Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

EVO 2020 online tournament removes Super Smash Bros. Ultimate from lineup

Aaron Mamiit
By

Evo 2020, this year’s edition of the Evolution Championship Series, will still happen as an online event, though there is at least one major change to the fighting game tournament.

Recommended Videos

The organizers of Evo 2020, which was set to run from July 31 to August 2 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, announced a couple of weeks ago that the annual event was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, an online version of the tournament was promised, details of which have now been revealed.

Related

Introducing Evo Online! pic.twitter.com/ecf8gxNGUW

— EVO (@EVO) May 14, 2020

Instead of taking place over a weekend like what was planned for Evo 2020, Evo Online will happen over the course of five weekends starting July 4. In addition, instead of tournaments for eight games that included Tekken 7 and Street Fighter 5, the online edition of the fighting game championship will only host seven games, as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was removed from the lineup.

The organizers have not provided an official explanation on the absence of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but it is believed that the game was dropped from Evo Online due to the subpar netcode of the game, which will likely result in frustration among both participants and viewers.

Possible lag in matches was one of the concerns when the online version of Evo 2020 was announced, as participants will be playing at home with their personal internet connections, and it appears that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a casualty of trying to avoid this potential issue.

All games in Evo Online

Evo Online will host tournaments for Tekken 7, Street Fighter 5, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Granblue Fantasy Versus, Samurai Shodown, and Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r]. There will also be open tournaments for Killer Instinct, Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath, Skullgirls 2nd Encore, and Them’s Fightin’ Herds, all four of which were not previously part of the event.

The inclusion of Skullgirls 2nd Encore, meanwhile, is proving to be a popular move, especially due to its excellent netcode that should make for memorable matches in Evo Online.

Evo Online will also feature the 2ournament of Champions, which is a special invitational tournament for the 20th anniversary of Marvel vs. Capcom 2.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Aaron Mamiit
Aaron Mamiit
Contributor
Aaron received a NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was 4 years old, and he has been fascinated with…
Kodorin is Super Smash Bros. Melee’s newest rising star
Kodorin is Super Smash Bros

John "Kodorin" Ko is one of the premiere Marth players on the Super Smash Bros. Melee competitive scene right now. While the 21-year-old has been around for years, even making top 100 rankings at one time, he's really made a name for himself in the online era of Melee brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and arrival of better netplay for the title thanks to the rollback netcode client Slippi.

SFAT vs KoDoRiN - Gauntlet: Bracket 4 R2 - Smash Summit 11 | Fox vs Marth

Read more
Who will get Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s last spot? 5 realistic options
Waluigi rides a cart in Mario Kart 8.

The years of speculation are coming to a close. With Tekken’s Kazuya joining Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, there’s only one spot left on the Fighters Pass. Ever since the Switch game launched in 2018, fans have been sharing the loftiest hopes for which iconic characters could become Smash fighters. Time and time again, those dreams were dashed as Nintendo took a more unpredictable approach, adding left-field choices like Terry Bogard and Steve from Minecraft.

No matter who gets added, someone’s going to be disappointed. The current list of popular fan requests includes pipe dreams like Crash Bandicoot, Doom Guy, and Master Chief. With one spot left, all of those can’t happen -- in fact, none of them likely will. Figuring out the next Smash character isn’t a matter of guessing who would be a fun addition; it’s about tracking what makes strategic sense to Nintendo from a business standpoint. Super Smash Bros. doubles as a marketing tool, after all.

Read more
Is Kazuya top-tier? Super Smash Bros. pros weigh in on Ultimate’s new character
kazuya smash ultimate impressions mishima

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's next to last DLC character, Kazuya Mishima from the Tekken series, was just released -- and players are in love with his promising and unique move set. As in the past with DLC characters, series director Masahiro Sakurai went all-out in terms of presentation and combat decisions. That's reflected by a wave of positive reactions from the Smash Bros. community. Many are astounded by the amount of moves Sakurai was able to bestow on this guy, leaving them even more excited for the final DLC character joining the cast.

True to Tekken form, Kazuya is jam-packed full of attacks and abilities that perfectly represent the move sets of his original series. He features tons of command normals, along with special abilities, such as smash attacks that put him in Devil form and grant him super armor. He brings his crouch dash from Tekken to Smash as well, and players have already found a way to turn it into a "wavedash."

Read more