Splatfest

"Pick a side and battle it out in these special Turf War events. Find out about the latest Splatfests in Inkopolis Plaza, and be sure to pledge allegiance to your favorite side in the week leading up! Then help your side win by competing in Turf War battles!"

- Splatoon's official website

Splatfest, known as Festival or Fes in Japan, is a special event in Splatoon and Splatoon 2 in which Inklings choose between two teams, such as Cats or Dogs, and compete in Turf Wars for Super Sea Snails.



Splatoon
In Splatoon, Splatfest was a recurring event hosted by the Squid Sisters, Callie and Marie. During this event, Inklings were able to choose between two teams and participate in battles against each other. Inklings were limited to two colors during the Splatfest, reflecting which side they were on. The clothing section of the equip screen also became locked and all players were forced to wear the Splatfest Tee, which changed in color and design based on an Inkling's chosen team, though they could still change hats, shoes, and weapons. Inkopolis Plaza and all the stages were decorated with a flood of Miiverse posts from the Splatfest/Festival tag on the Splatoon community, some of which took the form of neon signs, banners, and even fireworks. Nighttime also descended over Inkopolis and all Turf War stages. Fireworks went off periodically in the plaza, and specks of light resembling fireflies or fire embers could be seen rising into the sky. Both Callie and Marie danced throughout the entire duration of this event, singing and dancing to [[Media:Splatfest Plaza.ogg|Splatfest - City of Color]]. For the most part, each Splatfest lasted 24 hours, during which time the region involved was isolated and Splatfest players would only face off against players from their own region. Meanwhile, all other regions continued to play amongst each other. A few choice Splatfests deviated from these rules. Super Sea Snails were awarded to participating players upon Splatfest's conclusion.

Splatoon 2
Splatfests return in Splatoon 2, now hosted by Off The Hook's members, Pearl and Marina. Besides this, the structure is largely the same. Although Miiverse is not compatible with the Nintendo Switch, Splatoon 2 ' s exclusive drawing feature allows for players to submit doodles that appear in-game as neon signs, banners, fireworks, or graffiti, as well as uploading doodles to social media accounts. Inkopolis Square is decorated similarly to Inkopolis Plaza in the first games and all areas once again become locked in nighttime as Pearl and Marina perform in Inkopolis Square.

Preparation
Before a Splatfest begins, Inkopolis Plaza and Inkopolis Square experience a variety of visual upgrades to prepare for the event. One week before a Splatfest in Splatoon, a voting booth appears next to the Miiverse Mailbox and the event's theme is announced by Callie and Marie during their Inkopolis News segment. Pearl and Marina similarly announce the event's theme a week prior during their Off The Hook segment in Splatoon 2 while the voting booth appears in the square. Inklings receive a themed Splatfest Tee, a piece of gear that is wearable only until the Splatfest ends, once they join a team. Two days before a Splatfest, neon signs adorned with up-and-down-pointing arrows appear on walls and buildings. The day before it takes place, the Plaza becomes noticeably more crowded and two large trucks supporting stage scaffolding appear in the area's center. In Splatoon 2, one day before the Splatfest, a large performance stage appears in the plaza, above the entrance to the battle lobby. On the tower behind the stage is a screen displaying the two battling teams' mascots. During a Splatfest, Regular & Ranked Battle options are not available, as they are temporarily replaced by the Splatfest Battle option; however, Private Battles can still be accessed.

Splatfest Power


Splatfest Power is a feature introduced in Version 2.6.0 of Splatoon as a way of tracking players' skill during Splatfests, replacing the Vibe meter. While Splatfest matchmaking was previously based on play styles, players are now matched based on similar Splatfest Power levels. It is initially determined by one's Rank and may rise or fall depending on how well one does in battles.

