Characters / Splatoon – Playable Characters

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Inklings and Octolings

In General

Inklings and Octolings from the third game.

The Inklings and Octolings are the main playable races throughout the franchise. Evolving from squids and octopuses long after the death of man, these creatures are tentacled elf-like humanoids who live on Earth as the new dominant species. The player can control one of them and modify their looks before heading off to play friendly turf battles, or go on secret missions.

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• Action Fashionista: Inklings and Octolings inevitably collect an impressive amount of fresh outfits to battle in.
• All Work vs. All Play: Inklings are the play, Octolings are the work. Inklings are fashion-obsessed hedonists, where Octolings, like all Octarians, are raised to be soldiers for the Octarian military. As the two cultures mesh, they've started to take on traits of the other side, with Inklings developing some form of discipline and becoming more serious and careful, and Octolings learning how to loosen up and relax.
• Badass Adorable: Cute humanoids who can shapeshift into cute cephalopods, who can take on an entire army single-handedly.
• Bag of Sharing: Once Octo Expansion's story is complete, the Inkling and Octoling characters share a multiplayer inventory, rank progress, and Grizzco pay grade, despite the single player modes treating Agent 4 and Agent 8 as very distinct individuals. Interestingly, though, the smartphone companion app does keep track of how much turf you've inked as an Octoling separately from Inkling turf.
• Battle Aura: Inklings and Octolings whose Special Weapon is charged begin sparkling, in addition to having their hair glow and get blown by Dramatic Wind.
• Blood Knight: Inklings mainly care about two things; fashion and ink-based warfare. Octolings have pretty much adopted this line of thinking with their integration into Inkadian/Greater Inkopolis society, and both species have always been like this in the Splatlands. When the collective reaction to a Big Run (aka the Salmonids invading the land, which is implied to have previously been a virtually apocalyptic scenerio) seems to be less "horror and panic" and more "heck yeah let's beat up some orc fish", you know Inklings and Octolings are this.
• Character Customization: The player can select the species, hairstyle, skin tone, eye color, and legwear for their character. Splatoon 3 adds further customization options with eyebrows and little buddy Smallfry's fin hair.
• Death Is Cheap: In-Universe, "splatting" is a thing that can occur, wherein the body of the Inkling or Octoling bursts upon damage (or dissolves, as in water) and frees up a small spirit in the shape of their respective creature to return to a safe point of respawn. It ultimately isn't regarded as anything too serious, though later entries and elaborations introduce ways of death or destruction that can stick for them. The implication is mainly the availability of some kind of respawn point that's powered and properly working that allows Inklings or Octolings to respawn, which is basically confirmed by the developers, who have explicitly stated that during the Escape sequence in Octo Expansion Agent Eight does actually die if they're splatted since they're not connected to a working respawn platform.
• Elemental Baggage: Downplayed; their weapons are armed by ink, which is recharged by swimming in it, which is spread by them firing it, which means they essentially have Bottomless Magazines. To clarify, they have an infinitely renewable supply of ink from the finite source they have above its surface.
• Elemental Hair Composition: Inklings and Octolings are part-cephalopods, part-ink humanoids. When one's special meter fills up, their hair starts to bubble and waver.
• Elemental Shapeshifter: Their cephalopod forms can completely merge with their ink, and flow through grates. Rarely for this trope it's an entirely passive ability that needs external implementation to weaponize. It primarily serves as a means of getting around as it's much quicker and more agile than their human form (save for using an Inkbrush).
• Free-Range Children: Because There Are No Adults, there isn't any adult supervision as to where the Inklings and Octolings are going, whether it's down to the town plaza for a fresh outfit or to the local Turf War hotspot to play. As of Splatoon 3, it's especially exaggerated: the squidkids and octokids will hop into Spawner Drones and fly across the bay into the neighboring city to play Turf War, then return back to the Splatsville lobby after finishing a single match.
• Gendered Outfit:
  • Their legwear is subject to this. In the first game, the only legwear option has the girls' shorts being shorter than boys. Splatoon 2 introduces new legwear options, but most of them are gender-locked, with the only shared option being the leggings. Heavily downplayed in Splatoon 3, where while most returning and new legwear options can now be accessed regardless of style, the first legwear option^note The aforementioned legwear option introduced in the first game, colloquially called "Classic Shorts" is still being shorter on feminine styles.
  • In the first and second games, gear granted by amiibo differ in appearance depending on the wearer's gender. Heavily downplayed in Splatoon 3, where most gendered amiibo gear (except Marinated Top) were split into two variants that can be worn regardless of style.
• Glass Cannon: Despite having access to strong weaponry, Inklings and Octolings will go down fairly quickly to a well-placed attack, taking between two to five hits with the series's most powerful weapons before they're splatted. Many other tools are capable of one-shotting an Inkling or Octoling outright.
• Goal-Oriented Evolution: Splatoon 3 reveals in the Alterna Logs that the crystals made of cephalopod fluids that make up Alterna's Artificial Outdoors Display ended up invoking this and greatly influenced their evolutionary path to become more and more human-like, at a breakneck speed as well. Normal squids and octopi existed, Alterna fell and 10,000 years passed, bringing us to the beginning of Splatoon and modern Inklings and Octolings; for reference, 10,000 years ago in Real Life, we only just invented agriculture and weren't all that genetically different back then.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: In Splatoon and Splatoon 2, the player character's name is the same as the Nintendo ID account. You won't get a proper naming system for your character until Splatoon 3, where you can name your character after playing one online match.
• Heroic Mime: Your player character never talks in story campaigns, a fact that is lampshaded by Cap'n Cuttlefish and Marie, who take your silence as yes.
• Hourglass Plot: Downplayed, but still noticeable in tryout animations. In Splatoon 2, Inklings prefer to pose with their weapons to look fresh and cool while Octolings prefer to inspect their weapons and see how they work. But five years later in Splatoon 3, it's the Octolings who want to pose with their weapons to look fresh and cool while the Inklings are spending more time inspecting their weapons with poses that are more practical than stylish.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: They are capable of throwing bombs, Sprinklers, Splat Walls, planting Squid Beakons and Ink Mines, and pulling Inkstrike missiles, Inkzookas, and Killer Wails out of seemingly nowhere, and many of these things are bigger than they are. The weapon switching scene in single-player mode by Sheldon Requests suggests their weapons are stored in ink.
• In a Single Bound: Inklings and Octolings can jump really high to land onto one of their teammates, a Squid Beakon, or their own spawn point as a means of transportation. Marina mentions using this capability to go to the store in the Flight vs. Invisibility Splatfest announcement, which Pearl retorts that she'd need a teammate there first.
• Little Bit Beastly: Inklings and Octolings are among the most human-looking lifeforms out of all the marine animal denizens. The only species that come close to being that humanlike are anemones, and even then not consistently.^note Harmony and Annie look fairly humanoid but the Ink Theory's percussionist Maya is a Funny Animal despite also being an anemone. This is because their ancestors had the most exposure to the liquid crystals that contained humanity's will and desire, giving them human-like traits as they rapidly evolve.
• Little Miss Badass: Female Inklings and Octolings are young, cute, and strong.
• Mascot with Attitude: Inklings and Octolings are effectively modern versions of this trope. They're animal-people with an interest in "cool" things (like street fashion and extreme sports), use Totally Radical slang ("Booyah!"), and are very capable in a fight.
• Minor Living Alone: Another symptom of There Are No Adults, to varying degrees of explicitness throughout the games. It's all but outright stated in 3, where the player is a youth living in the barren outskirts surrounding Splatsville with nary a trace of another living being in sight sans their little buddy.
• Metamorphosis: When Inklings and Octolings are born, they resemble little baby squidlike/octopus larvae that are nearly indistinguishable from their swim forms. Gradually as they get older, these larvae slowly become more humanoid with each subsequent larval phase until they reach age of fourteen, settling down with the appearance of a human with squid/octopus-like features as their adult forms. The Inkling growth cycle is the trope image for a reason. There isn't an equivalent image for Octolings, but art of Paul from the band SashiMori (who is an Octoling of ten years of age around the time of Splatoon 2) shows that Octolings have a similar growth cycle.
• Morphic Resonance: Inklings and Octolings usually have a set number of hair tentacles that correspond to the number of their sea form's limbs. Subtracting four from their human limbs, Inklings have six hair tentacles, and the Octolings have four hair tentacles.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Any Inkling or Octoling partaking in Salmon Run job shifts have been unwittingly helping Mr. Grizz create a planet's worth of Fuzzy Ooze supply, and Mr. Grizz intends to use that Fuzzy Ooze to end the world as they know it in a Hairmageddon^note Don't call it "Hairmageddon". HR doesn't like it. event. And since the player character is also an Agent in single player campaigns, this means that Agent 4, Agent 8, and new Agent 3 likely unwittingly helped Mr. Grizz as well since they can participate in Salmon Run.
• Our Humans Are Different: They resemble humans with some bits of their cephalopod heritage on display. With the big reveal in the Alterna Logs, they are functionally humans that evolved from sea life.
• Oxymoronic Being: They are sea creatures made out of ink, meaning they can't swim in water (and according to Marina, water in general is lethal to creatures made of ink). This doesn't really stop them from having seaworthy boats, swim suits, swimming pools and even water bottles (though at least the swimming pools seem to actually be meant for other species to use, like jellyfish).
• Purely Aesthetic Gender: Males and females perform exactly alike in battle, so there's no clear advantage to either gender.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Inklings are a hedonistic race primarily concerned with battle and fashion, while Octolings are a more disciplined and analytical people, owing to being raised in Octarian society.
• Regenerating Health: Took some damage? It'll wear off after a couple of seconds, and do so even faster if you submerge in your own ink. Just don't take more damage or touch enemy ink, though; that'll delay the regeneration further.
• Rubber-Hose Limbs: Completely boneless appropriately enough. The Zipcaster in 3 seems to capitalize on this, allowing Inklings and Octolings to use their arms like incredibly stretchy grappling hooks to propel them through the air.
• Secondary Sexual Characteristics: Inkling and Octoling girls have smaller eyebrows and curvier bodies than boys.
• Slime Girl: Along with Slime Boys, since their bodies seem to be partially comprised of their own ink.
• Super Drowning Skills: Ironically for beings based on aquatic lifeforms (but not ones composed of ink) they completely dissociate in water. Exactly why and to what extent this applies, however, is quite vague.
• Share Phrase: "Booyah!" is the phrase that all Inklings and Octolings use to shout in happiness. It's part of the mall's name (Booyah Base) at Inkopolis Plaza, and it's the means to power up the Special Weapon appropriately called Booyah Bomb. It is also what the sound "Woomy/Ngyes/Veemo/Oomi" refers to, in case you're wondering. Octoling newcomers, however, would sometimes mispronounce it as "Boo-yes!"
• Stupid Future People: The Inklings and Octolings are the main successor races to humanity. They’re also shallow, hedonistic, and at times willfully ignorant. Most of them can’t even calculate Turf War results by themselves, and rely on a cat to do it for them. They’ve been like this for generations. It's for these reasons that Commander Tartar wants to obliterate them all, seeing them as unworthy successors to humanity.
• Tentacle Hair: They have tentacles as hair in their human forms. They can even be cut just like normal human hair, and don't translate into their cephalopod forms, which is why it's more obvious with characters with longer hair (like most females) than characters with shorter hair (like most males and Marie).
• There Are No Adults: Almost all the Inklings and Octolings you'll encounter are young teens. The only adults you directly meet in-game are Captain Cuttlefish, DJ Octavio, and the idols (who themselves may only be in their older teens, like the Squid Sisters in the first game).
• Too Hungry to Be Polite: If they order food from the Crab n' Go in Splatoon 3, they'll be hungry enough to scarf down the food right on the spot, even if the food in question is the Marigold'en Garden Greens or Mega Mountain a la Marigold, which are massive dishes that appear to be meant to be served to four teammates. The first-person animation for eating sprays crumbs and flakes of food all over the place as if they were doing so with legendary sloppiness.
• Unwitting Pawn: Many Inklings and Octolings have taken part-time jobs of collecting Golden Eggs for Grizzco Industries both for the thrill of fighting Salmonid hordes and getting paid special bonuses. What they don't realize is that their employer, Mr. Grizz, has been exploiting their love of battles and fashion to deliver him the most important ingredient needed to create Fuzzy Ooze, a mutagenic substance to would turn any marine life into a helpless ball of fur. If Mr. Grizz succeeds in raining down Fuzzy Ooze on the whole planet, then all of his former employees will find themselves to be victims of their own carelessness.
• Uplifted Animal: According to the Alterna logs, Inklings, Octolings, and most other land-dwelling aquatic life have humans to thank for their sapience: The mind-reading liquid crystals used to create the synthetic skies of Alterna alongside the residual collective consciousness of humanity's culminated hopes, dreams and memories were the trigger that spurred the squid, octopuses, and assorted animals living in Alterna's seas to evolve into more intelligent forms who would develop their own civilizations and cultures. It's also implied that parts of human DNA were also mixed in during the catastrophe that wiped out the last humans, creating a polluted primordial soup that allowed each of those creatures to eventually develop the ability to breathe air and walk on land.
• Vague Age: The playable Inklings and Octolings are described as "teenagers", but their age beyond that isn't too specified, beyond Inklings generally gaining full control of their humanoid form at age 14 (and evidence suggesting Octolings being similar in this regard). Interestingly, Agent 4 is noted by Marie as being two years older than Agent 3 was during Agent 3's adventure, meaning the two are currently the same age — and yet, the Inklings of 2, including Agent 4, don't look any obviously "older" than the 1 Inklings. Even five years later in 3, neither Agent 3 or Eight have noticeably aged in any way despite being at least 19 years of age at that point at minimum (if not in their early twenties).
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Can shift at will between cephalopod form and humanoid form. Downplayed with their retention of cephalopod's general color changing abilities playing into Character Customization. Their Zipcaster Super Mode appears to be a hybrid between their humanoid and cephalopod forms with taking the general shape of the former while capitalising on the latter's stretchiness.
• You Have Researched Breathing:
  • Inklings and Octolings are incapable of going bareheaded without the fake contact lenses item. The only reason it exists is so that there's some form of invisible head-equipped item that can have its gear modified.
  • They can do different victory emotes in Splatoon 3... provided that they level up their catalog or gamble away their hard-earned cash at the Shell-Out Machine to unlock a new pose. What's stranger is that they can do these poses already when taking pictures with amiibo figures.

