If you needed another reason to attend Evo this year, you’ve got one.
Evo (the Evolution Championship Series) is the largest fighting game competition in the world, so it’s only fitting that it’s breaking records. The organizers have announced that the annual event will feature the “biggest” Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament ever.
Congrats to the Smash community! Evo 2015 will be the biggest Melee tournament of all time, and Smash WiiU is over 1K! #Evo2015
— Joey Cuellar (@EvilMrWizard) March 10, 2015
That’s huge news for the competitive Smash community, who have struggled to find a reliable outlet for the game since it was dropped by MLG in 2006 (although it did return in 2014 as a special event).
How many players will be participating?
We don’t know exact figures yet, but for reference, the previous record for Smash Bros. Melee attendance was 1,037 registered participants at Apex 2015 in January.
Why Melee?
Despite the fact that Melee is now two iterations old, it’s still widely considered to be the most competitive version of Smash Bros. That’s not to say that the newest one on the Wii U won’t be featured though. As Cueller tweeted, over 1,000 players will be participating in the Smash Bros. Wii U arm of the competition.
What other games will be at Evo 2015?
This year’s Evo games will include Tekken 7, Mortal Kombat X, and Ultra Street Fighter 4, among six others. You can see the full list here.