Playable Characters | Idol Groups | Inkopolis and Splatsville | Octarians | Salmonids | Deepsea Metro | Order Sector | Bands | Manga Characters
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In General
- Airborne Mook: Some Octarians can fly, usually with the aid of propeller hats.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: The enemy Octarians in the second game's Octo Expansion, including Octolings, all have sickly green skin instead of the standard red and white of standard Octarians or the pale human-tone skin of Octolings, the result of them being "Sanitized" by Commander Tartar.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: The higher-ranked an Octarian is, the more tentacles and intelligence it is likely to develop. For instance, the basic troops are just a single walking tentacle, their slightly more elite counterparts have two tentacles, and the flying Octarians who handle heavy ordinance have five tentacles. At the top of the hierarchy are Octolings, who have eight tentacles and the ability to take a humanoid form.
- Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Most Octarians are "born" via severing a tentacle from a "source" Octarian. Official information is somewhat contradictory about whether Octolings are born the same way, but the general trend over time seems to be that Octolings are indeed distinct from their non-humanoid brethren, being presumably born the same way as Inklings (Diss-Pair's Octoling DJ is even explictly stated to have two parents rather than just one).
- Black Eyes of Crazy: Sanitized variants tend to have pitch-black sclera, owing to their Brainwashed and Crazy status.
- Blob Monster: Like the Inklings, they seem to be primarily made out of ink.
- Brainwashed: Octarian culture in the domes runs on the propaganda variant. A military mindset is instilled on Octarians from an early age, and the music composed by DJ Octavio and his direct subordinates inspires its listeners to be so diligent and focused that it's almost akin to brainwashing. It's only when Callie and Marie hijack Octavio's speakers and play Calamari Inkantation instead that the trance is broken, especially among the Octolings. They do have technology that does more traditional brainwashing, like the hypnoshades used on Callie.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: They are unfortunate victims of this by factions not affiliated with DJ Octavio. Sanitized Octarians are Octarians blended with a special ooze created by Commander Tartar that turns them into mindless zombies. And Fuzzy Octarians are Octarians who have been forcibly converted into mammals and thus are enslaved to Mr. Grizz's will.
- Child Soldiers: Now, the Inklings getting involved in mock battles for sport at around 14 is one thing, but according to Cap'n Cuttlefish's file on Marina in Octo Expansion, Octolings can enroll (or are drafted) into elementary military training programs as early as the age of six. Even if Marina herself skipped multiple grades, Octarians are implied to potentially be able to enlist before the age of fourteen, which says a lot about their militaristic culture, and possibly, their desire to get revenge on the Inklings.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Octarians in Hero Mode always use a dark pink-colored ink, which contrasts with every ink color the player uses. In 2's Octo Expansion, enemy Octarians instead use a light teal color that contrasts with their original color, which is now used by Agent 8.
- Cycle of Revenge: Rising tides caused the Octarians to wage war with the Inklings over the remaining territories. The Octarians nearly won but due to a careless plug that deactivated their Great Octoweapons, they were unable to stop the Inkling retaliation. The Octarians were driven into underground domes, which slowly began to deteriorate 100 years later. Embittered by their defeat as well as facing an energy crisis, the Octarians plot their revenge with Zapfish thefts and the eventual invasion on Inkopolis. Their actions only led to the formation of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, an Inkling militia dedicated to taking back the Zapfish and tearing the Octarian forces apart. The central theme of Octo Expansion is breaking this cycle with Agent 8 and the other Octolings abandoning DJ Octavio's quest for revenge, and the Inklings dropping old prejudices to share their culture and home with their former rivals.
- Evil Counterpart Race: To the Inklings, most directly with the Octolings. They even engaged in a massive turf war with them a hundred years ago. Subverted in that they're not evil, just desperate. Naturally, the Octo Expansion plays with this a lot.
- Evil Counterpart: The standard Octoling troops become this to Agent 8 in the Octo Expansion, with their far more menacing appearances compared to Agent 8's simple leather outfit and more rounded eyes. The octopus forms of evil Octolings are longer in length and have eyes with small irises on yellow sclera, compared to Agent 8's shorter and more rounded Octopus form with larger, more cartoony eyes matching those of the Inklings.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Of a Banana Republic or The Dictatorship, emphasized especially in the Octo Expansion lore. While Octo Expansion still leaves specifics rather vague, it builds on some of the previous lore in a way that suggests that as a result of their exile into the underground, Octarian society has taken, shall we say, a hard right turn. Military education appears to be common, there's a fairly strong implication that military leaders are in charge overall, and propaganda that exaggerates the worst aspects of Inkling society seems commonplace and dedicated to ensuring a single-minded animosity toward Inkling-kind among Octarian citizens. This is why the Calamari Inkantation "concert" was such a big deal — for a great many Octolings, it blew open the doors to the truth and made them realize there was a lot more to Inklings than what their leaders had told them. Marina, Agent 8, and other player Octolings are the ones who elected to take the bold step of trying to leave their old lives behind to create a better future for themselves.
- Gonk: Octarians are generally tentacles with bulgy eyes, stubby legs, and somewhat creepy faces.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Bosses will have one giant tentacle with a green, cruciform scar. Said tentacle is their weak point and where they hold the Zapfish.
- Jump Jet Pack: Splatoon 2 introduces the "Deluxe" variant of certain Octarian enemies (namely the Octotroopers, Octocopters, and Octobombers), who have side thrusters that allow them to quickly dodge the player's shots.
- Mind-Control Eyes: The Fuzzy Octarians in 3 have the psychedelic pattern of Fuzzy Ooze where their eye whites usually go.
- Oh, Crap!: Some Octotrooper death cries are a warped and watery "Dang it!".
- Palette Swap: The "sanitized" Octarians in Octo Expansion use the same models from the main single player campaign, only colored in sickly green and blue.
- The Remnant: Implied in Splatoon 3. DJ Ocatvio's Octobot King is now a rusty, rocket-powered mecha with legs instead of a floating, space-age turntable stage, and encounters with enemy Octolings are noticeably lower than the past two games. Given that Splatoon 3 takes place after the Octolings have successfully integrated with Inkling society, it's not surprising that the Octarians have taken a hit in terms of numbers. If you discount any offscreen Octarians and anyone that has been taken by the Fuzzy Ooze, then the Octarian army might have been reduced to just the lone DJ Octavio.
- Scavenged Punk: Most of their technology is cobbled together from repurposed human-era scraps, with the very domes they live in actually being abandoned human shelters.
- Technologically Advanced Foe: Despite their less favorable living conditions, the Octarians have technology far beyond those of the other species, as evidenced by (among other things) their Mecha-Mooks, their wide use of anti-gravity, and the Great Octoweapons themselves.
- The Undead: The "sanitation" process renders Octarians husks with no will of their own that, according to Marina, lack any vital signs.
