2015 Evolution Championship Series
Tournament information
LocationLas Vegas, Nevada, United States
DatesJuly 17–19
Tournament
format(s)
Double elimination
Venue(s)Bally's / Paris Las Vegas
Purse$300,000 USD
Final positions
Champions

The 2015 Evolution Championship Series (commonly referred to as Evo 2015 or EVO 2015) was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on July 17–19. The event featured a major tournament for nine fighting games, including the largest Super Smash Bros. tournament up to that point and a highly popular Ultra Street Fighter IV tournament. The Street Fighter IV tournament was won by Yusuke Momochi, defeating GamerBee in the Grand Finals.

Background

Evo 2015 was announced on January 20, 2015, on a livestream by event organizer Joey "Mr. Wizard" Cuellar and Twitch's Mike Ross to take place on July 17–19. The event was held at the ballrooms of the Bally's / Paris Las Vegas hotel and casino.[1][2][3]

The event featured a total of US$300,000 in prize money, spread over nine major tournaments. Evo 2015 started on Friday morning, with the finals of five of the major tournaments taking place on Sunday. There were eight official livestream channels on Twitch dedicated to broadcasting the event, the Sunday finals being broadcast on Evo's primary Twitch channel.[4][5]

Games

Evo 2015 featured a major tournament of nine fighting games:[1][2][3]

Cuellar announced on June 1 that the Ultra Street Fighter IV tournament would be held on the Xbox 360 version of the game, rather than the PlayStation 4 port which possessed a large number of glitches, as well as severe input delay and visual stuttering.[6][7][8] Evo 2015 was the final year that Ultra Street Fighter IV was played at the Evolution Championship Series, as Street Fighter V was released in February the following year.[4] The full prize pool for the Street Fighter tournament was set on US$72,270.[9] In late March 2015, Atlus announced that Persona 4 Arena Ultimax would use the technically outdated PlayStation 3 version of the game, as the Asians had an arcade-only balance patch exclusive to their region.[10]

Responses

Shacknews's Ozzie Mejia described seven out of the nine games as "no-brainers", but stated that Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Super Smash Bros. Melee were surprise inclusions at the 2015 event. The former would be left unbalanced due to Marvel Comics having detracted their license, not allowing Capcom to patch the game. Melee, meanwhile, made a third consecutive Evo appearance despite Super Smash Bros. for Wii U being played on the tournament as well. The game has consistently been popular among the fighting game community since its release in 2001.[1]

King of Fighters XIII was surprisingly absent of the roster in 2015, and both Shacknews and Destructoid noted the lack of BlazBlue after Evo 2014's "legendary" Grand Final as a disappointment.[1][3] Meanwhile, Evo 2015 was the global tournament debut of Tekken 7.[2]

Participants

Ultra Street Fighter IV was the most popular tournament at Evo 2015, featuring 2,227 registered players. Killer Instinct saw the least registered players at the event, with only 397 participants.[4] Evo 2015 was the largest Super Smash Bros. tournament up until that point, 1,926 players having registered for the Wii U version of the game and 1,869 players registering for Melee, compared with 970 competitors in the Melee tournament of Evo 2014.[11] According to Cuellar, both Super Smash Bros. games had over a thousand registrants within a month of announcement.[12]

Evo 2015 was attended by Jamie Lee Curtis, cosplaying as Vega.[13] Bill Trinen was originally going to compete at the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U tournament,[14] but cancelled at the last minute following former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata's death.[15]

Tournament summary

Ultra Street Fighter IV

Momochi holding his Evo 2015 trophy and arcade stick; GamerBee shown on the side.
Momochi at Evo 2015

The finals of Ultra Street Fighter IV, held on Sunday, featured GamerBee and Eduardo "PR Balrog" Perez, despite both players already having announced their retirement and didn't expect to make the Top 8. Yusuke Momochi entered the Street Fighter finals after having won the Capcom Cup the previous year, though he did not have much success throughout the start of 2015. Other players in the finals included younger players NuckleDu and Fuudo. A new player, AiAi, surprisingly cracked the Top 8, despite having not a single Capcom Pro Tour tournament win in the 2015 season on his name.[16] Shacknews reported that Infiltration played strong matches against Momochi and Gamerbee, playing with characters nobody knew he had any experience with. Though he lost both matches, they were described as "among the most suspenseful matches of the show."[17]

