Unlike other fighting games such as Tekken, Dragon Ball FighterZ and Street Fighter, which all have their own tournament circuits, Super Smash Bros. has failed to gain any notable exposure in the esports scene. That, however, is set to change this March with the opening event of the Smash World Tour.

The new tournament series will feature over 25 events and a combined prize pool of US $250,000 – the largest in history of the Smash esports scene.

The Smash World Tour will not be associated with Nintendo, but will instead be run by community veterans, event organisers and sponsors. This is a direct response to Nintendo’s refusal to support the Smash esports scene, although SWT organisers have stated their goal is to offer the Japanese gaming giant a unified way to get involved.

The Smash World Tour will run from March to December, featuring events divided into three tiers – Platinum, Gold and Silver. Silver events will further be divided into four tiers based on the number of participants (32, 64, 96 and 128). Each tier will offer its own dedicated points distribution table to determine the players’ ranking on World Tour Leaderboard.

However, not all events will count towards the players’ ranking. Only the best three placements for Platinum and Gold as well as the best six placements from Silver events will be counted, meaning a player can attend four Gold/Platinum events and their lowest result will not count, thus improving the overall ranking.

Throughout the circuit, players will compete for Smash World Tour points and ranking on the leaderboard. Following the final tournament, the top 31 players will get a direct bye into the World Tour Championship, while the 32nd and final spot will be awarded to the champion of the Last Chance Qualifier, which will be held just before the finals.

At the World Tour Championship, the 32 participants will be divided into four groups of eight, where a best-of-five (Bo5) double-elimination format will be used to determine which 16 players (top four from each group) will advance into the playoffs bracket. There, the contestants will compete for the largest slice of the $250,000 prize pool, which will be evenly split between Melee and Ultimate. The prize pool, however, could increase, according to the organisers.

The preliminary list of events has already been released, with organisers accepting applications to host more. The Smash World Tour is also looking for applicants to host Silver-tier events, meaning anyone who meets the criteria can host their own Smash event.

The rules state that an event must feature a minimum of 32 participants, has to be played in-person and needs to take place between March 16 and November 2, 2020. Furthermore, Super Smash Bros. Melee has to be played on GameCube, while Ultimate has to be played on Switch.

The opening event of the Smash World Tour, CEO Dreamland, is set to take place between March 13-15 in Orlando, Florida, for both Melee and Ultimate.