Marvel vs. Capcom is a series of crossover fighting games developed and published by Capcom, featuring characters from their own video game franchises and comic book series published by Marvel Comics. The series originated as coin-operated arcade games, though later releases would be specifically developed for home consoles, handhelds, and personal computers.
Super Smash Bros. is a series of crossover fighting video games published by Nintendo, and primarily features characters from various franchises of theirs. The series was created by Masahiro Sakurai, who has directed every game in the series. The gameplay objective differs from that of traditional fighters in that the aim is to knock opponents off the stage instead of depleting life bars.
Dignitas is a professional esports team based in the United Kingdom, founded by Michael "ODEE" O'Dell on 9 September 2003 when Battlefield 1942 clans Legion Condor and Sweden Kompanix merged. Team Dignitas was acquired by the Philadelphia 76ers in September 2016. The team has a rich history across many different esports, but is best known for its former League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squads.
The fighting game series Super Smash Bros. from Nintendo, launched in 1999, features an assortment of video game characters from different franchises. There are 78 characters playable across the series, most primarily from Nintendo franchises, but also some from Konami, Sega, Capcom, Bandai Namco, and Square Enix. There are also other non-playable characters that take the form of enemies, bosses, and power-ups.
The Evolution Championship Series, commonly known as Evo, is an annual esports event that focuses exclusively on fighting games. The tournaments are completely open and use the double elimination format. As with Super Battle Opera, contestants travel from all over the world to participate, most notably from Japan. The first Evolution was originally held as a Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Street Fighter Alpha 2 tournament called the Battle by the Bay. It changed its name to Evo in 2002. Every successive tournament has seen an increase of attendees. It has been held at various venues across the Las Vegas Valley since 2005.
Jason Sheldon Zimmerman, known by his gamertag Mew2King, commonly shortened to M2K, is an American professional Super Smash Bros. player. He has won more than 70 tournaments during his career, primarily in Super Smash Bros. Melee. He is one of the "Five Gods" of Melee, along with Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma, Adam "Armada" Lindgren, Kevin "PPMD" Nanney, and Joseph "Mang0" Marquez and is also one of the most accomplished Super Smash Bros. Brawl players. He is also a skilled player of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Project M.
Apex was an annual esports tournament held in New Jersey that focused on fighting games, specifically Super Smash Bros. The event's first incarnation was in 2009 with Jesus "Jman" Fernandez as the champion of Super Smash Bros. Melee and Elliot "Ally" Carroza-Oyarce as champion of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Each year the event grew with more competitors entering. Apex 2014 garnered 629 entrants and was the 2nd largest tournament for Melee at the time after EVO 2013. Though the tournament initially focused on Brawl, the feature game has since switched to Melee due to its popularity. In 2010, an event for Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64 was added. In 2014, the fan modification of Brawl, Project M was added for singles only. Project M has recently been removed as an official event out copyright concerns under Nintendo of America sponsorship and Third Party relations.
Kevin Nanney, also known by his gamer tag of PPMD and formerly known as Dr. PeePee, is an American professional Super Smash Bros. Melee player who plays for Evil Geniuses. Although currently inactive due to health issues, Nanney is considered one of the dominant "Five Gods" of Melee, the others being Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman, Joseph "Mango" Marquez, Adam "Armada" Lindgren, and Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma. He is a two-time champion of Apex and was ranked in the top six in the world in 2013, 2014, and 2015. Nanney uses Falco and Marth and is known for his intelligent and patient playstyle.
William Peter Hjelte, better known as Leffen, is a Swedish professional gamer who competes in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Dragon Ball FighterZ and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In Melee, he plays as the character Fox, and is considered one of the best players in the world, finishing in the top six in formal rankings in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Hjelte is the first of two players to have beaten each of the "Five Gods" — Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma, Joseph "Mango" Marquez, Adam "Armada" Lindgren, Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman, and Kevin "PPMD" Nanney — in a tournament set and was also the first person outside the "Five Gods" to win a major tournament since 2010 when he did so in 2015. He won Evo 2018. He is sponsored by Team SoloMid.
