, or even flying around the sky, producing a barely-audible jingle (the same jingle that plays in the final level of Octo Canyon when DJ Octavio is sucking the Great Zapfish into the Octobot King II).

The Great Zapfish also appears in Piranha Pit and on the Zapfish Satin Jacket just like in the first game.

Splatoon 3

In Splatoon 3, when the player first enters Splatsville, a special Anarchy Splatcast broadcast takes place in which Deep Cut announces that the city's Great Zapfish has gone missing. When the player goes to the Crater for the first time, Cuttlefish explains that the Octarians stole the Great Zapfish a third time and enlists the player as Agent 3 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon to rescue it, starting the Return of the Mammalians story mode. They soon fight and defeat DJ Octavio, and Cuttlefish mocks him for being too easy to defeat due to not using the Great Zapfish's power; however, Octavio reveals that he was not responsible for stealing it this time. It is eventually revealed that the Great Zapfish was actually stolen by Mr. Grizz and used as a source of power for his rocket The Spirit Lifter, which he plans to use to cover the planet in Fuzzy Ooze. It is located in the steerage section, where it can be seen floating in a large glass tube. Following Mr. Grizz's defeat at the hands of Agent 3, the Great Zapfish returns to Splatsville (now with a single hair on its head), resting on the Battle Lobby Tower, with Deep Cut remarking on its slightly different appearance in another special Anarchy Splatcast report.

In the Splatoon 3: Expansion Pass, Inkopolis's Great Zapfish appears in Inkopolis Plaza, wrapped around Inkopolis Tower like in the first game. It appears here regardless of whether Return of the Mammalians has been completed. In Splatfests, the third team is represented by Inkopolis Tower and the Great Zapfish, with the fox and tanuki statues on either side of it representing the other two teams.

Like in the previous games, the Great Zapfish also appears on the Zapfish Satin Jacket.

Gallery

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  Render of Inkopolis's Great Zapfish

• File:Splatoon Sunken Scroll 1.png

  Inkopolis's Great Zapfish depicted in Sunken Scroll 1 in Splatoon

• File:Piranha water + great zapfish.png

  The Great Zapfish and a jellyfish in a raft at Piranha Pit

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  Inkopolis' Great Zapfish in the level Enter the Octobot King! in Splatoon

• File:Zapfish satin jacket closeup.png

  The Great Zapfish on the front of the Zapfish Satin Jacket

• File:Zapfish satin jacket back.png

  The Great Zapfish on the back of the Zapfish Satin Jacket

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  Splatsville's Great Zapfish's whiskers sparking, sending electricity through its body (animated)

Trivia

• After the Splatoon 2 version 2.0.0 update, many players reported the Great Zapfish missing in Inkopolis Square, even if they had already completed story mode. This was patched in a later update.
• In WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!, there is a minigame called Electric Groove Fish that has an electric catfish move electricity to a city to power it, similar to the Great Zapfish's role.
• Prior to version 3.0.0 of Splatoon 3, the Splatsville Great Zapfish's whiskers were brown, with no electricity flowing through.