Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have announced Pokkén Tournament will join the Pokémon Championship series starting this Spring, with the Pokkén Tournament World Champions being crowned in August at the 2016 Pokémon World Championships in San Francisco.

Those interested in participating in the Pokkén Tournament can get a headstart ahead of its March 18th release by attending a number of Early Access Competitions hosted by Nintendo at select GameStop locations on February 27.

Winners from the regional tournaments will advance to the finals, which take place at the flagship Nintendo Store in New York on March 17. The final two winners of the Pokkén Tournament Early Access Competitions will earn themselves travel awards to the 2016 Pokémon US National Championships to battle to advance to the 2016 Pokémon World Championships.

The Pokkén Tournament Early Access Competition will kick off on Feb. 27 from 11am to 5:30pm local time, with registration starting at 10am local time. The competition is open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis and will be split into two age brackets: players born in 2001 or later and players born in 2000 or earlier. Here are the GameStop locations that have been chosen for these early access competitions:

• 2201 Preston Road, Plano, TX
• 1841 Chamblee Tucker Road, Chamblee, GA
• 3972 Barranca Parkway, Irvine, CA
• 8115 S. John Young Parkway, Orlando, FL
• 6451 W. Diversey Ave., Chicago, IL
• 242 Bellevue Square, Bellevue, WA
• 32 E. 14th St. – Union Square, New York, NY
• 3914 Rivermark Plaza, Santa Clara, CA

The winners of the Early Access competitions will then be trained by a professional fighting game player, which will be shared on Nintendo social media channels. Once training is complete, the winner of each city and age bracket and a guest will be flown to New York on March 17 for the Pokkén Tournament Early Access Competition finals. The winners of the finals will win a Wii U system, a copy of Pokkén Tournament and a travel award to Columbus, Ohio to battle at the 2016 Pokémon US National Championships for a chance to advance to the 2016 Pokémon World Championships.