The Inklings

Inklings from the first game (left) and the second (right)

Voiced by: Yuki Tsuji

The main race of the games, Inklings are hyper-evolved squid who have the ability to transform between humanoid and cephalopod forms at will, produce gallons of colorful ink, and swim in said ink. Teenage Inklings, in particular, enjoy engaging in friendly turf wars as a hobby and retrieving Golden Eggs from the Salmonids as a freelance part-time job. As the player character is part of this species, you can also add "saving their land from the Octarian army in their spare time" to that list. In the first game, you play as an Inkling with the callsign "Agent 3", while the second game has you as a different Inkling referred to as "Agent 4".

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• Action Fashionista: Inkling culture have made it a trend to always fight with the freshest fashion.
• Book Dumb: Not the brightest cephalopod species to walk on land. Most of them have less-than-adequate mathematic skills, don't venture beyond places they already know, and believe that Octolings are just Inklings with exotic hairstyles (or at least the ones in Inkopolis do, at least, since the two species have coexisted in the Splatlasts for much longer). Doesn't mean they aren't good at what they do best; battling and looking fashionably fresh.
• Boyish Short Hair: The "hippie" hairstyle (the only one available in 1 for girls) is this with huge tentacle sidetails. Also, there's the "haircut" hairstyle, which is introduced in 2, sported by the boxart Inkling girl of that game.
• Canon Name: At least for the amiibo. The Splatoon Direct showed the name for the orange Inkling Girl as Inky, the blue Inkling Boy as Inked, and the green Inkling Squid as Slippy.
• Character Customization: Inklings initially have simple customization in the first game, amounting to just gender, skin tone, and eye color. The first sequel starts giving more options with hairstyles and legwear, and the third game removes all gender restrictions.
• Characterization Marches On: A variant. Some round loss animations (with exceptions) from the first game showed Inklings throwing mild tantrums in rage. In the sequel, most if not all of these were changed into signs of dissatisfaction and disappointment, and are more calm and tame overall than the first game's lose animations.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: During the Inkling Boy amiibo's version of the first game's Final Boss, you can bat back Octavio's Rocket Punches and missiles with the roller. Justified because it's all but stated that it's the ink that sends them back.
• Child Soldiers: Played fairly straight in Hero mode, where a young Inkling undertakes serious missions against the Octarians singlehandedly. Downplayed in multiplayer, where the turf "wars" they fight are really more like sporting events and are just a cause for a good time. Though they're based on the apparently pretty serious actual turf war fought with the Octarians a century ago.
• Compressed Hair: The male Inkling's high ponytail and spiked hairstyles and the female Inkling's topknot hairstyle are hidden under hats.
• Conjoined Eyes: In squid form, their eyes are connected. Octolings don't have this.
• Cute Little Fangs: All Inklings have two top fangs and one bottom fang down the middle that are meant to represent an actual squid's beak. Many fans have agreed that these beaks make them more adorable and impressionable.
• Domino Mask: They have markings on their face around the eyes that resemble this.
• Everybody Hates Mathematics: According to the art book, Inklings are really bad at math and the only reason why Turf War battles remain fair to begin with is thanks to Judd.
• Failed a Spot Check: Despite being taught about the Great Turf War and their Octarian rivals, the Inklings living in Inkopolis cannot distinguish an Octoling from their own kind, despite the Octolings having very different eye highlights, octo-hairstyles, and octopus forms. They just see them as "exotic" Inklings that are into weird hairstyle fads. Fortunately, most Inklings like Pearl don't really care if their friends are revealed to be Octolings. This is not the case for most Inklings living in the Splatlands due to them having never ceased co-existing with the Octolings there.
• The Fighting Narcissist: Inklings have the Downplayed version of this trope as their hat: One Sunken Scroll explicitly calls out Inkling youth culture as singularly obsessed with fighting and fashion, and one of Marie's on-the-spot battle tips is "Remember that losing is temporary, and looking cool is forever." It's for this reason that Commander Tartar grows to absolutely hate them, dismissing them as less than humanity and wishing to wipe them out, despite being not all that different from humans in that regard.
• Gendered Outfit: In Splatoon, both Inkling girls and boys wear a pair of black shorts with ink-colored stripe on the sides, with the girls' being shorter than boys'. Additionally, some clothing even have different looks when they're worn by girls (or boys), such as "SQUID GIRL Tunic" and some amiibo gears.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: In-universe, despite (or maybe because of) their rivalry with the Octolings, some Inkings have a fondness for Octoling style attire. This was even before both races made peace with each other.
• The Hedonist: As a species, Inklings are mainly just interested in fun, parties, and being stylish.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: The Inkling under your control will always use the name of your current "active" Mii (in Splatoon 1) or the name of your Nintendo Account (in Splatoon 2) for all multiplayer functionality. In single-player, however, the player Inkling is always called Agent 3 or Agent 4. Otherwise, Inklings have no canon names, with one possible exception; according to some linked information, the name of the female Inkling on Splatoon 2's cover may be Alice.
• Iconic Outfit: The Inklings have a wide variety of clothing that they can wear, but the box art, promotional materials, and Amiibo clearly favor certain pieces of clothing.
  • The first game's Inkling Girl is usually shown with the White Tee, Pink Trainers, and either no hat at all (wearable in-game as Fake Contacts) or the Studio Headphones, and the Inkling Boy is always shown wearing a Zink Layered LS, Purple Hi-Horses, and either no hat or the Pilot Goggles.
  • In Splatoon 2, the girl wears a King Flip Mesh (or no hat), a White King Tank, Mint Dakoroniks, skirt over pants, and the short hairstyle, while the boy wears Squidfin Hook Cans (or no hat), a Black V-Neck Tee, Yellow-Mesh Sneakers, shorts over running tights, and the spiked hairstyle.
• I Know Madden Kombat: Your Inkling's skill in Hero Mode comes from what amounts to them having played an In-Universe spectator sport. Justified, as said spectator sport and the tools used in it are based upon a historic war of the same name.
• Morphic Resonance: Humanoid-form Inklings have pointed ears and hair-tentacles that correspond to the fins and tentacles of a squid.
• Not a Morning Person: Inklings are notorious for sleeping through the morning. In fact, they nearly lost the Great Turf War because they were unable to wake up early enough to defend themselves from the invading Octarians. Only through listening to Turquoise October's album do the Inklings develop an early morning routine.
• Puberty Superpower: Inklings don't develop control of their shapeshifting until the age of fourteen. Until then, they're working their way up the Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism all the way to Little Bit Beastly.
• Sapient Eat Sapient: Nogami implies in an interview that the salmon fillet sold at Mako Mart might come from Salmonids, who are sapient beings, as the relationship between squid and salmon (in which they predate one another when given the chance) hasn't changed in the world of Splatoon.
• Shorttank: Female Inklings qualify, as they are fashionable girls who nonetheless dress in a pretty tomboyish manner. For bonus points, in 2 and 3, they can actually wear tank tops!
• Sins of Our Fathers: The Inklings of Cap'n Cuttlefish's time were the victors of the Great Turf War, and subsequently forced the Octarians to live in underground domes which began falling apart a century later. New generations of Octolings were raised to hate the Inklings and prepare for the next inevitable war with them… unaware that the new generation of Inklings see the Great Turf War as ancient history and would welcome their octopus brethren into their society with open tentacles.
• Small Town Boredom: As stated in the first artbook, many of the young Inklings living in Inkopolis are rural migrants who left their hometowns in order to pursue a more stylish and up-to-date life. Agent 4 is certainly implied to be one of these, as their hometown is shown to be quite a distance from Inkopolis.
• Sore Loser: Some losing animations in 1 show that they are rather poor sports:
  • With a Shooter, the Inkling face palms, drops to their knees, and starts pounding the ground angrily with their weapon.
  • With a Charger, a male Inkling stomps the ground violently, roars while holding their face with their heads, and drops their weapon while facing down. Females stamp their left foot and trip backwards, followed by wiping their faces.
• Subliminal Messaging: After they started listening to music by Turquoise October, Inklings have started to develop some self discipline.
• Super Mode: The Kraken, for any that have it as their special. Ink Armor is somewhat analogous in 2, though the specials in 2 trend away from this generally.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: In their humanoid form, the only visible differences between Inkling sexes are their "hairstyles". Inkling girls tend to have a pair of "head tentacles" hanging freely, evoking the look of pigtails or really long sidetails, while Inkling boys usually have their tentacles tied up (resembling a topknot or ponytail) or cut short, making them easily hidden by hats. Though it's kind of hard to tell, the males on average do also seem to have much shorter tentacles than the females, which matches real life squid sexual dimorphism. This is averted in Splatoon 3, where any available haircuts can be chosen regardless of gender.
• Valley Girl: The female Inklings show some signs of this if the amiibo is of any indication.

The Octolings

Octolings from the second game

Voiced by: Yuki Tsuji

The octopus counterpart of the Inklings, they also have the ability to produce colorful ink and switch between humanoid and cephalopod forms. Initially, they appear as the most elite of the Octarian forces. However, thanks to a certain event in the first game, many Octolings start to integrate into Inkling society in the second. This leads to them becoming playable characters in Splatoon 2 with the Octo Expansion DLC. Splatoon 3, starting well after this event, makes them playable right from the get-go.

For tropes relating to enemy Octolings, see here.

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• '80s Hair: Unlike enemy Octolings, the playable Octoling girls' is actually a bit less huge so that it cooperates with hats better, but the trope's still in play despite that. 3 runs with it a bit further, with there being several variations of the "long voluminous glam tenta-hair" available for Octolings. The lads, meanwhile, trend toward Delinquent Hair that was prominent in either Japan or America in this decade.
• Afro Asskicker: The second hairstyle for playable Octoling boys, which resembles an octopus' mantle.
• Artificial Human: Possibly in the case of the ones who come from the Octarian domes. The opening of Octo Expansion has the player customize their Octoling while they're floating around and awakening in a vat of bubbling green liquid, and Cuttlefish's dossier on Marina states she's "generation 83". No official source has clarified this beyond just implications, and supplemental information on various bands show that Octolings are capable of reproducing in non-artificial ways as well.^note Warabi from Diss-Pair has parents, and 10-year-old Paul from SashiMori strongly resembles an Octoling version of a preteen Inkling.
• Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: Downplayed. While the walking-tentacle-type Octarians are difficult to identify as any sex/gender (outside of in-universe artistic depictions), Octolings are depicted as female-only in the Hero Modes of the first two games. 2's Octo Expansion, however, introduces male Octolings that are just as humanoid as the females, and one Sunken Scroll in the first game already hinted at their existence by showing someone who appears to be a young humanoid DJ Octavio. However, enemy Octolings remain all-female even after Octo Expansion (with the official explanation being that elite Octoling units tend to solely recruit females).
• Breakout Character: Octolings started out as Elite Mooks, but the fandom became fascinated with their backstory, and they were Promoted to Playable in the Octo Expansion.
• Child Soldiers: Octolings are trained and conditioned to serve the Octarian war machine as early as 9 years old.
• Clark Kenting: Octolings pass themselves as Inklings with weird hairstyles, likely out of fear of Inklings' animosity from the Great Turf War. Pearl and Marina (who is an Octoling herself) enforce this trope and the Inklings are more than happy to buy the excuse, even those few who may suspect the truth.
• Cute Little Fangs: Like Inklings, Octolings have fangs designed to both invoke the image of an octopus beak and be adorable as heck. However, unlike Inklings, Octoling fangs are arranged asymmetrically, with the top and bottom fangs on opposite sides of their mouth.
• Delinquent Hair: The default hairstyle for Octoling boys is a mohawk... or at least as close as you can get with tentacles, anyway. 3 adds a pompadour on top of this.
• The Engineer: Octolings in general are more interested in technology than their Inkling brethren, often studying their weapons instead of posing with them. This is likely due to growing up in Octarian society, which emphasizes a lot on military tech.
• Foil: To the Inklings. Inklings are lazy, fun-loving squidkids who like to fight and pose with their weapons. Octolings, on the other hand, are serious, more reserved octokids who prefer to do tech stuff and study their weapons.
• Fish out of Water: Or octopi out of water, rather. In trying to integrate with Inkling society, the Octolings have a more inquisitive behavior towards the fashion and weapons offered, observed in their different animations.
• Funny Foreigner: The Octoling amiibo figures give them dialogue. None of them seem to be any good at using Inkling language and talk awkwardly. (The female Octoling says "Boo-yes!" instead of "Booyah!", for example.)
• Hartman Hips: The playable Octoling girls have hips that are rather wide, and this is emphasized by the way they walk.
• Heel–Race Turn: Over the course of the Octo Expansion, while Agent 8 is trying to escape from the Deepsea Metro, other Octolings who were present at the Squid Sisters "concert" in Splatoon 1 make their way to Inkopolis and begin to try to integrate. Lore-wise, this is the justification for Octolings aside from yourself (i.e. Agent 8) appearing in your plaza. While there are still plenty of hardline Octarians left, it's made pretty clear by chat log 10 that quite a number of Octolings seem willing to give integration a chance.
• Hotter and Sexier: The devs designed the playable Octolings to look a little older and more mature than Inklings and to also have more sex appeal. Both sexes's default clothes are two-piece skin-tight midriff-baring outfits, their respective voices are deeper, their damage sounds are sultrier and more suggestive, and both sexes sway their hips in a more pronounced way compared to the female Inkling's sway.
• Morphic Resonance: Octolings have round ears that correspond to the fins of a dumbo octopus. They also have hair tentacles that correspond to the tentacles of an octopus, but they can also have an afro that is shaped like an octopus' mantle.
• Naïve Newcomer: To Inkling culture. Their body language on the equip screens is more inquisitive compared to the laid-back demeanor of the Inklings, and they're notably more reserved and cautious when trying new gear or weapons.
• Ojou Ringlets: Splatoon 3 adds this as a customizable hairstyle choice for Octolings, with their tentacles swirled up four times on each side.
• Perpetual Frowner: They don't seem to smile that much in Splatoon 2.
• Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Parodied. They try to adopt the Inkling language and slang with rather awkward results.
• Promoted to Playable: Octo Expansion in Splatoon 2 allows you to play as Octolings for the first time. It consists largely of a new single-player campaign starring an Octoling, and completing it unlocks Octolings for multiplayer as well. Starting with Splatoon 3, they're available from the get-go.
• Supermodel Strut: Octoling girls have a tendency of sashaying their hips whenever they walk, but it's not as pronounced when running.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Like Inklings, Octoling haircuts are gender-specific, namely curled tentacles and ponytail for girls, while mohawk and afro are for boys. Splatoon 3 would later avert this by making them available to either gender.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: They seem to have adapted well to the surface after 5 years, as their animations in Splatoon 3 are much more playful and happy compared to Splatoon 2.
• Tsurime Eyes: Played with — the actual shape of Octoling eyes are mostly the same as that of the Inklings, but the eye highlights of the Octolings give the impression of this (as opposed to the domino mask-like rounded highlights on the Inklings).
• You No Take Candle: In Splatoon 2, the Octoling amiibos' dialogue is written in broken English with odd grammar to signify that the Octolings are still getting a grasp on the Inkling language. They speak far more fluently in 3, presumably due to having had time to practice.
  Octoling Girl: Hi, my friend. What is not down?
  Octoling Boy: Hello, my friend. How do the tentacles hang?
  Octopus: ...I am not speaking Inkling good.
  

