EVO 2023: As Big As It Gets

EVO 2023 is finally here. And my god, IT’S HUGE!

I’m not joking, this year’s EVO is the largest fighting game tournament in history with over 9000+ entrants from 71 different countries! No, I’m not going to make the Over 9000 joke because I really don’t feel like it. Okay fine, here’s the joke…

Based on the Registration Leaderboard, we have seen four games break their franchise records within Melty Blood Type Lumina with 554 players, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 with 1,346 players, Guilty Gear -Strive- with 2,481 players, and Street Fighter 6 with a record-breaking 7,061 players. That broke SF5’s 5,052 player record from EVO 2016! Good lord, that’s a lot! If you want the full list, here it is below. 

Not gonna lie, I get excited every time EVO comes up because you’ll never know what’s gonna happen in the tournament. There’s so much to do over there whether you’re competing or just a spectator. It gives us a good fighting game experience that has everything you need, such as arcades, artist corner, indie showcase, etc. It almost feels as if you’re going to a convention as a matter of fact. I talked about it last year when I did that blog about the return of EVO.

This year’s EVO is going to be handled differently this time around. This year, all Top 8 will become Top 6 instead, which I assume it’s due to time. I don’t know how to feel about this, but I hope that it is executed well once it happens. It’s gonna be a wait-and-see moment for me.

I’m looking forward to check out tournaments for Tekken 7 because you all know that I'm a 3D fighting game player and I support all forms of 3D fighting games whether it’s Virtua Fighter, Tekken, DOA, or SoulCalibur because there’s not much of those games around. I’m also looking forward to watching Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Street Fighter 6, KOF, and also Melty Blood as well.

But the main lineup isn’t the only thing I’m looking forward to because this year, EVO has a Community Showcase tournament that is taking place as well. The Community Showcase features tournaments hosted by well-known FGC organizers in collaboration with EVO, hosted by Vortex Gallery’s Hagure and Shiburizu. Here are the following games that will be part of the Showcase:

• BlazBlue Central Fiction
• BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle
• Capcom vs. SNK 2
• DNF Duel
• Guilty Gear Xrd Rev2
• Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus
• Marvel vs. Capcom 2
• Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
• Skullgirls: 2nd Encore
• Soulcalibur VI
• Street Fighter Alpha 2
• Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
• Street Fighter V: Champion Edition
• Super Street Fighter II Turbo
• Ultra Street Fighter IV
• Under Night In-Birth EXE:Late[cl-r]
• Vampire Savior
• Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown

And you know me: I’m always looking forward to VF5US tournaments. ‘Nuff said.

Lastly, you know EVO has reveals coming up, so you know what I’m looking forward to see: Trailers from Tekken 8, Street Fighter 6, lots of SNK news from the next DLC character for KOF15 and more information about the next Garou game, MK1 character reveals, and more. That’s where the real hype for me begins.

To those who are going to EVO this weekend or have already arrived, I wish you all the best of luck. Have fun and kick ass as always!

Until then… Train Up, Fighters!

LOOK WHO CAME:

Virtua Kazama