For the last two years, Nintendo’s games have been the most popular at E3, causing literal stampedes as games media rushes to play them beyond all other games. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild caused hours-long lines and waits, while Super Mario Odyssey repeated the same stunt last year.
Possibly to head off a similar kind of mad rush with Super Smash Bros., which is announced to be the center piece of Nintendo’s E3 showings this year, the publisher has confirmed that anyone wishing to play it will need to register for it for free beforehand- anyone who doesn’t won’t be able to play it.
As far as registrations themselves go, they will either let you play “For Fun” (non-competitively) or “For Glory” (competitively, with items turned off, and so on). It’s a good idea, because it means no one will be waiting in line and then get an experience incongruous with their expectations, too.
Super Smash Bros. is due to launch exclusively for the Nintendo Switch later this year.