Based on the team's Splatfest Power Level, the average of the four members of the team's Splatfest power, upon victory will gain more EXP points towards higher titles for bigger Super Sea Snails award, for example: If the player has 1688 Splatfest Power and the average Power Level of the team is more than 1700, and wins a Splatfest battle, the player will get +9 EXP, +7 winning points based on the team's power level and +2 bonus for winning.

After each Splatfest Battle, players on the winning team get roughly ten points toward their Splatfest Power, the losing team loses roughly ten, depends on the difference between the two teams' Spaltfest power level, and the player on the winning team with the highest Splatfest Power gains an additional one to two points.

The top 100 players with the highest Splatfest Power will be shown on Splatnet and in the social network sites of Splatoon.

Reward Tiers
Super Sea Snails are awarded to participants based on the size of their team, matches won, and ground covered, which dictate each player's Splatfest Title.

Splatoon
Splatfest EXP is earned by participating in and winning matches. Winning a match earns you a point based on the Splatfest Power, and your participation bonus is based on how much BP worth of ground you covered in ink during the match. If you cover 200–399 BP worth of ground, you earn 1 bonus participation EXP; if you cover 400+ BP worth of ground, you earn 2 bonus participation EXP, also the player on the winning team with the highest Splatfest Power gains an additional 2. One can earn a maximum of 11 EXP per match if your team wins, you have the highest Splatfest Power among your team, and you cover at least 400 BP worth of ground during the match.

One hour after Splatfest concludes, the results are announced during a broadcast. The results are based on team popularity, the percentage of the vote each team received, and wins, the percentage of matches each team won. Win percentage is worth six times more than the value of popularity. Players are awarded Super Sea Snails based on the Splatfest Title they have earned. Players on the winning team will earn more Super Sea Snails that those on the losing team.

To collect their prize, players must log into Splatoon before the next Splatfest theme is announced. The new Splatfest announcement overrides the announcement of the winners of the previous Splatfest, and no Super Sea Snails will be bestowed.

Splatoon 2
It is currently unknown how prizes will work in Splatoon 2.

The final score is calculated based both on popularity and on wins. The formula in Splatoon is as follows:

When the Squid Sisters announce the results, the highest of the popularity and win percentages are both individually highlighted before the final results are shown.

The formula used to use, but this was changed in version 2.2.0.

The formula was at first, but this was changed in version 2.0.0 in the August Update.

In Splatoon 2, the final score is now a straight tally of how many categories each team has a majority percentage in. There are three categories:
 * Popularity
 * Solo Wins
 * Team Wins

When Off The Hook announces the results, the highest of each category are all individually highlighted before the final results are shown, just as in the previous game.

Splatfests
The following is a list of all Splatfest events and their start times. On each event in the tables, the first choice is always sided by Pearl while the second is sided by Marina.

Upcoming or ongoing
Ink colors assumed from team artwork.

Delays
While the first Splatfest event, in Japan, went by flawlessly, the first North American Splatfest was delayed. The reason given was because of matchmaking issues with Japanese players. . The original schedule for the event was from June 20th, 2015 (Sat) at 6 AM PDT to June 21st (Sun) at 6 AM PDT, and some days later, it was revealed that it would be moved to July 4th (Sat) at midnight PT.

The first European Splatfest event, that was meant to start on the 27th of June at midnight CEST, was equally postponed, so that it would take place on the same day as the North American one.

Later, the first Splatfest event held simultaneously worldwide was supposed to have its results announced at the same time across all regions, despite the different start and ending times. Initially, the results were going to be announced on 21st of February 2016 (Sun) at 16:00 JST (18:00 AEST, 8:00 CEST, 2016-02-20 11:00PM PST). However, despite a notification of Callie and Marie's announcement, servers ended up being under maintenance since 15:30 JST, preventing the results from being received. Eventually, at midnight PST (19:00 AEST, 17:00 JST, 9:00 CEST), the servers were running again and players were able to view the results.

