avatarSamuel Moreno August 8, 2022
Samuel Moreno August 8, 2022

The Evolution Championship Series (EVO) may feature the best of the best when it comes to fighting game players, but another big aspect is all of the reveals and announcements. With how much attention the weekend-long event receives it’s the perfect time for developers to show off new content or plans for various fighting game series. This year was no different with plenty of big announcements already being made on the first day of the event. The following is a compilation of all the big fighting game news made during EVO.

Back when I reviewed Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, the biggest issue I had with it was its netcode. I’m not alone in this and there was a massive fan response when the game was announced with delay-based netcode. The response was substantial enough for the game’s director to announce that a summer update for the game would implement rollback netcode.

After a long wait with no information, it was announced that the update was available then and now for the Steam and PlayStation 4 platforms. Users on Steam can opt-in to a beta by following this guide from their Steam community page.

To the surprise of many, SNK had some news to share about its 2019 title, Samurai Showdown. The last update we saw for the game was a year ago when Baiken from the Guilty Gear series was added as a crossover DLC character.

Fans of the sword-clashing series can rejoice as the same rollback netcode used in The King of Fighters XV will be added to the game in Spring 2023. While it won’t be added to the Nintendo Switch version, it will be added for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Steam, and Epic Games Store platforms.

Skullgirls earned a strong following back when it was released in 2012 and has been supported by its loving community ever since. While it has always been close to being chosen as a main-stage game and it was a part of the online-only EVO tournament last year, this was the first time the game made it to the physical main stage at EVO.

Of course, we’ve known that the final character for the season pass would be revealed soon and it was recently confirmed that it would be shown off at the event. After an intense tournament, we learned that the final character from the season pass will be Marie, the game’s final boss that has never been playable before.

MultiVersus has made quite a splash since its debut and it enjoyed some more exposure at EVO. Although it wasn’t a main stage game, it did have a tournament spot on the EVO schedule and was shown through their channels on Twitch.

The latest update for the same was a snapshot of what’s to come in the recently delayed season one. Some highlights include a classic arcade mode and a new ranked mode, as well as the previous announcement of the titular characters from the Rick & Morty series joining as new characters. They also teased that there is more to come with characters.

Based on the world established from the Tsukihime visual novel series and its reboot, Melty Blood: Type Lumina has made for a happy fanbase by taking mechanics from older Melty Blood titles and introducing new ones. Seeing the series on the main stage at EVO has also been exciting and nostalgic for many. The last time it made it was in 2012 with Melty Blood: Actress Again.

Players have even more to look forward to with the version 1.30 summer update. In terms of characters both Neco-Arc and Mash Kyrielight make up the third free set of characters. A large battle system adjustment is also planned that includes changes to the Shielding mechanic and Neutralizations. Moon Drive, Moon Skills, dashing, and the existing combos are also seeing changes. The network mode and replay mode are both set to improve as well.

Even though Granblue Fantasy: Versus was set to be on the main stage at EVO 2020, the switch in preference to games with better online netcode during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic changed things due to a cancellation of the event in its entirety that year. Seeing it for the first time on the main stage for this year’s event has been a big achievement for the community and the developers.

The game wasn’t absent from new announcements either. Although it wasn’t an announcement of rollback netcode being added that many had their fingers crossed for, the start of the Top 8 matches had a special message from the general director of the series revealing that the game would be gaining a new tournament series called Community League to be held over the North America, Europe, and Asia regions.

Dragon Ball FighterZ has garnered criticism for its netcode and more recently for the final character added. However, it can’t be denied how exciting it was to see it back on the main stage after missing out on the online-only event held last year. Even the iconic crowd Cell Yell was recreated. Still, fans were filled with hope that the special message provided by the game’s director at the end would push the game into a new future, perhaps with a sequel or the seemingly impossible idea of rollback netcode being added.

When it comes to new content, it was confirmed that the team sees the game as complete and does not have plans to add any more characters or to implement any balance adjustments. However, something new that will be implemented into the game that all fans have been asking for is rollback netcode for the PC and newly announced PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions. Those last two will be accessible for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One users through the former’s upgrade program and the latter’s Smart Delivery. Further information is to come at a later date, although the news alone is a dream come true for the game’s community.

