EVO 2015 once again broke view records, as the most viewed fighting game tournament event of all time. Ultra Street Fighter 4 topped it off at 230,000 views, followed by Super Smash Bros Melee at 206,000 views. This isn’t just due to the growing popularity of the sport, or the individual games, but the fanfare that surrounded the biggest matches.
#EVO2015 stream viewers Melee Finals: 206k UMvC3 Finals: 162k USFIV Finals: 230k pic.twitter.com/ONdWgqheOd
— EVO2015 HYPE (@_PFFP) July 20, 2015
The biggest story coming out of the event is the Ultra Street Fighter 4 Grand Finals, which came down to AVMGamerBee, using Elena and Adon, versus EGMomochi, using Ken, Evil Ryu, and Elena. GamerBee had an incredible run, taking out rival Infiltration to make his way to the Grand Finals from the loser’s bracket. Ironically, his achievements were thwarted, not by Momochi, but Momochi’s Razer arcade stick, which bugged out in the middle of the match.
Based on EVO rules, the players have no choice in what happens here, and GamerBee forcibly took the win. Momochi immediately received a replacement stick courtesy MadCatz, and went on to take the finals. Still, it's hard to say that GamerBee truly lost.
The story of EVO2015 was basically the plot of Rocky. Momochi won the match, but Gamerbee won everyone's hearts. pic.twitter.com/5gIApfoLDH
— Hi, I'm Mac (@mr_eyes) July 20, 2015
Boss says we can get merried now, thank everyone cheer for me, you are the best, and I am sorry, really sorry pic.twitter.com/B9853El7Zf
— Bruce Hsiang ゲマビ (@GamerBeeTW) July 20, 2015
As fans noted, Razer tweeted about Momochi using their stick, and deleted it immediately as events played out. They were good sports and thanked MadCatz for saving the event.
— Wario64 (@Wario64) July 20, 2015
What a final. Thanks for helping out in that difficult situation @madcatz. Congrats to @momochi212 for taking the victory #EVO2015
— Razer (@Razer) July 20, 2015
Ultimate Marvel Versus Capcom 3 came down to Kane Blueriver, playing Hulk, Sentinel, and Haggar, taking out Rayray, playing Magneto, Doctor Doom, and Sentinel. The Marvel tournament surprised everyone for having its most notable players, particularly US players, not making it all the way to semifinals.
Super Smash Bros Melee was taken by Armada playing Fox, beating out Hungrybox playing Jigglypuff. The Melee tournament was also noteworthy for Leffen playing Fox losing out to PPMD’s Zero Suit Samus.
Overall, this year’s EVO was full of surprises. Even Justin Wong, who played on EVO every Sunday, when finals happens, failed to make it to Sunday for the first time in 13 years.
This is the first time I am not playing on Sunday at EVO. I always play on Sunday since 2002.. Damn now what to do?
— Justin Wong (@JWonggg) July 19, 2015
Kane Blueriver joined Zero winning Smash Wii U as two Chileans taking the top EVO championships. While many talked about Kane taking this championship win from America, he had a touching message to everyone about his win:
It's not America's game anymore, but it's not Chile's, either. It's for both, and for Mexico, and for Japan, and for everyone else. Marvel is for the world because Marvel lives!
You can read full EVO 2015 finals results here and a highlights rundown here.