- Undead Counterpart: The Octarians fought in the Deepsea Metro are basically zombies "sanitized" by the Octo Expansion's Big Bad and are just as dangerous as their living counterparts.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Octarians have a legitimate reason for stealing huge scores of Zapfish from the Inklings; their underground homes have been deteriorating and suffering electricity shortages, with an implication that they will collapse if the power needs aren't addressed. That's not even going into the fact they only went to war with the Inklings a century ago in the Great War Turf because of rising tides. However, the Octarians, especially under DJ Octavio, are obsessed with revenge against the Inklings for winning that war, to the point of ignoring other options such as immigrating and integrating into (a now far more metropolitan, modern, and capable) Inkopolis, or at least trying to negotiate with the Inklings to share necessary electrical power. Splatoon 3 provides a good demonstration of why the obsession with revenge is inane, as it takes place in the Splatlands, a region where Inklings and Octolings always lived in harmony (despite its denizens not having the same living standards as the people of Inkopolis), as opposed to the region of Inkadia, where the Great Turf War took place.
- Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: Nearly all of the Octarians have yellow scleras to highlight their sneaky, thieving nature.
Major Threats
DJ Octavio
Click here to see the Octobot King.
Click here to see Octobot King MK II (Major Spoilers)
The leader of the Octarians, and a long-time adversary of Cap'n Cuttlefish. Having lost the Great Turf War a century ago, DJ Octavio plots his comeback by stealing the Great Zapfish from Inkopolis, depriving the Inklings of their power source while giving his Great Octoweapons the batteries needed for surface conquest. He also pilots the Great Octoweapon known as the Octobot King, a flying turntable machine with fists powered by the Great Zapfish itself.
- Adaptational Heroism: His manga version is a genuine Well-Intentioned Extremist who only stole the Great Zapfish out of necessity and doesn't show much hatred for the Inklings. He also only performs brainwashing on Callie, with his music generally used as Theme Music Power-Up for his troops instead.
- Arch-Enemy: Of Cap'n Cuttlefish. They used to be good friends until the Great Turf War pitted them against one another. Cuttlefish defeated Octavio at the Siege of Arowana Castle, and the DJ has a held grudge against his former friend ever since.
- Badass Arm-Fold: Has a pair of arms doing this while another pair uses tools to scratch records.
- Big Bad: As the leader of the Octarian army.
- Brown Note: The Killer Wail attack. Which is also a One-Hit Kill, in case you were wondering.
- Caper Rationalization: In the European localization, Octavio justifies his theft of the Great Zapfish as "tak[ing] back what's [his]."
- Cool Helmet: Wears a fairly impressive golden kabuto helmet with a crest shaped like an octopus. The second game scales it down to something a little less fancy, and the third ditches it entirely for a dusty field cap that's somewhat shaped like his original helmet.
- Cool Old Guy: Elevator dialogue in Side Order has Marina and Acht fondly reminisce about an old mentor figure they knew back in the Octarian army, placing emphasis on discipline but not being above letting loose now and then. By their last bit of dialogue (that said individual carried wasabi sticks around), it's strongly implied they're talking about DJ Octavio.
- Cool Shades: He wears a pair of ladder shades during the final boss battle of Splatoon 2. He swaps them out for some clear tint Oakleys in Splatoon 3.
- Damage-Sponge Boss: Considerably tankier than the rest of the Octarian bosses. In Splatoon 2, he takes a total of 32 fist deflections to beat.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: His Octobot King bots tend to go up in a large explosion of ink... except for 3, where the L3.Gs instead gets a regular firey explosion.
- Degraded Boss: Goes from being the final boss of 1 and 2 to the first boss in 3. Justified in that he wasn't using the Great Zapfish's power at that point.
- Do Not Adjust Your Set: He hacks into Cap'n Cuttlefish's radio channel more than once. This is turned around on him during the climax of his fight.
- Dub Name Change: Played with. He's primarily referred to as "DJ Takowasa (Shogun)" in Japanese, but he also still goes by "DJ Octavio", particularly in supplementary material, with "I am Octavio" actually being the original name of his theme as opposed to a translation. It's possible that "DJ Octavio" is meant to be his stage name in Japanese, considering that official Japanese media always writes it out in Roman letters, while "Takowasa" is written in katakana.
- Dumbass DJ: Not so much "dumb", but he still throws around the awful jokes you'd expect from the trope. Note that all of his DJ based puns is only in the American version, as the EU translation more closely follows the much more serious (if still largely stock dialogue) Japanese Boss Banter.
- Enemy Mine: In Splatoon 3, he helps New Agent 3 fight Mr. Grizz using another new Octobot King model.
- Evil Is Petty: Kidnapping Cap'n Cuttlefish has no benefits beyond temporarily depriving Agent 3 of a guide (which is quickly filled up by Agent 1 and 2 regardless). The only reason he did it is because he wants Cuttlefish to have a front-row seat to his ultimate triumph over Agent 3 and the Inklings in general.
- Evil Versus Oblivion: Plays the role of Evil and helps Agent 3 defeat Mr. Grizz (Oblivion).
- Final Boss: He's the driving force of the Octarian forces, and the one who abducted Cap'n Cufflefish. His surprising difficulty is one of the reasons he's considered one of the best bosses in Nintendo history. He reprises this role in the second game. This is averted in the third game as though you fight him, this spot went to Mr. Grizz.
- Final-Exam Boss: His fight takes a number of elements from various stages.
- Freaky Electronic Music: He embodies the Deadly DJ subtrope, not just playing his own electronic boss theme, but also riding a Humongous Mecha shaped like a show stage loaded to the gills with weaponry.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Implied in Splatoon 3. Without access to his Octarian army, the only way the Octobot King could be modified to function without the Great Zapfish and be rebuilt to be capable of traveling through space would be if he made it so himself. "The Art of Splatoon 3" corroborates this.
- The Generalissimo: He's undoubtedly a leader, if not the leader, of Octarians and was a military commander during the Great Turf War. Based on info from the Sunken Scrolls and Octo Expansion, Octarian society under his rule is a deteriorating mess driven by military needs. Nearly all Octarian technology is exclusively devoted to the army, propaganda against the Inklings is at an all-time high, and
Word of God states that Octavio uses his music to brainwash the Octarians from thinking about life beyond his regime. Granted, he is consistently portrayed as a goofy DJ boss instead of a ruthless dictator like most examples of the trope. - "Get Back Here!" Boss: Sort of. You have to keep knocking him back until he launches a large, reflectable missile, which means you have to chase after him; if you don't, he simply flies back over to you, and you have to knock him back again.
- Giant Hands of Doom: His machine's giant rocket-launched hands are its main weapons, as well as the main targets to shoot.
- Here We Go Again!: The reason why you can replay the final stage of Splatoon 1 and why he's back in 2 is because he escaped his imprisonment while Cuttlefish was distracted. He's back in 3 with no explanation, but knowing how lax his security tends to be, you can reasonably make your own guesses as to how he escaped.
- Homing Projectile: Fires off Octorpedoes with this quality.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: His situation in Splatoon 3. His Octobot King L3.Gs is noticeably more dull and beaten-up compared to the previous models, being a grey mech with legs instead of the extremely colorful floating stage that came before it, and he mentions that his Octarian army has gone missing. And he goes down much faster than his previous boss fights, lampshaded by Cuttlefish. This is because Mr. Grizz has stolen both the Great Zapfish and the Octarian army, two factors that made Octavio a genuine threat in the past.
