Electronic Dojo’s premier annual fighting games tournament is back for its 9th year. The VSFighting 2019 tournament will be held in Birmingham, UK, on July 20-21.
The tournament focuses on fighting games and started in 2010. In its inaugural tournament, there were four games: Super Street Fighter IV, Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. This increased to seven games by 2017 and in 2018 it was upped to eight games. As of 2018, Super Street Fighter II X is the only game that has been present every year.
VSFighting 2018 was also memorable as it marked the return of Daigo “The Beast” Umehara to the top spot in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition. For Super Street Fighter II X the champion was Justin “JWong” Wong.
Notable performances in the VSFighting Tournament include Gabriel “Real Menace” Lawal, who won the Tekken Tag Tournament 2 for the years 2014 (Devil Jin & Bob), 2015 (Devil Jin, Bob & Eddy, Lars), and 2016 (Devil Jin, Bob). Ryan “Prodigal Son” Hart has also recorded three championships, starting with Super Street Fighter IV in 2010, playing Sagat. In 2013 he won first place in both Tekken Tag Tournament 2, playing Kazuya and Leo, and Super Street Fighter II Turbo, playing Ryu.
For this year, the fighting games listed so far include Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, Tekken 7, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Mortal Kombat 11. A surprise inclusion for this year is Dead or Alive 6. As if to heighten the excitement, the VSFighting will be part of the Dead or Alive 6 World Championship.
The VSFighting 2019 event requires players to bring their own controller and bring their own headset. The general format is double elimination. If a game is part of a Tournament Circuit, then additional rules will be put in place. The Tekken 7 games, for instance, will follow the same rules as the Tekken World Tour.
Registration is open with Spectator Pass at £10S and Casuals Pass at £30, which allows pass holders to play casual games during the event.