Splatoon 3 Players Labelled "Cheaters" For Abusing Special Weapons

@BenAV It sounds like it's definitely a bug, otherwise it wouldn't be just limited to one special.

That’s an interesting exploit. Hopefully it either gets a hotfix or is fixed in the upcoming balance patch

Sounds like the people who aren't winning are poor sports, typical.

Cheating ruins the fun and hopefully they get banned and it's fixed. If you have to cheat to win then being banned might teach the lesson.

geez thats a ridiculous thing to overlook. on another note lots of pro players were shocked to see tenta missiles come back, being a special that encourages staying away from the action while many of the new specials encourage being closer. just another wound to its spammy nature

Wow, especially that last video was really hard. Winning is only fun if it is fair. Seriously, you got to earn it.

Nothing is more broken then the beam rays... they should ban everyone who uses them.

That one's on Nintendo. I'm not even sure it's fair to ban them for something that they and the game are allowing.

Ugh. Missiles are more annoying in this game. The player is marked almost twice as long as before.

@link3710 It isn't related to just one special though. I've seen a clip on twitter where they were doing the same thing with reef slider.

EDIT:
Here they are doing it with reef slider
https://twitter.com/asasasa98765/status/1573094379526705152

I've seen something very similar with the Reef Slider, so it's honestly not too surprising that these issues are here. Probably means every special will get some sort of nerf in a future update.

Not sure how this will negatively impact OctoBoy's content, considering one of the biggest highlights involve simultaneous and repeated uses of specials.

My opinion on Tenta Missiles, Beam Ray, Shark Slider and so on, stop complaining and work out how to avoid them. That is part of the fun challenge of any game. Learn the tells, the pattern, the noise, and then overcome the threat. As for the Beam Ray, simply jump over or duck under, easy. The Shark slider has a huge tell. The Tenta Missiles have a huge visual and audio tell and are easy to swim away from.

Sounds more like spammers than cheaters. Still annoying but not breaking the game to win. You just gotta come up with a strategy to get around them. No different than move spammers or campers in other games.

@Ryu_Niiyama This is most definitely not the same as a normal spammer. They are either hacking or a bug is causing their specials to automatically refill. There is small counter play to pretty much every other special in this game except for missiles where they can just sit back in their base and keep people off the objective for free.

There is a difference between someone getting to user their special infinitely and someone sitting on the high ground and using a charger.

@Koda1000 If you are referring to the specials themselves, then I agree. If you are referring to them in this articles context, I couldn't disagree more. If your opponent is getting to infinitely use their missiles then it would be impossible to push the tower in tower control, just for one example.

As a Reef-Lux user myself, this is quite sad to see. I haven’t come across it myself, but with Splatfest coming up, the worst might be upon us.

So Flyfish from Salmon Run can join regular matches now? Gulp.

@Koda1000 I take it you didn't read the article...

Watching the videos it's easy to see this is absolutely not intended behavior. The special meter is supposed to go empty after usage, not instantly refill to full. If this is easy to pull off then I'm not looking forward to facing it all Splatfest. Hopefully it gets a quick fix.

Tbh seeing Tenta Missile hate is what I love since the special is so frustrating to deal with and it's directly connected to Flyfish in Salmon Run being the worst boss to take on. But yeah this is completely justified because it should not be acting like that in those videos. Hope it gets patched soon.

That's not cheating. If that's how you win the game, they'd be stupid not to use this strategy. This is Nintendo's problem, they need to fix this issue, they're the ones to blame, not the players.

Thank God I haven't run into this. And is it me or tenta missles seem buffed in 3?

I’m not a fan of Splatoon but if it’s a bug in the game then it’s not cheating. A cheap move but not a cheat. It’s pretty much how I feel about speed runners using bugs to “beat” the game without actually playing it.

But how do you trigger the exploit?

@Nintendo_Thumb it is cheating. Regardless of a bug or not it is literally cheating because they are utilizing something in a way it was never meant or allowed to be used.

Cheaters are the reason I gave up on Splatoon 2 and haven't bothered to get Splatoon 3. When you can shoot round after round at an opponent that doesn't take damage and they can instantly kill you with one shot than you know something's not right.

That seems extremely broken to me. Good on the players who found the exploit, but spam away and enjoy it while you can. I’m sure Nintendo will feel compelled to nerf that quickly.

I hate how it's being used, but this reinforces my longheld desire that the game adds a Mayhem mode: Quick charging supers, infinite specials, more powerful gear, etc. Just total chaos.

This is clearly a bug and not at all intended. And I believe that exploiting a bug in the game is most definitely 100% cheating.

