The lineup of games available at EVO 2020 has been revealed and the best selling fighting game of all time is not among them.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate burst onto the Nintendo Switch scene in late 2018 and has continued to dominate both in terms of sales charts and in the hearts and minds of gamers. Ultimate is an amazing culmination of Nintendo IP, mixed with awesome third party characters as well like Snake, Sonic, and Cloud. The series has become a love-letter to video games, and one of the most beloved titles in existence. So some may be surprised as to why it's not a part of the EVO online lineup.
Dragonball FighterZ, Tekken 7, and Street Fighter 5: Championship Edition are some of the highlights of the tournament, but Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which has become a fan-favorite game of EVO, will not be a part of the event. Many believe that the reason that the game will not be a part of EVO is because Ultimate has major online issues that fans have been complaining about for quite some time.
EVO is usually a physical event, where players compete in tournaments in person such as Japan in 2019 and Las Vegas in 2018. However, thanks to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic that has altered much of gaming, EVO is going online this year.
While the Nintendo Online service has improved some since launch, it still has a long way to go to compete with the likes of PSN and Xbox Live. And when it comes to a fast-paced and intense game like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players need as little input delay as possible with zero to no lag for a fair gameplay experience. No one likes online play to feel drastically different than the offline play.
In many ways, Ultimate changed fighting games for the better. No game has done crossovers better, it's opened doors to both casual fans and hardcore audiences, and the focus on both Nintendo and video game history is remarkable. But one of the absolute best things that Ultimate seemingly did for the genre is in the esports world. For so many viewers, the game became the most fun video game to watch, and it seemed like Smash Bros. would be a mainstay at EVO forever. But alas, thanks to the online failings the game will not be at EVO Online 2020. One can hope that once the dust settles on COVID-19 that Ultimate will be the frontrunner again for Ev0 2021. And maybe even more importantly, perhaps this will open Nintendo's eyes a bit and the Big N will work on improving its online.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available now for the Switch.