Trivia

 * In Splatoon, some randomly selected players are able to join as early as 5 minutes before the official start time for faster matchmaking.
 * In a Splatoon Splatfest, if the game takes too long to find an enemy team, members of the same team will join and battle with regular colors. Splatfest EXP can be earned in these matches, but they do not affect the total win percentage for either team.
 * In Splatoon, when Judd dances on his box, the pillow he sleeps on disappears. It reappears after the Splatfest when Judd goes back to sleep.
 * In Splatoon, when not near him, Cap'n Cuttlefish will pop out of the entrance to Octo Valley and start bobbing his head to the music.
 * In Splatoon, Spyke can also be seen to bob his head and tap his fingers to the music.
 * The Fox and Tanuki statues in Inkopolis Plaza each represent opposite sides during a Splatfest. The Fox's bib and Tanuki's shirt change color to match their team.
 * The end pose of the dance Callie and Marie do during a Splatfest represents the two teams fighting each other.

Superlatives

 * The closest Splatfest so far was the 15th Japanese Splatfest, Mushroom Mountain vs. Bamboo Shoot Village, with a 2 total point difference.
 * Team Barbarian was the least popular team to ever win a Splatfest, as they were only 23% of the popular vote.
 * The eleventh Japanese Splatfest, Pokémon Red vs. Pokémon Green, was the biggest point difference, with a 146 point difference. It also had the highest win rate with 64%.
 * The biggest point difference in a NA Splatfest was also Pokémon Red vs. Pokémon Blue, with a difference of 98 points.
 * The biggest point difference in a EU/OC Splatfest was Pineapple on Pizza, with Disgusting winning by 72 points.
 * Cars vs. Planes was the first Splatfest where raising the battle multiplier to x4 in Version 2.0.0 made a difference in the outcome.
 * The change in battle multiplier to x6 in Version 2.2.0 would have changed the outcome of the Japanese Red Fox vs. Green Tanuki and Squid vs. Octopus Splatfests.
 * If the European Fit vs. Rich, Japanese Red Fox vs. Green Tanuki Second and Japanese Perfect Body vs. Perfect Brain Splatfests used the original x2 battle multiplier, they would have ended in a tie.
 * Both the fifth NA (Art vs. Science) and EU (Messy vs. Tidy) Splatfest's matches AND the ninth NA (Naughty vs. Nice) and EU (Fit vs. Rich) Splatfest's matches took place in the exact same stages.
 * In the NoA Spanish and French localizations, the tenth NA Splatfest (Past vs. Future) was referred to as "Dinosaurs vs. Robots" in the reward tier system and the results announcement. The first announcement and the Pledge Box still referred it as "Past vs. Future".
 * The European Fit vs. Rich and Japanese Perfect Body vs. Perfect Brain Splatfests both had the same scores.
 * So far, the only Splatfest announced in-game before social media is Snowman vs. Sandcastle.
 * The SpongeBob vs. Patrick Splatfest was the first to match players against players from other regions, and was also the first to last for over 24 hours, lasting for 30.
 * The Fancy Party vs. Costume Party Splatfest was the first to match players together from all the regions, and was also the second to last 30 hours instead of the usual 24.
 * The European Splatfests, Hoverboard vs. Jet Pack and World Tour vs. Space Adventure both had the same scores.
 * The Splatfest team, Night Owl, was the most popular team in North America (and the world) to win a Splatfest.
 * The Callie vs. Marie Splatfest was the last Splatfest:
 * The Splatfest was the first to have stages chosen by Splatoon players.
 * The Splatfest was the first to last for two whole days (48 hours).
 * The Splatfest battle music changed in the halfway point after 24 hours from Ink Me Up to Calamari Inkantation.

Oddities

 * About midway through the Roller Coasters vs. Water Slides Splatfest in North America, the colors became randomized for a few rounds instead of the standard purple vs. green before returning to normal.
 * A few days before the Autobots vs. Decepticons Splatfest, during normal battles, the colors were locked to pink and dark purple, colors that usually are not available.

Names in other languages
Splatfest