Single-player Protagonists

Agent 3/The Captain

^{The Captain}

Voiced by: Yuki Tsuji

The protagonist of Splatoon, this Inkling is recruited into the New Squidbeak Splatoon to protect Inkopolis from the Octarian menace and other similar threats. Agent 3 returns in the sequels as an NPC working with Cap'n Cuttlefish in Octo Expansion, as well as succeeding him as captain in Splatoon 3.

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• Badass Adorable: They're no less cute than rest of the Inklings, but promotional artwork of Female Agent 3, as well as the Octo Expansion, gives them a more reserved and serious demeanor, as well. Remember that Agent 3 has the honor of single-handedly taking down the Octarian army and their leader in the first game. In 3, they managed to do a superjump in Inkling form after throwing a contraption that's best described as 9 giant chainsaws mashed into one frame bigger than themselves yards away, even if it took a second to lift it. Note that the given reason why you can't super jump with the Rainmaker in multiplayer is that it's too heavy.
• Badass Armfold: How the Octo Expansion trailer reintroduces them into the game as a Freeze-Frame Bonus. In 3, they do one right before they shred the Fuzzy Ooze surrounding the rocket in the middle of Alterna.
• Badass Cape: Agent 3 picks up one of these sometime between the first Splatoon and the Octo Expansion, complete with a tattered end. Naturally, it has the Inkling language version of the number 3 on its back. Sadly gone by the time of 3, where they replace it with Cuttlefish's patchy poncho as the Squidbeak Splatoon's new leader.
• Big Damn Heroes: Pulls one off in the Octo Expansion when they save Agent 8 and Cap'n Cuttlefish from a blender. Though it's undercut when their own Dynamic Entry ends up accidentally knocking them out.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: In Octo Expansion, Commander Tartar covers Agent 3 with mind-controlling slime, pitting them against Agent 8.
• The Bus Came Back: Returns for Octo Expansion and 3.
• Canon Identifier: Their real name is whatever the player's Mii avatar is called, but they are referred to by the callsign Agent 3.
• Character Development: By the time of Splatoon 3, they seem far more battle-hardened, and surprisingly they seem to have totally given up on fashion (a big deal for an Inkling), since their outfit is Cuttlefish's stitched-together rags with the one nice piece being his passed-down captain's hat.
• Cutting Off the Branches:
  • While the player character was fully customizable in the first game, Splatoon 2 reveals in Sunken Scroll #2 that Agent 3 is canonically female and light-skinned; promo material for Octo Expansion follows suit for the brief appearances Agent 3 makes. Promo material for the Squid vs. Octopus Splatfest goes against this design, instead depicting Agent 3 as a male Inkling.
  • The Octo Expansion, however, subverts this by allowing you to pick their gender, skin tone, and eye color before they appear, allowing them to match the appearance of your Splatoon 1 Inkling, if you so wish. While Splatoon 3 also lets you customize them, it's optional this time, and if there is no Octo Expansion save data to transfer over the look you gave them there, Agent 3 is female by default.
• Dark Reprise: Their theme in Splatoon 2, used when they're fought as a boss, is a remix of the closest thing to 1's main theme, Splattack!. It has segments with missing instrumentation, frequent silent pauses, harsh electronic noise, a Boss Warning Siren worked in, and sped up vocals, symbolizing Agent 3's lack of agency and that this isn't the hero players know from 1.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap:
  • In Octo Expansion, they get knocked out again after their Boss Fight, rendering them unable to help take down the NILS statue.
  • They end up spraining a tentacle at the climax of 3 after using the contraption made from the three "treasures" to cut down the Fuzzy Ooze surrounding the rocket, forcing them to sit out the final battle.
• Foreshadowing: In the Octo Expansion trailer, when they appear, their hair is the same turquoise green as the Sanitized Octolings' ink that appears later in the trailer, hinting at what would happen to them during the DLC.
• Gameplay and Story Integration:
  • When you get to define Agent 3's appearance in Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion and Splatoon 3's Return of the Mammalians, it's limited to what's available in the original game, namely the lack of alternate hairstyles and eyebrows, as well as only 7 eye colors instead of 14.
  • In Octo Expansion, when they get defeated during either of their boss battles, the short cutscene after shows the icon for splatting an enemy in multiplayer and the killfeed notification at the bottom of the screen.
  • When they do that thing that lets you access the final level in 3, it's announced with the same "ping!" sound effect and Battle Aura as when the player's Special Weapon is ready, letting you know what happens next will be no small feat.
  • They also perform a "Booyah!" emote as their way of celebrating New Agent 3's victory in the Splatoon 3 post-game.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Despite the Superboss fight seemingly taking place during the Calamari Inkantation "concert" at the time of the first game, Agent 3 still only uses specials from 2 (alongside Autobombs), even though a Sunken Scroll indicates that the new specials wouldn't exist until after that day since they were made after all previous specials were hit with a factory recall. Justified, however, in that said fight is a Battle in the Center of the Mind for Agent 8.
• Gender-Inclusive Writing: In Octo Expansion, Agent 3 is referred to as "they" even after being customized.
• The Greatest Story Never Told: Agent 3's achievements and identity are kept secret from the public, as the New Squidbeak Splatoon follows the motto: "The path of the hero is a lonely one." This is the in-universe justification as to why you are treated like a regular Inkling despite saving the Great Zapfish. Also, to some extent, this is very much the Inkling perspective on events. The Octarians watched the whole thing go down, and Calamari Inkantation being played there is the catalyst for one of the greatest cultural shifts for Octoling-kind since the Great Turf War. It's still a bit unclear how associated Agent 3 is with those events, but at the very least, the Octarian leaders are aware enough of them to send the future Agent 8 after 3.
• Ground-Shattering Landing: In both of their boss appearances, their Superjumps are always accompanied by Splashdowns.
• Heroic Mime: They don't get any dialogue but do get a few close ups that give them some personality aside from the player. In Splatoon 3, they inaudibly mumble everything they say into Marie's ear, who then relays it to everyone else.
• Hidden Depths: According to the Octo Expansion artbook, they have a side-gig as DJ SANGO®.
• Iconic Outfit: The Hero Suit, naturally. During their appearance in the Octo Expansion, they're also wearing a tattered Badass Cape adorned with what appears to be the Inkling version of the number 3.
• Legendary in the Sequel: In the first game, Agent 3 has the abilities of a standard Inkling. Come Octo Expansion, they suddenly have the ability to use unlimited special weapons and feature as the penultimate boss of the main campaign and as the Superboss for the DLC as a whole.
• No Social Skills: In Splatoon 3, they seem unable to directly talk to people, having to use Marie as an intermediary.
• Older and Wiser: Their attitude in 3 as a stoic, more badass and slightly less adorable Badass Adorable gives off this impression.
• One-Man Army: They fought the Octarian army with only Cuttlefish, Callie, and Marie as Mission Control. They also prove to be more than a match for Agent 8.
• The Pig-Pen: When talking to Marie in the second game, she'll mention that Agent 3 didn't have the best hygiene. However, this is only in the West, whereas in the original, Marie complimented Agent 4 for having similarly good looks as Agent 3. The localized sentiment seems to carry over into Splatoon 3, as their outfit is incredibly ragged and unprofessional, and Craig remarks about the curretn Captain's hygenie when passing the Hero Suit down to the New Agent 3.
• Previous Player-Character Cameo: The first Splatoon had you play as Agent 3, with them returning as an important story NPC in later entries. In Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion, they appear in a Big Damn Heroes moment near the end of the campaign. Shortly thereafter, they must be fought as the penultimate boss when they become Brainwashed and Crazy. Later on, they serve as an SNK Superboss who can be fought upon collecting all of the mem cakes. In Splatoon 3, they have ascended to the rank of the New Squidbeak Splatoon's new commander, complete with Commissar Cap, coinciding with Cap'n Cuttlefish's retirement.
• Put on a Bus: According to Marie, Agent 3 was out on a research trip with Cap'n Cuttlefish during the events of the second game's main campaign. The Bus Comes Back, naturally, for Octo Expansion.
• The Quiet One: In Splatoon 3, in spite of being the Captain of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, they don't say much of anything. Callie and Marie assure New Agent 3 that it's just the way the captain is, and they relay their intentions and dialogue to the new agent. They end up giving New Agent 3 a (subdued) "booyah" at the end of the story mode once you return to Alterna. Even their actions suggest a subdued personality, as their Establishing Team Shot looks like they're barely bothering to follow along, as opposed to Callie and Marie's more enthusiastic pointing.
• Repeating So the Audience Can Hear: All their dialogue in 3 (except for their singular "Booyah!" for New Agent 3) isn't actually heard, in line with their Heroic Mime trait. Whenever Agent 3 has something to say to you, Marie will repeat it.
• Rogue Protagonist: They were brainwashed by Commander Tartar in Octo Expansion and became an enemy to Cap'n Cuttlefish and Agent 8. They get better once defeated.
• Rugged Scar: Their design in Splatoon 3 shows they have gained some light scarring on the end of their tentacles, as seen here.◊
• Single Tear: In Splatoon 3, they shed one upon holding the dehydrated husk of Cap'n Cuttlefish... which, fortunately, is enough to revive him.
• SNK Boss: A non-fighting game example. The brainwashed Agent 3 removed the limiter on their weapon, becoming capable of using multiple Specials at a time, charging them up much faster than you can in multiplayer, and in the final phase of the fight, using three Splashdowns in quick succession. They can also dodge-roll despite using a shooter and have an virtually unlimited supply of ink due to their frequent use of specials. They continue using multiple Specials in their Superboss fight, but this time, it's set in Agent 8's mind/memories, where they have even better AI, access to Autobombs to keep you on your toes, and even deadlier specials.
• Superboss: Once all the Mem Cakes in Octo Expansion are collected, Agent 8's locker opens to reveal the Golden Toothpick headgear. Examining it reminds Agent 8 of when they fought before they both ended up in the Deepsea Metro. As you can see from SNK Boss, the fight is optional for a reason.
• Took a Level in Badass: Agent 3 has not been idle during the last few years, as both of their boss fights in Octo Expansion will prove.
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Octo Expansion as a boss, Agent 3 will occasionally squidbag you.