The Grand Final was held between Yusuke Momochi starting out with Elena and GamerBee with Adon. Gamerbee, coming from loser's finals, managed to beat Momochi in their first game and cause a bracket reset. Momochi switched to Evil Ryu for their second game, a decision that paid off. However, during the second round of their second match, Momochi's arcade controller malfunctioned, as it lost its connection to the Xbox 360 on which the game was being played. As a sign of sportsmanship, GamerBee did not abuse the situation to build up his "Super Meter" for the next round, though Momochi was forced to forfeit the round by tournament rules. Evil Geniuses teammate and significant other Chocoblanka loaned Momochi her own arcade stick, allowing him to continue the match. Momochi managed to defeat Gamerbee during the last round, winning the tournament.[9][17]

Super Smash Bros.

Despite its high registration count, the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U tournament was mostly ignored during Evo 2015, its finals wrapping up early on Saturday just as Capcom's Street Fighter V panel was being held. The tournament was won by ZeRo, dominating the tournament without a single loss.[18]

The Super Smash Bros. Melee finals kicked off on Sunday after a high-quality montage video. The competition featured Mango, the two-time defending champion, losing to Hungrybox's Jigglypuff in the loser's bracket semi-finals. Hungrybox went on to face Armada's Fox in the Grand Finals, to whom he lost. Armada became the Melee champion, though Mango was given a standing ovation during the awards ceremony regardless as a sign of respect.[17][19]

Other tournaments

SonicFox holding his Evo 2015 trophy and arcade stick.
Mortal Kombat X champion SonicFox at Evo 2015

Players Woshige and Ogawa faced off against one another during the winner's bracket semifinals of the Guilty Gear Xrd tournament. After Woshige scored his first knockout, he stood up and celebrated his win, despite not actually having won the whole match yet. This allowed Ogawa to easily beat up Woshige's character in the next round, and he went on to win the tournament.[20]

Reveals

Capcom revealed their eighth confirmed playable character and first newcomer for their upcoming game Street Fighter V, Necalli on the Sunday finals.[21] NetherRealm and Warner Bros. would showcase a trailer for their fourth Kombat Pack challenger, Tremor with a release date that was scheduled two days after EVO.[22]

EVO 2015 was where Rising Thunder, an indie fighting game made by Radiant Entertainment (owned by the Cannon Brothers) would be announced.[23] The game ended service on March 18, 2016 following the purchase of Radiant Entertainment by Riot Games.[24]