- Humongous Mecha: The Octobot King L3.Gs in Splatoon 3 seems to have graduated into being one, complete with proper arms and legs. You yourself get to pilot it during the Final Boss.
- Instrument of Murder: Pilots a war machine controlled by a turntable, complete with a Killer Wail attack.
- Insult Backfire: According to the official website, DJ Octavio once hijacked the Inkling radio network to broadcast a song that was meant to provoke the Inklings, with the Splatune liner notes implying that it was meant to be a taunt about the theft of the Great Zapfish in the first game. Unfortunately for him, the Inklings thought it was a publicity stunt, and genuinely liked it. Indeed, the Splatune linear notes indicate that the main result of Octavio's broadcast was convincing someone to trawl through Inkopolis's music archives in order to compile an album of previously intercepted Octarian music.
- Involuntary Dance: At the final phase of the boss fight, the Squid Sisters play Calamari Inkantation, which causes DJ Octavio to suddenly start dancing. Though he still launches his mechanical fists and any other weapons he still has, Octavio will continue to dance until he is beaten. His dialogue during his Villainous Breakdown in Splatoon 2 implies that he is feeling the positive effects of that heavenly melody, and desperately tries to resist its power in vain.
- Large Ham: Present in all languages, but the American English Boss Banter is the silliest by far."GYAH HA HA! I'ma remix your face!"
"You can't handle my spicy wasabi beats!"
"I'MA DUBSTOMP YOU INTO OBLIVION!"
(European Version) "I'LL MAKE FRIED SQUID RINGS OUTTA YOU!" - Laughably Evil: The boss presentation of DJ Octavio is campy; a Dumbass DJ who spouts one-liners and operates on a flying turntable with giant fists. He still has his moments of seriousness from time to time, though.
- Legacy Boss Battle: He appears as a boss in all three games. In the first two, he's the Final Boss, and in 3, he's the first boss.
- Lyrical Dissonance: Given that Inkling and Octarian voices are generally Simlish, his 2 boss theme provides a variation on this. It's a menacing and foreboding tune that incorporates vinyl scratching from his turntables and an orchestral instrumentation. But the lyrics? They're coming from Callie's Bomb Rush Blush, which is generally quite upbeat and happy.
- Marathon Boss: He just will not give up, raining down more mayhem upon the player with each progressive stage. He only finally falls when you knock him out of his mecha and ink him point-blank.
- Meaningful Name: His Japanese name is a dish made of octopus with wasabi.
- Mind-Control Music: He can control the Octarians with his own music being broadcasted.
- Mook Maker: Spawns lower-ranking Octarians in the later stages of his boss fight, and the tentacles that control the Great Octoweapons are implied to come from him.
- More Dakka: Exaggerated from the usual mayhem-raining in the game.
- My Name Is ???: He spends most of the first game with his name being hidden by question marks, with it not being displayed until you finally meet him face-to-face in the final battle.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
- DJ Octavio unwittingly cured much of the lazy attitude of Inkling culture as his radio broadcast stunt drew interest into Octarian music and subsequently, the Inklings pirated Turquoise October's album. The album, which was meant to train Octarians to be diligent and disciplined for battle, improved Inkling sleeping habits and made them into better fighters. If Agent 3 and/or Agent 4 are among the fans of Turquoise October, then Octavio has unwittingly trained the Inkling(s) that thwarted his evil plans.
- By taking the Great Zapfish and Cap'n Cuttlefish to his lair, he had paved the way for Callie and Marie to hijack his speakers and sing their "Calamari Inkantation" melody live, which caused many listening Octolings to abandon his army and integrate into Inkling society in Splatoon 2.
- Likewise, turning his boss arena into a live concert for a brainwashed Callie to perform. When Marie frees her cousin from the hypnoshades, the Squid Sisters immediately perform "Calamari Inkantation" again, this time with a spicy flavor and for a larger Octarian audience. If the previous incident was any indication, Octavio might have caused more Octolings and maybe even some non-Octoling Octarians as well to leave for Inkopolis Square.
- Not Me This Time: In Splatoon 3, he reveals that he didn't steal the Great Zapfish this time. Somebody beat him to it, and he only attacks the player because his Octarian army's gone missing, and he suspects that Cap'n Cuttlefish is the reason why.
- Not Quite Dead: Even after his stage exploded (with him on it) in a massive torrent of Agent 3's ink, he's still alive to be imprisoned in a giant snowglobe (and you can torture him by shooting the glass to scare him).
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: He's less interested about helping his people during an energy crisis and more preoccupied with starting another Great Turf War to get back at the Inklings (especially Cap'n Cuttlefish). His broadcast music, for instance, is used to keep the Octarians under his control, and the Octo Expansion reveals that many Octolings abandoned the Octarian society because the "Calamari Inkatation" made them realize there's a better life waiting for them in Inkopolis, which is now big enough to allow both species to co-exist in harmony, thus negating the need of stealing the Zapfish.
- Public Hater, Private Fan: It's implied that he secretly loves "Calamari Inkantation", but doesn't want to give up his war campaign and thus actively tries to resist the song despite dancing to the beats, even going as far as cursing the Squid Sisters for playing it. He finally admits he likes it in the climax of Splatoon 3, calling it a heavenly melody and even playing it himself after allying with the New Squidbeak Splatoon to save Earth from Mr. Grizz.
- Pungeon Master: In the American version quite a few of his lines after his reveal contain a pun, most of them related to his profession.
- Punny Name:
- A two-for-one deal. Octavio is a reference to both "octopus" (obviously) and "octave" (he's a music-themed boss).
- The most notable feature of the Octobot King L3.Gs he pilots in 3 is the addition of actual legs.
- Purple Is Powerful: His Humongous Mecha has many purple accents on it, and his ink (like the rest of the Octarians) is purple. He switches to a blue ink in the third game.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: He's the leader of the Octarians and naturally, he's the most powerful of them all, being a relentless, challenging Final Boss of the first two games due to piloting a Humongous Mecha literally powered by the Great Zapfish.
- Really 700 Years Old: If the Sunken Scrolls and Cuttlefish's own testimony is anything to go by, Octavio was around for the Great Turf War, which means that much like Cuttlefish, the guy is over a century old. Unlike poor Cuttlefish, though, Octavio seems to still be in generally excellent shape.
- Redemption Rejection: "Calamari Inkantation" is a heavenly melody that can liberate the souls of Octolings, causing them to abandon the Cycle of Revenge and integrate with their Inkling brethren on the surface. DJ Octavio, however, actively resists the effects of melody and refuses to give up his vendetta.
- The Remnant: By Splatoon 3, he appears to be the only Octarian left still trying to get the Great Zapfish, even becoming the first boss in story mode rather than the Final Boss. This is later justified as Mr. Grizz stole his entire army and converted them into his minions.
