Nintendo announced the details for the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate North America Online Open August 2019 on Sunday night. The announcement came via Nintendo’s Twitter shortly before top 8 of Smash Ultimate at EVO 2019 began.
The Super Smash Bros. Ultimate North America Online Open is a free-to-enter online tournament that will take place on Saturday, Aug. 17. Players can select their region and register for the tournament via Battlefy. The action will begin at 9 a.m. PT the day of the tournament.
The first four hours of the August 2019 Smash Ultimate Online Open will consist of a free-to-play ladder stage. During this portion, players can play as many sets as they wish. However, players will need to play at least eight sets during this four-hour period to qualify for the leaderboard.
After the ladder stage, the top 32 finishers on the leaderboard for each region will be put into a bracket. There will be four 32-person brackets, one for each region represented. The four winners of the final brackets will win a trip to Kyoto, Japan. There, they will represent North America and compete at Nintendo Live’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate World Challenge Cup.
The rules of the August 2019 Smash Ultimate Online Open
This Smash Ultimate Online Open is noteworthy for its rule set. Of Nintendo’s online tournaments, this one most clearly mirrors the rule set of actual competitive Smash tournaments. This includes three-stock games, best-of-three sets, and no items.
Many competitive Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players have praised Nintendo for the rules of this edition of its online tournament series. For the first time, Nintendo’s tournament may accurately reflect the desires of hardcore competitive Smashers. Of course, the highest-level players will likely prefer to stick to in-person tournaments. Nevertheless, the Smash Ultimate Online Open may attract Wi-Fi warriors who were previously discouraged by the presence of items.
