During a stream in which the organizers behind Evo announced their 2019 game roster, one fan favorite hit the cutting room floor.
As with most recent years at Evo, nine fighting games are selected for the event’s main stage. Typically this roster includes a Street Fighter title, several Arc System Works titles, and as of late, two Super Smash Bros. games.
For EVO 2019, there are four returning titles while five new games rise to join them.
- Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition (Sunday Main Stage)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Sunday Main Stage)
- Tekken 7 (Sunday Main Stage)
- BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle (Sunday Main Stage)
- Dragon Ball FighterZ
- SoulCalibur 6
- Mortal Kombat 11
- Samurai Shodown
- Under Night In-Birth
Street Fighter 5, Tekken 7, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, and Dragon Ball FighterZ are all coming back after strong turnouts last year, though it was surprising that the organization is keeping DBFZ off of the main stage despite the incredible reception it received in its Evo debut, when it became the second most viewed game of the event at 251,000 viewers.
The inclusion of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate surprises no one, as it replaces Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and will draw a much larger crowd. But that larger crowd comes at the cost of Super Smash Bros. Melee being dropped.
Melee is 17 years old, has been featured at EVO the past five years, and has been one of the most frequently watched titles from the event. Immediately after the announcements finished, Melee became one of the top trending topics on Twitter.
Related: Melee’s exclusion from EVO 2019 has players disappointed and fans divided
Many fans lamented the fact that they were being left behind in favor of the newest title despite matching viewerships during tournaments. Others like top-Smash-player Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman took a more logical look and accepted that it was going to happen eventually.
There was a flurry emotions flowing across Twitter as the news sunk in, especially when Team Liquid’s Saleem “Salem” Young sparked another bout of controversy.
Melee wasn’t the only game dropped, however.
The other big one was Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 being removed. It wasn’t a huge surprise considering Under Night In-Birth being included as the newer Arc Systems Work game makes a lot of sense while BlazBlue:CTB and DBFZ are still represented as well.
Rounding out the new additions are SoulCalibur 6, Mortal Kombat 11, and Samurai Shodown.
SoulCalibur 6 was a given to join the roster after showing early success in the FGC and being a big brand title. Mortal Kombat 11 is in a similar boat, but essentially had a guaranteed spot as it isn’t uncommon to see NetherRealm Studios swap their titles around, so replacing Injustice 2 just makes sense.
The shocker came when Samurai Shodown was announced to be the final game, and it was met with the most backlash.
Along with MK11, the title has yet to be released, and fans of other games don’t see why it got in over say Melee or Guilty Gear. But Samurai Shodown is a historic fighting game franchise, dating back to 1993, and it will give the roster another new title to hype up during the first few days.
Evo 2019 will take place in Las Vegas, NV from Aug. 2 to 4. The full schedule has yet to be announced, but we do know that SFV, Tekken 7, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle will be featured during Sunday’s main event.
