Editing Super Pichu cheating scandal

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{{cleanup|This article's writing needs a big cleanup; lots of grammar errors and other poor writing, the article's format needs to be revised, and more sourcing is required.}}

The '''Chaos cheating scandal''' was an incident that occurred in the Ohio ''Smash Bros.'' scene. 

On June 24th-26th, 2016, a [[Smasher]] by the name of Chaos placed 2nd at the Alter Reality Games 2016 tournament using {{SSBM|Pichu}}, a character notoriously known as a joke character. Following this, it was proven that Chaos had cheated by installing [[gameplay modification]]s on his setups to [[buff]] Pichu's attacks, resulting in lopsided matchups. 

This incident is notable for being the first and only recorded case of cheating in ''Smash Bros.'' tournaments through gameplay modification.

==Background==
At the time of the incident, Pichu was ranked 24th out of 26th on the game's [[List_of_SSBM_tier_lists_(NTSC)#Twelfth tier list (December 10th, 2015)|twelfth tier list on December 10th, 2015]] at the time due to a multitude of weaknesses, mainly its extremely light weight, poor range, and lack of defensive options. In fact, Pichu was intended to be a joke character by the game's <ref>''[http://sourcegaming.info/2015/09/24/meleepichusite/ News Flash! Smash Bros. Dojo: Pichu]'' (translated 2015-09-24; [https://www.nintendo.co.jp/n01/n64/software/nus_p_nalj/smash/flash/1211/index.html original] posted 2001-12-11)</ref>, emphasized in its [[List of SSBM trophies (Pokémon series)#Pichu Smash|Adventure Mode]] and [[List of SSBM trophies (Pokémon series)#Pichu Smash 2|All-Star]] trophies. 

Despite Pichu's near-bottom tier list rankings, however, numerous players such as {{Sm|Mew2King}}, {{Sm|Keropi-}}, and {{Sm|Swordsaint}} have demonstrated Pichu's potential strengths, including a fast neutral aerial, a frame 9 up smash, and an effective grab game, at various tournaments. Swordsaint notably placed 97th at {{Trn|EVO 2014}}. With this being its best placement at big tournaments, however, most of Pichu's competitive success is limited to small tournaments. 

On March 10th, 2015, Chaos (xChaos on SmashBoards) stated in a SmashBoards forum titled "Pichu isn't the worst!",<ref>[https://smashboards.com/threads/pichu-isnt-the-worst.393987/ Pichu isn't the worst!]</ref> that despite {{SSBM|Marth}} being his most used character, he was gravitating towards Pichu's potential from a personal skill-based perspective, intending to improve hismself with the character. In turn, this would prompt mockery from numerous users on the forum.

==Alter Reality Games 2016==
During the Alter Reality Games 2016 ''Melee'' singles, Chaos, and another player, Remix, were arguing over whose setup would be used for their tournament match. However, both players agreed to play on Chaos's setup, where Remix won 2-1 in Round 1. However, despite Chaos losing to Remix, he would go on to defeat five opponents in a row in the losers's bracket, notably defeating {{Sm|Surf's up. hail satan}}, who was one of the best ''Melee'' players in the region. In his next round, Chaos would argue with {{Sm|Minnty}} over setups once more. Eventually, both players agreed to play on Chaos's setup, where Chaos would defeat Minnty 2-0. 

After defeating Minnty, Chaos went on to loser's finals and faced off against {{Sm|Joeycrzl}}, who was ranked 9th on the [[Northeastern Ohio Power Rankings]] in the summer of 2016. Chaos went on to defeat Joeycrzl in a 3-1 upset,<ref name="Lil Homie"/> and would go on to face {{Sm|4%}}, ranked 1st on Summer 2016's Northeastern Ohio Power Rankings, and notably ranked 99th on the [[SSBMRank 2016]]. Despite Chaos's previous victories, 4% beat Chaos in a very narrow 3-2 win, winning the tournament. Chaos placed 2nd and Joeycrzl placed 3rd, each of them winning cash prizes for their respective Top 3 placings.

==Suspicion & Exposure==
Following Chaos's placement using a character largely seen as unviable, players began considering the likelihood that Chaos had been cheating. In a forum post from an unnamed tournament attendee, they claimed that Chaos had KO'ed Joeycrzl's {{SSBM|Ice Climbers}} with Pichu's uncharged forward smash at 18% during a transformation on [[Pokémon Stadium]]<ref name="Lil Homie"/>. While Pichu's forward smash is notable for having the highest base knockback of any forward smash in vanilla ''Melee'', it provably does not normally KO at said percentage range.

Some time later, a local event was organized for players in the Ohio ''Melee'' scene to gather together, with Chaos showing up as one of the attendees.<ref name="Lil Homie"/> While the attendees were playing their games, a plan was devised to expose whether Chaos was actually cheating or not. The plan involved distracting Chaos by having some of the attendees take him to a Sheetz convenience store nearby, while having another group stay behind to copy the SD card in Chaos's Wii to a separate SD card. After Chaos returned and everyone went home, the people who copied Chaos' SD card showed video footage of Chaos' Pichu down tilt, which turned out to have increased range compared to vanilla ''Melee''.

On July 2nd, 2016, the_beanwolf would make  [https://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/4qyq9x/on_melee_modifications_and_cheating_a_warning post] in the r/smashbros subreddit that confirmed Chaos had cheated the whole time. 

The changes compiled are as follows:
* {{buff|Pichu falls faster.}}
* {{buff|Down tilt's range is 1.5× longer and has increased knockback.}}
* {{buff|Forward smash is much stronger.}} 
* {{buff|Aerial attacks have little to no lag.}}
* {{change|''Melee'' was running on [[List of regional version differences (SSBM)|the 1.0 release]], making [[SDI]] more difficult.}}
* {{change|The changes could only be used by plugging a [[GameCube controller]] into the fourth controller port, then holding L and down-left on the control stick when starting a game as Pichu's blue costume.}} 

Chaos's cheating would soon be exposed; as a result, he would be banned from attending tournaments in Ohio, while his earnings from the tournament would be confiscated. 

The same day as the truth was revealed, {{Sm|Dan Salvato}} would release a response video about the subject<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP9oSqnyOTw Dan Salvato's video]</ref>, which would receive over 100,000 views and bring the issue to a wider audience. 

==Legacy==
This incident is widely regarded as one of the first notable instances of cheating through [[gameplay modification]]s in competitive ''Smash Bros.'' history. However, it is far from the first case of cheating in general, with incidents such as tournament collusion happening for many years prior. The impact of Chaos's cheating raised numerous questions about hidden modifications being put into ''Smash'' setups. At the time, with mods like [[UCF]] gaining in popularity, it could even raise the question of whether any mods should be allowed at all, though little has changed in this regard. 

Since Dan Salvato's video, multiple others have been produced that have gone viral, mainly because of the spectacle. On 10th November 2020, {{Sm|AsumSaus}} released a video discussing the incident, which reached over 1,000,000 views<ref>[https://youtu.be/iik_iUPCSl8?si=DvyOnfswsIBBc5DO Cheating in Competitive Melee]</ref>. A few years later, on 19th March 2023, {{Sm|lil homie}} would also release a video, which has reached over 500,000 <ref name="Lil Homie">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5asTiS_FILQ "How Melee's Biggest Cheater Was Caught" by Lil Homie]</ref>  

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Competitive play]]
[[Category:Pichu (SSBM)]]
[[Category:Hacking]]
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