Hiya!

Evolution Championship, or EVO is done for the year. I do have to say this was one of the better ones. I’m usually more into the event due to one or two games like Street Fighter and Tekken but this year was different for some reason. This time around, I was really into the event and all the games. Whether it was Guilty Gear Strive, GranBlue Fantasy Versus: Rising, King of Fighters XV or any of the other game tournament held at EVO this year, I really found most of the matches exciting.

Of course, with all of the tournaments and the matches happening all at the same time, I couldn’t find the time to watch all of them. Even if I ate up all of my home’s bandwidth with the Twitch multistream browser open, I simply wasn’t able to catch all of the hype moments and matches. So, you’ll have to forgive me if your favorite hype moment during EVO 2024 isn’t on this list. I can mention the ones I saw and I was genuinely excited about.

Without further ado, let’s go through, in no particular order, the five more hype moments of EVO this year.

#1 LilyPichu vs Harada during Sajam Slam

This is a friendly reminder regarding how you shouldn’t ignore the non-tournament stuff which goes on during EVO. Fighting game commentator Sajam was given some time to host Sajam Slam. The first Sajam Slam had various content creators face off against each other. This year was different as Sajam invited the EVO attendees to battle it out in Tekken 8 against content creators who may or may not be super good in the game. The show was generally okay but the best match was the last one where Sajam picked a “random young man” out from the audience to fight a fledging LilyPichu.

This was just a troll move as the “random young man” just so happened to be Katsuhiro Harada, the current brains behind the Tekken brand. Now, I didn’t expect high levels of gameplay here. LilyPichu just picked up Tekken 8 and Harada, despite being synonymous with the game, he’s not exceptional. Even so, this was a solid match between a couple of average to upper average Tekken players. I actually didn’t care these were a couple of popular people as the skill was there. Mix in some really nail biting close rounds and you have a truly fine and exciting series of Tekken games.

#2 Hayao‘s antics and his Hugo in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike isn’t dead! Despite the game hitting its 25th anniversary this year, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike had more than 1,000 participants in the tournament, beating out much more recent games like Mortal Kombat 1 and The King of Fighters XV. Despite its age, the matches throughout the tournament were some of the best and awe-inspiring shows of skill and reflexes with some players pulling off some remarkable parries and well-timed combos.

Still, there was one player who definitely stole the show whenever he went on stage to play. That man is Hayao, a veteran of the game. There were a couple of things which made him stand out. The first would be him picking Hugo, who is usually noted to be one of the bottom tier characters of Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. Just making him work at a high level should have been enough to make him a highlight. However, if you add in his on-stage exaggerated celebrations and showmanship, you have a superbly entertaining player both in the game and in real life!

I was thoroughly entertained with Hayao as his celebrations where he would show off poses which would impress even Dhalsim. It never felt as if he was trying to put down his opponent during these pop-offs and it was more of a way to get the crowd behind him. Even with his crazy antics, his skills were on full display, making it all the way to Top 6 with his Hugo. Although he didn’t win and he got 4th place, that’s impressive considering he did that with Hugo. He may not have won 1st place but Hayao certainly won a place in a lot of people’s hearts.

#3 Nitro resetting the bracket and winning in Guilty Gear Strive

I always love how there’s a mini-story within EVO throughout the tournament and Guilty Gear Strive’s Top 6 had one of those. Nitro’s Jack-O was on the winning side of the bracket but was eventually booted down to the loser’s side by Tatuma‘s Sol Badguy. Nitro had to fight his way back to Grand Finals and who did he have to face off against there? Tatuma, the very same guy who put him in the Loser’s bracket in the first place! What makes this exciting is, in order for Nitro to win the entire tournament, he would have to beat Tatuma twice, one to send him to the Loser’s side and two to eliminate him. Coming through the Loser’s side is always an uphill battle, which makes you just want to root for this underdog.

The first set saw Nitro handling Tatuma pretty decisively, winning 3 straight matches to reset the bracket. The second go around was simply amazing, with both players taking each other to the limit, eventually reaching the final game and final round to decide the victor. The actual final match did have Nitro going all out and getting the victory to become the top Guilty Gear Strive player of EVO 2024. Whew!

#4 Atif blowing up Nobi in Tekken 8’s Winners Semis

I always love high level player going at it as these are always close matches with a lot of back and forth. This is especially true if they go through a tough bracket such as in EVO and make it all the way to Winners side of Top 6. This wasn’t exactly the case between Atif and Nobi. They should have been equally matched as they were both on the Losers Finals and playing the same character, Dragunov. Even so, Atif wiped the floor with Nobi, beating him in 9 rounds straight!

You would expect a player of Nobi’s caliber to at least get a round in as they did make it all the way to this point of the Tekken EVO tournament. For whatever reason, he just couldn’t pierce through Asif’s defense. Even when he tried to push the offensive and even get a few good licks, in Asif was just on point during the entire session. By the final match, Nobi was broken and Asif simply dominated. While Asif would eventually lose in the Grand Finals to Arslan Ash, this was still a brutal and impressive showing here.

#5 Punk and Big Bird‘s Grand Finals match in Street Fighter 6

Now, this was a match for the ages, especially if you factor in the player’s personal history. Punk burst into the scene during Street Fighter V and he looked like he was going to win EVO 2017. Unfortunately for him, he lost to Tokido in a rather embarrassing fashion as he seemed to crack under the pressure of the main stage. He sort of gained the impression of getting hit with nerves during big tournaments like EVO. This year, this was Punk’s EVO to lose when you consider Top 6.

The person standing in his way was Big Bird. He had a character crisis as he felt he wasn’t doing well with Marisa. He made the switch over to Rashid and he never looked back. He also has something to prove as his close friend and rival, AngryBird, had won EVO last year. It actually looked like he would win it as he beat Punk in the Grand Finals in 3 straight sets. Punk looked like he was cracking again.

Things started to look up for Punk as he started reacting much better to what Big Bird was doing. It eventually boiled down to the final match and the final round, with Punk getting in one big combo to become Street Fighter 6’s EVO 2024 champion. He finally broke the curse! He finally won the big one! Fantastic match with a fantastic story.

Byee!

What was the most hype moment in EVO 2024 for you? Let me know in the comments section below!