Street Fighter V and MultiVersus made for a thrilling EVO finale

Evolution Championship Series / Sony Interactive Entertainment

The weekend was filled with some of the most fun I have ever had watching video gaming. Despite still being in open alpha, MultiVersus made itsEVO debut, some new games were teased or announced, and the gaming community came together to witness an incredible Street Fighter V grand finals.

I watched Skullgirls 2nd encore. I didn't know that the game was a quirky fighting game with a rocky development history. They are a treat to watch and I only watched because SonicFox was in the competition. The tournaments are fun to watch. Jon "dekillsage" Coello was a teammate of Sonic Fox's Skullgirls.

SonicFox defeated dekillsage in the winners final of the double elimination brackets and then proceeded to eliminate the other team in the loser's section. After beating SonicFox in the grand finals, dekillsage had to play another game to decide the winner. SonicFox hugged his friend and teammate after defeating dekillsage in a very well fought match.

The excitement spilled into the commentator's booth as well. Have you ever watched a commentator who was so excited for the reveal of a new Skullgirls character throw their wig? Is that not true?

Now you have?

New content for their franchises was announced by developers whose games were featured at the event. SNK Playmore said that a new Fatal Frame had been approved after 20 years.

There was a suggestion to tune into the global finals of the Tekken World Tournament to learn more.

The final tournament of the event was Street Fighter V. It is part of the beauty of the tournament that it is an international one. Each game has a country that dominates the leaderboard and players from all over the world compete. Skullgirls was an event in the United States. The Dragon Ball FighterZ and Street Fighter V brackets were almost entirely French.

It's a little gauche, bordering on violent jingoism, to have pride in one's country, especially as a black American, but in competitive sports. One of the two Americans left in the Street Fighter V tournament has been entered.

iDom defeated Mister Crimson in the first round of the tournament. Daigo Umehara was a legend in the Street Fighter community. 25 is old in competitive gaming. Umehara has been playing Street Fighter for more than two decades. When he beat Justin Wong in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, he made his place in video game history, even if most casual video game fans don't know it.

I tore through him as though he was wet tissue paper. The Street Fighter V tournament featured Hajime "Tokido" Taniguchi, a Japanese fighting game community leader. He also fell to IDom. An American has not won a Street Fighter tournament since 2010 and it looked like iDom might be the one to do it. It was amazing to watch him fight. He was able to read and anticipate his opponent's moves in ways that can be described as precognition.

As he felled his opponents to reach the grand finals, he was completely focused on his craft and game. The gaming community came together, united in a single purpose, to give this man all our energy to win.

It reminds me of why gaming is so enjoyable. When a game is played at its highest level, losing our minds as a guy we don't know shows us what it looks like when a game is played at its lowest level. The sheer joy of being in a shared mindset is unparalleled. Even though iDom fell in a heartbreaking match, he became our American hero and no loss could take that away.

I don't have a lot of history with fighting games, but I do love the game. Excellent is the word. I can't wait to see EVO come back to Japan.