However they cannot be banned for this for it is a game development oversight and not a hack created by the players, it does not break any of Nintendo's ToS. It just needs to be fixed with a patch update asap.

@DdG1408
No it’s not cheating. It’s a unwanted feature certain players are exploiting to win. It’s not cheating in SF to lock your opponent in a corner and spam tiger shots.

Whether it’s a bug or a hack, it clearly not A Good Thing™️ and should be addressed immediately. Exactly how you access it is somewhat irrelevant. It’s a game breaking issue and shouldn’t be there.

@Nintendo_Thumb @GameOtaku It’s worth emphasising that we simply do not know whether this is a hack or a bug at this point, so even if you have a fairly lenient notion of ‘cheating’, it still seems too early to let the instigators ‘off the hook’. See the original Siliconera article:

It is still unclear whether the players are hacking the game, or exploiting an unknown bug.

It's all fun and games until you encounter a team of homies using tenta missiles. Their ink will blot out the sun!

It's probably they're equipment. They have all fast special recharge on all their slots or something

https://twitter.com/OatmealDome/status/1573067727287504896

The way this and other articles have been written legitimises the issue somewhat. If there was a genuine exploit in the game that allowed for special spam it would be far more widespread than it is, and certainly wouldn't be restricted to Tenta Missiles only. The key issue at hand is that Tenta Missiles haven't changed from the 2nd game and can be charged as soon as you finish firing them, meaning by using an instant charge cheat code you are able to continuously fire Tenta Missiles from the minute a match begins, to the second it ends. Most other specials have downtime or a timer whilst active that prevents spam of this measure, even with hacking.

The best anyone can do at the moment is go to the battle terminal after an encounter with someone cheating occurs and report them (OatmealDome even shows that screen off in another tweet). It is far more likely this is people physically cheating through hacks than an exploit, otherwise there would be videos showing off how to perform said "glitch" on YouTube and other social media platforms.

And Tenta Missiles aren't a problem because they're easy to dodge, they're a problem because they force everyone to continually move position and makes slow weapons like the Hydra Splatling and chargers unusable because they'll never get enough downtime to attack, so hack spamming isn't fun for any of the remaining players of the match. It allows someone to sit in spawn and fire missiles at the entire enemy team with zero interaction or consequence from them.

Nintendo don't mess around with stuff like this. If they are getting telemetry that lets them identify if people have used this, they will ban everyone. The "it was in the game, it wasn't a hack, so I did nothing wrong" BS that seems to fly in the West never works in Japan.

@Maxz
If it’s a bug they can patch it out. But until then it’s ok to abuse it. Glitching a game to get to the end credits saying you beat a game and hold the fastest record is cheap but acceptable so what the difference?

Tenta Missiles aren't fun anyway. There's no trade-off. You can hide at the spawn point and fire them all over the map with infinite range. It forces all opponents to move. It's kinda broken. Most other specials force the users into close combat, making it more of a risk to use, and also more fair as a result.

@HeadPirate It's part of the game, so they aren't cheating. They're just exploiting a bug. Nintendo should just patch it out. They're aren't banning anyone for doing this by the way. And this isn't some Nintendo in Japan has higher standards BS either...

@Octane

Are you just giving an example of the exact argument I said Nintendo has shown in the past they give absolutely zero ***** about and will not make them hesitate for a second before banning people?

If so ... I mean, good example I guess, even though I don't really feel it was necessary. I made it pretty clear. Don't really matter what anyone thinks they "should" do ... it's what they always have done in the past, and it's what they are going to do this time as well. They banned 20,000 Splatoon 2 players for abusing a weapon THEY messed up with a patch.

I guess they feel that adults should know better, should know when what they are doing isn't in the spirt of fairness, and should be held accountable for putting their own selfish desire to "win" ahead of the enjoyment of others. Almost like they want to foster a game where the type of people who have the mentality it's ok, for any reason, to make the game unenjoyable for others don't get to play!

Again, I totally understand how this is completely alien to western culture.

@GameOtaku The difference is obviously between multiplayer and Singleplayer. Nobody cares about cheating in a Singleplayer game.

@SwitchForce I usually go for Carnage/Bludgeon, Headbutt & Anger in my Slay the Spire decks, and Pen Nib as a relic. The second those cards drop in what I draw, I spam the absolute hell out of them. If it lands around or on my 10th attack, I will use it and I WILL grin like an utter loon while doing so. Oh, so you’re on 3 Vulnerable, are you, Mr Big Bad? And me with 3 Strength as well! Well, that’ll be 60+ damage on your creepy ass, I rather think! Add another 10+ from the old Glasgow Kiss there - now, what to take from my discards? You know, I think I might go for Carnage again!

