In 2020, after Nintendo sent a cease & desist to the major Super Smash Bros. tournament The Big House for using emulated Slippi netplay in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, participants in an official Splatoon 2 tournament collectively changed their tags to include the phrase "#FreeMelee". Shortly after, Nintendo would cancel the tournament, with their statement simply pertaining to "unexpected executional challenges".

In response to this, the Splatoon community hosted their own tournament in tribute to The Big House, titled "The Squid House" - this would end up becoming the biggest Splatoon series tournament to date, attracting 7,000 viewers and raising $28,000 USD, with $3,000 going to charity while the rest went to the participants.