Header image by @ Godsh0t



With summer coming up, many people are eager to see what will become of EVO, the biggest fighting game tournament in the world. It holds a special place in the FGC’s heart and is home to some of fighting games greatest moments. But beyond the main stage, there exists another event, one that deserves just as much of your attention. AnimEVO, the massive anime centric side event the runs alongside EVO has been going on for a few years now and has been growing every year. Its where fan favorite games like competitive Catherine get their time to shine.



I was lucky enough to speak with AnimEVO co-founder and TO Daryl Bunao about the event. But just as a reminder, Bunao isn’t the entirety of AnimEVO as it is a collective effort of TO’s, commentators, bracket runners, streamers and other important FGC members.

QC: So how did AnimEVO get started?

DB: For as long EVO has been around as the big fighting game tournament to compete at, there has been people running side tournaments. In the past, the lack of promotion leading up to EVO made it hard to gather more than 16-32 players for a side tournament.

In 2015, I talked with New York tournament organizer, Alan “St1ckbug” Bakes, in combining our resources and influence to promote side tournaments we planned on running that year. After teaming up with other trusted TOs, we settled on a solid eight-game lineup and it was very-well received.

QC: What is it about AnimEVO that draws so many people to sign up for side tournaments or host their own game?

DB: Every EVO lineup features approximately eight or nine games a year. On top of that, maybe two — or on the rare occasion three — anime games get that main stage spotlight.

I’ve noticed that fighting game players that specialize in anime fighters typically play a diverse range of games, rather than exclusively one game. AnimEVO brings that diverse range of games for attendees to play once they get bounced from their official EVO brackets.

Tatsunoko vs Capcom Ultimate All Stars/ AnimEVO Grand Final

QC: Side tournaments at major event are home to some weirder less orthodox titles, with games like Catherine and Windjammers which aren’t really fighting games (in the traditional sense) but were picked up and supported by the FGC. Do you think there’s a line of what titles could/couldnt run at tournaments? Like if someone wanted to set up a 1v1 DDR side tournament, would that be allowed?

DB: Funny that DDR was specifically mentioned. While AnimEVO isn’t going to outright say no, we are currently brainstorming the logistics of how to make a DDR tournament, or any other arcade music game tournament happen. We don’t know if there’s going to be a DDR cab at EVO provided by vendor like last year. We don’t know how to bring a DDR cab to the BYOC if we have to provide our own setup. There’s a lot to consider with these kind of cases.

As for games that AnimEVO will be unable to host, Final Fantasy Dissidia comes to mind. That game requires two teams of three to battle online. Gathering six total players in one place is incredibly difficult when each player may be double/triple booked for various tournaments. On top of that, getting a stable Internet connection for the matches is also out of our price range, with convention ethernet access costing more than $10,000 in Vegas. This is also why you’ll most likely never see an FPS or MOBA at AnimEVO.

QC: In 2019, UNIST made the leap from side tournament to full main stage title, is there a title you’ve seen at AnimEVO that you think would be a great fit for the main stage?

DB: There are so many AnimEVO games that have appeared in the official EVO lineup in past years: Guilty Gear series, BlazBlue series, even Melty Blood. Personally, I really like the idea of including a classic retro title to the EVO lineup like they’re attempting with Marvel vs. Capcom 2 this year. I’d like to see Guilty Gear AC+R or Blazblue Central Fiction make another appearance one year.

QC: One of my personal favorite parts of AnimEVO is discovering competitive scenes for games I didn’t realize had one. Is there any particular game at AnimEVO whose competitive scene surprised you?

DB: I’ve been playing fighting games for more than 15 years now, I’ve learned that as long as there is a versus mode in any game there’s going to be competition.

That said, the quality of that competition is what will surprise me. Watching the non-Japanese players hold their own during the years we ran Hokuto no Ken was a surprise to me. That game never came out in America and being a PS2-exclusive makes it difficult to even practice that game. I was definitely shook at how these players are still grinding these games 15 years later.

QC: Running a series of side-events at the biggest fighting game tournament in the world can’t be a cake walk. What do you think the biggest challenge of running AnimEVO is?

DB: Every year, the AnimEVO lineup gets bigger and bigger. Compared to our first year in 2015, I only had to work with about six people I already trusted to run eight games. Currently, there’s a revolving door of 20-30 TOs, streamers and other general staff members running nearly 30 games within a two-day period. The amount of organization of coordinating setups and tournament times is a day-long meeting process just to prepare. On the day of the event, our biggest problem are players who are double or even triple booked to compete during EVO or AnimEVO pools. That one missing person can very well hold up much of the bracket, leaving our TOs having the tough call to disqualify players out of the tournament.

QC: Do you ever participate in any of the side tournaments at AnimEVO?

DB: I have a personal code to never enter a game I’m running so I can efficiently run my brackets. That said, I haven’t entered an EVO Melty tournament since 2010. I try to find time to player my favorite AnimEVO games before/after tournaments because EVO may be the only time of the year I get to run sets with international players.

QC: So last year, AnimEVO featured a Kill la Kill IF which is an arena fighter, a genre filled with some of the most popular anime fighting games of all time. But at the same time, these games don’t really get the same kind of competitive spotlight as more traditional 2D fighters. Do you feel arena fighters are being underrepresented competitively or do they still lack core elements for mainstream competitive scenes?

DB: First off, there’s a couple of arena fighters I enjoy playing. The Gundam VS series is on the top of my list, mostly because the 2v2 format help bridge the tier gap among the various Gundam suits. Directly underneath that game is probably Naruto: Clash of Ninja series on Gamecube.

Unfortunately, I don’t believe many of these arena fighters were designed for a competitive audience. I got a lot of criticism for allowing all the busted infinites and glitches that were found in Kill La Kill IF on release. Thankfully most of it was addressed in a patch before EVO, but that game’s broken first impressions still lingered.

I was impressed at the ingenuity of the FGC to discover all that tech. I just wish that same level of testing was given to all of these arena fighters prior to a game’s release via an online beta test. For example, a lot of gameplay changes happened with Granblue Fantasy Versus since its first public beta. I think that game plays way better because of that.

QC: What do you feel the biggest appeal of AnimEVO is?

DB: I believe the biggest charm to AnimEVO is the eclectic lineup. Every year, I feel like we shock the Internet by including a super niche game unknown by even the most hardcore fighting game fan.

From a competitive standpoint, AnimEVO has done a great job at preserving the competitive spirit of older games you don’t tend to see at many majors nowadays.

QC: Lastly, is there anything you’d like to say to the readers?

DB: Three things:

Given the current COVID-19 situation, the AnimEVO team is constantly meeting to prepare how to handle this year packed with uncertainties. We are under the assumption that EVO will still happen and are planning accordingly.

I’d like to thank everyone who looks forward to AnimEVO every year. We’re still a small grassroots operation within EVO. I’m also appreciative of EVO staff working with us over the years to help elevate our games to a larger audience.

Lastly a reminder, I’m not entirely AnimEVO. AnimEVO is a collective of TOs, bracket runners, streamers, etc. Please thank your local tournament organizers and streamers for the hard work and passion they put into any event