The meaning/purpose of EVO

Evo Championship Series
1

My view on this, is that EVO is the mother of all Street Fighter tournaments (outside of Japan, respectively) to attend if you want to claim some stakes. Correct me if I’m wrong, but if you win said game at EVO, you can claim to be the best in the United States right? (and if you win MvC2, you can claim to be the best in the world :lol:, go USA ) Sorry. My point is, I thought EVO was a Street Fighter tournament, not a gathering or convention. From my understanding, EVO/B series (B4/B5) was a place where hearts were broken, and champions were made.

I forget which trailer, but it’s the one where (Tragic?/Mr.Wizard?) is calling off names. Eventually, they get to Valle and he’s talking. “I’m the best. I know I’m going to win. I’m GOING TO BEAT YOU!.” That seemed a little serious. In my mind, it set the tone I would come to expect if I ever went to EVO. Which is that of a Street Fighter competition, that separates the men from the boys. You play hard, or get played hard. (cheezy, I know) You WIN or you WIN. There is no other option. (you guys know what I’m saying.) My point is, so what happened? Where did Soul Calibur, TTT, T4, and GGXX and such roll into this. Now, let me start off by saying, I don’t mind. They are good games. But I feel they were kind of the “gateway drugs” to the tarnishing of EVO. Let me make this perfectly clear for fanboys before they soak their tampons. I started off with games, by playing TTT. SaBrE can attest to that 150%. I was a die hard TTT fan. I used to think Street Fighter was stupid, and couldn’t understand why people played it. :lol: These are all good games, but I feel like by adding them, it led to an “open” feeling about EVO. Which in turn, led to Smash Brothers Melee being added the next year. Once again for the fanboys. SC2, GGXX, T4, TTT, VF4 good games, good for EVO. SBM, Bad!

Honestly, I have never played SBM. (Yes, I’m coming down on SBM as part of EVO based on ignorance.) SBM may have “depth” and “strategy” but it’s not a serious fighter. B4/B5 and earlier EVO’s were all about serious fighters. So I’m lost as to what EVO is really about now with the addition of that game.

Arcade vs Console:
I see alot of people putting sole blame on the Canons. Ironically, some of these same people expect the Canons to do so much, while they themselves do so little. Keep in mind, the Canons lose money on EVO. Not to mention, time. Yet, most people complaining can’t even contribute $2 a month to a site, they visit almost daily. (such as myself :frowning: ) So much is expected from the Canons, and they’ve come through year after year. They owe us nothing. If you want to be technical, we owe them in a way. Let’s face it. No matter how much we argue and complain, EVO will be console. With all the Canons have done for us, I think we should just go with it this year. But in the mean time, both sides need to come together and cooperate.(obviously easier said than done) I don’t care what it takes. Fundraisers, donations, whatever. But EVO 2k5 has to be back on Arcade, no matter what. I think this will bring back some spirit to EVO. Yeah, there will be some waiting around, but that’s what EVO is about right? The mental toughness, the waiting, the anxiety of that next match. It’s a fucking major tournament people, what do you expect? A breeze though to the finals. In a sense, with Japans best being here, it’s a WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP tournament people. Don’t come if you are expecting some walk in the park with juice and cookies. You want a “fierce and fabulous time,” then stay home with your friends, and play your dreamcast till your heart explodes. Don’t get me wrong, EVO is a fun event. Go to EVO expecting to have fun. But don’t forget, EVO(b4/b5) was here for tournament reasons first. It’s now evolved to a world tournament. I think some fo the core fundamentals have been lost. Adding SBM and going to console in my opinion, are going int the wrong direction. Hopefully, we can bet back on track EVO2k5. Cooperation is the key.

Jive Out!

2

People said the same thing about the VS series back in the day. Now we have Marvel vs Capcom 2, which honestly is the only game keeping the arcade tournament scene alive.

SSBM has a hardcore following of players who have been organizing their own console tournaments for years. They have combo exhibition videos, match videos, and FAQs just as technically detailed as other fighters. SSBM has wave dashing, L-cancel fast recovery, guard breaks, throw infinites, and many other technique similar to those found in fighters this community may be more familiar with. That’s good enough for me.

3

From a financial standpoint, adding Smash Bros Melee is an excellent move. It has a large and devout community, that has attained level of organization that many fighting game communities could only wish for. If they have a tournament at Evolution, so what, who is hurt by it? It deserves at least one shot in Evolution just so we can see how big a community it actually has.

4

The problem with this statement is, how do you define what a “serious fighter” is. If your definition is “like Street Fighter” then the term should be “conventional fighter”. Is it because the characters and stages don’t look serious? That shouldn’t matter because any tournament should be about gameplay, not about design. I could go and say that you shouldn’t play Street Fighter because Blanka looks like a green freak. You and I both know that’s bullshit. So, what’s left that could make a game a “serious fighter”? It all comes down to gameplay. Now you already say that you’ve never played SSBM so how can you claim to know that it doesn’t have the gameplay to be a serious fighter? I have been playing Smash almost every day since it was released in Europe almost 2 years ago, I have attended tons of tournaments in both Europe and the states and still I’m finding new things and getting better. And I’m not the only one that feels that way. There is a whole community out there. Sure, we have our tons of scrubs, but so does Street Fighter or any other game for that matter. But if Smash really wasn’t a “serious fighter” it wouldn’t have been able to captivate so many people and spawn such an active tournament scene.