Results

Place Player Alias Character(s)
1st Japan Yusuke Momochi Momochi Ken, Evil Ryu, Elena
2nd Taiwan Bruce Hsiang AVM|GamerBee Adon, Elena
3rd South Korea Seon-woo Lee Infiltration Evil Ryu, Elena, Chun-Li, Decapre, Abel, Juri, Akuma, Ryu
4th Japan Naoki Nemoto BE|Nemo Rolento
5th Japan Hajime Taniguchi MCZ|Tokido Akuma
5th Japan Tomoya Nomura /r/Kappa|AiAi Juri
7th United States Du Dang TL|NuckleDu Guile, Decapre
7th United States Eduardo Pérez-Frangie EG|PR Balrog Balrog
Place Player Alias Character(s)
1st Chile Nicolás González BE|KaneBlueRiver Hulk/Sentinel/Haggar
2nd United States Raynel Hidalgo RayRay Magneto/Doctor Doom/Sentinel
3rd United States Vineeth Meka ApologyMan Firebrand/Doctor Doom/Super-Skrull
4th Mexico César Garcia TA.T3|Frutsy M.O.D.O.K./Captain America/Doctor Doom
5th Japan Koji Shimomura TMP|Cross Zero/Doctor Strange/Dante
5th United States Abraham Sotelo GoldenBoyNeo Magneto/Doctor Doom/Phoenix
7th Japan Ryota Fukumoto RF Morrigan/Doctor Doom/Vergil
7th Mexico Miguel Osornio SF.T3|Dizzy Zero/Doctor Doom/Vergil
Place Player Alias Character(s)
1st Sweden Adam Lindgren A|Armada Fox, Peach
2nd United States Juan Debiedma TL|Hungrybox Jigglypuff
3rd United States Kevin Nanney EG|PPMD Marth, Falco
4th United States Justin McGrath PG|Plup Sheik, Samus
5th United States Joseph Marquez C9|Mang0 Fox, Falco
5th Sweden William Hjelte TSM|Leffen Fox
7th United States Daniel Rodriguez MH|ChuDat Ice Climbers
7th United States Jeffrey Williamson Tempo|Axe Pikachu
Place Player Alias Character(s)
1st United States Dominique McLean cR|SonicFox Erron Black (Outlaw), Kitana (Royal Storm)
2nd United Kingdom Denom Jones PND|A F0xy Grampa Kung Lao (Tempest, Buzz Saw)
3rd Canada Tim Commandeur cR|HoneyBee D'Vorah (Swarm Queen)
4th United States Malik Terry YOMI|MIT Tanya (Kobu Jutsu), Sonya Blade (Covert Ops)
5th United States Denzell Terry YOMI|DJT Kung Lao (Tempest)
5th United Kingdom Ryan Neal PND|Ketchup Quan Chi (Sorcerer)
7th United States Kenney Jimenez YOMI|Zyphox Liu Kang (Flame Fist)
7th United States Darwin Castro JLA|Milky Situation Reptile (Noxious)
Place Player Alias Character(s)
1st Japan Kenichi Ogawa Ogawa Zato-1
2nd Japan ODG|Nage Faust
3rd Japan Ryuichi Shigeno Woshige Millia
4th Japan Takahiro Kitano Nakamura Millia
5th Japan Hisatoshi Usui Rion Ky
5th Japan Ryo Nozaki Dogura Sin
7th United States Joshua Rodriguez Zidane Leo
7th Japan Shuuto Hanya Shuuto Axl
Place Player Alias Character(s)
1st United States Jonathan Deleon Rico Suave Fulgore, Thunder, Glacius, Omen, Spinal
2nd United States Neilimen Alicea Gutter Magic Thunder
3rd United States Darnell Waller SleepNS Kan-Ra
4th United States Larry Dent III LCD Maya, Hisako
5th United States Lenin Castillo UA|MyGod Sabrewulf
5th Japan Seitaro Ono Domi Cinder
7th United States Dillon Maciaga The Maciaga 5 Sadira
7th United States Kenneth Armas UA|Bass Spinal
Place Player Alias Character(s)
1st Japan Nakayama Daichi ORZ|Nobi Dragunov
2nd Japan Akihiro Abe BE|Ao Alisa
3rd South Korea Jin-woo Choi NJF|Saint Shaheen
4th South Korea Hyun-jin Kim NJF|JDCR Heihachi
5th Japan Yota Kachi Pekos King
5th Japan Aoki Takehiko Take Bryan
7th United States Jimmy Tran Mr. Naps Bryan
7th Japan Yuji Kato ORZ|Yuu Feng
Place Player Alias Character(s)
1st Chile Gonzalo Barrios ZeRo Sheik, Diddy Kong
2nd Netherlands Ramin Delshad LLL|Mr. R Sheik
3rd United States Nairoby Quezada Nairo Zero Suit Samus
4th Japan Yuta Kawamura ASA|Abadango Pac-Man, Wario, Rosalina & Luma
5th United States Samuel Buzby IQHQ|Dabuz Rosalina & Luma, Olimar
5th Canada Elliot Carroza-Oyarce Boreal|Ally Mario, Marth
7th United States Freddie Williams GW|FOW Ness
7th United States Eric Lew PG|ESAM Pikachu
Place Player Alias Character(s)
1st Japan Chou Yamashita KSB|Superboy Ken
2nd Japan Taichi Ishikawa NB|Tahichi Margaret, Yukari
3rd Japan Yusuke Suzuki Hagiwara Teddie
4th Japan Ryohei Aguro Aguro Yu
5th Japan Koichi Nakajima Koichi Aigis
5th Japan Yuji Sasaki NB|Souji Teddie
7th Japan Takuya Yoshizaki NB|Okusan Sho (Solo), Minazuki (Persona)
7th Japan Yusuke Ikegaya JEO Kanji, Shadow Mitsuru