Echo Fox is a professional esports organization with teams in League of Legends, Call of Duty: WWII, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Street Fighter V, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U,Gears of War 4,Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Mortal Kombat X, Tekken 7, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Injustice 2, H1Z1, and Vainglory. The organization was founded after Rick Fox bought the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) spot of Gravity Gaming for around US$1 million. The organization expanded into Counter-Strike: Global Offensive by signing a team called Torqued on January 26, 2016. Jared Jeffries joined as president of the team in 2017.
The 2016 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on July 15–17. Being hosted on the twentieth anniversary of the Evolution Championship Series, the event offered tournaments for various video games, including Street Fighter V, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Pokkén Tournament. Participation reached record-breaking numbers, with over 5,000 people registering for the Street Fighter competition alone. 2016 was the first time the Evo Grand Finals were held in an arena and were broadcast by ESPN2 in addition to Twitch.tv.
The 2015 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on July 17–19. The event featured a major tournament for nine fighting games, including the largest Super Smash Bros. tournament up to that point and a highly popular Ultra Street Fighter IV tournament. The Street Fighter IV tournament was won by Yusuke Momochi, defeating GamerBee in the Grand Finals.
Community Effort Orlando is an annual fighting game event held in Orlando, Florida. Introduced in 2010 and organized by Alex Jebailey, the event is known for its strong ties to the fighting game community. Fighting game players compete in a wrestling ring during the event's tournaments, and CEO has been a mainstay of the Capcom Pro Tour since its establishment in 2014. An annual side-event titled CEOtaku was initiated in 2015.
The 2014 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in at Westgate Las Vegas on July 11–13. The event featured a major tournament for eight fighting games, including Ultra Street Fighter IV and BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma. The event was part of the first Capcom Pro Tour and its Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament was unexpectedly sponsored by Nintendo.
The 2013 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held at Paris Las Vegas on July 12–14. The event featured a major tournament for nine fighting games, including Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition and Injustice: Gods Among Us. The event's Super Smash Bros. Melee livestream was controversially blocked by Nintendo of America, though the company decided to allow the tournament to be streamed after being faced with community backlash.
Hajime Taniguchi, better known as Tokido, is a Japanese fighting game player. Active in the King of Fighters and Street Fighter franchises, Tokido has a unique play style. Tokido is renowned for playing multiple fighting games on a competitive level in addition to Street Fighter, including Tekken, Marvel vs Capcom 3, BlazBlue, and more. Tokido is a three-time EVO champion, having won Capcom vs. SNK 2 in 2002 as well as winning Super Street Fighter II Turbo in 2007 and Street Fighter V ten years later. Tokido has had 19+ Evolution top 8 finishes in 9 different games across 15 years, a feat surpassed only by Justin Wong.
Canada Cup 2016 was a fighting game event that took place in Toronto, Canada on October 28-30. The seventh incarnation of the Canada Cup hosted 14 tournaments: games that were played at the event ranged from Street Fighter II Turbo to The King of Fighters XIV. The Street Fighter V tournament held at Canada Cup 2016 was the last Premier Event of the 2016 Capcom Pro Tour: its champion NuckleDu automatically qualified to compete in the 2016 Capcom Cup.
The 2017 Evolution Championship Series, commonly referred to as Evo 2017, was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on July 14–16 that was part of the long-running Evolution Championship Series. The event offered tournaments for various fighting games, such as Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Injustice 2. Over 10,000 people registered for the event with Tekken 7 receiving double the number of players from the previous year.
The 2018 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on August 3rd to 5th as part of the long-running Evolution Championship Series. The event offered tournaments for various video games, including Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Dragon Ball FighterZ. Over 10,000 people registered for the event with Dragon Ball FighterZ receiving the most entrants.
