THOUGHTS ON EVO 2017’S GAME ANNOUNCEMENTS

1/25/2017

Last night was a big day for the Fighting Game Community as EVO, the biggest fighting game tournament event of the year, did a live stream announcing the lineup of games for the 2017 version, happening July 14th – 16th in Las Vegas, NV.

Of course, as a fighting game fan, I knew I needed to see this. Luckily for me, I have fellow fighting game fan friends and it was decided that we go down to one of the best burger joints in the city, Zombie Burger in downtown Des Moines (sponsorship?) and watch the stream live. So I was very fortunate to have Dave from butthole.nerdbacon.com (who you have seen on my YouTube channel helping me rank fighting games) and our now-mutual friend Miguel (as long as he doesn’t find me to be an annoying ass yet).

The three of us had a pretty good idea of what to expect as far as game announcements but did get a few surprises over the course of the hour-and-change that the stream ran for.

It was originally announced that there would be 7 games to be played on the main stage at EVO, that number quickly grew to 9 by the end of the stream. These games are:

• Street Fighter V
• Guilty Gear Xrd: Revelator
• Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
• Super Smash Bros. Melee
• Injustice 2
• BlazBlue: Central Fiction
• Tekken 7
• King of Fighters XIV
• Player’s Vote

…and now, a word about each game:
– Street Fighter V –

One of the most obvious choices. The player base is growing and new characters will be changing the meta up before this summer so this should be an exciting tournament yet again.

– Guilty Gear Xrd: Revelator –

I have always wanted to play this series, and this might be the best chance to see what the buzz is all about. Again, we figured this would be in since there had to be an anime fighter. It helps that this is a really good one.

– Super Smash Bros. for Wii U –

I got one piece of advice during my time enjoying the best burger on the planet, the Undead Elvis (Google it): “Don’t piss off Smash fans”. When this game was announced, Twitch chat went crazy. This game may have a lot of players in the community, but is generally looked at as a weaker competitive game than Melee, which has been an EVO staple for YEARS. With the idea of “Smash 4″ being on the main stage, it was assumed Melee would be going away…

– Super Smash Bros. Melee –

…”Don’t piss off Smash fans”. It’s happening. Chat was ok…for a bit. It was later announced that this game would not have the finals on Sunday, the last day of EVO, and the chat exploded again. I’m going to just keep my head down.

– Injustice 2 –

We all guessed this would replace Mortal Kombat X in the main lineup and this is the game that I am most excited to see played competitively. I can’t wait to get my hands on this game in May.

– BlazBlue: Central Fiction –

The biggest surprise of the bunch. It was said this game was put in due heavily to the Grand Finals at EVO 2014. Another Anime fighter can only be a good thing and hopefully we can see another amazing finals.

– Tekken 7 –

No surprise here either. A date of June 3rd was finally announced for a release date and this game has been making the rounds at EVO and conventions for a long time now, so it was obvious it would be featured at the biggest event of the year.

– King of Fighters XIV –

The three of us were going back and forth with this one making the cut and this was the surprise 8th game announced. I imagine this will be the last year for KOF XIV and there is a good crowd of fighters left for an awesome tournament.

I’ll get to the “Player’s Vote” in a second but first, a couple of snubs:

– Killer Instinct –

I thought for sure KI would have been announced, especially with all the major updates and additions and the fan base. Not a crushing snub, just something I was expecting.

– “When’s Mahvel?” –

Apparently not this year. No Marvel Vs Capcom 3 on stage, but I would HAVE to assume we will see a build of Marvel Vs Capcom: Infinite.

About that “Player’s Vote”…

9 games will compete to be the 9th game on the main stage this year. Voting is done by donation at Generosity.com with proceeds going to Make-A-Wish Foundation. No matter what game wins, we all win in the end. The games up for grabs are:

• Mortal Kombat XL
• Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3
• Killer Instinct
• Pokken Tournament
• Skullgirls 2nd Encore
• Super Street Fighter II Turbo
• Nidhogg
• ARMS
• Windjammers (This is my choice, we must stand together here)

It looks to be a packed 3 days and I am extra excited for this. This is because the three of us are making plans to BE THERE! Expect more news the closer we get to the event,  since we will be recording a bunch of content for both VG Spectrum and Nerd Bacon.