Nintendo has cancelled a major Super Smash Bros. tournament since the organizers were planning to use 3rd-party mods. Despite the franchise's competitive nature, the Smash Bros. games are rife with mods. The recent release of Minecraft Steve as a DLC character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, for instance, led to the development of a mod that lets players use their own custom skins from Steve's game of origin.
Just about every competition in the world has been deeply impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The world of video gaming is no exception, but thanks to its digital format, it's uniquely situated to weather the social distance decrees that come with the disease. Many organizations have taken advantage of that in some exceptional ways. For instance, in a definite franchise first, the NFL Pro Bowl will be hosted in Madden NFL 21, using virtual representations of the players who are selected to compete. The coronavirus has presented a serious challenge for The Big House, though. The Big House is an annual competition between Super Smash Bros. players. It generally favors Super Smash Bros. Melee, the 2001 GameCube entry which many consider the best Smash game in the series.
Unfortunately, with COVID-19 looming, The Big House can't have an in-person competition, so organizers turned to 3rd-party mod Slippi, which alters the code of the classic game and enables players to compete online. This didn't sit well with Nintendo. Despite the company's long-standing support of The Big House, Nintendo couldn't abide 3rd-party software modifying its game, and issued a cease and desist. As Twitter user PushDustin has revealed, The Big House is set to comply with these demands, and cancel not only the Melee feature of this event but the Ultimate version as well.
This shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. Nintendo is a famously litigious company; it issued copyright strikes against fans of the PS4 creation engine Dreams because they were using the platform to create games and works with Mario's likeness. Third party content that the company didn't approve is an especially egregious sin in the eyes of Nintendo, even for a nearly twenty year old game like Super Smash Bros. Melee.
It's disappointing to see Nintendo so quick to tear down an event that it has sponsored and supported for years. A company is well within its rights to protect its IP, but this does feel like a step too far. One finds it incredibly doubtful that Nintendo is planning its own online update for Super Smash Bros. Melee, which is several console generations out of date by now. But just because Nintendo won't do it doesn't mean anyone else should, apparently, and so Super Smash Bros. fans will find themselves without a Big House tournament this year.
Source: PushDustin