And who knows, maybe you’ll learn to love Smash as well if you see it played at a very high level at Evo. You wouldn’t be the first to be taken by surprize by how far this game can go.

5

Ponder: Thanks for the explanation. I had no idea it was that deep. :o

Ryucross: That’s true. And I’m actually kind of curious to see how big the following is for this. I guess I should have thought about it a little. If it was added to EVO, there must have been a reason other than, “it’s a game.”

MrSilver: Very good points, and lots of them. I guess I’ll have to wait and see.

But do you guys have any views on the meaning/purpose of EVO? And do you think it’s possible for players and organizers to come together, possibly finding a solution returning EVO back to arcade format?

Thanks for keeping this civil…

Jive Out!

6

man i hate to dog on a game but its fucking mario.

how the fuck can someone take this holy grace of a tournment serious when u add mario in it. imagine the trailer for the evo dvd.

man!!! i love street fighter and im not much into 3d games…heck i kinda hated tat they put 3d’s in evo. but i took it. but now smash bro. tats just going to damn far. 8 year olds are gonna be running around anxiets for there damn match playing yu-gi-oh…

wat ever happened to evo’s dignity…:confused:

7

man i hate to dog on MVC2 but fucking Kobun and TronBonne!

how the fuck can someone take this holy grace of a tournament serious when u add Kobun or TronnBonne in it. imagine the trailer for the evo dvd.

wat ever happened to evo’s dignity!!!11!1

[/sarcasm]

8

LOL good point but its a joke just like dan…

but not the whole game is fruity like mario luigi and prinesses…wtf maybe its just me

9

What you get out of evo is most likely the direct result of what you put into it. If everyone goes in with the feeling that it still is the biggest and best tourney of them all, then you will come out with all the bragging rights you ever wanted. If everyone gets thier panties in a bunch about the whole console issue, then it will dissapoint everyone. If you go in with an open mind, then you will realize that this is the ONLY tourney that will have the sort of attendance and big names that only follows evo. Excuses are for bitches anyhow, if you lost because of console, then i would have lost “because of arcade.” Weak.

I just hope the community can realize evo is one of a kind, even those not super seroius about fighting games know about evo, to some degree. It is important to the american scene, without it, what is there to strive for?

Edit:Any hostility is not directed at any one person. Just the attitude as a whole.

10

^ I fully agree with that.

Also, if you played SSB:M…it’s just a damn fun game to play, even at serious levels. I think some people take fighting games a little TOO seriously, which results in a lot of hate and arrogance. It’s good to be serious about it, but it seems like quite a number of people adopt an elitist attitude about it. I think people just need to relax and go to the tournament and have a good time, and still be serious about it without getting out of control. It’s possible to be very serious about competing yet still have a fun time and not be so angry at everyone. I think once EVO comes around people are going to have a lot of fun despite their worries. And I personally am going to watch some of the non scrubby SSB:M action.

11

I dont know why everbody has an issue with SSBM i my self play the game and love it, yes i know:rolleyes: its no marvel vs capcom 2 but just because its not as hardcore doesn’t mean we should hate it. I have been to Evolution two years in a row and this year I plan to have a new experience with all the changes being done this year. :stuck_out_tongue: So i just hope i can get the same result of every year where I learn from others and from my mistakes that i make during the tournment. So just go along for the ride expecially if its your first time at Evolution. Just have fun :smiley:

MvC2 Cable/Doom/T.Bonne

SvC2 Hibiki/Sakura/Terry

SSBM Pikachu!!!:smiley:

12

Ramblings from the desk of SuperDoodleMan

Veterans of SSBM have long been waiting for the day when it would take its place as a recognized competitive fighting game. Apparently no number of independent SSBM tournaments, however large, could accomplish it. It had to be included in some other, established thing.

I think early marketing attempts by Nintendo are largely responsible. They of course glorified items, free for alls, and the stage variety. Go figure. People forget that SSBM is supremely customizable, and almost anything can be changed. There are some rules that are solidifying into universality, like restricted items/stages, timed stock matches, sets of 3, etc.

Just because SSBM can be played with all sorts of craziness, doesn’t mean it has to be. When it’s played in REAL tournaments, it’s played RIGHT.

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Ramblings from the desk of SuperDoodleMan

Veteran? how old are they 8.:confused:

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Are you 8?

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To have FUN :smiley:

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Geez people, get over yourself! Just because you may think that all Smash Bros players are little kids doesn’t mean they are. I was 18 when I went to TG and I was one of the younger ones there. The few little kids that do show up usually get eliminated first round and leave early. If you don’t want the game there, fine. But at least come with some good arguments that are based on more then just your own ignorant speculations.