Thoughts on EVO2k10
EVO2k9 was my first year watching the annual EVO fighting tournament – I always held interest in watching the competition after the famous Daigo full-parry video against Justin Wong in 2004. With the integration of the streaming technology of uStream.com, there was no easier way to pay attention to folks better than me at Street Fighter. The experience was extremely positive: I did not realize that I could have so much fun being glued to my computer monitor for a weekend, and I did not realize that I could get so excited watching moments such as the finals between Justin Wong and Daigo Umehara and (my personal bout of last year) SabrE vs. Alex Valle
An important point that stuck out to me was the range of fighting games that were included in EVO2k9. Street Fighter IV was a no brainer – it was the main draw and everyone was playing it. HD Remix A.K.A. Super Street Fighter II Turbo had always been a mainstay at the tournament, as was the same for Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and SF3: Third Strike. Rounding out the list were Soul Calibur IV (a game I totally didn’t even expect would be at the tourney) as well as BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger (another surprising choice since it had been out for maybe a month). In any case, a great set of games for the greatest North American fighting game tournament. From the perspective of a gamer that had long fallen out of playing fighting games, the killer combination of SFIV and EVO2k9 brought me back to the fold.
At this year’s EVO, the breadth of games is still excellent, but there are some definite, notable changes. From the EVO Press Release linked on Seth Killian’s Unity Blog, Super Street Fighter IV would be taking SFIV’s spot (no surprise). HD Remix will also return (also no surprise) along with BlazBlue. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, the latest from the Vs. series of games, would make its debut perhaps bumping Marvel vs. Capcom 2 out of the picture temporarily. Tekken 6 will make its debut this year as well (in my eyes, bumping Soul Calibur IV out). SF3: Third Strike? Nowhere to be seen. The final game will be decided by player vote from a pool of games which includes Third Strike, Soul Calibur IV, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Capcom vs. SNK 2, King of Fighters XII, and Melty Blood(?). The final game would undoubtedly fall between Third Strike or MvC2, but I will find it extremely odd not seeing either the game that put the Daigo Full Parry in the fighting game vernacular or the pinnacle of the Vs. series of games featured in this year’s competition. My vote goes to Third Strike.
Personally, I hope the fine folks at EVO sort out the video archive problem with their IGN partners this time around. While putting the videos online makes sense, I still feel it was an absolute travesty to lose some of the videos that they did (in particular, the 5 vs. 5 tournaments, some of the more interesting pool plays, etc.). If this stuff is going to vanish from the ether, EVO might as well put the video on DVD. Hell, I’d buy it!
In any case, the competition will be excellent and I look forward to watching the stream online. The 9th of July can’t come fast enough!