And I remember when Tolarian Academy-Candelabra of Tawnos-Capsize was a thing in Magic way back when. Sturla Bingen hit Mike Long with a Stroke of Genius that made him draw 60,000 cards at the DCI Invitational when that combo was still legal.

Still. Legal.

Ken’s dirty Shoryūken going through projectiles? CPU Bison’s ridiculous reaction times? Anyone else drop a shun-goku-satsu as Akuma when they were behind? Or play only as the Raiders in Tecmo Bowl because Bo Jackson was made of Teflon and ran the 40 in 3 seconds?

Spamming the Tenta isn’t cheating if the devs missed that exploit. It’s BM as all balls, sure, but it’s gonna get used while it is there. Humans have very little self discipline as it is; you put an OP exploit in front of’em and y’all just watch them go for it.

@felix330
So if it’s a bug they’ll just patch it out just like they rebalance fighting games. But it’s still not cheating. Unfair? Yes. But if you can do the same thing it evens it out. If though is hackers then that is cheating. A big difference in being cheap vs cheat.

I'm actually more annoyed with the reef slider. at least two players of the opposing team will spam that thing the entire game.

NOOBS WITH TUBES

@Octane Not sure if you’ve seen @TheLonePolar ‘s post (https://twitter.com/OatmealDome/status/1573067727287504896) but are you sure it IS a bug, and not hacking?

Many people seem to be adopting this position (“it’s just an exploit so it’s legitimate”) but I’ve yet to see any proof this is the case.

If it were an exploit, you’d think there would be guides out there showing how to do it. You’d also expect it to be more widespread. All three videos above are literally the same guy (Douyu.DK2) in the same match.

I just don’t know how people are arriving so confidently at this “it’s okay because it’s not hacking” position seemingly without evidence. If there is any, I’d love to see it!

Hm, what's the point of making things so easy and being overpowered... hope they can fix it quickly. Fortunately I haven't come across it yet.

The Tenta Missiles supports game mechanics. It may be that you do not understand the weapon/special. Try it and figure it out before complaining. It puts a target on every opponent selected, just like some of the other specials available. The less targets selected, will increase the size of the missile when launched. It may seem OP because the person has great aim. Simply, keep people dead so they cannot fill their special meter. All players can choose to use the ability chunk to increase their special meter quicker. If you can't beat them, join them. Good luck!

Matchmaking is completely broken in this game. I'll get a 1300 score with a decent splat count and my reward is being paired with noobs and losing 7 in a row. When I do get a good team, it gets disbanded due to a connection error. There are elite players working as a team on mics and its obvious. Some matches you can't even leave your home base. This game is broken and I regret buying it.

@Paddle1
Not exactly. If you find a bug like this, you have to report it and avoid intentionally abusing it. This is also written in the EULA btw. What you are saying is basically 'If I am able to commit a crime it's on the people that made it possible, not on me'

@GrowingWings Are you really comparing a glitch in a game to criminal law? Well Is it also illegal to time travel in Animal Crossing? Take shortcuts in Mario Kart? Nintendo has yet to deliver express disapproval of this action. You as the player cannot arbitrarily decide which exploits are acceptable and which are not with any solid legal weight. This is different than crime, which is ideally not so open to personal interpretation.

@Paddle1
It is not up to personal interpretation, it is usually featured in ToS or EULA of multiplayer games like this.

@Bald_Bull Not only is matchmaking a mess, I'm absolutely convinced the game has a hidden "catch up" mechanic in standard Turf War. It's the only thing that can explain why when one team is dominating they can fire off a bunch of specials and kill nothing while the enemy team manages to wipeout the lead team repeatedly.

I've been on both sides of this. Using Reefslider as example: When in a match that looks like a lopsided loss, I've splatted enemy players that are a good 4-5 squid-lengths away from the explosion radius; When in a match that looks like a lopsided win, I've been splatted by it even when it's gone WELL past. I've watched teammates with ink stamp inexplicably "whiff" when they've run right over multiple players — or, conversely, get credited for a splat against a player that wasn't even nearby. This isn't just connection oddities; I have 254 turf war wins, so you can safely assume I have at least 2.5-3x as many matches and this has been such an issue that I can pretty much predict when the team 'swing' will happen. Doesn't matter how well your team is working together, all of the sudden your hits fail to register or magically hit when they shouldn't.

I popped in Splatoon 2 for the first time in over a year, and, frankly, it's a better game. The only thing Splatoon 3 has going for it is quality of life upgrades. Splatoon 2 has better maps, better loadouts, better balancing, and, inexplicably, better connection stability.

@Captiosus Spot on.