The Games

Super Street Fighter II Turbo

With Marvel vs. Capcom 2 coming in at a distant second, Super Street Fighter II Turbo has to be the game in this year's lineup with the most history. Seeing a consecutive five years just in Shoryuken-staffed tournaments alone (and being a staple of the Capcom tournament scene since its release), it is one of those rare games that the competitive community has a difficult time turning its back on.

Last Year's Results:

1st--Daigo Umehara (Ryu)
2nd--Ohnuki "Nuki" Shinya (Chun-Li)
3rd--John "ChoiBoy" Choi (O-Sagat)

Street Fighter III: Third Strike

Third strike was once dropped from the yearly event, citing poor tournament turnouts and what appeared to be a dying interest in the game. Eventually, a group of enthusiasts preached this title's worth to the competitive masses, which slowly but surely started filling Third Strike tournaments across the state back up to a respectable mass. Now it is back in the lineup, showing that any fighting game can be added to the yearly event if advocated in the right way.

Last Year's Results:

1st--Kenji "KO" Obata (Yun Super Art 3)
2nd--Daigo Umehara (Ken Super Art 3)
3rd--Keisuke "KSK" Imai (Alex Super Art 2)

Marvel vs. Capcom 2

While the "versus" series has always been a part of the competitive scene, none has been as ferociously dissected by the American players as this one. After all of these years, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is still considered the definition of a team-based fighter, where getting the slightest detail wrong, such as your team's order or when to use or even sacrifice a character to gain ground, can produce a devastating loss.

Last Year's Results:

1st--Justin Wong (Magneto/Cable/Sentinel)
2nd--Ricky Ortiz (Storm/Sentinel/Captain Commando)
3rd--Rodolfo "Rowtron" Castro (Sentinel/Cable/Magneto)

Capcom vs. SNK 2

The latest 2D fighting game to come out of Capcom--and before Capcom Fighting Jam was announced at E3, many feared their last--is as close to an official SNK-related event as Evolution is going to get this year. Featuring a who's who of Capcom and SNK characters with six grooves to choose from, Capcom vs. SNK 2 allows for a large and varied combination of teams and techniques, which, in turn, creates some fairly exciting final matches.

Last Year's Results:

1st--Tetsuya "Ino" Inoue (K-Groove Blanka/Cammy/Sagat)
2nd--Daigo Umehara (C-Groove Guile/Cammy/Sagat)
3rd--Kenryo "Mago" Hayashi (C-Groove E.Honda/Chun-Li/Blanka)

Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution

This game has been critically acclaimed among the press, highly praised in the competitive circles, yet strangely it is one of the most lacking events when it comes to registered players this year. Perhaps it is because of the intense guessing game that this title requires in top-level play that scares so many people off?

Last Year's Results

1st--Eiji "Chibita" Komatsu (Lion)
2nd-- Masafumi "Ohsu-Akira" Yoshioka (Akira)
3rd-- Ryan Hart (Kage)

Guilty Gear XX

Sammy's marquee fighter combines bucketloads of style with a mind-boggling amount of depth and strategy. Many have considered it an example of the steps Capcom and SNK need to start taking with its own 2D-fighting franchises. Don't let the exclusive use of Sol by the top three players fool you--the character used in this competition, along with the strategies employed, is highly eclectic.

Last Year's Results:

1st-- Daigo Umehara, Japan (Sol)
2nd--Soh "Miu" Miura (Sol)
3rd--Saif "ID" Ebrahim (Sol)

Soul Calibur II

Released around the same time as Virtua Fighter 4, which made for a strange mass desire to post comparison articles throughout the Web, Soul Calibur II trumps its Sega competitor, at least in registered players, in this year's tournament. As with its highly regarded prequel, Soul Calibur II offers some very exciting matches whose predictability can be compared to a random coin toss.

Last Year's Results:

1st--Dan :"The Nightmare" (Nightmare)
2nd--Will "Semi" Johnson (Astaroth)
3rd--Ari "Floe" Weintrab (Taki)

Tekken 4

It looks like this will probably be the last year for Tekken 4, as Tekken 5 is making the preview rounds (including a showing at this year's event). This chapter dumps the tag-team setup of Tekken Tag Tournament for a more traditional one-on-one battle. Unlike the other Tekken titles, however, boundaries have been implemented (as opposed to seemingly infinite arena sizes of previous titles), adding a new level of environmental control to Tekken 4's strategy.

Last Year's Results:

1st--Josh "Jinkid" Molianro (Jin)
2nd--Anthony "Jackie Tran" Tran (Jin)
3rd--Wiley "TreyPhoenix" Adams III (Jin)

Tekken Tag Tournament

A lot of players seem to prefer the Tekken 3 roots present in this Tag Tournament chapter of the series. As the title suggests, players must form a two-character team that complements each other both offensively and defensively. Unlike Tekken 4, which might be in danger of being replaced by Tekken 5, Tekken Tag Tournament might become one of those titles that the competitive community refuses to put down.

Last Year's Results:

1st--Kim Bong Min (Jin/Devil)
2nd--Ryan Hart (Jin/Heihachi)
3rd--Kenbou Kawakami (Lei/King)