Agent 4

Voiced by: Yuki Tsuji

The protagonist of Splatoon 2, they are recruited into the New Squidbeak Splatoon by Marie to find the missing Great Zapfish and her cousin Callie.

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• Badass Adorable: They're no less cute than rest of the Inklings, but they have taken on the Octarian menace.
• The Cameo: They make an indirect appearence in Side Order through their Palette and the Paraellel Canon boss fight - Smollusk's notes on their Palette indicate that Order/Smollusk used Agent 4's data to create the boss fight, and indeed, the one drone with a full Inkling appearence either uses female Agent 4's default look or whatever Inkling appearence you used based on your Splatoon 2 save data. Marina actually hired Agent 4 to handle security in the Memverse, and if Order had their way, Agent 4 would've become their unwilling enforcer in their evil scheme.
• Canon Identifier: Their real name is whatever the player's Nintendo Switch Account is called, but they are referred to by the callsign Agent 4.
• The Faceless: Their Palette in Side Order shows no icon of their face, likely due to them being a customisable protagonist - the space where it would reside is instead taken by the Cuttlegear logo.
• The Ghost: Marina mentions Agent 4 as being a viable candidate for her Memverse security system. However, Agent 4 themself never appears in Side Order unless you want to count Parallel Canon, which is based on Agent 4's appearance down to whatever hairstyle you picked in your Splatoon 2 save data.
• The Greatest Story Never Told: Like Agent 3, Agent 4's achievements and identity are kept secret from the public, as the New Squidbeak Splatoon follows the motto: "The path of the hero is a lonely one." This is the in-universe justification as to why you are treated like a regular Inkling despite saving the Great Zapfish and Callie. Of course, much like Agent 3, this is from the Inkling perspective. Their battle to save Callie took place in the middle of a gigantic concert venue, so the Octarians very much got to watch the entire thing happen.
• Heroic Mime: Like Agent 3, Agent 4 doesn't say anything. This is even lampshaded by Marie, who finds their silence creepy.
• Iconic Outfit: The Hero Suit, naturally. Or rather, "Hero Hoodie" as their version is called.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The official relationship chart showed Agent 4 did work for Mr. Grizz and unwittingly contributed to the creation of the Fuzzy Ooze and the near extinction of marine life on the Earth in Splatoon 3.
• One-Man Army: They fought the Octarian army with only Marie and Sheldon as Mission Control.
• Out of Focus: Somewhat infamously, Agent 4 is the only Agent in the franchise with basically no focus in Splatoon 3:
  • They make no physical appearance in Rise of the Mammalians, is not directly mentioned by either Callie or Marie, and has a single Nametag title in the base game.
  • Side Order isn't much better, with at best a personal loadout for Eight to use (that notably doesn't show their face, the only Palette to do so outside of Eight's own Palette - and that one at least shows a cartoon of their octo form in its place) and being the source of the Parallel Canon boss fight, which changes design based on how Agent 4 looked in the player's Splatoon 2 save data, if such exists. It's so bad that Pearl has to be reminded who they even are. At the very least, it's mentioned that Marina was going to make them Security Detail for the Memverse before the events of Side Order.
• Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Despite the fact the Squid Sisters were a big deal two years ago, Agent 4 has never heard of them; not even Marie doing her iconic "Stay Fresh" pose rings a bell. Marie is rather disappointed, saying that Agent 4 is not "very cultured." The official relationship chart confirms this from Agent 4's point of view.
  Agent 4: She's apparently famous, but you'd have to watch TV to know that.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: They play the exact same role in Splatoon 2's Hero Mode as Agent 3 did in the first Splatoon's. The designs used in promotional material are even pretty similar. Although, they seem far more cheerful than Agent 3, and the promotional art and text for the Chaos Vs. Order Splatfest puts Agent 4 on Team Chaos compared to Agent 3 on Team Order, establishing Agent 4's canonical personality as free-spirited.
• World's Strongest Man: At the very least a contender for this title - the Famitsu interview around Side Order (which also confirms that the Parallel Canon boss fight was created from Agent 4's data) states that Agent 4 is rumored to be the stongest of the Agents.

Agent 8/Eight

^{Side Order}

Voiced by: Yuki Tsuji

An Octoling who wakes up in a dark subway station with no memories. In the Octo Expansion, they are taken under the wing of a certain old war hero and (hastily) made a member of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. Under his guidance, they have to conquer a series of test facilities while trying to recover their memories, discover the purpose of the facilities, unravel the mystery of the strange green Octarians confronting them and, ultimately, escape to the surface. Along the way, they run into familiar characters from Inkopolis, including an idol duo of no small repute, and a certain Agent of the New Squidbeak Splatoon who played a role in stopping the Octarian forces two years prior...

