Almost five months after the official announcement of the 2014 edition of the renowned fighting game championship series Evolution (or: Evo), we have been provided with the line-up of this event, taking place on July 11th until the 13th.
The lineup
This year sees the expected return of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, an Evo classic that is bound to generate the attendance, hype and rivalries we're used to seeing. Another unsurprising appearance, for similar reasons, is marked by Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition's successor Ultra Street Fighter IV. A less predictable entry is formed by Injustice: Gods Among Us. Making its debut last year with a strong number of attendants, we're looking forward to see what the game will bring us this time. King of Fighters XIII will also return to the stage, hopefully providing us yet again with its hyped finals and international attendance. Newcomers will be the more anime-esque BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma and the as of yet very young but positively received Killer Instinct.
Still uncertain is the return of last year's successful 13-year old Super Smash Bros. Melee, which claimed its spot last year after its community amassed no less than US$94,683 for breast cancer. Reminiscent of last year's issues, Nintendo's approval will be required and they have yet to decide on the issue.
Main line-up:
1. Ultra Street Fighter IV
2. Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
3. Killer Instinct
4. Injustice: Gods Among Us
5. King of Fighters XIII
6. BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma
7. Super Smash Bros. Melee (?)
Other appearances
Furthermore, Super Street Fighter II Turbo will be seeing no less than two events in honor of the title's twentieth anniversary. The acclaimed Japanese X-MANIA 3v3 tournament series will make its entrance along with a follow-up on Evo's and ST Revival's Tournament of Legends back in 2012. We can only guess what to expect from these, but for a community this old to still run strong we are likely to be getting some of the highest levels of gameplay the fighting game community has yet to see!
As opposed to previous years, Evo will now resort to playing all of their games on the Xbox 360 (insofar possible) rather than the Playstation 3, likely in response to community feedback concerning input delays and frame drops occuring during Playstation 3 gameplay.
We are excited to see what this year's Evo is going to bring us!
