Splat Zones

Splat Zones is a multiplayer mode in Splatoon. It was released in the Ranked Battles category on June 1, 2015 after enough players reached level 10.

History
Splat Zones was announced on March 23, 2015 when video game journalists from around the world were invited to a Nintendo event in Seattle, Washington. It was revealed that this mode will not be available at launch, but will instead be released at a later, unspecified, date.

Description
Splat Zones plays similarly to the King of the Hill mode from other video games. It revolves around a number of "zones," usually one central zone, which players must attempt to cover in ink with a five minute game clock. Once a team has covered a majority of a zone in their ink, the zone is "captured". When a majority of the zones have been captured by a team, that team is "in control" of the zones and their countdown clock begins. The opposing team must try to capture the zones in the same manner. The first team who remains in control for a total of 100 seconds or has the least amount of time left on their countdown clock and has control of the zone(s) wins the match.

Controlling the zone causes your countdown clock to start. Losing control of the zone causes your countdown clock to stop. As soon as the enemy team Takes Control of the Zone, their countdown clock restarts, while yours receives a penalty. Should they Lose Control of the Zone, their countdown clock stops, and once your team Takes Control of the Zone, first your penalty clock ticks down. Once your penalty clock is clear, your countdown timer resumes.

The penalty depends on how low their countdown timer is. For instance, if they only had 13 seconds left to hold the zones, but the other team gains control, 60 seconds will be added to the previous team's penalty timer, meaning they will have to control the zone(s) for 60 seconds to make their countdown timer resume. If the losing team has control of the zones as time runs out, then the match will go into overtime. Once the losing team regains the lead or the winning team regains control, the game ends.

In-game Info
"In Splat Zones, teams battle it out for control of the stage's Splat Zones. Every stage has 1 or 2 Splat Zones. Cover a Splat Zone with ink to take control of it. Then try to keep it in your control for as long as possible! The timer starts once you gain control of all the Splat Zones. When your team's timer reaches 0, you win! But lose control of a single Splat Zone and the timer will stop. There's a penalty for losing all of the Splat Zones to the enemy... So guard them with all your might! If the battle ends without a winner... the team with the lowest count on their timer wins the match! In this mode, Battle Points are awarded based on your timer. Pro tip: if you lose control of a Splat Zone... wait for your team to regroup instead of trying to be a hero."

- In-game Info