The time is finally upon us once again as Joey Cuellar, and surprise guest Mike Ross, took to the EVO Twitch channel to unveil the games to be played at this year’s Evolution Fighting Game Championship.
Many familiar games return to EVO 2020, but some surprising games will not be making a comeback. (Photo courtesy Triple Perfect)
A number of titles will be running large scale events on their current tours. These include the Tekken World Tour and Capcom Pro Tour, among others.
Making its return this year and headlining the show is Bandai Namco’s Tekken 7. Tekken has been on a meteoric rise in the FGC after years of being in the shadows of Capcom’s Street Fighter. Tekken 7 is the only game that’s risen in entrants every single year. However, the once Capcom-centric tournament has become a showcase of the best the fighting game community has to offer across many titles.
This year will also feature the brand new GranBlue Fighting Versus. The game from Cygames and Arc System Works actually won’t come out until March in the United States.
Of note, this year will once again not feature two Smash titles. Ultimate is set to return and Melee is once more relegated to the Side Tournament area. As such, EVO has become a showcase for the best Ultimate has to offer, but is no longer the mecca for Smash that it once was. Community tournaments like Genesis and Super Smash Con have taken up that mantle.
In something of a surprise entry, Samurai Shodown is making its return to the Evolution stage after its debut last year, despite a massive number of new titles to choose from. Likewise, Soul Calibur VI will be featured again after making its return last year after a long hiatus.
Defending champions from last year’s Evolution Championship Series include Smash Ultimate legend Leonardo “MKLEO” Lopez Perez, Masato ‘Bonchan’ Takahashi in Street Fighter V, Pakistan’s Arslan “Arslan Ash” Siddique in Tekken 7, Dominique “SonicFox” McLean in Mortal Kombat XI (and runner up in DBFZ.), among others. SonicFox and Go1 are also potentially set for a Grand Finals runback for a third time in Dragonball FighterZ.
Notably missing from this year’s Evolution Championship Series is Mortal Kombat. This marks the first time that a Netherealm Studios game has not been at EVO since 2012.
The full list of games is as follows:
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Tekken 7
- Street Fighter V: Champion Edition
- Dragonball FighterZ
- Samurai Shodown
- GranBlue Fantasy Versus
- Soul Calibur VI
- Under Night In-Birth Exe
Among the usual headliners, a Marvel vs Capcom 2 Tournament of Champions was also announced. In celebration of the games 20th anniversary, the tournament will feature a $10,000 prize pool, the largest the game has ever seen.
EVO 2020 will run from Friday, July 31st – Sunday, Aug 2nd at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
