The world fighting game championship, Evolution, is coming up soon, and we now have confirmation on what the nine main games will be for the event! This year the main stage games at EVO 2019 will be as follows:
- Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition
- Dragon Ball FighterZ
- Tekken 7
- BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle
- Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st]
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- SoulCalibur VI
- Mortal Kombat 11
- Samurai Shodown
While we all knew games like Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition and Tekken 7 were no-brainers, the surprise additions are Samurai Shodown, which doesn’t even have a release date yet, and the inclusion of Under Night In-Birth, or UNIEL for short. UNIEL has been a side event mainstay for years, so it is nice to see it included and to have such a dedicated scene represented. However, it is odd to see that game included and have other games like Dead or Alive 6, BlazBlue: Central Fiction, and Guilty Gear nowhere to be found.
The biggest game missing is Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Mr. Wizard even had a farewell video for the game play during the announcement stream. While I am sure many are sad to see Melee go, with Ultimate out now the inclusion of Melee seems even more superfluous than it was before.
The games to appear on Sunday finals will be Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, Tekken 7, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. No order has been determined as of yet. Again, it is extremely odd to see a game like BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle on Sunday and not something like Dragon Ball FighterZ, which at last year’s EVO was the first game to ever have more entrants than the current Street Fighter title.
EVO 2019 will take place Aug. 2-4 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, and you can purchase your tickets here. Weird lineups aside, it is sure to be another exciting year for the Super Bowl of fighting games.
