Cognition Dissemination: Some Highlights from Evo 2018 Thus Far

I posted yesterday about Evolution 2018 (aka “Evo”) getting started with the first matches in several games, in a series of tournaments happening all weekend. And I mean “several,” as so many games are being played simultaneously this year that it’s impossible to keep up with them all, or even catch up on them. There are eight main games being played, but side tournaments are also occurring for several smaller titles. And that’s also not getting into the exhibitions for upcoming games from publishers, and discussions with the developers. It’s come a long way for a tournament scene that only attracted a niche fighting game audience. You could say that it’s “evolved.”

The biggest highlights from Evo don’t tend to happen until the last day, when the best players in several games compete in the finals, and when plenty of news for upcoming games is provided. That’s a lot to have in one day, and there’s a good reason why the Sunday streaming events tend to go late into the night, especially for those of us on the east coast. But that’s not to say some events worth highlighting haven’t happened between yesterday and today, which is (partly) why this post exists.

Of all the main games played thus far, the Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle matches were the most ostensibly intriguing, just to see how much of a mess they could be. Several fighting game fans were skeptical when the game was selected as one of the centerpieces for Evo from the beginning, as the game just released two months ago, and hasn’t received a single balance patch. The first installments of crossover games tend to be messy in terms of balance if they don’t receive arcade releases first, and this one seemed like it would fit the bill. The matches went fine, but they ran into another issue.

For some peculiar reason, the winners were decided from the best two out of three matches. While that’s normal for Evo matches before the finals, that didn’t quite work for CTB. One of the most remarkable aspects of the game when it was previewed was how quick matches were, as some would end in around a minute — or less, in some cases.  They’ve only become shorter as people have learned how to play. The tournament matches were ending far too quickly, and it would have been better if all of them were three out of five. The finals should go smoothly thanks to that format, even though there’s some overlap in the teams.

Another highlight was AnimEvo, which continues to increase in size on an annual basis. The smaller “anime” games played in side tournaments tend to be relegated to smaller spaces on tournament floors, sometimes literally in a corner. That hasn’t been the case with Evo for a while, but it’s nice that the games received such a large stage this year.

Arc System Works’ Fist of the North Star title was a highlight here, along with Vampire Savior (one of the last Darkstalkers installments), and Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon S: Outdoor Brawl?! Heroine Duel! (which became popular in the last year). With games like the Persona 4 Arena titles, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Cross Tag Battle bringing more players to the Anime Fighting Game Community, expect its importance to only increase in the future. You know, when the anime games aren’t among the main showcases.

The exhibitions at Evo are often the best opportunities to showcase upcoming fighting games. Even though these games are demoed at several events before they release, Evo has the best gathering of experienced fighting game players. The key demonstrations thus far were for Soulcalibur VI and Dead or Alive 6, and both had great showcases — but especially the former, since it’s closer to release and more polished.

While SCVI is a reimagining of the first Soulcalibur game, the developers wanted to make a game that channels fan-favorite installment Soulcalibur II. But they also didn’t want to make a complete clone of it, hence the number of added features like the Lethal Hit and the Reversal Edge attacks. The matches on the stream showed how good a job they’ve done, as the characters look well balanced; and despite the new features, there’s still a lot of skill involved with winning matches. If it turns out as good as it looks, this could be the installment fans have wanted since, well, SCII. The game will release on October 19th

There weren’t as many highlights from DoA6’s gameplay, since the game doesn’t have many characters available yet, and looks similar to its predecessor. Dead or Alive 5 was played in tournaments until December last year, while Soulcalibur has been missing in action for a while. But I’m not saying it doesn’t look like an entertaining time, of course. The stream is worth watching because of how dominant Sonic Fox was, and how director Yohei Shimbori couldn’t keep his hands off his outfit at one point. The game will arrive sometime early next year.

There are other highlights I didn’t cover here, but again, there are so many streams happening simultaneously that it’s impossible for one person to keep up. And I’d be here all day if I really attempted it, which would prevent me from watching more streams. Look forward to the rest of the matches, especially the finals. I’ll have another post about those and the announcements made on Monday.

Fighting Games Weekend isn’t a thing yet, as I said yesterday, but I’m clearly trying to make it a thing.