It’s that wonderful time in July where EVO, the greatest fighting game tournament in the world, graces us with some good punchin’. For the third year in a row, there were not one, but two Smash games with fierce competitions — both the aged-like-fine-wine Melee and the fresher Smash for Wii U (commonly called Smash 4) had some great tournaments. But in the end, there could be only one… or rather, two.
Melee ended up with the Saturday night time slot, with perennial favorite Armada taking on Mang0 for the title. The two had already fought in Winner’s Finals, where the Swedish Sniper soundly defeated the American homeboy, and Armada continued his dominance in Grand Finals to take home his second EVO title.
Armada was the odds-on favorite to win, but that didn’t mean the tournament didn’t have its share of stories — such as a nutty Loser’s run by The Moon to make Top 8, or a controversial moment in a Top 16 match between Hungrybox and SFAT wherein Hbox was coached (which is a violation of the ruleset) and not punished for it.
The Sunday finals stage this year was the domain of Smash 4, which was full of upsets as usual. It ultimately came down to No. 1 in the world ZeRo battling it out against eternal dark horse Salem. The Grand Finals set went a full ten games, and at the last moment Salem pulled out an incredible Bayonetta combo to make a come from behind victory, clutching out his very first Smash 4 supermajor win, and the first such victory for Bayonetta as a character (fun fact: the very first tournament Salem ever won, local or otherwise, was one of similar caliber — Brawl at Apex 2013).
Check out the full Top 8 for each game below.
Smash 4 Top 8:
1. MVG | Salem (Bayonetta)
2. TSM | ZeRo (Diddy Kong)
3. MSF | Larry Lurr (Fox)
4. P1 | Tweek (Cloud, Donkey Kong)
5. KEN (Sonic)
5. NRG | Nairo (Zero Suit Samus, Bowser)
7. RNG | Dabuz (Rosalina & Luma)
7. CLG | VoiD (Sheik)
Melee Top 8:
1. [A]rmada (Peach)
2. C9 | Mang0 (Fox, Falco)
3. TL | Hungrybox (Jigglypuff)
4. FOX MVG | Mew2King (Marth, Sheik, Fox)
5. PG | Plup (Sheik)
5. Lucky (Fox)
7. MSF | The Moon (Marth)
7. CLG | SFAT (Fox)
Written by Amelia Fruzzetti
A writer and Nintendo fan based in Seattle, Washington. When not working for NinWire, she can be found eating pasta, writing stories, and wondering about when Mother 3 is finally going to get an official localization.
