Nintendo wanted to shut down Super Smash Bros. Melee Evo event, not just stream

Following news yesterday that Nintendo of America wanted stop the livestream of Super Smash Bros. Melee from this weekend's Evo 2013 fighting game championships, according to Evo co-founder Joey "Mr Wizard" Cuellar in an interview with OneMoreGameTV, the company had also tried to shut down Evo's Smash event.

"They were not only trying to shut down the stream, they were trying to shut down the event; the Smash portion of the event," Cuellar said, who explained that he had originally spoken with people from Nintendo who "didn't see a problem" with the event.

"It's their IP, they can do whatever they want, and they didn't present us with any options to keep it open, they were just 'Hey, we want to shut you down.'" Cuellar said when asked about Nintendo's basis for wanting to shut down the event. "And we kinda wigwammed our way through it and they were fine with just shutting down the streaming portion of the event. And that was that. And we were not going to press any further. Its their IP, we respect Nintendo's decision to protect their IP, and we were going to comply with the legal department completely. So at that point it was over."

Cuellar said that the event's organizers didn't do anything to reverse Nintendo's decision and that "it had to have been the bad PR they were getting, in conjunction with the power of the internet and seeing their Smash fans saying 'We want to see this event! Can you please let us see it?'"

Evo co-founder Tom "inkblot" Cannon announced on Shoryuken.com yesterday that Nintendo of America denied the tournament organizers permission to broadcast the game online. A short time later, Cannon revealed Nintendo eventually decided to allow the Melee stream from Evo 2013 to proceed, restoring the original stream and tournament schedules.

Super Smash Bros. Melee was confirmed in February as one of Evo's featured fighting games after fans raised more than $94,000 in a competitive fundraising drive, with proceeds going toward breast cancer research.

Evo 2013 will be hosted at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino from July 12 to 14 and will feature nine games: Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition Ver. 2012, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter X Tekken 2013 Edition, Super Smash Bros. Melee, The King of Fighters 13, Persona 4 Arena and Injustice: Gods Among Us.

Polygon has reached out to Nintendo of America for further information and comment.