This year’s event is shaping up to be one of the biggest in Evo history!
With registration finally closed as of last Sunday, the final numbers have been released for all of the nine main stage titles at Evo 2019, with a myriad of records being broken.
First off, a staggering seven of the nine official titles have gained over 1,000 entrants, with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate leading the pack with over 3,000 competitors, making it the largest Smash tournament in Evo’s history, series-wide, if not the largest Smash tourney of all time.
Meanwhile, SNK’s newly-released Samurai Shodown has also become the most-entered SNK game in Evo history, with a whopping 1,719 entrants, shattering KOFXIII‘s previous record of 1,072 in 2012.
To celebrate this feat, SNK and the game’s North American publisher, Athlon Games, are teaming up to add an extra $30,000 to the title’s overall prize pot, in addition to some cool SamSho-themed swag for the trio of player’s fortunate enough to make Top 3.
These players, in addition to embracing death to the fullest, will be rewarded with a limited edition Samurai Shodown NeoGeo Mini console, as well as a very cool Haohmaru/Samurai Spirits jacket, and a signed original sketch of the Ainu priestess Nakoruru by SNK illustrator Yumi Saji.
Going back to the final entrant counts, we can see that while Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has managed to maintain its massively uncontested lead all the way to the finish line, Super Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition finally eclipsed Tekken 7 for second-place honors, despite the King of Iron Fist Tournament 7 actually being the only returning game to actually grow overall.
SamSho finished in 4th, ahead of fellow popular newcomer Mortal Kombat 11, despite being the newer of the two titles, with Dragon Ball FighterZ maintaining a respectable 5th place, and Dragon Ball FighterZ, SoulCalibur VI, and BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle comprising the Bottom 3 games.
Though it should be noted that the SoulCalibur VI community’s souls still burn brighter than ever, as the newest chapter to take place on the Stage of History gained more entrants than its predecessor, SoulCalibur V, at Evo 2012, which only drew 416 warriors to pursue the cursed swords.
BBTAG brings up the rear after breaking 1,000 entrants in its debut year. The title set a new record for the largest last-place game in Evo history, displacing Killer Instinct’s 546 players from Evo 2014, in addition to being a Sunday Finals title and the tournament is the final chance to qualify for the ARCREVO World Tour Finals.
Evo 2019 Final Numbers!
Smash Ultimate – 3492
Street Fighter V – 1929
Tekken 7 – 1885
Samurai Shodown – 1719
Mortal Kombat 11 – 1567
Unist – 1156
DragonBall FighterZ – 1191
Soul Calibur 6 – 742
BlazBlue:CTB – 640#Evo2019— Joey Cuellar (@MrWiz) July 15, 2019
Additionally, Mr. Wizard and the Evo organizers have released the entire list of 9,193 unique competitors, organized by the games they’re entering, over on smash.gg, so you can see who you’re possibly competing against in your title of choice, or just looking to follow their journey from home.
Finally, Mark “MarkMan” Julio, Head of Business Development at Evo, has teaed some massive reveals and announcements likely set to come during the Sunday finals in the Mandalay Bay Arena. Pointing to last year’s reveals of G and Sagat for Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, Cooler for Dragon Ball FighterZ, and the announcement of Season 2 for Tekken 7, which included the likes of Anna Williams, Lei Wulong and The Walking Dead’s Negan, amongst its lineup.
You can see his Tweet below. With BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, Tekken 7, Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate set to headline the final day of the event, we’re hopefully in for some massive news on multiple fronts.
I shouldn’t be tweeting this but #EVO2019, you’ll definite want to be inside the arena. Not only for the amazing top 8 matches…
— Mark Julio (マークマン) (@MarkMan23) July 13, 2019
Evo 2019 takes place on August 2nd-4th from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Source: MrWiz (Twitter); AceKingOffsuit (Twitter); SNK; MarkMan23 (Twitter)