Evo 2014 Fighting Game Tournament Day 3: Highlights & Wrap-Up

Rose from Ultra Street Fighter IV.

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!

Katsuhiro Harada Goes Through Wth Evo 2014 Tekken 7 Announcement

Tekken: the loveliest of family tales

Tekken project leader Katsuhiro Harada took the stage at Evo 2014 alongside designer Michael Murray to do a bit of damage control over the Tekken 7 announcement leak. Based on Harada's statements, the reveal was actually meant to take place at a later date (perhaps at this year's San Diego Comic-Con.) He handled the situation gracefully however, even joking that perhaps Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono was behind the leak. Despite whatever plans may have been in place before, the following announcement trailer was shown:

Tekken 7 Announcement Leak Diminished its Potential Excitement

King of the Iron Leak

While it was quickly taken down, AOL leaked a news video meant to reveal Tekken 7 earlier today. It's assumed this may have been meant to coincide with a special announcement at the Evo 2014 fighting game tournament, but the gun was jumped somehow.

Evo 2014 Smash Bros Stream Chat Goes Wild for Reggie Fils-Aime

Oh, hello.

In a nice surprise, the Super Smash Bros. Melee finals at the Evo 2014 fighting game tournament were introduced by a video from Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime. I'm pretty sure it was a heartfelt message thanking the Smash community for supporting the series for so long, but I have to admit I was pretty distracted by the Twitch chat going absolutely insane at the mere sight of the guy:

Fighting Game First World Problems (Evo 2014)

A good friend of mine just invited me to hang out for the first time in a while. I'd love to take him up on that, but it's the last day of the Evo 2014 fighting game tournament! The final matches for BlazBlue, Killer Instinct, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, and Ultra Street Fighter IV are all taking place, and I should try to watch as much of them as I can if I'm going to continue covering the event here on Castle Geek-Skull.

With that, a new First World Problem arises:

Sigh. Life is so cruel.

The end. These italic words aren't part of the post at all. Shh. If you enjoyed this silliness, be sure to watch out for more via my Twitter & Facebook profiles!

Evo 2014 Fighting Game Tournament Day 2: Highlights

They're destined to do this forever.

As you might expect, the second day of Evo 2014 was filled with many hours of fantastic high-level fighting game matches. There was even a bit of upcoming game news sprinkled in! The whole event can be a lot to take in, so let's look at a handful of highlights:

Super Street Fighter II Turbo proved yet again that it still has some life left. The match above is the 3 on 3 "X-Mania USA" grand final featuring Team M3 versus Team Japan 2. There was some solid play here, especially from Mao: a Vega player with a personality the size of the moon. Like many, I still absolutely adore this game, and it does the heart good to see it get a bit more time in the spotlight.

Evo 2014 Day 2 Closes with Street Fighter Matador Vega Short Film

Yodelayhee!

After the evening's final Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 matches, Evo 2014 Day 2 finished with a screening of Chubby Boy Films' short film Matador, an origin story for Street Fighter II boss character Vega (or Balrog if you prefer the original Japanese name.) If such things interest you, a Youtube upload is already available:

When Fighting Games and The Powerpuff Girls Collide

Here they come, just in time.

I love fighting games, and I love The Powerpuff Girls. As I watched a bit of Evo 2014 today, I saw the two worlds collide. I almost can't believe I'm posting about such a trivial thing, but I have to give props to player JuniorSauce666 for rocking a Powerpuff Girls shirt while playing Killer Instinct:

Evo 2014 Day 1 Ultra Street Fighter IV Tournament Full of Upsets

Battle of the blondes

The first day of Evo 2014 is now behind us, and among its highlights were a ton of exciting Ultra Street Fighter IV matches. Interestingly, many of the game's most well renown top players were eliminated earlier than most would have predicted. Examples include:

Momochi (Ken) eliminating Dieminion (Guile)

Fighting Game FanArt Frenzy

In honor of the Evolution 2014 fighting game tournament (taking place this weekend, July 11-13), it seemed appropriate to showcase characters from some of its featured games in the latest edition of FanArt Frenzy. No need for flowery, silly text up front — let's just jump right in!

This gorgeous illustration of Jin Kazama from the Tekken series comes from DeviantArt's istdog.