- Revenge Before Reason: Unlike his fellow Octarians, who are primarily concerned about their energy problem, DJ Octavio is more preoccupied with his long-awaited revenge against Cap'n Cuttlefish. The manga even lampshades it with Goggles asking Octavio why couldn't he just ask the Inklings to share the Zapfish, and Octavio's stunned face implying that it never occurred to him to simply do that.
- Scars Are Forever: One of the chatlogs in the Octo Expansion seems to imply that Octavio's scar may have been given to him by Cuttlefish back during the Great Turf War.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: His fate after the boss fight, Cap'n Cuttlefish traps him in a snow globe... which he can apparently break out of as many times as you're willing to re-fight him. Done on a much more serious note in Splatoon 2, where he breaks out and goes right back to stealing the Great Zapfish... though he goes right back into his snowglobe at the end.
- Sequential Boss: Has five phases to his battle. His boss battle in the second game continues this and gives him four phases.
- Shapeshifter Mode Lock: While he's clearly an Octoling in octo form, and we see him in human form in a Sunken Scroll, he never turns into a humanoid form when he appears in the flesh. It may be a side effect of his old age, but nothing is ever said. The Splatoon story in the October 2018 issue of Nintendo Dream states (or potentially speculates) that this trope is due to the injuries he suffered during the Great Turf War. This gains more credence in Splatoon 3, when Cap'n Cuttlefish (an Inkling born in the same era as Octavio) similarly gets stuck in squid form after being dehydrated by Mr. Grizz.
- Some Kind of Force Field: He has a personal force field that flings you back if you get too close to him. This can lead to death in several situations.
- Still Fighting the Civil War: For DJ Octavio, the Great Turf War never really ended. Even after Judd the Cat declared the Inklings as the winners, Octavio still plots to bring victory for the Octarians with his plans to steal Zapfish and power up the Great Octoweapons to restart the war. The problem is… the Great Turf War ended 100 years ago, and the modern generation of Inklings don't even know or care about it, even mistaking Octavio to be a rad DJ musician rather than a feared general. The only Inklings that actually bother to fight the Octarian army are members of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, which only consists of 3-4 Agents and Cap'n Cuttlefish. The sheer meaninglessness of Octavio's vendetta is even more obvious from Octo Expansion onward, as a large and growing population of Octolings have successfully immigrated to the surface and integrated with Inkling society, meaning Octavio doesn't even have "legit" reasons for war anymore.
- Tactical Suicide Boss: The only way to damage him is by shooting his fists and missiles back at him. If he would stick to bombs, summoning enemies, and Killer Wails, he'd be invincible.
- Tennis Boss: Needs to have his fists hit back at him and his giant ink missile launched back. He reflects the missile back, which destroys a fist doing so, so you have to do three rallies to damage him. Keep in mind that you have to do this while he's trying to simultaneously swarm, torpedo, and atomize you.
- This Is a Drill: The L3.Gs can turn its hands into drills and fire them at the player.
- Took a Level in Badass:
- In Splatoon 2, it's quite clear he learned from his defeat the first time around. His first act was to put one of the people who captured him to begin with under Mind Control and use her talents for his new Octobot King mech. He also disposes of the ladder-shades missile and will use spinning punches on Agent 4 that can't be deflected.
- While he's only the first boss in Splatoon 3 (due to not having the Great Zapfish to power his Octobot), he more than proves himself a capable ally in the finale with the assistance of his Octobot and joining in on the Inkantation, and helps New Agent 3 land the final blow on Mr. Grizz with his mech's ink cannon.
- Universally Beloved Leader: While he's a bit of a menace to the Inkling societies, he's well-liked by the Octarians. Even among deserters like Marina and Agent Eight, they generally regard him fondly; Eight's mem cake on him has them regret not saying farewell to Octavio, and Marina apologizes to him for using his Palette in Side Order.
- Unusual User Interface: He pilots his Humongous Mecha with a turntable that's scratched with wasabi roots.
- Villain Decay: Not an example across multiple titles, but rather when his boss fight is replayed. After being beaten the first time (in both games), nobody takes him seriously. The Squid Sisters make casual banter while he tries desperately to come off as a credible villain, poor guy. The problem is, Agent 3 and in the sequel, Agent 4 has already beaten him once and he still doesn't change his tactics, so nobody expects Octavio to actually win. The decay wears off after he starts a new scheme in Splatoon 2, but as noted, it immediately sets in again once defeated, as the boss fight ends up being more of a proxy for the argument between Marie and Callie over the latter putting on the hypnoshades again. A more traditional decay occurs in Splatoon 3, where he's the first boss and goes down much easier compared to previous games, though he does contribute to the Big Damn Heroes at the end.
- Villainous Breakdown: He undergoes one when his beats are replaced by the Squid Sisters' melody during the final phase of his fight.DJ Octavio: I CAN'T... RESIST THE GROOVE... ANY LONGER! SPLAT YOU, SQUID SISTERRRRRRS!
- Villainous Rescue: He saves new Agent 3 and their little Smallfry after they're blown off from the rocket by Mr. Grizz. And he helps save the whole world from becoming a fuzzball with his Octobot King L3.Gs sucking up all the fuzz and throwing it back at Mr. Grizz.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Based off Sunken Scroll 16, Octavio is an Octoling and can assume a humanoid form — the only male Octarian before the Octo Expansion DLC shown to do so. Curiously, though, he seems to avoid doing so in the modern era.
- Walking Spoiler: While he actually doesn't have that many secrets relevant to the plot (that he was Cap'n Cufflefish's friend is about all there is), his boss fight and characterization are unique enough that players don't want to spoil others on his surprises. Splatoon 2 manages to continue the trend of showing more things that are difficult to talk about without ruining some surprises.
- Weapons That Suck: The Octobot King L3.Gs from Splatoon 3 equips itself with a giant Ink Vac. It's instrumental in taking out the Final Boss.
- We Used to Be Friends: He and Cap'n Cuttlefish clearly know each other from times past, and the Sunken Scrolls reveal they were good friends before the first Great Turf War. It was specifically their being on directly opposing forces, and later their duel and Octavio's defeat, at the Siege of Arowana Castle that signified the end of their friendship.
- Your Size May Vary: During the final boss fight, he's three times your size (not counting his mecha, of course). When trapped in the snow globe in the postgame, as well as most later appearances, he's regular-sized.
The Great Octoweapons
Clockwise from top left: Octostomp, Octonozzle, Octomaw, Octowhirl
Gigantic war machines of the Octarians, which they originally used to fight the Inklings during the Great Turf War. They're risen up again in the modern day, powered by the Zapfish that the Octarians have stolen. They serve as the bosses of the first game's single-player mode.First is (The Mighty) Octostomp, a gigantic steel block that attempts to flatten you. The second is (The Dreaded) Octonozzle, a huge turret that fires blobs of ink while rotating. Third is (The Rampaging) Octowhirl, a clam-like sphere that leaves ink wherever it rolls. The fourth is (The Ravenous) Octomaw, a robot fish with huge teeth and a big appetite. There is a fifth one, the DJ vehicle seemingly known as the Octobot King, which is piloted by DJ Octavio; information about it can be found under his tab.