The King of Fighters XV showed off plenty to get fans excited. First was the August 8th release date for the previously announced Awakened Orochi team. A special look at how the “Awakened” characters are different from their base game versions was also shown off, confirming Orochi Yashiro as a grappler with multiple command throws, Orochi Chris as an all-rounder, and Orochi Shermie as a mid to long-range zoner. Cross-play between all platforms is also in development and is set to release next year. Many are hoping this will come with a fix to the game’s notorious matchmaking issues.

Players won’t be starved for content before cross-play is added though. The final team for this first season will be Team Samurai, consisting of Haohmaru, Nakoruru, and Darli Dagger from Samurai Showdown. The second season of characters has also been confirmed to be coming in 2023. While there wasn’t a concrete number of how many characters will be added, we do know that Shingo Yabuki and Kim Kaphwan are two of them.

SNK also had an additional surprise after The King of Fighters XV news. The company has had a lot of big fighting games throughout its history. One that has been missing for a long time has been the Fatal Fury series which last had a release in 1999 with Garou: Mark of the Wolves.

Although there isn’t a lot to go off of besides key-art, it’s been announced that a new Fatal Fury/Garou project has been green-lit. With the announcement specifying that it’s been green-lit, it’s likely very early in production if at all and we may not hear more about it for a while. For fans of the classic fighting game series though, it’s likely satisfying enough to learn it will be receiving a new installment for the first time in over two decades.

It’s no secret that Tekken 7 has been a huge financial success for Bandai Namco. After reaching the milestone of over eight million copies sold last November, it was revealed a couple of months ago that the number of sales has exceeded nine million. Subsequently, it has become the best-selling title in the entire series. As successful and popular as it has been though, fans have been wanting a new entry for a long time now.

A trailer at the end of the EVO tournament finals revealed that the global finals of the Tekken World Tour would be held on February 4th-5th next year. The game itself will also be receiving a free battle update on August 17th with balance adjustments and new tactics that seem to hint at a new stagger state. A new project that many are hoping is Tekken 8 was also teased with a much more graphically updated model of Kazuya. The Game Awards Twitter immediately posted an image of Kazuya and retweeted a post from the Tekken Twitter account, leading some to assume this new project might be announced at their show.

Street Fighter 6 had been expected to show off at EVO and there was news even on the first day of the event. At a panel, it was revealed that two more English announcers will be coming to the in-game Commentator feature with Tasty Steve and James Chen.

The big news that everyone was waiting for was seen after the Street Fighter V grand finals with two new character reveals. First was Kimberley, a spunky young ninja with spray cans who was teased at the end of the announce trailer during the previous Sony State of Play. The second was Juri, who is coming back with a new redesign and some gameplay changes that include the return of her dive kick from Super Street Fighter IV. More information about the characters can be read on a new PlayStation blog post here.

A panel on Friday revealed a roadmap for the next batch of content that will come to Guilty Gear Strive. Two characters are coming out over the rest of this year alongside the beta test and update for crossplay. 2023 will also see a battle balance patch, two new characters, and two new stages. The final announcement for EVO was also for Guilty Gear Strive as it was the last game of the event. Bridget, who was last seen in Guilty Gear XX and has repeatedly been placed at the top for most requested characters from Japan, will be the first season 2 character. Players will be able to play the character now as their release date is August 8th.

That’s the extent of the game announcements for EVO. All of the tournaments had some real nail-biter moments and the announcements might be some of the biggest the event has had in general. Whether it was new content, teases at what’s to come, or so many games in the genre implementing rollback netcode, there’s a great chance that fighting game fans of all games have something to be excited about. EVO 2019 was the last time there was an in-person event and this year’s was a wonderful return to form.

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Samuel Moreno

Samuel (he/him) has been obsessed with video games since he was a kid watching bumbling zombies shuffle down a hallway in Resident Evil 20+ years ago (it's debatable if he should have seen a mature-rated game at that age but he's personally okay with it). His hobby of writing and talking people's ears off about video games has always felt like a perfect match. Feel free to let him talk your ear off on Twitter!: https://twitter.com/xxsammorenoxx

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