Retro Specs

For the similarly named headgear item produced by Enperry in Splatoon 3, see Retro Framers.

The Retro Specs are headgear in the Splatoon series.

In Splatoon, they are a 1-star item produced by Splash Mob and come with the primary ability Quick Respawn. They can be purchased from Cooler Heads for 500.

In Splatoon 2, they are a 1-star item produced by Splash Mob and come with the primary ability Quick Respawn. They can be purchased from Headspace for 500 or from SplatNet 2 Gear Shop for 1,250.

In Splatoon 3, they are a 0-star item produced by Splash Mob and come with the primary ability Quick Respawn. They can be purchased from Naut Couture for 500 or from SplatNet 3 Shop for 1,250.

Appearance

The Retro Specs are a pair of black, square-shaped glasses with thick rims. On the frames are small sections that change color to match the wearer's ink. While they appear to not have lenses, as they do not seem to reflect light in an obvious manner, they do have them.

Splatoon

Abilities

The Retro Specs come with Quick Respawn as the primary ability. As a 1-star item, the Retro Specs come with one additional slot for secondary abilities, which may be increased to a maximum of three slots with a Super Sea Snail or 30,000 cash for each slot. Since they are made by the Splash Mob gear brand, they have a higher chance of rolling Ink Saver (Main) and a lower chance of rolling Run Speed Up to fill their secondary ability slot.

Splatoon 2

Abilities

The Retro Specs come with Quick Respawn as the primary ability when purchased from a shop or ordered from Murch. When purchased from SplatNet 2, they come with any other primary ability normally available to Headgear. As a 1-star item, the Retro Specs come with one additional slot for secondary abilities, which may be increased to a maximum of three slots with a Super Sea Snail for each slot. Since they are made by the Splash Mob gear brand, they have a higher chance of rolling Ink Saver (Main) and a lower chance of rolling Run Speed Up to fill their secondary ability slot.

Splatoon 3

The Retro Specs returned in the Chill Season 2022 update on 1 December 2022.

Abilities

The Retro Specs come with Quick Respawn as the primary ability when purchased from a shop or ordered from Murch. When purchased from SplatNet 3, they come with any other primary ability normally available to Headgear. As a 0-star item, the Retro Specs come with one additional slot for secondary abilities. The star level may be increased with Super Sea Snails for 1 (first), 1 (second), 5 (third), 10 (fourth), or 20 (fifth) Super Sea Snails per star, or by purchasing additional copies of them from Naut Couture for 10,000 (first), 30,000 (second), 50,000 (third), 100,000 (fourth), or 200,000 (fifth) Cash per star. Increasing the star level to 1 or 2 stars will add a secondary ability slot per level, up to a maximum of three slots. Increasing the star level beyond 2 stars will increase the gear experience gained by a cumulative 3.333…% up to 10% additional experience at 5-star level. Since they are made by the Splash Mob gear brand, they have a higher chance of rolling Ink Saver (Main) and a lower chance of rolling Run Speed Up to fill their secondary ability slots.

Gallery

Splatoon

An Inkling girl wearing the Retro Specs.
Another Inkling girl wearing the Retro Specs, holding an N-ZAP '85.
Closeup of an Inkling boy wearing the Retro Specs.
A Inkling boy wearing the Retro Specs and pushing an Octobrush, from the side.
Official art of an Inkling wearing the Retro Specs, holding a Slosher.
3D art of an Inkling boy wearing the Retro Specs, pushing a Splat Roller.
The same Inkling with an Inkbrush.
Art of an Inkling boy wearing the Retro Specs, also with a Splat Roller.
Art of a team of Inklings - the second from the right is wearing the Retro Specs.
The right Inkling is wearing the Retro Specs and holding a Kelp Splat Charger.
Art of several Inklings - the leftmost one is wearing the Retro Specs.

Splatoon 2

Front view
Side view

Splatoon 3

Front view
Adjusted view
Worn by an Octoling on the Dapple Dualies Tableturf Battle card.
Worn by an Octoling on the Foil Squeezer Tableturf Battle card.

Trivia

Image discovered in *Super Mario Maker*.

A UI icon for an older version of the item was discovered in the data files for Super Mario Maker. In this version, the connecting joints are blue.
The Retro Specs are tied with the Black Trainers for cheapest purchasable gear with Quick Respawn in both Splatoon and Splatoon 2.
Specs from the Splatoon manga wears the Retro Specs, hence his name.
The Retro Specs have a similar look to the Sennyu Specs, but as a 1-star item.
The Retro Specs (and Sennyu Specs) appear to be based on the infamous S9 GI glasses.
Retro Specs was sold in SplatNet 2 on 19 July 2017 06:00 UTC^[1] with Stealth Jump, a shoe-only primary ability. Purchased Retro Specs with this ability were reset to their default ability Quick Respawn in version 1.1.2.

Etymology

The name Retro Specs may be a play on the word "retrospect".

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	クロブチレトロ Kurobuchi Retoro	Black-edge/rim Retro
Dutch	Retrobril	Retro glasses
French	Lunettes rétro	Retro glasses
German	Retrobrille	Retro glasses
Italian	Occhiali rétro	Retro glasses
Russian	Ретро-очки Retro-ochki	Retro glasses
Spanish (NOA)	Gafas retro	Retro glasses
Spanish (NOE)	Retrogafas	Retro glasses
Chinese (Simplified)	复古黑框眼镜 fùgǔ hēi kuāng yǎnjìng (Mandarin)	Retro Black Frame Glasses
Chinese (Traditional)	復古黑框眼鏡 fùgǔhēikuāngyǎnjìng (Mandarin)	Retro Black Frame Glasses
Korean	레트로 검정 뿔테 안경 reteuro geomjeong ppulte angyeong	Retro Black Horn-rimmed Glasses