- Achilles' Power Cord: According to one of the Sunken Scrolls, the reason that the Octoweapons didn't lead the Octarians to victory in the Great Turf War was because they were powered by short extension cords. Hence why the modern Octarians are using Zapfish instead.
- Attack Drone: Octomaw has an attack in which it fires off its remaining teeth to your position which then fire off ink bullets before returning to the Octomaw.
- Attack Its Weak Point: To damage them, you must get them to reveal a tentacle (explained by a scroll in the second game to be a living control mechanism taken from the Big Bad himself) on themselves in some way, then spray it down. In addition, to defeat Octonozzle, you need to shoot nubs on its body to stun him.
- Bullfight Boss: Octowhirl rolls across the arena periodically, and the goal is to slow it to a stop when it does so.
- Colossus Climb: To defeat Octostomp, you need to wait until it smashes its face into the ground, paint one of its sides, then climb up it and paint the tentacle. You also need to climb up Octonozzle to defeat it, but it's not as major to the battle as it is with Octostomp.
- Didn't Need Those Anyway!: Octostomp loses the metal plates on its body as it takes damage. This actually helps it, because it means there's less paint-able space on its body.
- Feed It a Bomb: Octomaw's weakness; toss a bomb into its mouth when there's an open spot, and it'll reveal its tentacle.
- Humongous Mecha: They're all very large compared to the player.
- Just Eat Him: The Octomaw has an attack where it tries to eat Agent 3 by trapping it in its jaw. If you don't break through the circular field of teeth and get out, it's a instant kill.
- King Mook:
- Octostomp is a massive version of the Octostamps, which, oddly, are only encountered after you defeat it, making this a sort of inversion.
- While Octowhirl doesn't resemble the Octoballs in the slightest, you defeat them in the same way.
- Living Battery: Their power source is a Zapfish contained inside a lightbulb device.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Octomaw has a mouth full of teeth, and a goal in its battle is to destroy as many of them as you can.
- Pivotal Boss: Octonozzle, being a turret, can't move around, only being able to rotate to face you.
- Pre-Explosion Glow: After being defeated, they all radiate beams of light before they explode in a shower of ink.
- Puzzle Boss: All except Octonozzle.
- Rule of Three: In traditional Nintendo fashion, splatting their three tentacles and they're done for.
- Starter Villain Stays: Octostomp, the first Great Octoweapon to be fought, is the only one of the original four to return in Splatoon 2, where it's rebuilt and upgraded, returns along with the other 2 bosses as Sanitized variants in Octo Expansion. Played with in Splatoon 3, where Frye uses a hollowed-out shell of one to house her moray eels and rides on it in her boss battle. Finally averted in Side Order, where it is completely absent.
- Tactical Suicide Boss: All of them, sans Octonozzle:
- If Octostomp didn't try to slam you, you wouldn't be able to climb its fallen-over body.
- If Octowhirl didn't charge across the battlefield, it wouldn't get stuck in the ink spread everywhere.
- If Octomaw didn't show its gaping mouth to you, you wouldn't be able to toss a bomb into it.
- Theme Naming: All of them have "Octo" as a prefix in their name.
- The Tooth Hurts: During the battle with Octomaw, you can shoot its teeth to destroy them. This makes it easier to dodge its attacks, and gives you space to throw a bomb into its mouth.
- Turns Red: Each boss has three phases, going into the next phase after being hit.
The New Octobosses
Clockwise from top left: Octo Oven, Octo Samurai, Octo Shower, Neo Octostomp
A new set of four Great Octoweapons stationed in Octo Canyon, they confront Agent 4 during the second game's single-player campaign.The first is the Octo Oven, a giant weaponized bread machine. Second is the Octo Samurai, a giant Octarian whose Octocycle doubles as both a motorcycle and a weapon. The third is Neo Octostomp, a rebuilt version of the original Octostomp with several new tricks. Lastly, there's Octo Shower, a large showerhead-like machine bristling with weapons and kept in the air by a squad of Octocopters.
- Acrofatic: As chubby as Octo Samurai is, he is still able to leap across the entire arena, and his difficulty comes mainly from how fast he can attack.
- Adapted Out: In the manga, only Octo Oven and Octo Samurai appear, and the latter is reduced to a single-panel cameo; the other two are completely absent. Their reappearances in Octo Expansion were also removed.
- Attack Its Weak Point: The player must exploit their patterns in order to expose their vulnerable tentacle.
- Badass Biker: Octo Samurai can combine his Unicycle with his Roller to form an Octocycle, which is basically a Roller you can ride with a motor. Fittingly, his leather jacket adds a Bōsōzoku flavor to his Samurai theming.
- Beast Man: As a giant version of this trope, Octo Samurai is among most humanoid Octarian fighters, second only to the Little Bit Beastly Octolings and DJ Octavio in his humanoid form.
- BFS: The Octo Samurai uses a colossal roller as a sword.
- Boss Subtitles: How they're introduced. Their Octo Expansion versions are reintroduced with new subtitles.
- Broken Armor Boss Battle: The Neo Octostomp wears an ink-resistant coat, whose buckle Agent 4 has to shoot off before getting to ink his sides.
- Call-Back: Some of Octo Shower's attacks resemble those of DJ Octavio's machine in the first Splatoon. In turn, Octo Shower's signature move of shooting pressurized ink downwards and zooming across the arena gets imitated by DJ Octavio later on.
- Dash Attack: Most of the bosses have some variant. Octo Shower's shower attack is one, Octo Samurai will convert his Octocycle into "mobility" mode and dash to the next side of the arena, and Neo Octostomp will perform one before faceplanting when it loses its coat.
- Denser and Wackier: Marie notes that this set of bosses is stranger than the previous one.
- Edible Bludgeon: Octo Oven attempts to hit you with giant loaves of sandwich bread with Octarian faces on their ends. Sanitized Octo Oven XXL uses loaves of marble bread instead.
- Elite Mook: Octo Samurai appears to be either an overgrown Octoling or a fully developed tentacle-type Octarian, with his giant paint roller being the actual Octoweapon. Unlike all other bosses, he is actually splatted multiple times during his fight; the part of his roller where the tentacle comes out of also functions as his personal respawn point.
- Emerging from the Shadows: They are all introduced rising ominously from a pool of ink while backlit by a golden light within the pool, before the light fades to reveal their appearance.
- Eyes Always Shut: Octo Samurai's eyes are normally shut, except during cutscenes and before he performs his Signature Move.
- Flying Saucer: Octo Shower resembles one.
- Foreshadowing: Octo Shower has a rubber duck with a magenta bow and feminine eyelashes. It can shoot missiles that have Callie's hat on them. Remember when Marie deduced that the Octolings had a new female decorator?
- Hidden Depths: The artbook describes Octo Samurai as being a secret Callie fan.
