Nintendo Takes Center Stage at San Diego Comic-Con With Games & Tournaments

Nintendo-ComicCon

Nintendo is headed to Comic-Con in San Diego with a wide variety of games for  Wii U and  Nintendo 3DS and multiple fan tournaments for games like  Splatoon and  Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Fans of all ages are encouraged to visit the Nintendo Gaming Lounge in the San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina (333 W. Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92101), directly adjacent to the San Diego Convention Center, from July 9 to July 12 to add a little Nintendo magic to their Comic-Con adventure.

The Nintendo Gaming Lounge will feature many unreleased playable Nintendo video games, including  Super Mario MakerYoshi’s Woolly World and  Skylanders SuperChargers from Activision for the Wii U console, and  The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes and  Chibi-Robo!: Zip Lash for the Nintendo 3DS system. The lounge will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. July 9-11 and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on July 12. San Diego Comic-Con attendees with a show badge can also visit Nintendo’s booth (No. 235) in the San Diego Convention Center to view a display of almost all released and upcoming  amiibo figures.

“Our fans can now take some of the great new games we showcased at the E3 video game conference in Los Angeles for a test spin,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing. “And with many of these games launching this year, it’s the perfect time to be a Wii U and Nintendo 3DS owner.”

The Nintendo Gaming Lounge serves as an oasis for both Comic-Con attendees and local Southern California residents looking for a fun place to take their families and to see what is on the horizon from Nintendo. One of the playable games highlighted in the lounge is  Super Mario Maker, the upcoming Wii U game that lets players play, create and share their own  Super Mario Bros.--themed levels using environments, power-ups and characters from the original  Super Mario Bros.Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World and  New Super Mario Bros. U  games.

Super Mario Maker was well-received at the recent E3 expo (we had a blast playing the crap out of it at the show), receiving more than 20 awards from critics. Visitors can also view a stage show in which members of the Nintendo Treehouse will demonstrate the game’s features, including level-creation techniques that will help people easily create custom levels in the game to share with friends. Nintendo Gaming Lounge attendees can even meet the voice of Mario himself, Charles Martinet. More information about the schedule of Charles Martinet activities will be shared in the future.

Nintendo will also host multiple tournaments for  SplatoonSuper Smash Bros. for Wii U, Pokémon Omega Ruby and  Pokémon Alpha Sapphire in the Nintendo Gaming Lounge. On Saturday, July 11, Nintendo will host its first-ever  Super Smash Bros. for Wii U Championship Tournament for kids 12 and under. The winner of this tournament will receive an amiibo prize pack containing Ness, Greninja, Jigglypuff, Charizard, PAC-MAN, Wario, Robin, Lucina and Mario – Gold Edition amiibo figures.

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Nintendo will also host a  Super Smash Bros. for Wii U amiibo team competition along with two divisions of  Pokémon Omega Ruby and  Pokémon Alpha Sapphire tournaments, as well as additional competitive activities featuring Splatoon and  Little Battlers eXperience, an upcoming Nintendo 3DS game that is playable for the first time in the U.S. at Comic-Con. Tournament times are as followed:

Game   Date   Registration  Time   Age Restriction 
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
(For more information, visit http://Comic-con.nintendo.com/super-smash-bros-u13-tournament-official-rules and  http://Comic-con.nintendo.com/super-smash-bros-amiibo-tournament-official-rules) July 10 9-11 a.m. All ages
July 11 9-11 a.m. Under 13

Pokémon trainers of all ages can show off their skills in a tournament featuring Pokémon Omega Ruby  and  Pokémon Alpha Sapphire. The one-day-only tournament takes place on July 12 and winners will receive a New Nintendo 3DS XL system and five Pokémon amiibo figures (Charizard, Greninja, Jigglypuff, Lucario and Pikachu).

Game   Date   Registration Time   Age Restriction 
Pokémon Omega Ruby and   Pokémon Alpha Sapphire
(For more information, visit  http://Comic-con.nintendo.com/pokemon-tournament-official-rules and  http://Comic-con.nintendo.com/pokemon-u13-tournament-official-rules) July 12 9-11 a.m. Under 12
9-11 a.m. 13 and over

Fans looking to ink their way to victory and win a  Splatoon hat and the  Splatoon amiibo three-pack will have their chance in a series of  Splatoon mini-tournaments on July 9 and July 12:

Game   Date   Registration Time   Age Restriction 
Splatoon
(For more information, visit http://Comic-con.nintendo.com/splatoon-mini-tournament-official-rules and http://Comic-con.nintendo.com/splatoon-u13-mini-tournament-official-rules) July 9 9-11 a.m. All ages
July 12 9-11 a.m. All ages

Fans that visit the Nintendo Gaming Lounge on Sunday, July 12, will have the opportunity to compete for entries for drawings to win collectible figures featured in the upcoming Nintendo 3DS game  Little Battlers eXperience:

Game   Date   Registration Times   Age Restriction 
Little Battlers eXperience July 9-11 12 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m. All ages
July 12 12 p.m., 3 p.m. All ages

All tournament participants are selected on a first-come, first-served basis.

Visitors to the Nintendo Gaming Lounge that don’t want to participate in one of the several tournaments are free to enjoy the competitions as spectators, or hang around to play many fun Wii U and Nintendo 3DS games. Playable games at the lounge include:

Wii U

  • Super Mario Maker from Nintendo
  • Yoshi’s Woolly World from Nintendo
  • Super Smash Bros. for Wii U from Nintendo
  • Splatoon from Nintendo
  • Skylanders SuperChargers from Activision

Nintendo 3DS

  • Chibi-Robo!: Zip Lash from Nintendo
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes from Nintendo
  • Little Battlers eXperience from Nintendo
  • YO-KAI WATCH from Nintendo

Fans that aren’t able to make it to the Nintendo Gaming Lounge can still keep up with all the fun by following Nintendo on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Periscope.

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J. Luis

J. Luis is the current Editor-In-Chief here at GAMbIT. With a background in investigative journalism his work encompasses the pop-culture spectrum here, but he also works in the political spectrum for other organizations.

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