Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Snags The Headliner Spot At Evo 2019
Street Fighter will be a little bit earlier this year.
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Street Fighter is taking a backseat this year, as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will close out Evo 2019. The Sunday Grand Finals will see Street Fighter 5 take the second spot, while Nintendo's party brawler will close the curtains.
This isn't too surprising, considering Smash Ultimate broke the series entrant record and led the pack overall in registration numbers. Street Fighter 5 will take the second spot on finals day, right after BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. Tekken 7 fills the third spot.
Street Fighter has often been the closer of Evo, and Smash Bros. has never headlined an Evo before now. This is nice recognition of Ultimate's impact on the scene and its growing player base, even in the face of Melee getting the axe this year. Tekken taking the third spot is also no surprise, as its scene has grown year over year at a consistent pace and the game resulted in some incredibly hype moments last year. And while Street Fighter 5 isn't in the prestigous final spot this year, it's still had a fairly decent year and should provide some good moments.
Meanwhile, Soulcalibur 6 gets Friday night all to itself, and Saturday will see Mortal Kombat 11 close the day's festivities. It may not be a Sunday spot for the year's best-selling game so far, but it also means Mortal Kombat won't have to share the stage or break down in time for another set of finals, leaving some room for possible announcements.
Evo 2019 is an annual fighting game tournament, and is often considered the de facto world championship for many games. Whether it becomes a major stop for Smash players compared to events like Pound or Genesis has yet to be seen, but if you'd like to read up on the history of the tournament series, be sure to check out our oral history of Evo.