- Improbable Weapon User: The Octarians this time around sic on Agent 4, among other things, a giant oven that bakes evil bread and a flying shower head. Octo Samurai himself is one, using a variant of the Inklings' giant paint roller that gets increasingly intimidating as the battle goes on.
- Incoming Ham: Neo Octostomp's Boss Subtitles read "I'm BAAAAAAAAACK!".
- King Mook:
- Octo Shower is one to the Flooder enemy, only much bigger, plus the ability to fly instead of legs. Subverted in a sense, in that Flooders are invulnerable whereas Octo Shower, by virtue of being a boss, can be defeated.
- Octo Samurai serves as one to the enemy Octolings, being more or less a much larger and bulkier version who wields a massive weapon similar to the Dynamo Rollers that regular Octolings use.
- Misapplied Phlebotinum: According to the artbook, Octo Oven was originally just a reverse-engineered Inkling oven designed to provide bread for the Octarian population. When its owner was severly injured in a bread-ejecting accident, instead of fixing it so that it could more safely do its purpose of feeding their kind, the Octarian brass opted to weaponize the oven's various features (such as its automatic chocolate coater) instead.
- Neat Freak: Octo Shower comes across as this, at least with whatever notions of cleanliness Octarians have. It is essentially a gigantic flying shower head, the ground in its arena made of bathroom tiles, and the graffiti stickers resemble soap and detergent brands. On the other hand, it doesn't spray water; it sprays ink.
- Palette Swap: In Octo Expansion they return, with Agent 8 battling upgraded sanitized versions of these.
- Razor Wind: A variant; Octo Samurai's vertical slashes send a shockwave of ink along the ground if his roller is spinning beforehand.
- Ring-Out Boss: Octo Samurai's Octo Expansion rematch is an inversion. You have an unlimited Baller, so he can't actually hurt you, but his attacks knock you way back and the arena is situated in the middle of a pit.
- Signature Move: Each of the Octobosses has a strong move that they use frequently. In all cases, Marie will warn you right before they perform it, and they are always vulnerable for some time afterwards:
- Octo Oven pops out all of its loaves of bread at once.
- Octo Samurai performs a Spin Attack, coating a wide area around himself with his own ink.
- Neo Octostomp, just like in the first game, slams its face against the floor.
- Octo Shower shoots streams of ink downwards and move quickly across the arena.
- Spin Attack: Octo Samurai can perform one of these. He stays still for a little while afterwards, allowing you to safely attack him.
- Stout Strength: Octo Samurai is far from skinny, but doesn't have much problem swinging around a huge roller and riding a unicycle.
- Sumo Wrestling: Octo Samurai's massive size and the design of his arena definitely bring to mind a Sumo duel. His sanitized counterpart in Octo Expansion plays it up even further, as his main goal is to throw the otherwise-invincible Baller-encased Agent 8 out of his ring.
- Sword Fight: Sheldon requires you to use the Hero Roller against the roller-wielding Octo Samurai, though only until you defeat him for the first time. When replaying the level, the trope is averted as you can use whatever you want.
- Tactical Suicide Boss: The only way the player can get on top of the Octo Oven to damage it is to wait until it tries shooting out all of its loaves at once, then using them to climb up.
- Took a Level in Badass:
- Neo Octostomp gets a sweater that makes it much harder to beat than the original, as it prevents you from painting it until you've knocked it off. Its final form sprouts two additional faces for additional horizontal stompage.
- The fights against the Octo Expansion versions add in new elements (more mooks, faster attacks, etc.) that make them tougher than the originals.
Troops
Debuting in Splatoon 1
Octotroopers
- Abnormal Ammo: One variant of Octotrooper (the "Octotrooper Bonbon") fires a burst of bouncing ink shots, making them more dangerous on open stretches of ground, but rather useless when firing across gaps.
- Aquatic Mook: Sort of. The Octodivers are a variant that wear scuba gear and are the only non-Octoling Octarian mooks that can dive into ink.
- The Goomba: The basic Octotrooper moves rather slowly (or not at all) and are easily splatted. Their projectiles are surprisingly powerful, but move so slowly that you can simply outwalk them. They're also very stupid, and can be fooled by simply hiding in ink.
- Shield-Bearing Mook: Some Octotroopers have a large shield covering their front; in the first game, they have to be hit in their unprotected back in order to be splatted, but from Splatoon 2 onward, their shields are destructible, if still exceptionally resilient.
- Stationary Enemy: Some Octotroopers mount stationary weapon platforms instead of hovercraft.
Twintacle Octotroopers
- Elite Mook: Having an extra tentacle over the single-tentacle troopers means they can mash the firing switch twice as fast. In addition, the most elite units serve as Octoseeker pilots.
- Perpetual Frowner: Unlike the standard Octotroopers, who have perpetually vacant expressions, these ones have a constant angry expression.
- Underground Monkey: More or less just an upgraded version of a standard Octotrooper, right down to them sharing all of the exact same variants.
Octopods (& Oversized Octopods)
Splatoon 3 introduces the Oversized Octopod, which is a bigger, stronger, and tankier version of the standard Octopod.
- Action Bomb: Their only method of attack is to run up and explode.
- Gas Mask Mook: They cement their appearance with something like a mechanical gas mask.
- Giant Mook: The Oversized Octopod, introduced in 3, is a bigger and more powerful version of the standard Octopod.
- Glowing Mechanical Eyes: Fitting into the MacGyvered nature of Octarian technology, they appear to have glowing traffic lights for eyes.
- Mecha-Mooks: Unlike most Octarian mooks, they seem to have no organic components.
Octoballs
- Be the Ball: Their rediculously tiny legs means that they can only really move by rolling around.
- Cyclops: Unlike most Octarians, they have only one eye.
- Kung Fu-Proof Mook: Shooting them will only push them back unless they are submerged in your ink first.
- Rolling Attack: Their main means of attack instead of shooting ink.
- The Unfought: Near the end of Octo Expansion, sanitized versions can be seen inside storage containers during the Belly Phase, within the main cannon of the NILS statue during the final boss and being launched out of the NILS statue as debris during the final cutscene, but they can never be interacted with.
- Waddling Head: Basically a head with tiny legs.
Squee-G (& Industrial Squee-G)
Squee-G
Industrial Squee-G
Roomba-like Octarian devices. They make nuisances of themselves by cleaning out your ink trails, but otherwise pose no threat to you.Splatoon 2 introduces their larger cousin, the Industrial Squee-G. Unlike the regular Squee-G, these can splat you.
- Delicious Distraction: They're constantly in pursuit of ink to suck up. If you need to climb a wall one is on, you can manipulate their AI by throwing a "decoy" splatter onto it to distract it, then creating the actual line of ink you'll use to climb.
- Giant Mook: The Industrial Squee-G in Splatoon 2 are significantly larger, and also far more dangerous, as they can actually harm you.
- Harmless Enemy: Squee-G can do nothing to your Inkling/Octoling other than suck up ink. The Industrial version, however, averts this.
- Helpful Mook: Unlike their smaller cousins, the Industrial Squee-G can be used as mobile platforms, with you controlling them by shooting ink wherever you want to go. One Octo Expansion mission even has you use one to splat a horde of enemies.
