July 13th brought us the final day of the Evo 2014 fighting game tournament. With the grand finals for BlazBlue, Killer Instinct, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, and Ultra Street Fighter all lined up, it goes without saying that there was an absolute barrage of intense matches on display. Here are a few key highlights:
The day kicked off with the BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma finals. Garireo (with Litchi) ultimately defeated Dogura (with Azrael) after a difficult climb out of the losers bracket. If fighting games have taught us anything, it's to never give up!
In the Killer Instinct grand finals, CDjr (with Sadira) defeated Rico Suave (with Jago and Sabrewulf) in an emotional finish. This of course makes him Evo's first KI champion. As an added bonus, the game was commentated by the always excellent Maximilian.
The end of the much anticipated Super Smash Bros. Melee competition followed KI. The game was pulling in over 130,000 viewers at one point! The final match came down to Mang0 (using Fox) and Hungrybox (Jigglypuff), with Mang0 coming out on top 3 to 2.
The Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 top 8 set between Jan and RayRay was easily one of the most exciting of the entire day. Jan's interesting Hulk/Shuma/Haggar team proved to be quite formidable (as did his constant toothpick chewing.) The two players were evenly matched until RayRay finally arose victorious in the 5th round. He went on to finish in 4th place.
In the UMvC3 finals, Justin Wong (with his patented Wolverine, Storm, and Akuma team) took it over Chris G in a quick 3 to 1 set. A closer match would have been more exciting, but it was nice to see Wong's dedication and passion for the game pay off in the end.
Early in the Ultra Street Fighter IV top 8, Fuudo (playing Fei Long) took on Snake Eyez (with Zangief.) There were a lot of close finishes here, particularly in the last few rounds as Fuudo began working the last few seconds of the clock to his advantage. Snake Eyez's loss put him on a difficult road through the losers bracket.
Snake Eyez was at the center of another great match. After eliminating Ricky Ortiz 3 to 0, he went straight into a nail-biting set against Louffy (with Rose.) It was a true back and forth affair, with each player taking places dominating the other. Louffy ultimately came out on top in the last possible round, leaving Snake Eyez with a respectable 4th place finish.
Louffy ultimately made it into the grand finals against Bonchan's highly intimidating Sagat. Louffy reset the bracket after the first set of three, and eventually walked away the first Evo Ultra Street Fighter IV champ. I like Rose quite a bit, so I'm more than OK with this!
Of course, the day had to end with this ridiculous Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky clip in order to set all of the viewers free. What a relief!
Whew. That was almost too much fighting game action for one person to handle, but I somehow managed to make it out alive. My interest in watching fighting game tournaments can be fickle, but I'm glad that I stuck it out for another Evo this year. If you're interested in catching the rest of my Evo 2014 coverage, here's a handy dandy list!
- Katsuhiro Harada Goes Through Wth Evo 2014 Tekken 7 Announcement
- Tekken 7 Announcement Leak Diminished its Potential Excitement
- Evo 2014 Smash Bros Stream Chat Goes Wild for Reggie Fils-Aime
- Fighting Game First World Problems (Evo 2014)
- Evo 2014 Fighting Game Tournament Day 2: Highlights
- Evo 2014 Day 2 Closes with Street Fighter Matador Vega Short Film
- When Fighting Games and The Powerpuff Girls Collide
- Evo 2014 Day 1 Ultra Street Fighter IV Tournament Full of Upsets
- Fighting Game FanArt Frenzy
It's over. I'm free now. Until next time, you can catch Castle Geek-Skull on Twitter and Facebook!
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