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Evo 2016 welcomes in Street Fighter 5, Pokken Tournament, and more

Evo 2016 has its fighting game lineup for the weekend and among the games on display will be Street Fighter V and Pokken Tournament, both of which will make their Evo debut.

Ozzie Mejia

January 26, 2016 9:05 PM

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The full lineup of nine fighting games were revealed for this year's installment of the annual Evolution Championship Series. The biggest fighting game tournament of the year has been headlined for nearly the entirety of the last decade by an incarnation of Street Fighter IV. But this year marks a big transition, as it's finally time to make the leap to Street Fighter V.

But that won't be the only game that's debuting at this year's event. This year will also mark the debut of Pokken Tournament, the Pokemon-based fighting game from the creators of Tekken. The game is set to release in March, but the game will be tournament-ready for July. Not a bad way to celebrate the ongoing Pokemon 20th anniversary.

Other games set to join the festivities include the dual Smash Bros. juggernauts of Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, the perennial fan favorite Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, the continually-growing Mortal Kombat X and Killer Instinct, the anime favorite Guilty Gear XRD -Revelator-, and the final installment of the Tekken franchise, Tekken 7.

Evo 2016 is set to run from July 15-17 from the Las Vegas Convention Center, but this year's Sunday finals will feature a major twist. That day's final clases for Stret Fighter V, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Mortal Kombat X, Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator-, and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 will all take place at the Mandalay Bay sports arena, the biggest venue for a fighting game tournament to date.

Want a taste of how the atmosphere will be? Let's take a look at the Ultra Street Fighter IV Grand Finals one more time!

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?