- Invincible Minor Minion: They're completely invulnerable to your ink attacks, but they themselves can't harm you either.
- Meaningful Name: Squeegees are tools used to move liquids around, usually to wipe them off of surfaces, which fits what Squee-Gs do.
- Mecha-Mooks: They're essentially ink roombas shaped like fish.
- Mechanical Animals: Resembles a catfish, a bottom feeder that eats food from the water's floor, which suits their purpose of eating ink off of surfaces.
- Wall Crawl: Squee-G can often be found clinging to walls, usually those you need to climb, making them quite annoying to deal with.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Industrial Squee-Gs are absent in the third game's Return of the Mammalians campaign.
Octocopters
- Airborne Mook: They are the first flying enemies that the player will face in single-player campaign.
- The Goomba: Of the flying variant. Being in the air doesn't make them any more faster or stronger than a standard Octotrooper.
- Hat of Flight: They wear propeller hats to fly.
- Tricked-Out Shoes: Wear what look to be helicopter landing skids as shoes.
- Weaponized Headgear: Fires ink from a nozzle on its helmet.
Octobombers
- Airborne Mook: Two of their tentacles even sort of function like wings.
- Elite Mook: Stronger and tougher than the standard Octocopter.
- Hat of Flight: Like the Octocopter, they wear propeller hats to fly.
- Tricked-Out Shoes: Their shoes each have two landing skids on the bottom, instead of the Octocopter's one.
- Weaponized Headgear: Their Splat Bombs come from the nozzle on their helmet.
Octostamps (& Amped Octostamps)
Splatoon 3 introduces the Amped variant, which wears headphones, has a protective cover on its weak spot, and creates shockwaves when it lands.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Can only be splatted by being shot in its fleshy back, which is easiest to do right after it faceplants.
- Degraded Boss: Basically smaller versions of the Great Octostomp, despite not appearing until after the latter is defeated.
- Evil Counterpart: Amped Octostamps send out shockwaves just like those created by the Wave Breaker.
- Ground Pound: Ground Faceplant, really; they spread ink onto the place they fall.
- Hidden Depths: They seem to be among the less sentient Octarians, but the Amped Octostamps are visibly singing along with whatever's playing in their headphones.
- Shockwave Stomp: Amped Octostamps create powerful shockwaves that damage the player if they don't jump over them.
- Underground Monkey: Splatoon 3 introduces Amped Octostamps, which look just like regular Octostamps but with headphones.
Octolings (Enemies)
An octoling on the left, an elite octoling on the right.
Voiced by: Yuki Mizutani (Octolings), Mari Kikuma (elite Octolings)
The most elite soldiers in the Octarian military and the most equal to the Inklings.- '80s Hair: Their tentacles are fashioned in a "poofy" style reminiscent of this, being even poofier than the equivalent option available to playable female Octolings.
- Amazon Brigade: The human-form Octolings seen in the first two single-player campaigns are females trained for combat. Made even more explicit in their Japanese name, Takozonesu ("Octozons").
- Brainwashed and Crazy: It's hinted that the Octoling Shades they wear in Splatoon 2 use the same hypnoshades technology that brainwashed Callie to the Octarian army. Considering that none of the Octolings are wearing the classic Octoling Goggles like in the first game, this implies that DJ Octavio was not taking any chances of more Octolings defecting.
- Demoted to Extra: In the first two games and the Octo Expansion, Octolings are fairly common recurring enemies and even have several levels entirely dedicated to them. In Splatoon 3, they only make three appearances total, all in late-game levels, with only one of these being an Octoling-focused level. They also appear in the final section of the Brutal Bonus Level to fight you one final time. This is justified in-universe though, as by the events of Splatoon 3 most of the Octolings now live peacefully with Inklings, meaning that the Octolings that stayed behind with the Octarian military are now the minority.
- Elite Mook: Octolings are already among the most elite Octarian soldiers as they can match every Inkling ability, but they have their own elite version, which have darker tentacles and seaweed in their hair, and are faster and stronger than the others.
- Evil Counterpart Race: To the Inklings in general, being Octopus that turn into humanoids and use the same weapons as their long-time rivals. For Agent 8, a heroic Octoling trapped in Deepsea Metro, Sanitized Octolings which share the same general appearance as the Octarian-aligned Octolings take up this role.
- Leitmotif: Octoling Rendezvous plays in all the stages where they make prominent appearances. It's a somewhat-edgy tune that heightens their danger as a Mirror Boss, and features a contralto singer.
- Mirror Boss: Some Deepsea Metro stations have Agent 8 playing a modified version of a Ranked Battle objective with a squad of Octolings as their opponents.
- Mook Chivalry: In Octo Expansion, one test chamber has you defending an orb from a squad of them. They will only engage you one or two at a time. Unless you try to charge the wall they are on to take them all out swiftly, in which case they will Super Jump onto the main portion of the stage en masse to shut you up.
- My Rules Are Not Your Rules: Inklings and Octolings undergo a Forced Transformation into a big, helpless fuzzball when mutated by Fuzzy Ooze. Except for Octarian army Octolings, who remain just as capable and deadly as before, only with furry tentacle-hair, goggles full of Ooze, and a leopard-print shirt under their armor.
- Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains: They wear much more revealing clothes than their Inkling counterparts, with shorts along with a tank top armor that shows quite a bit of navel. To drive this point home, the unlockable Octoling Armor doesn't show nearly as much skin when worn by an Inkling (or Octoling) of either gender.
- Sinister Shades: In 2 they wear red-rimmed sunglasses with a Terminator-style glowing red eye.
- Superpowered Mooks: Octolings have all of the same abilities as an Inkling and wield ink weapons and subweapons in the same way, making them some of the most dangerous Octarians enlisted in their army and on par with both Inklings and the heroic/civil Octolings. In Octo Expansion and in the final part of After Alterna, the secret level of Splatoon 3's Hero Mode, they can even use specials.
- Variable Mix: Whenever their Leitmotif plays, the drums and vocals cut in if you're actively engaged in battle with one of them, and out if you aren't. Also, near the end of each level featuring them in 1 and 2 (after the final checkpoint in the former and once you've gathered the second-to-last Mini Zapfish in the latter), a second version of their song plays that's distorted and higher-pitched.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: They are the only enemy to share the Inklings' ability to transform from human to cephalopod and back at will. Their Octopus forms are much more menacing and evil-looking compared to Agent 8 and other Octolings that took up residence in the surface world.
Octostrikers
- Flunky Boss: When directly confronted, its main defense is summoning other Octarians.
- Flying Saucer: Spend most of their time launching Inkstrikes at you from atop a flying saucer.
- Goggles Do Something Unusual: Wear advanced-looking goggles that presumably help in targeting.
- Mini-Boss: There are only three Octostrikers in the entire game, and they only appear in levels that numerically precede the boss levels from Area 2 onward.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The Missile Octocopters from Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion are basically just Octostrikers that fire Tenta Missiles instead.
