️SPLATOON 1

TURF WAR: "You've got just three minutes to cover the most territory. You can take out enemies, too, but winning is all about the ink."— Splatoon's official website

Turf War is played by up to eight people, each on their own console. There are two teams of up to four players each, with each team assigned its own ink color. The main objective for each team is to cover as much of the stage, as displayed on the overhead Turf Map, as they can. Players may attempt to splat each other as well to temporarily avoid resistance or for defense. They can use subweapons and special, that load by painting. Each team has three minutes to spread ink around the stage. After the timer reaches 0, Judd calculates how much of the stage was covered by each team. The team with the highest percentage of turf coverage wins the round.

You get Battle Points based on how much territory you claim. If you win, a bonus will be added to your score. Battle Points earned determine your level and how much money you get.

• SPLAT ZONES: Maintain zone control!

This was the first Ranked Battle mode introduced in the series. It revolves around a number of "zones", usually one single zone in the center of a map, which players must attempt to cover in their team's ink. Once a team has covered 70% of a zone in their ink, the zone is "captured" by the team. When all of the zones have been captured by a team, that team is "in control" of the zones and their respective "countdown clock" (or simply, "clock" or "timer") begins to count down from 100. The opposing team must try to capture the zones in the same manner. After five minutes, the team who remains in control of the zone(s) and gets their countdown clock (excluding penalty) lowest wins a match; if a team's clock reaches 0, the game ends instantly as a knockout win for that team.



Overtime Rules

Overtime begins if the losing team (with a higher timer count[a]): Has full control of all zones, or lost control less than ten seconds and not retaken by the winning team. Overtime ends when:

The losing team lowers their timer below the winning team's timer, thereby giving the losing team the victory. The losing team loses control of a Splat Zone (i.e. Splat Zone neutralized), and cannot regain control within ten seconds. The winning team retakes control of the Splat Zone. After five minutes have passed in overtime.

• TOWER CONTROL: Ride the tower!

The tower is a large blue cube with a pole on top, and a grate that creates an overhang surrounding the top surface. Its walls and top of the tower can be inked, but the pole and the grate can not. The height of the tower also varies depending on the map - it may be short, medium, or tall.



In Tower Control, two teams of four players fight to control a central tower that moves through the stage along a predetermined path. The path is mirrored and goes towards each side of the team's territory. The tower starts at the center, and when a player rides on top of it, it begins moving towards the enemy territory. If at least one player from each team is standing on the tower, it stops moving. If the player(s) standing on the tower falls off the platform or gets splatted and an enemy player stands on the tower, the enemy team claims the tower, and it begins moving towards the enemy's checkpoints/goal. If five seconds have passed with no one standing on the tower, it begins moving back to its initial position.

The player(s) on the tower are a constant target and must be defended by other teammates to maintain control. The match ends when one team rides the tower all the way to the opponent's finish mark, or if five minutes are up and overtime is done, the team who pushed the furthest wins. Overtime in this mode begins if the current losing team has control of the tower when the five minutes are up and finishes once that team loses control of the tower or takes the lead. A draw cannot happen and the game degrades a point for the team who reached second to the score.


• RAINMAKER: Make it rain!

Rainmaker is similar to Tower Control in that it requires teams to move a certain object to a point in the other team's base. However, in Rainmaker, only one player may have control of the Rainmaker and they control where it goes. The device is encased in a shield similar to a Zapfish's bubble and must be freed before it can be picked up. If one team bursts the Rainmaker shield, all players of the other team caught in the blast radius are instantly splatted. The Rainmaker can then be picked up by either.Touching an intact shield causes a small amount of damage.

In Splatoon, Splatfest Battle was the sole online mode available during Splatfest events. Players did not have the option to queue into matches alongside members of their friend list. Largely the same as standard Turf War battles, Splatfest Battles featured nighttime lighting and fireworks. Alongside Popularity, the total Wins determined the winning side of a Splatfest by turning the percentage of the total theme votes and wins into points of the same amount.

Squad Battle allowed groups of up to four friends to participate together in Ranked Battle with other squads. A squad would always battle together on the same team, and players who were rank S or S+ would not gain or lose rank points.

When forming a squad, players could create a Quad Squad (four members), a Tri Squad (three members), or a Twin Squad (two members). Squad Battles were always either 4v4, 4v3, or 3v3 battles, since Twin Squads cannot fight alone - they would be paired up with another Twin Squad for a four-player team, and their opponents would also be a pair of Twin Squads. A Tri Squad, however, was treated as a Quad Squad, to their disadvantage when facing actual Quad Squads. However, if they were matched against a Quad Squad, the Tri Squad members were granted a quicker respawn.

Private Battles can have any number of players from two to eight. The host can create even battles (such as 1 vs. 1 or 4 vs. 4) or uneven battles (such as 1 vs. 4 or 3 vs. 2). However, there can only be up to four players per team, and the host cannot assign everyone to the same team. Lobbies created with Private Battle can only be joined by the host's Wii U friends and their Wii U friends. The host can set a four-digit password for the lobby so that uninvited friends cannot join.

The host of a Private Battle chooses the stage and mode that will be used. There is also a random stage option. All stages and modes are available, and new stages and modes were added as soon as they were released. Players get sixty seconds to ready themselves in the lobby after teams have been selected before the match starts. Like with Squad Battles, players can change their equipped weapon and gear in-between matches without having to leave the lobby and teammates' weapon selections are shown.