This weekend is shaping up to be a grand time for fighting game fans with world-class competition incoming across multiple titles though you may need to adjust your sleep schedule to catch it live if you’re in the western hemisphere.
On top of the tournaments themselves, Evo Japan 2024 is also shaping up to be a pretty massive event in terms of big fighting game announcements with looks at what’s coming next for the genre.
With Evo Japan now just a few days away, we wanted to go over all of the main candidates for reveals and how likely they are to actually show up.
The mainstage titles this year includes Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Guilty Gear Strive, The King of Fighters 15, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, Under Night In-Birth II [Sys:Celes], and Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, so there’s quite a bit of potential there all around.
Other upcoming fighting games are also set to be present with demos and showcases as well though we’ll get more into those in a minute.
Since Evo Japan is taking place Saturday, April 27, through Monday, April 29, fans should start keeping their eyes open starting Friday night through Monday morning here in North America.
Let’s begin with those who are all but confirmed to have something to share first.
It seems to be a pretty safe bet that Capcom will be showing off Akuma’s actual gameplay trailer and presumably give fans a release date for Street Fighter 6 too.
Since we just covered all of that yesterday, you can check out our previous story for our thoughts on Akuma’s trailer and when exactly he’s probably coming out.
The bigger question at this point is going to be if they give any teasers for Season 2 of SF6 though we’re not ready to put down money on that yet.
Although Eddy Gordo just hit the game earlier this month, Evo Japan is looking like the prime location to show off who’s coming next to Tekken 8.
Their second DLC character isn’t planned to hit the game until this Summer, but considering Bandai Namco revealed Eddy months in advance, showing number two off in late April and launching them in June or July isn’t far fetched at all.
Plus, there’s a wider balance update coming to the game in May, so perhaps we’ll be hearing more about it this weekend too.
Arc System Works already teased the last DLC character for Guilty Gear Strive Season 3 at the end of the Arc World Tour Finals last month, and with a scheduled release set for May, Evo Japan is the perfect time to pull back the curtain.
The prior teaser pretty much all but seemed to confirm their identity is the fan-favorite Slayer, so everyone would be extra happy to see him on the big screen at the event too.
With Season 4 already confirmed in production, there is a chance we’ll see a teaser for what’s coming in the next chapter of Strive, but that’s more likely to show up at Evo Las Vegas this Summer.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is set to have its first public demo available at Evo Japan this weekend, which would also make it a prime venue to show off more of the anticipated Garou sequel.
Since it’s slated to launch in early 2025 and we’ve only seen five fighters in action so far, a new announcement or two to keep the hype levels up is looking pretty darn likely.
The better question at this point honestly is whether or not KOF15 is essentially done or if it’s receiving another season of support from SNK.
If there is a Season 3 on the way for KOF, Evo Japan’s probably the best place to show that off too.
Similar to Guilty Gear, Granblue has their next DLC character coming in May as well with Beatrix.
Though Cygames has shown a few teasers of her, a full gameplay trailer is still in order and more than likely coming at Evo Japan.
There’s still two more unannounced characters for the season pass, however, so perhaps we’ll get a glimpse at them there or wait until Evo proper.
There had been many questions surrounding Hunter X Hunter: Nen X Impact since its initial tease, but now we know it’s a traditional fighting game — and that it’s going to be playable at Evo Japan.
At the very least, this will be the first time the public has seen gameplay for Hunter X Hunter fighter, so that’ll be new.
Whether or not we get more character reveals or a release date is a big question mark, however, though still fairly likely.
According to a prominent Sega leaker, a brand new Virtua Fighter game is currently in development and is said to be revealed sometime in 2024.
With how much VF’s community is focused specifically in its native country, an Evo Japan reveal would make sense though we’re not entirely sold on it being present yet since Sega made no mention of the pioneer 3D fighting series among its upcoming classic revivals just a few months ago.
If Virtua Fighter doesn’t make an appearance, then keep an eye on Evo Las Vegas and Tokyo Game Show 2024 for other likely places we could see the return of Akira and crew.
Up until this point, Riot Games haven’t really been big on making reveals at fighting game events themselves for 2XKO (formerly Project L), so even though there’s going to be a demo at Evo Japan, we’re not exactly holding our breath for any big news.
That’s especially so because they already gave us an Illaoi trailer earlier this week ahead of the tournament.
Since the League of Legends spin-off is planned to release in 2025 and there’s still so little we’ve seen of it to this point, however, Riot’s going to need to get the ball rolling soon for more information, so we’re not writing it off entirely.
Finally, we’ve got Under Night In-Birth II, which is a mainstage game and does have DLC on the way, but we’re still fairly doubtful they’re going to have much to show of it.
That’s mostly because Uzuki isn’t planned to release as the first Season Pass character for UNI2 until all the way in August, so that could be a upwards of a four-month wait.
With UNI2 also being a main title at Evo Las Vegas, July is looking like the most probable place to witness Uzuki in action.
That should sum everything up for what’s likely coming at Evo Japan 2024 within the coming days, so let us know what you’re looking forward to in terms of tournaments and reveals for the FGC.