Nintendo has banned a Splatoon 2 player from playing online after they hacked the game in a bid to call on Nintendo to combat cheaters.

A Redditor using an account called PleaseAddAntiCheat owned up to being behind an image of the Rank X leaderboard for the Nintendo Switch exclusive that raised eyebrows earlier this week.

Someone hacked the Splatoon 2 X Rank Leaderboard in an effort to call out Nintendo's lack of response to cheaters.



"Please add anti cheat" pic.twitter.com/ehz4mmWL3c — Nintendeal (@Nintendeal) July 12, 2018

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PleaseAddAntiCheat said they edited their X Power to boost their performance in the game, and then used multiple accounts to spell out: "Please Add Anti Cheat."

"I've never personally played the first Splatoon, but I heard how bad it was, being overrun by cheaters who tamper with the game and impose unfair advantages on others," PleaseAddAntiCheat said.

"I, at first, was relieved that the Switch had a decently strong system security. Perhaps that's what the development team thought as well. Yet it doesn't justify removing all the security measures from the first game, and leave the game and its players completely defenseless to ill-purposed griefers who mod their game to victory. I figured that someone needs to deliver a message to Nintendo."

Cheating has become an increasingly troublesome issue for Splatoon 2, with clips of cheaters doing the rounds on social media. And players aren't thrilled with the fiddly report system that's in place, either. (Nintendo relies on players to report cheaters through Splatoon's SplatNet app.)

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Unsurprisingly, PleaseAddAntiCheat's antics drew the eye of Nintendo, which removed their boosted X Power level. PleaseAddAntiCheat now claims they can no longer play Splatoon 2 online after receiving a note from Nintendo. "This violation is a severe case or a repeat violation, so your usage of Nintendo Account services will be restricted," the note reads.

"Looks like it took them a while to get to all of my accounts," PleaseAddAntiCheat said. "But can confirm my console is now 2124-4027." (This number is displayed on Nintendo Switch consoles that have seen services restricted.)

Was it worth it? PleaseAddAntiCheat sounds philosophical. "Nintendo, you're welcome to ban my console any time," they said. "My purpose was to call attention to the current issue that plagues the game, and I've done that. But my message is, please make protecting your players the top priority.

"Please add anti-cheat."