Some of our readers who are interested in competitive fighting games should be aware that EVO 2015 took place this past weekend. Persona 4: Arena Ultimax was one of the headlining events. Sega’s Dengeki Bunko: FIGHTING CLIMAX and Atlus’s Catherine were featured as side events at EVO 2015. So while they weren’t featured as main stage events and enjoyed the large pot bonuses that some other games may have enjoyed, they were also streamed through Twitch channels and many players had the opportunity to compete against each other in the tense but fun atmosphere of EVO.
Be sure to continue reading! It was a fun event, and a quick recap awaits after the break.
Persona 4: Arena Ultimax was one of the main stage events this year at EVO. The last time Persona was featured as a main event was EVO 2013, after the first version of Persona 4 had released. Fighting games developed by Arc System Works typically have heavy representation and high skill levels from Japanese players, and this year was no exception – all members of the top 8 (those who place in this level are awarded a portion of the total collected pot for a game) were from Japan. With both Guilty Gear and Persona 4 Arena: Ultimax as main events, Japan came out to support the “anime” fighting games.
It’s worth noting that not long before EVO, Arc System Works launched a new version update that included balance adjustments in Japan. This is a big deal, as character matchups can change immensely. However, the arcades in Japan reportedly did revert to the previous version to allow Japanese players to practice, and so competitors around the world were at parity with each other. The final winner of the event was decided on Saturday and the EVO 2015 winner title went to Superboy, a Ken+Koromaru player, who bested Tahichi at Grand Finals. Margaret is apparently an incredibly strong character in this version game, so kudos to Superboy.
The DFBC side event saw 45 entrants this year. Japanese player Go-ichi, who uses Shana and is renowned for his skill with the game, attended the event and won. A bounty (in the same spirit as the “bounties” offered for eliminating players at this year’s CEO 2015) was offered for his elimination, but the money has escaped everyone this time. Sega’s Sam Mullen was present at the DBFC event, also regularly promoting the event on social media. DFBC was part of an umbrella of side events called AnimEVO, host to a variety of Japanese fighting games include the latest version of Blazblue, Guilty Gear Accent Core Plus R, and the cult hit Under Night In-Birth: EXE Late (UNIEL.) The Numakie Twitch channel handled streaming for some AnimEVO events including DFBC; there are archives for the event out there if you are so inclined.
Competitive Catherine is a unique situation. Similar to competitive Smash Bros., over time fans of Catherine developed a paradigm for versus games that allowed players to best test their skills against each other without undue influence from the puzzles or instantaneous deaths on stages. Atlus was present for the event, providing setups and tournament organizing assistance. Unlike the main events, signups were also allowed at the tournament. It’s quite cool to see this as its own event! Atlus streamed the finals of the event on their own Twitch channel, for those curious.
There were a lot of events to participate in this year at EVO. Be sure to check what’s coming up for EVO next year!