The world’s biggest fighting game tournament, Evolution, kicked off this morning from the Bally’s/Paris Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Evolution, or EVO, attracts the biggest names in the fighting game community from all over the world to compete for huge cash prizes and bragging rights. The best of the best square off, with the best and most hype matches being streamed live on Twitch.tv. The games that are being contested at this year’s EVO tournament are:
- Ultra Street Fighter IV
- Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
- Mortal Kombat X
- Guilty Gear Xrd
- Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
- Killer Instinct
- Super Smash Bros. Melee
- Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
- Tekken 7
Friday’s offerings include all the pool play for Street Fighter and both Super Smash Bros. games, some pool play for a few other games, and the entire Persona 4 Arena Ultimax tournament. Saturday will finish out several of the games, leaving the finals of the most popular games for Sunday. To view an entire schedule of the live streaming (across eight channels this year), click here. To watch the game you want to see, just find the corresponding channel on Twitch. Keep in mind that the times on the side are in Pacific Daylight Time, and they are estimates. Fighting game tournaments are notorious for running behind, so you may be staying up later on Sunday than you want to in order to see the Ultra Street Fighter IV finals.
Street Fighter tends to be the biggest draw at EVO, usually attracting the largest player pools and biggest prize money. This year is most likely the final year for the Street Fighter IV series at EVO, as it is expected to be replaced by Street Fighter V at next year’s tournament. Last year, Olivier “Luffy” Hay, from Paris, France, ran through a gauntlet of Japanese and American players in the finals with his Rose play that no one had an answer for. Rose is still considered a high-tier character, but a big part of Luffy’s win last year was the people seemed to not know the matchup against Rose that well. It will be very interesting to see what player and character can win in the (most likely) final year of Street Fighter IV at EVO.
Even if Street Fighter is not your cup of tea, there are plenty of other games to choose from. Watch one you know well to learn from the pros, or watch a game you’ve never seen before to marvel at the skills that the best of the best have to offer. EVO is always fun to watch; it is filled with hype, trash talk, dramatic comebacks, and heartbreaking losses.
Check out the streams for EVO, and stay tuned to The Nerd Stash for results at the end of each tournament day!
