Nintendo shuts down Smash tournament for using Slippi



The Big House is an annual Super Smash Bros. tournament that was created in the year 2011 and continued all the way to 2019 and alongside GENESIS, EVO and Super Smash Con, it was the most largest and prestigious Smash tournaments ever made, however, in 2020, the tournament was cancelled because Nintendo put a cease and desist letter related to using an emulator.

What Is Slippi?
Slippi is an emulator that attempts to add online features to Super Smash Bros. Melee, according to the official website of the emulator, the emulator promises to enable "Portable replay files, Complex gameplay stats, Improved streaming video quality, Improved online netcode, Online matchmaking and more", unfortunately, due to being an emulator and the fact that Nintendo is strict when it comes to emulating, the emulator was what caused Nintendo to takedown the tournament.

Background
In 2020, The Big House 10 had to be cancelled because of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic in July, however, the tournament was revived and was scheduled to be released on December of that year. Unfortunately, the tournament was crumbled down to pieces because Nintendo of America (as said in the letter) posted a cease and desist letter to The Big House, as the tournament used an emulator named Slippi, which enables netplay and matchmaking for Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Reaction
In response to the takedown, Nintendo fans and Smash fans and even non-Nintendo fans gave it extremely negative responses to the takedown, as the reason for the use of the emulator was due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, causing the tournament to go online. Many fans have called out Nintendo for being a greedy company and attempting to shut down a tournament for using an emulator which Nintendo dislikes.

Afterwards, many fans created a hashtag named #FreeMelee to help spread the word leading to Nintendo attempting to takedown fans that support said hashtag, such as taking down a Splatoon tournament because some attendees supported the hashtag, which resulted in another hashtag named #FreeSplatoon, ruined the company's image even more, and made Nintendo fans turn their back on Nintendo.

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