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 would not be available at launch, but would 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 about 75% 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 points or has the least amount of time left on their countdown clock and has control of the zone(s) wins the match.

Controlling all the zones causes the team's countdown clock to start. Losing control of one or more zones causes the team's countdown clock to stop. If the team controls all the zones, the other team receives a penalty. Upon retaking all zones with a penalty, first the penalty clock ticks down, and then when clear, the countdown timer resumes.

The penalty depends on how low the team's countdown timer is. For instance, if they only had 13 points left to hold the zones until match win, but the other team gains control, 60 seconds will be added to the first team's penalty timer, meaning they will have to control the zone(s) for 60 additional points 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.

The total time for a team to win a match after they control the zone without additional penalty is 53 seconds.

In-game Info
"In orange, teams battle for control of a stage's orange. Each stage has orange zones. To gain control of a orange, just splatter it with ink! Once your team controls a zone, try to hold it for as long as possible. Your team's timer will start once you control orange in a stage. If your timer reaches zero, your team wins! But if you lose control of a single zone, your team's timer will stop. There's also a penalty for losing control of orange, so guard them with all your might! If the battle ends without a winner, the team with the lowest count on its orange will claim victory! In this orange, Battle Points are awarded based on your orange. Oh, and here's a pro tip for ya: if you lose control of a orange, wait for your team to regroup instead of trying to be a hero!"

- In-game Info

Trivia

 * Splat Zones bears a strong resemblance to Team Fortress 2's King of the Hill mode and Domination Control Point mode, where a team needs to capture a zone and their clock to countdown to zero in order to win the match. In Splatoon, there can be one or two zones to control and if you manage to recapture the zone from the other team, they get a penalty time added to their count.