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, while 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 whiskers (yellow on the Inkopolis one and brown on the Splatsville one) with electricity pulsing through them. Unlike Inkopolis's Great Zapfish, Splatsville's Great Zapfish gains a single strand of hair on its head after the events of Return of the Mammalians, as well as having square pupils.

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, a veteran of the Great Turf War from 100 years earlier, tells the player that the Great Zapfish has been stolen by the Octarians as an act of revenge for losing the war. Cuttlefish recruits the player so that they can take back the Great Zapfish, but first, the player must take back every regular Zapfish, as these were stolen as well in order to power the Octarian domes.

After collecting all regular Zapfish, the player finds the Great Zapfish in the possession of DJ Octavio, leader of the Octarians, who baits the player into saving it before sucking it up into his Great Octoweapon, the Octobot King. After the player defeats Octavio with the help of Agent 1 and Agent 2, the Great Zapfish is saved and can be found resting on Inkopolis Tower for the rest of the game.

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 is cast by Pearl and Marina informing everyone that both the Great Zapfish and Callie have gone missing. After the player goes to Octo Canyon for the first time, Marie explains that Callie and the Great Zapfish have been taken by the Octarians. The player is given the Hero Suit and joins the New Squidbeak Splatoon as Agent 4. The player goes through a series of levels, obtaining both regular and mini Zapfishes along the way. After completing all levels, the player must defeat DJ Octavio in a final boss fight. 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 does not return to Inkopolis Tower, but will instead be 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, Tide Goes Out, when DJ Octavio is sucking the Great Zapfish into the Octobot King).

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 reveal that the city's Great Zapfish has gone missing. In Return of the Mammalians, it is eventually revealed that the Great Zapfish was 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. Following Mr. Grizz's defeat at the hands of Agent 3, the Great Zapfish returns to Splatsville, 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.

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

Gallery

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  Render of Inkopolis' Great zapfish

• File:Splatoon Sunken Scroll 1.png

  Inkopolis' Great Zapfish depicted in Sunken Scroll 1 in Splatoon

• File:Piranha water + great zapfish.png

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

• File:Octo Valley Enter the Octobot King! Great Zapfish.jpg

  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.