Competitive gaming has taken a major turn in recent months, with one of the largest steps forward for eSports arriving through the reveal of the first seven cities involved in the official Overwatch League. Not a company known for its strong support of the competitive gaming community, however, Nintendo has now confirmed that it will be revisiting The Nintendo World Championships later this October – much to the delight of eligible fans residing in the United States and Canada (excluding Quebec).

Many may recall that Nintendo resurrected this tournament-style format back at E3 2015, although the company left it dormant during 2016. Still, it managed to generate enough excitement back then to be seen as a viable option for 2017, and it turns out that gamers eager to test their mettle won't be waiting all that long either.

Once again partnering with Best Buy, fans will be able to go to participating stores in an attempt to qualify. Admittedly, the game that players are tasked with playing in order to make it to The Nintendo World Championships 2017 is one that many likely wouldn't have expected, with Mario Kart 7 for the 3DS being the game of choice in this particular instance. These tryouts will be broken into two different age brackets and will play out as follows:

"The first age group, 12 and Younger, will play as Mario on the Nintendo DS “Luigi’s Mansion” course using Standard Kart, Standard Wheels and Super Glider. The second age group, 13 and Older, will play as Bowser on the Game Boy Advance “Bowser Castle 1” course using Standard Kart, Standard Wheels and Super Glider. The player with the best Time Trial entry in each age group at the end of the two-day event at each location will qualify for the Nintendo World Championships 2017!"

More information regarding where and when the tryouts for the World Championships will kick off can be found on the event's official website. Those just wanting to scope out the action without getting too competitive will also have the opportunity to play both Super Mario Odyssey for Switch and Metroid: Samus Returns for 3DS while all of the action goes on around them.

Meanwhile, My Nintendo members can opt in to receive an extra 100 Platinum Points by checking in with their My Nintendo QR Code, and the first 200 members to arrive for each event will also receive a limited My Nintendo pin. Those freebies may not be all that grand, but at least there's an incentive for those less-than-skilled at the kart racer to make the trip out.

The Nintendo World Championships 2017 are set for October 7th in New York at Manhattan Center's Grand Ballroom.