Of course, this also depends on how much of an advantage players who begin in those positions have compared to the advantage of Saltspray Rig participants who begin on the left. I can't imagine it can be that overwhelming. Though it does explain why Nintendo has released only rotationally symmetrical maps.
Interesting take, and I think that's a fair assessment. There are certainly a lot more ways to gain an advantage over other players in Splatoon, and balance tweaks don't always catch them. It's absurd to expect perfect balance across all players, weapons, and abilities unless every single aspect is completely identical. But the goal is to get reasonably close, to a point where those involved can agree that it's fair enough.
For Chess, or any turn based game, somebody has to go first. There's no avoiding that unless you play an entirely different game. The problem with trying to counteract this advantage, if it is indeed considered one at all, is that you can't simply undo it since there's nothing to stop White from going first short of Black doing so instead. The degree of bias has to be carefully measured so that any attempt at making up for it isn't either still not enough, or way too much to skew things towards the other side. Like if White started with one less piece than Black, that could cost them much more than 4% of matches.
For something like Pinball, or even how Baseball can end at a half-inning because the game is already decided no matter what happens, it's not like there's an advantage from start to finish, or that it's easier for one side to score points than anyone else. The last player still has to play the same game and score the most points to win. It's just on their last turn that they might have less pressure. They also might not, since there could be a huge gap, but that makes it no different from any other turn. If said advantage was widely considered to be significant, perhaps the players' scores could be hidden from each other on the final round. But whoever decides the rules hasn't deemed that necessary, and the players themselves are apparently fine with the ruling.
So that takes us back to Splatoon, and Saltspray Rig. How big of an advantage is it? Is it a known difference between the sides that can be played against, boosting one's average win rate by less than 5%? Is it a severe handicap that not only affects the very start of the match and any strategies and counters that naturally result from an initial disparity, but also each and every moment of the game no matter how much the opposing side gains over the more fortunate one?
Like, let's say Black's chess pieces couldn't ever move to the left. They can move up, right, down, and any diagonals in between like normal, just not left. White, however, has fully functional pieces as we've all come to know it. This would obviously be an incredibly blatant disadvantage that nobody would ever allow in a competitive setting, as even if White is down several pieces, Black could actually be closer to losing.
Is the wall peaking thing quite as bad? Probably not. Maybe it's more like setting up your pieces differently, like both rooks on the same side, which makes certain strategies straight up impossible, while others couldn't be done otherwise. People think it's weird, but sounds fair on paper, so they roll with it. Until they find out that one of these strategies can be abused without any possible counter from the other side specifically due to this unique setup.
