Nintendo promises to host a Super Smash Brothers Melee tournament at this year's E3 and to allow SSBM to be used in more fighting game tournaments this year, including 2014 Evo.
Nintendo has been hinting at huge announcements relating to this year's E3, and they finally popped the cork with the following promotional video.
Though it takes a while to get to the point, the major announcement for fans of competitive Super Smash Brothers Melee is that this year's E3 will host the first Nintendo-sponsored Super Smash Brothers Melee Invitational tournament at the Nokia Theatre in LA. Best Buys around the United States of America will also allow fans to play SSBM during the E3 event from June 10th to June 12.
This announcement is greeted by an overwhelmingly positive response and a large amount of relief as the #thankyounintendo trends on Twitter. It is seen as an end to Nintendo's apparent distaste for the game's use as a competitive fighter, which noteably came through in 2013 Evo, when Nintendo reportedly attempted to shut down, not just the SSBM Evo stream, but the SSBM portion of the event altogether. These efforts were squashed when fans tuned into watch Evo SSBM on Twitch in droves and raised over $94,000 to make it a featured event of the tournament.
This has opened the gates for SSBM to be used in other fighting tournaments with the Nintendo seal of approval, including 2014 Evo, which means this will be the second consecutive year SSBM makes an appearance at the tournament. Nintendo released a statement promising future support for more Melee competitive events, including efforts to work hand-in-hand with MLG.
"Nintendo is happy to work with both Evo and Major League Gaming to help make their tournaments come to life using the game, and we hope it helps make their events enjoyable for video game fans everywhere. Nintendo will be releasing a new Super Smash Bros. game for both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS this year."
—Statement from Polygon, 2014
It seems that Nintendo cannot deny the popularity and resilience of their own creation in the competitive scene, and with the company working with SSBM instead of against it, its resurgence is looking more promising than ever.