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• Afro Asskicker: Male Agent 8, a kickass Octoling making his way through the challenging Deepsea Metro and Order Spire, can have an afro as a customization option.
• Amnesiac Hero: They wake up in the old subway tunnels underneath Inkopolis with no idea how they got there — or much of anything else, really, aside from a soul-deep call to see the surface, Inkopolis, and the Squid Sisters again. A significant thrust of 100% completion of OE is recovering Agent 8's memories, as well as the reason why Side Order happens in the first place.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: In a first for Splatoon, you will actually take control of a character who is not the Inkling you customize when you first start up the game. The story begins when Agent 4 listens in from the subway gate...
• Badass Adorable: They saved the entire world from certain destruction, yet they are just as cute as the Inklings and Octolings.
• Badass Biker: Pairing perfectly with their Hell-Bent for Leather aesthetic, the Null Armor consists of armored motorbike attire.
• Bag of Sharing:
  • After completing Octo Expansion, by virtue of functioning as a selectable avatar for the player, Agent 8 will be treated as functionally the same person as Agent 4, which means they also have access to the same money, gear, and levels. An official picture depicting two Inkling and Octoling roommates with the same appearances as the standard ones used for Agents 4 and 8 has led to some fan speculation that the two may have met each other (possibly being introduced to each other via Cap'n Cuttlefish) and moved in together, which would explain the shared gear and money, but the shared levels can only be chalked up to Gameplay and Story Segregation.
  • Averted in 3, as Eight and New Agent 3 are completely separate.
• Breaking Old Trends: Their playable appearance in Side Order marks the first Splatoon single-player campaign where the same character has been playable more than once. They are also the first protagonist with their own, genuine name instead of just a callsign.
• The Bus Came Back: Isn't mentioned anywhere in the base game of Splatoon 3, but is set to return in its DLC, Side Order, as the Player Character. It's revealed there that they were accompanying Marina and Pearl on their world tour, explaining the absence.
• Canon Identifier: Like Agent 4, their real name is whatever the player's Switch Account is called. But since they lost their memories at the beginning of Octo Expansion, they can't recall their name and are thus referred as either No. 10008 or Agent 8. Come Splatoon 3's Side Order DLC, it's revealed they have since been christened Eight by Marina and Pearl.
• Character Customization: Just like Agents 3 and 4, Agent 8's skin tone, eye color and hairstyle can be edited (though with fewer hair options), with your initial customization happening during the intro of Octo Expansion. Completing the Octo Expansion story mode will make them, essentially, an unlock for your overall multiplayer avatar. If you have data of Octo Expansion upon starting Side Order in Splatoon 3, whatever you chose for Eight will be carried over automatically.
• Child Soldiers: Like other playable characters, Agent 8's age is never explicitly stated, but they're treated as being the same age as other Turf War sport participants and game protagonists, which would put them around 14 to 16. Octo Expansion makes clear, though, that they were a soldier in the Octarian armed forces prior to the start of the OE campaign.
• Combat Stilettos: The female Agent 8 wears these throughout the DLC.
• Cyberpunk: They and their adventure flirt with a lot of the conventions of the genre, and are very "Punk" in general — they're trapped in a gritty, run-down subway system (lit with lots of neon) that has technological hazards intended to kill them and features "old" computing hardware as background elements, they can pull up a projected map of the subway system with a smartphone-like device, they were the apparent subject of biotech experimentation (by a shadowy corporate entity, no less) and are facing down other Octarians who have undergone such, they've been shackled with a number rather than a name, and Agent 8 tromps around in tight black leather and has a remote-controlled kill device strapped to their ink tank at equipment stations while on missions in the subway. Did we also mention that the Metro is overseen by a rampant AI that wants to cause The End of the World as We Know It? The only thing preventing the absolute applicability of the trope is that the tools Agent 8 uses to escape are simply standard Splatoon weapons, which aren't terribly cyberpunk themselves.
• Darker and Edgier:
  • Not terribly much so — it is still Splatoon, after all — but the default aesthetic for Agent 8 is dark leather and heels, with '80s Hair for Octo-girls and a tentacle mohawk for Octo-boys, as opposed to the casual T-shirt and shorts that Agents 3 and 4 start in.
  • Even in the early parts of Octo Expansion, it's also clear that the story involves biological experimentation on Agent 8 and fellow Octarians, Agent 8 is almost certainly a former child soldier as mentioned above, and the hub for the campaign is a gritty subway system inspired by the appearance of New York City's in the late-'80s/early-'90s, rather than the bright outdoor hubs of the previous single player campaigns.
  • They are also noted as being foils to the Inklings in attitude. While Inklings are lazy and fun-loving, these Octolings are hard-working and serious.
  • The developers added more grim undertones to the game by stating that Agent 8 was at a real risk of dying during the escape portions of the Octo Expansion, and that if the player had failed at any point, what happens is that the player goes back in time to reverse said death.
• Death Is Cheap: Their escape from the Deep Sea Metro provides a rare aversion, as Word of God reveals that without access to respawn technology, Agent 8 dying during the escape is permanent. Marina and Pearl will even shout their name in despair, with the only thing keeping it from being a Non-Standard Game Over being that time rewinds to the last checkpoint.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Agent 8 was raised in a militaristic environment filled with Octarian propaganda and was raised as a child soldier like other Octolings. Not only that, but after defecting, they were attacked by Agent 3 and suddenly taken to the Underground Metro, where they lost their memories and ended up having to undergo difficult trials just to survive. From their regained memories, Agent 8 had longed for a better life on the surface after hearing "Calamari Inkantion", which was still a difficult decision, as they had some loyalty to their old friends and DJ Octavio. Despite everything going on, Agent 8 was still determined to save the world for both Inklings and the Octarians by stopping the NILS Statue. After everything they have been through Agent 8 managed to finally enter Inkopolis and enjoy the life they had always wanted alongside fellow Octolings who also wanted the same thing. Side Order reveals that they followed Off the Hook on their world tour post Finalfest, and seemingly had nothing but a fantastic time.
• Easy Amnesia: One good spill was all it took for them to lose their memory, but their faculties are otherwise uninhibited. Iso Padre, however, will hint soon after that the fall had nothing to do with the memory loss, and it comes with being trapped in the Deepsea Metro. Marina's explanation for how sanitization works in Side Order indicates that Eight was at least partially subjected to the process, having their memories removed and stored as the collectable Mem Cakes.
• Eloquent in My Native Tongue: If the amiibo dialogue in 2 is any indication, their command of the Inkling language is still very much a work in progress, but the Mem Cake poems (which reflect their actual thoughts) are pretty eloquent. By 3 they seem to have gotten the language down well enough.
  Octopus form amiibo: [When summoned in 2] "I am not speaking Inkling good."
• Explosive Leash: They have a small bag of cyan ink on the back of their ink tank. This bag will inflate and explode if Agent 8 runs out of time during a Timed Mission or breaks the rules of a stage.
  C.Q. Cumber: <Cause of failure> - test failed.
• Fashionable Asymmetry:
  • Their outfit in Octo Expansion has a right sleeve but no left.
  • A more subtle example in their Side Order outfit- they wear a silver earring on their left ear, but not their right.
• Gendered Outfit:
  • While their costumes in Octo Expansion are mostly similar, the female's expose more midriff than the male's, has a skirt instead of pants, and has shoes with higher heels than the male's.
  • Averted with the Order Bodysuit, which is more or less identical between genders.
• The Greatest Story Never Told:
  • Surprisingly, it's a bit unclear if this fully applies to Agent 8 like it does the other members of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. In the main story of Octo Expansion, of course, they do their work in the Deepsea Metro, where nobody aside from CQ, Cuttlefish, and OTH are watching or will know what happened. The grand finale against Tartar, though, takes place slap in the middle of Inkopolis Bay, features a whole fleet of helicopters orbiting the venue, and has you covering a huge statue in ink via massive ink explosions, all while Off The Hook blasts some tunes. It feels a bit incredible that nobody on the shore noticed that happening.
  • Side Order plays it straight. The only real beings who witnessed Eight and Pearl's fight against Order are Marina and Acht, and nobody else. Order's plot to assimilate everyone was foiled, but nobody even knows there was such a plot. As far as anyone knows in the real world, people in Inkopolis Square just zoned out for a while... and thanks to Deep Cut's bias against Inkopolis, very little focus is even given on it. True, there may be the fact that there was a minute or two which seemed to cause everyone to zone out, but it's not like it'll be a big deal to anyone, just a strange sensation that passed given how not even Deep Cut would mention it.
• Heel–Face Turn: The story states that Agent 8 is an Octoling locked in battle with Cap'n Cuttlefish and Agent 3 when they were ambushed by "someone", and all three got knocked underground. An amnesiac Agent 8 (christened such by Cuttlefish after the fact) now supports the Cap'n in an attempt to escape Kamabo Corp's Deepsea Metro. Also, by the end of it all, they've saved both Inkling and Octoling-kind.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Agent 8's default outfit is a leather ensemble so tight you could bounce a coin off it.
• Heroic Mime:
  • Like Agents 3 and 4, they don't speak in Octo Expansion and Cap'n Cuttlefish lampshades it by taking their "stunned silence" as a yes. Downplayed, in that their inner thoughts are regularly expressed with the Mem Cakes, which have attached poem verses written by Agent 8.
  • Eight continues to be this trope in Side Order; Pearl writes off Eight's silence at the start as being groggy and confused from waking up and seeing one of their best friends as a drone, while Marina later explains to Order/Smollusk during the post-game that Eight is just very shy around new people when they get anxious about the "silent treatment" they're receiving from the Octoling.
• Hidden Depths: If the Mem Cakes are any indication, underneath one of the Octarian army's former elite soldiers lay a surprising talent for tanka poems.
• Hotter and Sexier:
  • In Octo Expansion:
    • Female Agent 8 does crank up the suggestiveness quite a bit compared to her Inkling counterparts. There's the outfit, for starters, but a lot of the promo screenshots and whatnot feature Agent 8 (with various eye/skin options) in poses and camera angles that are a bit "sexier" than is typical for Splatoon. 8 also engages in something much more like a Supermodel Strut down the platform and train in the trailer than her Inkling counterparts are ever seen doing, in trailers or in-game.
    • The male Agent 8 wears a revealing leather outfit like the female Agent 8.
  • The Order Bodysuit they wear in Side Order is way more revealing than any other protagonist clothing, being a limbless white bodysuit that accentuates their curves. Yes, even the male one.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": They're octo-fighters of no small talent themselves, but the game intro indicates that, much like Marina, part of what motivates Agent 8 is being amazed at the encounter between the Squid Sisters and DJ Octavio back in Splatoon 1 and wanting to reach Inkopolis to see more of Inkling society for themselves; this desire is the one thing they vaguely remember, even after forgetting everything else.
• Lost in Translation: In Japan they're called "Hachi-Gō" or "Number Eight." "Hachi" is the word for the number 8, but it is also a given name. This is implicitly why they prefer to go by Eight as of Side Order, as it identifies them as an individual rather than a number. The same can't exactly be said for the English script, where "Eight" is not a given name and solely refers to the number.
• Memento Macguffin:
  • Completing trials in Octo Expansion gives Mem Cakes, physical manifestations of 8's lost memories. Collecting all of them unlocks their locker in the Deep Sea Metro station, which holds the Golden Toothpick. This one reminds them of their battle with Agent 3 two years ago, which they must relive if they want to collect it.
  • 'The Color Chips are supposed to be this in Side Order, being the Mem Cakes themselves converted into this form so they can seek out their owners, but due to Order's machinations, they don't appear to work for Eight despite collecting them.
• Mistaken Identity: It's apparent from the Mem Cakes that Agent 8 was already planning on leaving the Octarian Army if they didn't leave already. Since Agent 8's turn happened before the memory loss, Agent 8 was probably mistaken for an Octarian soldier by Agent 3 and Capt. Cuttlefish and attacked before they were taken to the Underground Metro.
• Ms. Fanservice: Or Mr. Fanservice in the case of the male Agent 8. When Octo Expansion prompts the player to choose Agent 8's gender, hair and eye color, and hair style, both genders are nude with only their arms and green goo keeping them from being exposed. Also, like Marina and enemy Octolings, they wear tight leather outfits for much of the expansion. Their outfits in Side Order are a bit more modest, but only a bit; while no midriff is shown due to the outfits being one-piece, the bottom is still pretty short, and they're still rather tight to the point it's more like a second skin than an actual outfit.
• Mysterious Past: Due to their lost memories, not much is know about who Eight was before coming to Inkopolis outside of the fact they had listened to the Calamari Inkantation and where in the process of escaping to the surface. The only details known are inferred from the Mem Cakes you collect during Octo Expansion:
• Non-Indicative Name: Despite being codenamed "Agent 8", they aren't even connected to the New Squidbeak Splatoon, much less its 8th member. The codename just serves as a short hand for "10008", since they've forgotten their original name. By Side Order, they've taken to just going by "Eight".
• Pinball Protagonist: The Octo Expansion is very much Agent 8's story, centered on their escape from the Deepsea Metro and the sinister plot of Kamabo Co. By contrast, Eight's role in Side Order amounts to being The Big Guy who spends all their time not fighting in the background while Pearl, Marina, and Acht do all the important stuff.
• Purely Aesthetic Gender: The Octo Expansion finally introduces Octoling boys into the game, but like the Inklings of the main game, they play no differently from the Octoling girls.
• Remember the New Guy?:
  • Of a sort. Once you complete Octo Expansion's story mode and get to Inkopolis, the shopkeepers will treat Agent 8 just like Agent 4, and not really have any commentary on them being different. Mr. Grizz, in particular, behaves no differently and still makes his comments as if the Octoling has been employed with Grizzco for some time.
  • Subverted with Pearl and Marina. If you stare at them in their studio, they react in a more familiar manner if you're playing as Agent 8 than they do if you're playing as Agent 4. Justified since Agent 8 becomes a personal acquaintance of theirs in Octo Expansion.
• The Roadie: In Side Order, it's revealed that Eight was brought along on Pearl and Marina's world tour as a roadie.
• Significant Name Shift: By the time Side Order starts, Pearl and Marina have started calling them Eight instead of the more formal Agent 8, a change they enjoy.
• Stealth Pun: You're an Octoling. "Octo" is Latin for 8, with the Octo Expansion campaign revolving around this number, with your name just being the tip of the iceberg.
• Supermodel Strut: The female Agent 8 struts prominently when walking down the train in the trailer, with a walk animation very distinct from the Inkling one, having an exaggerated sway to her hips.
• True Companions: It's made clear in Side Order that they've become this with Off the Hook. Pearl refers to them as her "bestie" and is the one to invite Eight to accompany them on their world tour, while Marina's main motivation for creating the Memverse is to help Eight get their memories back. Their enthusiasm in joining the world tour shows Eight enjoys their company greatly.
• Vague Age: In Splatoon 2, it is stated that they were fighting Agent 3 two years ago and witnessed the final boss battle, but it can be inferred that they are just as old as Agent 4.
• Warrior Poet: They're military-trained, tough enough to make it through the trials, and write poetry in between for each mem cake they recover.
• When She Smiles: One of Marina's Dev Diaries in Side Order mentions that they gave her "the widest smile (she'd) ever seen" when she first referred to them as "Eight" instead of Agent 8. Likely because it signifies them being a proper person and not just another soldier in Octavio's army.
• You Are Number 6: The Octoling is given the name Agent 8 by Cap'n Cuttlefish, while the identification tags around their ankle and arm denotes them as No. 10008, the 10008th participant in Kamabo Company's Deepsea Metro tests. By Side Order, they go by just Eight.