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Mejia, Ozzie (2015-01-21). "Evo 2015: Breaking down the surprises and snubs". Shacknews.
  2. 1 2 3 Te, Zonnie (2015-01-20). "EVO 2015 Game Lineup Announced". GameSpot.
  3. 1 2 3 MacGregor, Kyle (2015-01-21). "EVO 2015 lineup: Smash, Persona, Tekken, and more". Destructoid.
  4. 1 2 3 McWhertor, Michael (2015-07-17). "Watch Evo 2015, the year's biggest fighting game tournament, all weekend". Polygon.
  5. ↑ Mueller, Saira (2015-07-17). "Evo 2015 Finals Live Stream: Watch 'Guilty Gear,' 'Mortal Kombat X,' 'Super Smash Bros.,' 'Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3,' and 'Ultra Street Fighter 4' Here". International Business Times.
  6. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (2015-06-01). "Ultra Street Fighter 4 tournament play at Evo 2015 shifts to Xbox 360 after shaky PS4 launch". Polygon.
  7. ↑ Palec, Yen (2015-06-01). "EVO Drops 'Ultra Street Fighter 4' PlayStation 4 Version; Tournament Announces Support To Xbox 360". Yibada.
  8. ↑ Bogos, Steven (2015-06-01). "EVO Ditches Broken PS4 Street Fighter IV in Favor of Xbox Version". The Escapist.
  9. 1 2 Sledge, Kyle (2015-05-20). "EVO 2015 Player Breaks Fight Stick, Still Wins Street Fighter Tourney". Game Rant.
  10. ↑ Dupont-Gray, Bryan. "PS3 Version of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax in Evo 2015 Lineup". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved 2016-10-23.
  11. ↑ George, Daniel (2015-07-02). "Evo 2015: More Smash Bros. For Wii U Entrants Than Melee". FanSided.
  12. ↑ Rad, Chloi (2015-03-12). "Evo 2015 Will Be "Biggest" Melee Tournament Yet". IGN.
  13. ↑ Hughes, William (2015-07-18). "Jamie Lee Curtis went undercover at a competitive fighting game tournament". The A.V. Club.
  14. ↑ Seedhouse, Alex (2015-07-04). "Bill Trinen to compete at Evolution Championship Series 2015". Nintendo Insider.
  15. ↑ Cardoso, Jose. "Bill Trinen no longer participating in Evo 2015 tournament, following Iwata's passing". GameZone. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
  16. ↑ Barker, Ian J. (2015-07-18). "Pair of Americans and a Japanese unknown land in Evo's Street Fighter top 8". The Daily Dot.
  17. 1 2 3 Mejia, Ozzie (2015-07-20). "EVO 2015: Recapping the final day of competition". Shacknews.
  18. ↑ Mejia, Ozzie (2015-07-19). "EVO 2015: Recapping the first two days of competition". Shacknews.
  19. ↑ Barker, Ian J. (2015-07-20). "Hungrybox jeered, Armada revered in Evo Smash finale". The Daily Dot.
  20. ↑ Gallaghar, Danny (2015-07-20). "Pro gamer's premature victory celebration earns him a big, fat loss". CNET.
  21. ↑ Hillier, Brenna. "All-new Street Fighter 5 character Necalli revealed at EVO 2015". VG247. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  22. ↑ Boccher, Mike. "Mortal Kombat X's Tremor revealed with official gameplay video". GameZone. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  23. ↑ Robinson, Nick. "Hands-on gameplay from Rising Thunder, Seth Killian's newly announced PC fighting game". Polygon. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
  24. ↑ Mejia, Ozzie. "Rising Thunder developer acquired by Riot Games; alpha will shut down next week". Shacknews. Retrieved 2016-11-07.
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