Another Evolution tournament is in the books. This year’s EVO was the largest ever, with over 2000 people entering the Ultra Street Fighter IV tournament alone, not to mention the eight other games that were officially part of the tournament and the multitude of side tournaments being run. It also saw two different games (Super Smash Bros. Melee and Ultra Street Fighter IV) climb above 200,000 viewers on Twitch, making it the largest fighting game stream of all time. Many of the heavy hitters from the fighting game scene made their usual noise, but EVO always has some surprises in store. The biggest upsets seemed to come from in the Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 bracket, as tournament favorites Justin Wong and Chris G both failed to make top eight. Below you can find the top eight finishes for each of the main games that were contested during Evolution 2015 (There are no tie breaker matches, so there are two players tied for fifth in each game and two players tied for seventh).
Persona 4: Arena Ultimax
- 1. KSB|Chou
- 2. NB|Tahichi
- 3. Hagiwara
- 4. Aguro
- 5. NB|Souji
- 5. Koichi
- 7. JEO
- 7. NB|Okusan
Tekken 7
- 1. ORZ|Nobi
- 2. BE|Ao
- 3. NJF|Saint
- 4. NJF|JDCR
- 5. Take
- 5. Pekos
- 7. Yuu
- 7. Mr. Naps
Killer Instinct
- 1. Rico Suave
- 2. GutterMagic
- 3. SleepNS
- 4. LCD
- 5. Domi
- 5. UA|MyGod
- 7. UA|Bass
- 7. TheMaciaga5
Super Smash Bros. for WiiU
- 1. ZeRo
- 2. LLL|Mr. R
- 3. Nairo
- 4. ASA|Abadango
- 5. Boreal|Ally
- 5. IQHQ|DaBuz
- 7. PG|Esam
- 7. GW|FOW
Guilty Gear Xrd SIGN
- 1. Ogawa
- 2. ODG|Nage
- 3. Woshige
- 4. Nakamura
- 5. Dogura
- 5. Rion
- 7. Syuuto
- 7. Zidane
Mortal Kombat X
- 1. cR|SonicFox
- 2. PND|A Foxy Grandpa
- 3. cR|HoneyBee
- 4. YOMI|MIT
- 5. PND|Ketchup
- 5. YOMI|DJT
- 7. JLA|MilkySituation
- 7. YOMI|Zyphox
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
- 1. BE|KaneBlueRiver
- 2. CTRL|RayRay
- 3. ApologyMan
- 4. TA|Frutsy
- 5. YKWIS|GoldenBoyNeo
- 5. TMP|Cross
- 7. T3|Dizzy
- 7. R.F.
Super Smash Bros. Melee
- 1. Alliance|Armada
- 2. Liquid|Hungrybox
- 3. EG|PPMD
- 4. PG|Plup
- 5. TSM|Leffen
- 5. C9|Mango
- 7. Tempo|Axe
- 7. MH|ChuDat
Ultra Street Fighter IV
- 1. EG|Momochi
- 2. AvM|GamerBee
- 3. Infiltration
- 4. BE|Nemo
- 5./r/Kappa|AiAi
- 5. MCZ|Tokido
- 7. EG|PR Balrog
- 7. Liquid|NuckleDu
The Ultra Street Fighter IV top eight featured many twists and turns, and it stayed interesting throughout. Each of the top three finishers uses multiple characters, so the mindgames of trying to counterpick who your opponent chose led to hype before the match even started. Infiltration used, by my count, six different characters throughout his EVO run. That type of knowledge and dedication to one game is almost unheard of at this level of skill. There were more than a handful of “almost” comebacks in the top eight, as PR Balrog and AiAi both went down 0-2 to Nemo and still brought it back to 2-2 before coming up just short. GamerBee utilized a lame strategy in his match with Infiltration that earned him plenty of boos from the audience. Infiltration was too slow to adapt to GamerBee’s plan and could not mount the comeback he needed. The full drama even extended to the championship match, as Momochi was one game away from winning the tournament when his stick malfunctioned and paused the game. This counts as a round loss, so it brought the tournament to “one final round” for both Momochi and GamerBee. Momochi still managed to triumph, and he now has last year’s Capcom Cup under his belt as well as his first ever EVO win.
Did you watch any of the EVO championships this year? Or maybe you competed? Let us know!
