Guessed by @Veknoid_Outcast
This could've been my main competitive game, it could've been the thing I played every day for years, but instead it fizzled out. It's a shame, because the game is truly fantastic, the only reason I got tired of playing it was the crappy netcode. The online experience was somehow worse than Splatoon 2, which itself was already far worse than Splatoon 1. Nintendo really needs to get their act together when it comes to online, because it's embarrassing when their flagship competitive multiplayer game takes over two minutes to find a game, then has the game end prematurely because someone disconnected, then two minutes again, then you get paired against laggy players from the other side of the world, then the game ends as a 2v1 because everyone else got disconnected from the room.
Yeah, that stuff single-handedly ruined Splatoon 3 for me. There was nothing else I didn't love about this game. I loved the vibe, the music, the narrower stages that led to more aggressive matches, I enjoyed mostly every game mode, the single-player campaign, the everything man. This game had it all. It's so good it's actually ridiculous. I still have to get Side Order, it sounds like an amazingly fun time. But yeah, guess I'm left hoping Splatoon 4 will have decent online.