REDMOND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Nintendo is heading to Comic-Con in San Diego to bring a collection of fun games and engaging events directly to fans. Visitors will be able to enjoy hands-on time with Super Smash Bros. for both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, as well as additional upcoming 2014 games like Hyrule Warriors, Bayonetta 2 and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. Add to this an exciting multiday stream of live game-play challenges on the Nintendo Twitch channel and a host of other fun activities, and you have Nintendo’s biggest presence at Comic-Con ever.

Nintendo will be hosting its first-ever tournament for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS at San Diego Comic-Con. (Photo: Business Wire)

“Nintendo fans are going to have a great time with what we have planned for San Diego Comic-Con this year, whether they are attending the event or watching at home from across the country,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “From first hands-on opportunities to tournaments and a fun live stream, we want to make sure that everyone has a great time experiencing Nintendo at the show.”

Nintendo’s hub at San Diego Comic-Con will be located at the Nintendo Gaming Lounge on the first floor of the Marriott Marquis & Marina hotel, an area open to the general public, so even fans who don’t have a Comic-Con badge can get in on the fun. The playable games scheduled to appear include:

Nintendo 3DS

• Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS from Nintendo
• Pokémon Art Academy from Nintendo
• Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney from Nintendo
• Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal from SEGA
• THEATRHYTHM FINAL FANTASY CURTAIN CALL from Square Enix, Inc.
• Shovel Knight from Yacht Club Games (Nintendo eShop)
• Siesta Fiesta from Mojo Bones Ltd. (Nintendo eShop)

Wii U

• Super Smash Bros. for Wii U from Nintendo
• Hyrule Warriors from Nintendo
• Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker from Nintendo
• Yoshi’s Woolly World from Nintendo
• Mario Kart 8 from Nintendo
• Bayonetta 2 from Nintendo
• Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric from SEGA
• Just Dance 2015 from Ubisoft
• Skylanders Trap Team from Activision
• Shovel Knight from Yacht Club Games (Nintendo eShop)
• 1001 Spikes from Nicalis (Nintendo eShop)
• Guacamelee Super Turbo Championship Edition from DrinkBox Studios (Nintendo eShop)

Visitors to the Nintendo Gaming Lounge will also be able to view a display of amiibo, figures modeled after Nintendo characters that will interact with compatible Wii U and Nintendo 3DS games. A special area themed after Tomodachi Life will also be available, where visitors can recharge their minds, bodies and Nintendo 3DS systems. In addition to the Nintendo Gaming Lounge, Nintendo will have a booth at the San Diego Convention Center dedicated entirely to Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

On July 25 and July 26, Nintendo will stream Nintendo Challenge Live, a stage show hosted from the Nintendo Gaming Lounge that features intense tournament competition and awesome game-play challenges from some of the hottest upcoming games on Nintendo platforms. Fans can open their browsers to http://www.twitch.tv/nintendo to catch all of the action and stick around for hours to soak in all the festivities.

Nintendo will be hosting its first-ever tournament for the Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS game. Tournament slots are limited for the one-day event, and fans will be able to sign up the day of the event on a first-come, first-served basis. The full tournament will be streamed at http://www.twitch.tv/nintendo. The tournament will be conducted using the E3 version of the game. This version represents a game still in development and may not represent the final quality and balance of the game, which launches on Oct. 3.

Mario Kart 8 is already one of the best-selling Wii U games of all time, and the love for the game and franchise will be well-represented at Comic-Con. Racers who visit the Nintendo Gaming Lounge will be able to compete in local Mario Kart 8 competitions. The bracket-style competitions will pit 32 players against each other. The winner of each local competition will then be invited to take on racers around the world using the online tournament feature of Mario Kart 8. Players at home can join the online tournaments with a chance to face off against the local champions. The online tournament codes and schedule will be announced via Nintendo’s social media channels in the future.

Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart 8 aren’t the only franchises with unique activities at Comic-Con. Bayonetta fans will want to make sure they mark their calendars for a screening of the new animated film Bayonetta: Bloody Fate from FUNimation Entertainment. The stylized animated movie follows the powerful witch Bayonetta as she battles the forces of heaven to regain her memory. The feature film will screen Friday, July 25, at 9:35 p.m. PT in Marriott Hall Room 4 at the Marriott Marquis & Marina hotel. (A San Diego Comic-Con badge is required for entry.)

The Nintendo Gaming Lounge is located in the San Diego Ballroom on the first floor of the Marriott Marquis & Marina hotel at 333 W. Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA, 92101. The Nintendo Gaming Lounge will be open to the public from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. PT Thursday, July 24, to Saturday, July 26, and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. PT Sunday, July 27. The Nintendo booth (No. 235) is located at the San Diego Convention Center at 111 W. Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA, 92101.

For more information about Nintendo, visit http://www.nintendo.com.

About Nintendo: The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii U^™ and Wii^™ home consoles, and Nintendo 3DS^™ and Nintendo DS^™ families of portable systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System^™, Nintendo has sold more than 4.2 billion video games and more than 670 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 3DS XL, as well as the Game Boy^™, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi^™ and Nintendo DSi XL^™, Super NES^™, Nintendo 64^™, Nintendo GameCube^™ and Wii systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario^™, Donkey Kong^™, Metroid^™, Zelda^™ and Pokémon^™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, please visit the company’s website at http://www.nintendo.com.