For the first time since it was released in 2016, Street Fighter V won’t be the final headlining event that concludes the Evolution Championship Series this weekend. Instead, that honor goes to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. This is the first time in the history of the series that it’s ever received top-billing at the event.
When the organizers of Evo first announced this year’s prospective line-up of game tournaments that would be featured on the main stage, some were outraged that Smash Bros. Melee hadn’t made the cut. The game may be old, but year after year, its top players still have managed to put on a great show. While some perceived Melee getting replaced by Ultimate as a slight, it was also a credit to the success of Smash Ultimate in bringing new players into the fold while also capturing the interest of veterans from throughout the series’ past. Enough, at least, to convince Evo to make it this year’s finale.
The move is also surprising given the deeply entrenched sentiment among some corners of the fighting game community that Smash Bros. isn’t an authentic fighting game series in the same way as, say, Street Fighter, which has traditionally been the cornerstone of every Evo. But the registration numbers for Ultimate tell a different story. 3,492 people are competing in this year’s Smash Ultimate tournament, as compared to 1,929 competing in Street Fighter V, which is down just over 20 percent from the year prior. Kids these days wanna Smash.
Of course, Evo is about more than just the headliners. Tekken 7, Mortal Kombat 11, Soulcalibur VI, Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st], Dragon Ball FighterZ, Blazblue Cross Tag Battle, and Samurai Shodown are also being featured, the last of which I’m particularly excited to see unfold, given how veteran players from other games like Christopher “NYChrisG” Gonzalez and Justin “JWong” Wong have been tearing it up in the relatively nascent scene.
Evo 2019 gets underway today, August 2, at 1:00 p.m. ET with competitive pools across every game. The big finale for the event’s first day is the Soul Calibur VI finals tonight at 11:00 p.m. Here’s the complete schedule for the rest of the weekend:
Saturday, August 3
1:00 p.m. – Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st]
4:00 p.m. – Dragon Ball FighterZ
7:00 p.m. – Samurai Shodown
11:00 p.m. – Mortal Kombat 11
Sunday, August 4
12:00 p.m. – BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle
3:00 p.m. – Street Fighter V
6:30 p.m. – Tekken 7
10:00 p.m. – Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
All of the finals matches will stream live on Evo’s main Twitch channel, with pools play available on additional channels, a full guide to which you can find here.
There are also a ton of side tournaments at the event, including not just well-known games like Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Smash Bros. Melee, but also a bunch of smaller competitive ones, including a Puyo Puyo Champions tournament that begins today at 3:00 p.m. ET over on pxmacaiah’s Twitch channel. Also, at 9:00 p.m. ET tonight, a small Catherine tournament will be hosted on the same channel. These side events are all being organized under the banner of Anime Evo, which has a full schedule and list of corresponding streams over here.