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(Added some citations Voqèo posted in the Discord, and added a gameplay video section for legacy purposes. A lot of footage seems weirdly hard to find, it seems someone scrubbed the playlist. Also added another viral video by ZeRo.) Tag: Mobile edit |
(Writing seems good, sourcing is peak, let's open the discussion on where it should be now. Added an affected tournament list.) |
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{{move|Super Pichu scandal|More commonly referred to as the "Super Pichu scandal" in the media and what people know it by.}} | |||
The '''Chaos cheating scandal''', also known as the '''Super Pichu scandal''' or '''Pichugate''', was an incident that occurred in the North East Ohio ''Melee'' 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 fighter notoriously known for being a joke character. Following this, it was proven that Chaos had cheated by installing [[gameplay modification]]s on his setups to [[buff]] Pichu's statistics, resulting in lopsided matchups. | |||
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 | |||
This incident is notable for being the first and only recorded case of cheating in ''Smash'' tournaments through gameplay modification. | This incident is notable for being the first and only recorded case of cheating in ''Smash'' tournaments through gameplay modification. | ||
==Background== | ==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 | 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. This ranking resulted from Pichu's bevy 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 developers<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 Mode]] trophies. | ||
Despite Pichu being a bottom-tier character, however, numerous players such as {{Sm|Mew2King}}, {{Sm|Keropi-}}, and {{Sm|Swordsaint}} have demonstrated Pichu's potential strengths, including a fast neutral aerial, a strong 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 supermajors, however, most of Pichu's competitive success is limited to small tournaments. | |||
Chaos picked up Pichu in 2014<ref name="Lil Homie"/>, aiming to become the best Pichu player in the world. On March 10th, 2015, Chaos (xChaos on SmashBoards) replied to a SmashBoards forum titled "Pichu isn't the worst!",<ref>[https://smashboards.com/threads/pichu-isnt-the-worst.393987/post-18736874 Pichu isn't the worst!]</ref>. He stated 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 spark arguments with users on the forum. | |||
==Affected Tournaments== | |||
{{results|Compile more tournaments to illustrate scale; one player named X is on some and places highly, but it's unknown whether this is Chaos.}} | |||
Given the length of time taken before Chaos was caught, he cheated at an innumerable amount of tournaments. This list compiles tournaments Chaos attended and thus possibly cheated. | |||
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" | |||
!Tournament!!Date!!1v1 Placement!!Notes | |||
|- | |||
|[https://challonge.com/argw7 ARG 7]|| 14th September 2015 || 9th/14 || 0-2 | |||
|- | |||
|[https://challonge.com/arg8/standings ARG 8] || 21st September 2015 || 9th/15 || 0-2 | |||
|- | |||
|[https://challonge.com/arg9 ARG 9] || 28th September 2015 || 7th/18 || | |||
|- | |||
|[https://challonge.com/argt10 ARG 10] || 5th October 2015 || 4th/6 || Round Robin | |||
|- | |||
|[https://challonge.com/arg11 ARG 11] || 12th October 2015 || 7th/14 || | |||
|- | |||
|[https://challonge.com/arg12 ARG 12] || 19th October 2015 || 7th/18 || | |||
|- | |||
|[https://challonge.com/arg13 ARG 13] || 26th October 2015 || 4th/11 || | |||
|- | |||
|[https://challonge.com/arg16 ARG 16] || 9th November 2015 || 13th/22 || | |||
|- | |||
|[https://challonge.com/argt21 ARG 16] || 22nd December 2015 || 17th/30 || | |||
|- | |||
|[https://challonge.com/ARG38 ARG 38]|| 6th June 2016 || 13th/33 || | |||
|- | |||
|[https://challonge.com/argm45 ARG 45] || 20th June 2016 || 7th/36 || | |||
|- | |||
|[https://challonge.com/ARGMM2 ARG Melee Monthly #2] || 25th June 2016 || 2nd/24 || See below | |||
|- | |||
|[https://challonge.com/argmim ARG Melee in Medina 45] || 28th June 2016 || 2nd/19 || | |||
|} | |||
== | ===ARG Melee Monthly #2=== | ||
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. | 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. | ||
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==Legacy== | ==Legacy== | ||
This incident is widely regarded as one of the first notable instances of cheating through [[gameplay modification]]s in competitive ''Smash'' 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. That being said, [[Tournament organizer]]s now tend to be much more scrutinous about what hardware and software gets used in a tournament to make sure a similar incident never happens again. | This incident is widely regarded as one of the first notable instances of cheating through [[gameplay modification]]s in competitive ''Smash'' 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. That being said, [[Tournament organizer]]s now tend to be much more scrutinous about what hardware and software gets used in a tournament to make sure a similar incident never happens again. | ||
On 3rd August 2017, the University of Advancing Technology covered the incident in reference to rising security issues like BlackHat and Defcon<ref>[https://blog.uat.edu/blogs/5249 University of Advancing Technology article]</ref>. | |||
In October 2020, Esports talk cited the scandal in their "The Difference Between Cheating in Esports vs Traditional Sports" article<ref>[https://www.esportstalk.com/blog/the-difference-between-cheating-in-esports-vs-traditional-sports/ The Difference Between Cheating in Esports vs Traditional Sports] </ref>. | In October 2020, Esports talk cited the scandal in their "The Difference Between Cheating in Esports vs Traditional Sports" article<ref>[https://www.esportstalk.com/blog/the-difference-between-cheating-in-esports-vs-traditional-sports/ The Difference Between Cheating in Esports vs Traditional Sports] </ref>. |