New Agent 3 & Smallfry

^{Smallfry near the end of the campaign (SPOILERS)}

The protagonist of Splatoon 3, a cephalopod recruited into the ranks of the New Squidbeak Splatoon on their expedition into Alterna. They're given the title of Agent 3, who was promoted to being the new captain of the Splatoon.

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• Badass Adorable: Like the other agents, they're an adorable Inkling/Octoling who ends up saving the entire planet from being destroyed by the fuzzy ooze.
• Bait-and-Switch Comment: They're on the receiving end of this from Marie.
  Marie: We saw it all. The daring. The bravery. The inkredible skills. Who knew Smallfry could do all that! A-and you were there too!
• Canon Identifier: Like the players before them, they're given a callsign... of Agent 3.
• Clothing Damage: The Hero Suit does not survive the fall into Alterna unscathed. Picking up armor will repair the damage for as long as the armor lasts. It will also be permanently repaired after unlocking specific upgrades, but this only applies while in the overworld or when the Hero Gear is the selected loadout during missions, as you don't have access to any of your upgrades when using a different loadout.
• The Greatest Story Never Told: Like Agents 3, 4, and 8, New Agent 3's achievements and identity are kept secret from the public, as the New Squidbeak Splatoon follows the motto: "The path of the hero is a lonely one." This is the in-universe justification as to why you are treated like a regular Inkling/Octoling despite saving the planet. Unlike them, this is played completely straight, as even the Octarians don’t know about it.
• Homemade Inventions: In contrast to the more clean glass vial styles of the usual ink tanks, theirs is simply a 2-liter soda bottle with a hose attached. Once the Hero Suit is restored to full condition, they get the actual ink tank back.
• Interspecies Friendship: With Smallfry, the Salmonid. The relationship between the two species is hostile, but the relationship between New Agent 3 and Smallfry is tight-knit. According to a Famitsu interview, the two encountered each other in the desert after the Salmonid was separated from its school, and the two have forged a mutually beneficial friendship in the process.
• Legacy Character: The second character to have the callsign of Agent 3, after the protagonist of the first game.
• Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: Cuttlefish wasn't kidding when he said the Hero Gear looked a bit too big for New Agent 3, since when they fall into Alterna, their boots slip right off their feet and end up who-knows-where, forcing them to run around in nothing but footwraps most of the time. They get the boots back when picking up armor, but lose them again when that armor is destroyed or they finish the level. Getting both "Ink Resistance Up" upgrades will restore the boots permanently, but like the other upgrades, this only applies in the overworld or when using the Hero Gear during missions. Any other loadout and it's back to the footwraps for you.
• Ms. Fanservice: Or Mr. Fanservice in the case of the male Agent 3. Their Hero Suit shows a lot of midriff (noticeably more than even Agent 8), caused by the damage it received when they fell into Alterna.
• One-Steve Limit: They have the same callsign as the old Agent 3, so the old one is called Captain to help distinguish them.
• The Stoic: The Splatoon 3 Story Mode has a number of gags regarding their Heroic Mime status, with many other characters having Large Ham moments before immediately cutting to a wide shot of Agent 3 watching them, dead silent, with no reaction.
• Street Urchin: All of the Splatoon protagonists had something of this vibe thanks to the lack of parental presence in the series, but this is especially obvious with Agent 3. Promotional material reveals they make a living salvaging scrap, and the opening shows them living in the desert with no signs of civilization around with only Smallfry for company. This is further supported by their clothes: the starter gear includes the raggedy, worn-out Tri-Shred Tee (as opposed to previous games using squeaky-clean clothing) and the Hero Suit's underclothes include a ripped-up top and footwraps instead of shoes.
• Wrecked Weapon: Much like the Hero Suit, the Hero Shot also takes quite a beating from the fall into Alterna, and requires several upgrades to get it back to full power. Getting the "Better Hero Shot" and "Even Better Hero Shot" upgrades fixes the gun back to its original form, but the changes can only be seen if they're in the overworld or choose the Hero Shot during missions.

Smallfry

A small Salmonid companion that has been with New Agent 3 since before they arrived in Splatsville.

See here for more information about its specific species.

