Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has been a victory not just for the franchise but the Nintendo Switch console too. — AFP Relaxnews
Nintendo's multiplayer mascot brawl Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is to become the basis of the franchise's largest ever live tournament when annual fighting game community event EVO 2019 takes place in August.
Welcoming contestants from all over the world, Evo will be celebrating its 18th year in 2019 and its status as the location for the largest ever Super Smash Bros. tournament.
Nintendo's mascot fighter got going in 1999 on the Nintendo 64 console, an unlikely hybrid of fighting game conventions, out-of-the-park home-run hits from baseball, and sumo-style ring-outs.
Instead of whittling down each other's stamina over the course of a round, players seek to whack their opponents well clear of the arena's platforms.
Multiplying a character's damage-dealing power becomes a crucial and idiosyncratic element of Super Smash Bros. play, as does developing a handful of techniques for getting back to centre stage once propelled into the beyond.
Despite releasing only five franchise entries over the last 20 years and leaving tournament organisation almost entirely up to the community, Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series has become a long-lasting favourite.
In fact, 2001 debut Super Smash Bros. Melee was so enduringly popular that it's been an Evo tournament fixture ever since.
That ends with Evo 2019 when, at last, a worthy Melee successor will take over.
December 2018's Nintendo Switch release Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is not only the fastest-selling Switch game and best-selling fighting game of all time, but, at Evo 2019, will also become the subject of the annual tournament's biggest ever title fight.
Some 3,492 contestants had registered for Evo 2019's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate knockout by the time applications closed on July 14, per Evo president Joey Cuellar; the next most popular game was Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition with 1,929 registrations.
Tekken 7 (1,885 registrants), June 2019's franchise reboot Samurai Shodown (1,719) and Mortal Kombat 11 (1,567) account for the third, fourth and fifth most popular pre-selected competition titles.
Its four other games will be Under Night In Birth Exe: Late[st] (1,156), last year's most popular game DragonBall FighterZ (1,191), October 2018 release Soul Calibur VI (742) and Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle (640).
Evo 2019 competitors and attendees will gather at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center and Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, the United States, over the weekend of Aug 2-4, for the open competition.
Last year's event was streamed live through its Twitch channel twitch.tv/evo, with individual game tournaments broadcast through associated channels evo1 through evo5, plus Street Fighter V publisher channel capcomfighters; this year's event is expected to follow suit.
A full schedule is to be posted on the official site, evo.shoryuken.com. – AFP Relaxnews
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
