EVO 2013 thoughts.

So.... EVO just ended, and boy was this year's EVO so satisfying to watch.

First up was KOF XIII. While I didn't see the whole finals (due to time difference between US time and here), I was able to watch a bit of the Grand Finals cuz I was waiting for Smash Bros. Melee to start.

It was pretty awesome. The moment the bracket reset, Woo kinda lost the confidence he had, and the winner went to the American AS Reynald.

In the end I didn't watch Melee, sadly...

Then around 7 something AM there was Injustice. It was also the Grand Finals when I was watching it. Kinda funny to see the winner of Injustice getting booed by the audience for his lame play with Superman.

Then there was the two big games I was waiting for.

First up, was Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3.

Man, it was intense. Last year's EVO champ eliminated. And the 'villain' of UMVC3, Chris G, got eliminated by Justin Wong, who was trailing Chris G. Indeed, the 'Wong Factor' still exists. The best part of the match was that Justin Wong was now considered the 'hero'. Back then in MVC2, he won so much that people got tired of him winning, and so he was the 'villain' then. But here, it was very amazing to see how people are now cheering for him a lot.

The 'Wong Factor' was also in effect during the Grand Finals, when Justin Wong reset the bracket against Flocker. In the end, Flocker won. While it was pretty upsetting that Justin didn't win, the results were pretty satisfying in that:
1. Chris G and Filipino Champ didn't win (both are sort of the 'bad guys' in UMVC3).
2. Both players in the Grand Finals were pretty nice to watch, and that the it was pretty exciting itself
3. Finally a team with Zero that has won a major tournament (EVO to boot). Zero is my favourite video game character ever. While he was regarded as top tier in UMVC3, no one has won a major tournament with Zero before, until today.

And finally, Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition Ver.2012.

This year's SSFIV finals was very exciting. We had Makoto, Ibuki, and Gen in Top 8, and they aren't regarded has high tier characters.

Daigo lost to Infiltration again, which is sad.

Haitani's Makoto and PR Balrog's Balrog is one interesting match. Fast paced, and so fun to watch. In the end Balrog won.

Then we have Xian, a Singaporean player (and one of my favourites to win EVO this year), using the difficult to use Gen and defeating two of Japan's fighting game gods to move on to Grand Finals, Sako and his Ibuki, and Tokido with his Akuma.

Then we had a PR Balrog and Infiltration rematch. PR Balrog sent Infiltration to Losers earlier, and Infiltration decide to counter-pick Balrog using.... Hakan! Despite counter-picking, it was still an entertaining match, showing the world how Hakan can handle the pressure of high level play. In the end, Infiltration's Hakan took out Balrog.

Tokido faces off with Infiltration in an Akuma mirror match. Tokido proved that he was the better Akuma in the mirror match and move on to Grand Finals for a rematch with Xian and eliminating last year's EVO champion Infiltration.

Xian dominated Tokido in the Grand Finals, winning 3-0, being the new EVO champion.

I was really happy with the results of SSFIV this EVO, while Daigo did not win, Xian did, and it was really happy to see Xian win EVO, representing Singapore and South East Asia, and this marks the first time a Gen player win EVO. Remember how saying something like 'Gen will win EVO' is something that seems impossible and would be laugh at by many? Not anymore.


This year's EVO was pretty nice to watch overall, the results were pretty satisfying.