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• 11th-Hour Superpower: It turns into the massive Hugefry, but only during the second half of the final battle against Mr. Grizz.
• Action Pet: Smallfry accompanies New Agent 3 into battle, and can be thrown like a bomb into enemies and obstacles, as well as clean up the hazardous Fuzzy Ooze. In the final battle, they even transform into a giant Salmonid monster to battle Mr. Grizz. According to an interview, however, Smallfry is not treated as a pet, but as a friend of New Agent 3.
• Anime Hair: Customization can let players give Smallfry some improbable haircuts, from the classic "broom head" flat top to the very silly "pineapple leaves" haircut.
• The Baby of the Bunch: No age is given for Smallfry, but evidence from a Sunken Scroll suggests it's a juvenile Salmonid that got separated from its school, making it the youngest member of the New New Squidbeak Splatoon.
• Badass Adorable: It's a tiny mutant salmon the size of a baseball, and yet it's your main ally throughout Hero Mode and never fails to be a useful utility. Then come the finale, it evolves into a rocket sized kaiju salmon to do battle with an equally kaiju sized Mr. Grizz.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Unlike the spoon-wielding Smallfry of Salmon Run, your Smallfry in Story Mode fights unarmed, represented as a Big Ball of Violence.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: While New Agent 3 needs a helmet during the final battle in orbit, Smallfry is totally fine without.
• Big Ball of Violence: When tossed directly onto an enemy, Smallfry creates one of these, spawning a dustcloud that it occasionally hops out of while attacking said enemy.
• Big Eater: When boosted by power eggs, Smallfry can gulp down blobs of Fuzzy Ooze many times their size. They can also guzzle down Fuzzy Ooze on Mr. Grizz's rocket when fed a few Golden Eggs. A Sunken Scroll states that when Smallfry get lost from their school during a migration, they often develop an extreme hunger verging on outright starvation as a result, explaining why Smallfry is so good at eating all of the Fuzzy Ooze.
• Curious as a Monkey: While wandering around Alterna, Smallfry may jump out of Agent 3's backpack to stare at random scenery; some examples include Captain 3, an armored vehicle near the middle of Site 1, and posters on one of Site 2's vertical silos. Sometimes, Smallfry's random curiosity can be helpful, like when it locates buried Power Eggs, but a lot of the time it'll run off of cliffs in pursuit of things that interest it.
• Death Is Cheap: Did Smallfry just get splatted while distracting an enemy? Don't worry, it'll reappear in your backpack soon enough, which might imply that Salmonids are just as capable of respawning as Inklings and Octolings.
• A Dog Named "Dog": Simply called Smallfry by Marie and Cuttlefish, although the game itself and Callie often call them "little buddy".
• The Dog Bites Back: It avenges its fallen Salmonid brethren by transforming into a Hugefry and attacking Mr. Grizz, the bear CEO responsible for stealing their Golden Eggs through Salmon Run shifts. It's even reflected with the new radio statue after completing story mode, which features Hugefry eating a tiny bear.
• Extreme Omnivore: Eating pulsing globs of highly infectious hair ooze should probably be bad for you, but Smallfry can devour copious amounts of the ooze with no issue.
• Fastball Special: Making use of Smallfry involves tossing it at whatever needs to be dealt with, whether it's enemies, fuzzballs, or a giant Ink Vac. One Twitter post outright describes it as "throwable".
• Fish Eyes: Like its fellow Salmonids, its huge, bulbous eyes keep them from being properly aligned. Even when it's not in the usual hyper-active state regular Smallfry are known for, they never really align, often giving it a vacant-eyed expression.
• Flying Seafood Special: As Hugefry, it doesn’t even need a machine to swim through space.
• Foreshadowing: The music when customizing Smallfry has a bit of Calamari Inkantation's music snuck into it. It'll also sing the tune itself while idling in Alterna. When the song plays for real, it ends up transforming Smallfry into Hugefry.
• Gratuitous Animal Sidekick: It plays the role of New Agent 3's sidekick during Hero Mode, helping you in your adventure by finding hidden objects, clearing the path forward and being a useful utility in the kettles. The game itself alludes to this trope once you reach the rocket island.
  O.R.C.A: "All weaponry is strictly prohibited beyond this point. Pets and/or sidekicks are allowed."
• Hidden Depths:
  • The little fellow is capable of singing Calamari Inkantation, implying it's listened to the song before and managed to memorize it. It can also sing Happy Little Workers, Grizzco's lobby theme.
  • It also seems to be a fan of the Squid Sisters. One of its spots in Inkopolis where it can be found is in front of the building they sit in, hanging out on the railing while facing them. It could be because it recognizes them from Alterna, but it doesn't extend this to Deep Cut in Splatsville.
• Idle Animation: It has a few. Bouncing around wildly, calming down and occasionaly yawning, conking out on the spot.
• The Immune: Smallfry suffers no effects from coming into contact with the fuzzy ooze, and is capable of consuming it in massive quantities with no ill-effect.
• Keet: It's an energetic little salmon monster for sure. Its default idle animation is to bounce around wildly in place while glancing around, and when you first meet Cuttlefish, it darts around before trying to leap up to his cane to bite at it.
• Interspecies Friendship: Relations between Salmonids and the residents of Inkopolis are hostile, but this Smallfry has developed a close bond with New Agent 3, an Inkling/Octoling. The two encountered each other in the desert after it got separated from its school, and joined together out of a shared motivation for survival that has blossomed into a close friendship.
• Kaiju: Once empowered by marine life energy and the Calamari Inkantation, Smallfry transforms into the single largest Salmonid in the series: Hugefry. In this form, it stands on equal footing with Mr. Grizz enlarged and empowered by Fuzzy Ooze.
• Magic Pants: Transforming into Hugefry turns it into a less anthropomorphic titan of a Salmon, but its pants still manage to survive.
• Mook Promotion: It's a Smallfry, a basic mook Salmonid you're likely to splat by the dozen, promoted to an indispensible ally to New Agent 3. Upgrading it as you adventure through Alterna allows it to become far more powerful than the average Smallfry, boosting its damage and health, and by the final boss, it ascends into a titanic salmon kaiju.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: The Salmonids, barring their trade deal with the Octarians, are invariably hostile to the rest of Splatoon's land dwelling marine life. The Smallfry in Story Mode, however, is completely docile. It will still attack other enemies, but only when you throw it at them, and it otherwise co-exists peacefully with the rest of the cast, especially New Agent 3. According to Sunken Scroll 8, it was separated from its school during a migration, so it was never fully acclimated to Salmonid culture.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Upon turning into Hugefry, apart from keeping its typical hairstyle, it looks a lot more like a realistic salmon and is a lot less anthropomorphic compared to the cartoonishness of all other Salmonids.
• Odd Friendship: A hyperactive, possibly feral salmonid and the otherwise stoic and quite New Agent 3. Their bond was formed out of a mutual desire for survival in the desert, but despite the dry origins, the two have clearly grown close. Returning from its transformation into the mighty Hugefry has it hopping back into New Agent 3's pack without a second thought, solidifying that bond.
• Offscreen Teleportation: Little Buddy has the uncanny ability of showing up in the most bizarre places in the hub. In Splatsville, it can appear in a couple of normal street locations, as well as on top of the blue sign outside Hotlantis and in the cafe above the Anarchy Splatcast studio. In Inkopolis, it can show up inside the tower lobby, on the train platform, on top of the fox statue, on top an antenna on a building well outside the Plaza and inside the observation tower of Inkopolis Tower itself.
• Orc Raised by Elves: Sunken Scroll 8 implies that Smallfry got lost from its original school while migrating back to its original spawn site in order to mature, and ended up being basically adopted by New Agent 3.
• Power Glows: It glows gold whenever it wants to call atention, such as when distracting enemies or if it has found something. Curiously, this trait has only been seen in one other Salmonid, Goldies, which raises the possibility that Little Buddy is a rare juvenile Goldie.
• Resurrective Immortality: Smallfry has a finite healthpool if it's left on the ground and can be splatted, but it'll pop up in your backpack good as new after a few seconds. Upgrading your Hero Gear with specific upgrades shortens the duration before it respawns.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: The smallfry of Salmon Run have always had an Ugly Cute quality to them, with their small size and bulging eyes. The more docile Smallfry brings that cuteness to the forefront, whether its while watching it goof around in Splatsville, listening to it attempt to sing Calamari Inkantation, or the way it hops around in excitement when it finds something.
• Super Mode: In the final battle, the Calamari Inkantation empowers them with marine life energy, causing them to grow into a massive Salmonid able to fight Mr. Grizz one-on-one.
• Theme Music Power-Up: Its Hugefry form is caused by the Calamari Inkantation. One of the Sunken Scrolls and Frye mention a legend where "3 lights united" to stop a catastrophe, which in this case, is implied to be the 3 groups joining forces to stop the end; the Inklings, the Octarians, and the Salmonids (represented respectively by the New Squidbeak Splatoon, DJ Octavio, and Hugefry).
• Token Heroic Orc: Smallfry is the only Salmonid seen to be friendly with Inklings and Octolings. This likely has to do with it being adopted by New Agent 3 before it could be fully socialized into Salmonid society.
• Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: In Site 4's boss fight, while the player is supposed to throw a Splat Bomb into Master Mega's mouth to stun him and attack his mount, throwing Smallfry into his mouth has the same effect.
• Uniformity Exception: To diferentiate it from the regular Smallfry hordes of Salmon Run, your Smallfry in Story Mode has a more uniform gray scale color, customizable hair, and wears dark green pants instead of light green ones.
• The Unintelligible: It babbles a lot, and even sings Calamari Inkantation, but it's not in a language anyone can understand. The dialogue for the Smallfry Amiibo is all in third-person narration that's trying to gauge what it might be thinking.
• Uniqueness Value: According to the Japanese version of its Sunken Scroll, Smallfry here is a keiji salmonid. Due to having strayed from its school during a Big Run, it has developed an incredible apetite and the potential to transform into the mythical Hugefry for currently unexplained reasons. This is in reference to the real life keiji salmon, baby salmon born in Russian waters that can stray from their routes into Japanese waters. They're highly valuable due to their rarity.
• Utility Party Member: Its role in the story mode. Smallfry can be tossed like a bomb to do many things: distract enemies, activate mechanisms, clear up the fuzzy ooze. Unlike most other holders of this trope, Smallfry can also fight on its own, though it's slow to splat enemies. The only exception are enemy Octolings; one direct hit can splat them almost immediately.
• We Need a Distraction: One of Smallfry's utilities is to simply throw it on the ground. It'll dance and glow to attract the attention of all nearby enemies, allowing New Agent 3 to either sneak by or go to town on them while they're distracted.

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