This weekend, the best fighting game players in the world gathered to compete in Evo 2024. The annual tournament is the biggest competition for the genre, and on top of fantastic matches, the event always has major announcements for the fighting game world. That includes updates on already existing titles, like the phenomenal Guilty Gear -Strive-, and teases for upcoming games.
Before we dive into all the top news, you should check out some of this year’s best matches. Fighting game legend Sonic Fox took home yet another Evo title, this time for Mortal Kombat 1, and the match is just as impressive as you’d expect. Meanwhile, Guilty Gear -Strive- had a neck-to-neck grand finals match that showed why the game remains one of the best in the genre. Though my choice for the best match of the tournament has to be the Street Fighter 6 grand finals, which saw player Punk become the first American to win a Street Fighter title in the event’s history.
Now, let’s talk about all those character reveals and other announcements we saw at Evo 2024.
Guilty Gear -Strive- gets new fighters, including Cyberpunk: Edgerunners’ Lucy
Three years since release, Arc System Works’ impeccable Guilty Gear -Strive- is still going strong, and now it’s getting its first guest character. Lucy from the Netflix show Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, a prequel to the CD Projekt Red game, is joining the Strive roster. She’ll be released as part of the season 4 pass sometime in 2025. The season 4 pass will also include returning Guilty Gear characters Queen Dizzy, Venom, and new character, Unika.
MultiVersus adds Samurai Jack and Beetlejuice
The Warner Bros. platform fighter, MultiVersus, is getting two new fighters in season 2. First up is cartoon legend, Samurai Jack, who will join the roster when season 2 launches on July 23. Beetlejuice will also become a playable fighter later in the season, and while no specific date was given, you can bet it’ll probably be around the September 6 release of movie sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Heihachi is coming to Tekken 8, somehow
Despite being “completely dead” after getting thrown into a volcano in Tekken 7, Heihachi Mishima will be a new fighter in Tekken 8. The reveal trailer really played up the return, even flashing through the character’s history throughout the series. I’m sure confused fans will be eager to learn what explanation the game has for this miraculous return. Heihachi will release as part of the first season pass for Tekken 8, alongside other returning fighters Lidia Sobieska and Eddy Gordo. There is currently no release date for the first season.
Riot spills a bunch of information on 2XKO
The League of Legends developer’s fighting game, 2XKO, had a substantial presence at this year’s Evo. The development team had a booth on the floor, and streamed a “State of 2XKO” panel while playing a build of the game. From this we learned that the launch version of 2XKO will be pretty lean, with more game modes being added post-launch. Monetization will be a big part of the free-to-play title, but the team says all characters on the roster will be possible to acquire without spending money. On the topic of characters, it was confirmed at Evo that Katarina will not be part of the launch roster, and that fan-favorite Jinx will be part of the game, but the team wants to take more time before showing her off to the public.
SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos gets a surprise re-release
The 2003 entry in the crossover fighting series is back. SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos was announced during the tournament as a shadow release, now available on Steam. The game will also be coming to Nintendo Switch and PS4 on July 22. SVC Chaos brings together a massive roster of fighters from games like Mega Man, Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, and others. The re-release adds some welcome modern features like reliable rollback netcode.
Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising adds Verusia in big August update
Original character Versusia will be joining Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising on August 20. This coincides with a big 1.50 update that will include new story episodes, a new stage, and a new mode called Grand Bruise about which the trailer didn’t go into detail. She’ll join a roster that is now over 30 fighters long, and includes NieR: Automata’s 2B. During Evo 2024, Rising also revealed that Vikala will drop in October, and Sandalphon will come sometime later as part of the season 2 pass.
SNK Teases Art of Fighting’s Return and a Samurai Showdown spinoff
During the SNK developer panel, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves producer Joshua Weatherford announced a new Art of Fighting game is in development. Set in the same universe as Fatal Fury, there hasn’t been an Art of Fighting game since the third entry in 1996. Weatherford also teased that SNK is developing an RPG Samurai Showdown spinoff—the series was most recently rebooted in 2019. Both of these titles’ release dates are “very far out,” according to Weatherford.
Kevin Rian joins the Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves roster
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is set to release early next year, and during Evo 2024, the game teased one more character. Kevin Rian is a cop who likes to use explosives on his opponents, and will be joining the eight previously confirmed characters including Terry Bogard.
Here’s your first look at Terry In Street Fighter 6
Fatal Fury mascot Terry Bogard is coming to Street Fighter 6 this fall. We already knew that, as Capcom previously announced he would be part of the game’s year 2 character pass. But now you can see him in all his glory. The short teaser trailer doesn’t clue us in too much about gameplay, but he sure does look like Terry still.
King of Fighters XIV is adding Mature and Vice
This December, the latest entry in the SNK fighting series will get two more additions to the roster. Mature, from KoF ‘94, and Vice, from KoF ‘95, will be released at the same time at the end of the year. The two both retain their classic looks, though we didn’t get a peak at gameplay.
Hunter x Hunter fighting game reveals more characters
Mereum, Kite, Morel, and Razor will all be part of the launch roster for the upcoming Hunter x Hunter fighting game. Officially titled Hunter x Hunter: Nen x Impact (what a mouthful), the 3v3 fighting game is based on the seminal manga series and developed by Eighting, who previously worked on Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The game is coming sometime later this year on Switch, PS5, and PC.
Uzuki comes to Under Night In-Birth 2 SYS: Celes
On July 25, Uzuki will become the latest fighter added to the 2D fighting game. She is the first of three characters included in the Uni2 season pass. The other two fighters are Ogre, who comes next February, followed by Izumi, whose August 2025 release date is a long way away.
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