"Staaaay fresh!"
"Fresh" is a slang term in Splatoon, Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 3 which means "good", "fashionable", "cool", or "following a trend". The catchphrase is a basis for Inkling culture as a whole and is used by characters in multiple situations.
Freshness through levels[]
(See also: Levels)
In the original game, the player will not be able to access the shops at Booyah Base until they reach level 4 through fighting in Turf Wars, as the shopkeepers will think that they are not "fresh" (fashionable) enough. In fact, buying different Gear allows the player to have Abilities that can help them gain an advantage in their future battles. Having these gear abilities is also described as "fresh". Players should also be at least Level 2 to buy weapons at Ammo Knights.
Come Splatoon 2, the way to access Ammo Knights is to reach Level 2 to buy new weapons. The way to access other stores in Inkopolis Square is also the same: Reach Level 4 to be fresh enough to start purchasing gear. Also, weapons can award a one-time Freshness bonus of experience when they reach certain points from winning matches with them, building the freshness on them, which is represented by the small flag during the matchmaking, along with a number showing the freshness of the weapon.
An example is when, after using the .52 Gal in Turf War matches and winning enough of them, its freshness will increase to 5, earning a 3000 experience point Freshness bonus. Using it again and winning more matches until it reaches 10 earns a 4500 Freshness bonus, and 15 earns a 6000 Freshness bonus. However, as the freshness increases, the penalty for losing matches increases as well, making it so a bigger loss will be attained if the weapon is used for too long after being made really fresh. Between 0 and 5, the penalty for losing a match is the freshness decreasing by .5, between 5 and 10, it decreases by 1, between 10 and 15, the decrease becomes 1.5, and increases by .5 until maxing out at 3 once a weapon reaches 50 on its freshness.
Also, reaching Level 10 will unlock Ranked Battles, where reaching a rank of "B-" there will unlock League Battles.
Once a player reaches the maximum level of 99, they can have the option to reset it back to Level 1, but with a star next to it to show their advancement. However, experience required to level up again will be stuck at a permanent requirement of 100,000 for each level.
Sheldon will stop unlocking new weapons once Level 30 is attained, but in return, Judd and Li'l Judd will award one Super Sea Snail per level after 30, which can be used by Murch to add extra ability slots to one- or two-star gear or re-roll the abilities on a piece of gear.
In Splatoon 3, many of these general rules stay the same, as the shopkeepers and level experience is still described as 'fresh'. However, with weapons, while the Freshness gauge from Splatoon 2 still exists, Freshness with weapons is based on Battle Points earned with said weapon during Regular Battles/Turf War. At certain milestones, the weapon's Freshness star rating will increase by one, and will award a different reward at each checkpoint:
- 10000p: One Sheldon License
- 25000p: Regular Sticker of the weapon for the player's Locker
- 60000p: Reflective Sticker of the weapon for the Locker
- 160000p: Badge of the weapon to put on the Splashtag
- 1160000p: Golden Badge of the weapon to put on the Splashtag
In-universe[]
The term is used as a hip new slang throughout the games, and seems to mean 'trendy and stylish'. Many Inklings (and other inhabitants of Inkopolis and Splatsville) aspire to be 'fresh', and the term is also the basis of the Squid Sisters' catchphrase: "Staaaay fresh!", which encourages the player to be more stylish and trendy. The theme song that plays during player customization in Splatoon 1 is called 'Fresh Kids' and refers to the Inklings, and the clothing shop from the first game as well is called Jelly Fresh to represent how apparently 'fresh' their clothing is.
Trivia[]
- In Japanese, "Stay fresh!" is "イカ、よろしく！" (Ika, yoroshiku!, "Best regards, squid!"