The world’s biggest and most prestigious fighting game tournament is a personal highlight of the year for me, every year. The Evolution Championship Series (Evo) 2016 has now been dated and will take place on July 15-17th. To celebrate, a hype trailer has been released based on footage from last year’s edition, reminding me what a stunningly brilliant weekend of competition it was.
Street Fighter V has nearly announced all of its characters. Check out the full list here.
The FGC and this tournament in particular remain the masters of hype. Next year’s tournament will be the first time Evo has hosted Street Fighter V as, presumably, its central game. While it is not a Street Fighter-only event, Capcom’s franchise has taken top billing almost every single year. Expect to see Super Smash Bros. Melee continue to skyrocket through a resurgence as well, along with the new Tekken 7 and a host of other games that will be voted on by the community.
If you’re wanting something quick to watch, this matchis one of many, many incredible moments from this year’s tournament, and you’ll recognise it from the hype reel. If you’re a total noobie it’s important to remember that, in general, Japanese players are vastly superior to Americans and while Bonchan is considered to be close to his prime, Alex Valle was at his best in the late 90s era.
As for more recently, this past weekend was Canada Cup, Canada’s premiere tournament with an international 5v5 theme. Its singles tournament still takes the prime slot of Championship Sunday though and this year’s was particularly incredible. You can watch highlights from Capcom, but I can’t recommend the full half hour of the Grand Finals enough, embedded below. The Akuma player Tokido, is one of my favourites in the game, displaying a far more defensive, considered style of play than normal. His opponent, Fuudo, is another powerhouse. This series literally has it all and will sit at the top of my “why you should watch Street Fighter” playlist for a while.
Or, well, until the next tournament anyway. Capcom Cup is the year-ending finalé and will prove to have the very best competition of the entire year. It takes place December 5th-6th during the Playstation Experience event in San Francisco. You won’t want to miss it.