Hungrybox & MkLeo praise Smash World Tour despite no Nintendo support

Bill Cooney

Smash pros and the community have praised the newly announced Smash World Tour, despite the competition having no official support from the game’s publisher Nintendo.

Players will be able to compete in Ultimate or Melee at community events in the USA, Canada, UK, France, Mexico, Japan, and Australia before trying for a shot at the $250,000 Championship prize pool.

The Smash community, which has seen less developer support than any other comparable esport, praised the new tournament (that has partnered with Twitch and smash.gg) for doing what Nintendo hasn’t so far.

On March 1, Smash pro Juan ‘Hungrybox’ DeBiedma was hyped about the announcement, proudly proclaiming “WHEN NINTENDO DOESN’T DO IT WE DO IT OURSELVES” on Twitter.

Hbox, along with a lot of other Smash players, was also excited about the quarter-million-dollar Finals prize pool, the largest in Smash esports history so far.

Smash legend Leonardo ‘MkLeo’ Perez also praised the move, which seems to be off to a solid start with the entirety of the schedule already available.

Each event will be split into tiers, which determine how many points a player can earn at each event. The top 31 players with the most points at the end of the 10 month series will go to the Smash World Tour Finals.

Players interested in entering the tournament themselves can sign up for Silver Tier opt-in tournaments, which require a minimum of 32 players to qualify for the Tour, so invite a friend while you’re at it.

The location of the Smash World Tour Finals has yet to be determined, but we do know it will be happening December 17-20 later on in 2020.

The Smash World Tour is a new format for the storied esport.

In the past week, Twitch star Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel claimed Smash had more potential as an organized esport than Overwatch does – the game he was pro in for awhile.

With the first stop of the Smash World Tour right around the corner at CEO Dreamland from March 13-15, players and fans won’t have to wait too long for the competition to kick off.