EVO 2019 Lineup Revealed, Super Smash Bros Melee Not Included

The EVO 2019 lineup has been revealed and Super Smash Bros Melee is not included in it after years of being a fixture of the event.

In preparation for its beginning later this year, the EVO 2019 lineup has been revealed, and for the first time in a great many years, Super Smash Bros Melee has not been included among the nine games. EVO is the world’s premiere fighting tournament, and takes place on August 2 to August 4.

The current lineup for EVO 2019 includes Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition, Tekken 7, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Soul Calibur 6, Mortal Kombat 11, Samurai Shodown, and Under Night In-Birth. While many of these are EVO standards at this point, there’s a very conspicuous absence in the form of Super Smash Bros Melee.

The reason this is important because Super Smash Bros Melee has been a part of the EVO lineup for many years, and the EVO 2019 lineup tossing it out means that this is a big change not just for the fanbase, but EVO as a whole. EVO even posted a video to thank Melee and its fans for all of the support over the years.

This is a similar situation to last year’s EVO, where Marvel vs Capcom Infinite, part of another set of EVO fixtures, was left out of the roster due to its controversial reputation and a large number of criticisms by its fanbase.

At the same time though, this also means that a great deal of unsportsmanlike behavior will likely go out the window. Among the Super Smash Bros fanbase, Melee players are looked down upon for refusing to acknowledge any Super Smash Bros game beyond Melee, claiming that it’s the best Smash game…though everyone else knows that it’s full of advantageous glitches.

One of the best known examples is a Melee players who forgot to bring a personal controller to his matchup. The controller had a defect that allowed him to play better, and without it the Melee player refused to compete and forfeited the match. There have also been issues with Melee players smelling bad.

So, for good or ill, Super Smash Bros Melee not appearing in the EVO 2019 lineup will be a big breath of fresh air for the event. Once again, EVO will begin on August 2, and go until August 4.

Hunter is senior news writer at SegmentNext.com. He is a long time fan of strategy, RPG, and tabletop games. When he is not playing games, he likes to write about them.