- Weaponized Headgear: The Inkstrikes are launched from the top of their helmet.
Flooders
- A Day in the Limelight: In a sense; while they have plenty of single-player levels where they are the stars of the show, Splatoon 2 gives them a dedicated multiplayer level in the form of the Splatfest-exclusive Shifty Station "Flooders in the Attic".
- Giant Mook: Big Flooders are Flooders with extra long legs.
- Helpful Mook: Flooders make for excellent mobile platforms, so long as you can get on top of them. Sometimes they even come with gushers on their heads to help you reach particularly high places.
- Invincible Minor Minion: Unlike the ostensibly far more powerful Great Octoweapons/bosses, Flooders cannot be splatted in any way.
- Laser Sight: When a Flooder has you in its sight, it will mark you with a red laser pointer.
- Mecha-Mooks: They're purely mechanical in nature; Octo Expansion reveals that Marina of Off The Hook was the one who designed them.
Octosnipers
- Breath Weapon: It fires its weapon by blowing ink into it with its mouth.
- Cold Sniper: A long-range Octarian warrior that opposes the New Squidbeak Splatoon.
- Evil Is Bigger: Octosnipers dwarf even other Octarians, and tend to be one of the bigger threats against your player character.
- Laser Sight: Like chargers in multiplayer, an Octosniper has a laser that pinpoints their target and highlights the length of their firing range; its color changes from green to red when aggro'd, and it flashes yellow right before it's about to fire. As such, this laser is your main means of knowing where and when Octosniper is going to strike.
- One-Hit Kill: In Splatoon 2 and onward, getting hit directly by an Octosniper without armor instantly splats you.
- Stationary Enemy: All of them are mounted on immobile platforms only capable of turning.
Debuting in Splatoon 2
Octohurlers
- Goggles Do Nothing: Unlike the Octostrikers', their goggles don't seem to have any practical function.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Their Rolonium can be deflected right back at them for an instant splat.
- Stationary Enemy: They'll remain so firmly seated on their folding stools that they won't even bother turning to face you.
- Stomach of Holding: The only explaination for how they're able to store Rolonium despite each bundle being the size of their entire body.
- Super Spit: They attack by barfing out bundles of Rolonium.
Octozeppelins & Octomissiles
Octozeppelin
Octomissile
Flying Octarians that travel in straight lines or along set paths. Octozeppelins are giant, blimp-like Octarians with ink-spreading propellers, and Octomissiles are smaller rocket-like versions.- Action Bomb: Considering that severed Octarian tentacles seem to be at least somewhat sentient, you could consider Octomissiles to be suicide bombers.
- Ascended Extra: Octomissiles appear in only one level in Hero Mode, but are much more prominent in Octo Expansion, and they also play a decent role in Splatoon 3's Hero Mode.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Splatting the tentacle on top of an Octozeppelin will blow the whole thing to smithereens.
- Helpful Mook: Splatoon 3 introduces an Octozeppelin variants that have extending platforms on either of its sides, and Octomissile variants with platforms on top of them. They let Agent 3 cross long distances above Bottomless Pits that they can't cross otherwise.
- Living Weapon: Octomissiles are basically living tentacles with warheads and engines strapped to them.
Octoseekers
- Airborne Mook: They're basically stamp-shaped helicopters.
- Death from Above: Besides its slam attack, the Octoseeker also constantly rains down ink from its underside in order to prevent the player from just hiding underneath it.
- Elite Mook: Presumably, the most elite Twintacles operate this deadly machine.
- The Guards Must Be Crazy: Even if they spot you, they take their sweet time setting up a sudden landing to crush you, enough for you to easily slip away. Then once they lose sight of you, they resume their regular patrol, never noticing, say, the ink along their sides or you on top of their roof.
- Outside Ride: Occasionally, getting from point A to B will involve luring an Octoseeker to slam on the ground so you can ink its side and swim up to its top.
- Patrolling Mook: When not aggro'd, they patrol around set areas, using the searchlight located on their front to suss out any intruders.
Tentakooks
- Cowardly Mooks: Which wouldn't be a problem except that they tend to carry keys needed to progress through the level.
- Rollerblade Good: They move around on roller stakes, each with an attached inktube that coats the wheels so they can move through enemy ink.
- Throw Down the Bomblet: They throw Splat Bombs to deter pursuers.
Octoballers
- Attack Its Weakpoint: Standard Octoballers can be destroyed by splatting their Octotrooper.
- Giant Mook: The Kingpin Octoballer is a bigger version controlled by two Octotroopers that can only be destroyed by an Ink Cannon, as the pilots are protected by a glass canopy.
- Palette Swap: In the form of yellow Octoballers that give ten Power Eggs when splatted.
- Rolling Attack: Will instantly splat anything caught in their path, with most also leaving behind a large trail of ink.
Octocommanders
- Achilles' Heel: Their main weakness is that, similarly to Octosnipers, they have to blow into their weapon in order to fire it, which forces them to eventually stop to recover their breath, leaving them open to counterattack.
- BFG: The Octocommander's Splatling gun is massive.
- Cool Shades: Wears large sunglasses.
- Evil Is Bigger: Just as big as Octosnipers; just as big of a threat.
- Gatling Good: Commands a turret-mounted Splatling gun that it uses to great effect.
- More Dakka: The Splating is basically a minigun that can cover a great distance with a heavy torrent of ink.
Debuting in Splatoon 3
Octohoppers
Bouncing Octotroopers that launch literal bucketfuls of ink at intruders.
- Evil Counterpart: They're constantly jumping, their projectiles are notable for being able to go over walls, and they have buckets to shoot out their ink, which matches your typical Slosher user pretty closely.
- Hopping Machine: They're Octotroopers whose vehicles make them constantly jump around, with no form of locomotion otherwise.
- Hurricane of Puns: Their introductory level has Agents 1 and 2 making at least four "hop" puns. Unfortunately for Agent 3, Octohoppers hate puns.
- Spring Coil: Their primary gimmick is that they're always hopping around on one of these.
Octodiscos
Disco ball-like Octarians that have the ability to create a shield to protect fellow Octarians from damage.
- Attack Its Weak Point: The Octodisco itself is basically this; while their shields are impervious to ink and will recharge quickly after deactivation, the Octarian itself remains vulnerable to any attack from above.
- The Bus Came Back: They look like augmented Octoballs. Despite functioning entirely differently, 3 marks the first time Octoballs actually appeared as an enemy since the first game.
- Deflector Shields: Their shields resist all damage, but have to be temporarily turned off every so often to recharge. A sufficiently bold Agent 3 can also simply move through them to get at any Octarians hiding within.
- Evil Counterpart: As Flying Mooks that deploy a spherical force field that can be walked through and have a weak point at the top of the field, they're just sentient, fuzzy versions of the player's own Big Bubbler.
- Overly-Nervous Flop Sweat: If the Octarian it's protecting goes down, the now-defenseless Octodisco starts panicking and sweating rapidly.
- Support Party Member: They can generate shields, but must rely on their fellow Octarians for any type of offense.
