This past weekend, the annual fighting game tournament Evolution Championship Series, Evo for short, took place at the Westgate Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fighting gamers from all around the world converged on one location to find out who would be crowned as champions at the end of the tournament.
As a fair warning, this post contains the final results for all of the games present at Evo this year, so if you still want to watch the archived footage without being spoiled, avoid this post! For those of you who want to know the results of the finals, continue reading and enjoy the clips of each final match.
ULTRA STREET FIGHTER 4
Bonchan vs Louffy
After battling his way through the Losers bracket, France’s Louffy defeats the Japanese Evo 2012’s Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition‘s champion Fuudo. This lead him to face the undefeated Bonchan and his mighty Sagat in the finals. After an incredibly decisive finale, Louffy’s incredible skills with playing Rose helped him overcome all odds, and he was crowned the champion of USF4.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi7L5aBlt4Y[/youtube]
ULTIMATE MARVEL VS. CAPCOM 3
Justin Wong vs. Chris G
The king of Marvel, Justin Wong, returned to Evo and disregarded everything tier lists said about the characters he uses in UMVC3, staying in the Winners bracket the entire time with only Wolverine, Storm, and Akuma as his characters. Taking on the Morrigan/Doom mastermind Chris G in the finals, Justin Wong finally entered his name in the hall of champions for UMVC3 in one of the most hyped matches of the entire tournament.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evAEo8mL26A[/youtube]
SUPER SMASH BROS. MELEE
Mang0 vs. Hungrybox
The game that will never die returned in full force this year as all of the heavy hitters from last year came back for another shot at Evo glory. Last year’s third place winner Hungrybox and his Jiggly Puff put up an extremely good fight against Mang0’s Fox. Ultimately it wasn’t enough, and Mang0 wins the Evo championship for a second year. Ten more years of Melee!
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oime4m6suCo[/youtube]
KILLER INSTINCT
CDJR vs. Rico Suave
Despite Rico Suave’s remarkable use of Jago’s manual attacks, he was no match for CDJR’s Sadira and her devastating instinct mode. After switching to Sabrewolf, Rico showed a decent chance against CDJR, but a last minute choke gave CDJR the final win and the championship. For a game that’s been out for less than a year, Killer Instinct has garnered a lot of attention from the fighting game community. With KI’s season 2 of characters starting soon, this game seems to have some staying power.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyNMAn9NCMI[/youtube]
BLAZBLUE: CHRONO PHANTASM
Garireo vs. Dogura
Being one of the deepest fighting games this year, BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasm is just an interesting game to watch, as it has so much flair to it’s art design. In addition to being a treat to watch, the finals was an intense match between two expert players. Although Garireo managed to reset the brackets and drag Dogura to the losers bracket, Dogura brought the fight all the way to the final round, where Garireo managed to squeeze out a victory.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWWMIvFC5vs[/youtube]
KING OF FIGHTERS XIII
Xiaohai vs Tokido
Tokido, known as Murder Face in the fighting game community, is a top player in Street Fighter and is known for his aggressive style. Unfortunately, the look on his face and his murderous intentions weren’t enough to gain him the victory in KoF13. Xiaohai played solidly all tournament, and it ultimately paid off in the end.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oByK7bupbBg[/youtube]
INJUSTICE
Pig of the Hut vs. Sonic Fox
Sonic Fox made quick work of his opponent Pig of the Hut. Fighting his way out of the Losers bracket, he managed to not only reset the bracket against Pig of the Hut, but also took the whole tournament with a very impressive showing of his Batgirl.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=735hi-CFj8A[/youtube]
TEKKEN TAG TOURNAMENT 2
JDCR vs. Gen
Gen put in a lot of work and came dangerously close to resetting the bracket against JDCR, but in the end Gen fell short. JDCR’s Heihachi and Armor King proved to be too much for Gen’s Bob and Leo. It only took one missed combo and one wrong button push from Gen to lose the tournament, but he still put up a very good fight.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAKtgV8SZh8[/youtube]
And there you have it folks! The results of Evo 2014! Did you watch the tournament over the weekend? What were your favorite fights? Let us know in the comments below!