Ready for the Next Challengers: Rev Major 2019 Recap

When you hear Rev Major, you’ll likely think it’s exclusively just a fighting game event – but Rev Major 2019 proves it’s not the case. While this event remains predominantly a gathering for the fighting game (FG) community, anyone would easily get absorbed in the hype. 

And what better way to recap such a massive event than to highlight the big names that attended Rev Major? If you’ve ever been to this year’s Rev Major, you’ll know this video game event is always a blast. You had to be there. Why? Well, here’s a quick recap of Rev Major 2019!

Rev Major 2019: Make Way For Giants

The best part of this year’s Rev Major? It’s not just the many tournaments and matches. And it’s not just the many fighting game enthusiasts you’ll meet. It’s who folks from Playbook brought to grace Philippine soil. Here are the some of the big names: 

• Katsuhiro Harada, the producer and director of Tekken, himself finally comes to the Philippines. Harada, also Bandai Namco’s General Manager, found himself in the presence of arguably one of the most passionate Tekken communities in the world. Harada, also the leader of Bandai Namco’s eSports Division, got welcomed by the country’s top players.

• Michael Murray, Tekken‘s current lead game producer and designer, also accompanied Harada. Hopefully, their presence will help Soul Calibur VI get a boost in the arm in terms of Bandai eSports as well. Regardless, we can have fun in the Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour Tenkaichi Event. 
• Daigo Umehara, “The Beast” himself, served as a special guest at this year’s Rev Major! Regardless of all the fun he’s had this year, he deserved the exciting welcome from his Filipino fans after a well-fought 17th Place at the ASIA Premiere 2019 at this year’s Tokyo Game Show. 
• Richard Suwonoo, popular Indonesian artist, also graced Rev Major 2019. He’s well-known for his fighting game-related art, and he’s attended the event with a ton of new offerings! Some of his new merchandise included Armor King and Leroy Smith shirts. Did we mention he’s also designed Rev Major 2019‘s official merchandise? 

An Event For Fighters

With the prestige even higher this year, it’s no surprise that it would draw skilled fighters!

Spotted at the event were past Tekken World Tour champions Rangchu and Qudans, himself a long-time legend in Tekken circles! Also spotted were past Evo Tekken champs Knee, JDCR, Nobi, Saint, Arslan Ash, and of course, LowHigh!

Fate | Ulsan returned to Rev Major this year, not content with his Second Place finish at Rev Major 2018. Not only that, Cherryberrymango and RPG | Rockets also geared up to gather some points for Tekken World Tour this year.

In particular, Team UYU had strong presence in this year’s Rev Major:

• UYU | Lowhigh, currently holding Number 5 place in the world, tried to #DoItAgain this year for the gold. As EVO 2018’s winner, he was going to be a tough nut to crack, eventually managing to be Rev Major 2019‘s Tekken Champion!

• UYU | Jeondding won’t let Lowhigh roll over him either, as he’s been hot on his heels.
• UYU | Yuyu rounded out Team UYU this year. Her fury in the arena is a force to be reckoned with.

Yuyu won’t be the only female pro-gamer attending Rev Major 2019 from Japan. Alongside her were:

• Cyclops | Tanukana and Mimi, both formidable opponents in their own right. Yuyu, alongside this duo, faced against each other in Tokyo Game Show (TGS) 2019‘s Star Gamers Community Festival Girls-Only Battle Vol. 3.

Other strong fighters also graced Rev Major 2019‘s stage, including:

• Yamase | Nobi, fresh from TGS 2019‘s Tekken Pro Championships Japan Representative Decided Battle 2019. As we can recall, this tournament also brought together 11 of the best Tekken 7 players in the Philippines to compete for a spot at the 11th eSports World Championship. 
• ROX Dragons | Knee and Chanel competed against Nobi this Rev Major 2019. They were formidable opponents, considering they sparred with him at  TGS 2019‘s YAMADA Cup eSports Special event. 

FGC Stars Represent

Our local representation wasn’t lacking either! We had local stars AK, Doujin, and Vermilion stepping up on the main stage and in side tournaments.

(AK and Doujin taking the championship in the 2v2 Tekken Side Tournament, by the way!)

But speaking of local players stepping up, Other highlights included: 

• Bren.Hapon dropping Jeondding: How about Bren.Hapon dropping Jeondding into Loser’s Bracket? In one of the many surprises at this year’s Rev Major, Hapon’s win reminded people that AK and Doujin aren’t the only competitors to watch out for. Later in the tournament, CAST_JSSN put down international guest Tanukana. Will we see a Filipino champion (shout out to FChamp, by the way, who was also at the event!) on international stages soon? Only time will tell!
• Retro Gaming Corner: For those of us who miss the games of our youth, Tito Steef’s Retro Arcade Booth was a welcome spot! Running all sorts of fighting games, from Rival Schools and Gundam vs Gundam, to King Of Fighters, Vampire Savior, and Super Smash Bros. Melee, #titogaming is alive and well!
• SonOfNobi: A fun little thing at Rev Major 2019 would probably be the face-off between local player SonOfNobi against his name’s inspiration in the pools. SonOfNobi lost the mirror match, but he did get a hug in the process. Nobi eventually went on to take second in the tournament, and called his fan on stage to wear the medal and take a bow with him! For fans like SonOfNobi, things like these are an example of what can happen at REV Major, and why you had to be there!
• Josiebee: A long-running joke in the local Tekken community has been Josiebee, what with Josie being the Philippine representative in-game, and the perpetual gag of Jollibee being the next DLC character. After last year’s “combo meals”, Rev took it up a notch with a mockup ad for Josiebee! 

See the Josiebee ad here on Harada-san’s Twitter:

Tournaments Galore

Here are some of the tournaments that happened during this year’s Rev Major:

• Rev Major 2019 Tekken 7 Master Event

One of the biggest yearly draws of Rev Major has been its Tekken competition. Fighting game fans will remember Rev being a stage on the Tekken World Tour. And this year, stakes were set even higher as Rev Major 2019 was made a Master Event. This means the competition will award the champion a massive 300-point boost for their standing. 

Congratulations again to UYU | LowHigh for a well-fought win!

• SoulCalibur VI

• King of Fighters

• Mortal Kombat X

• Samurai Showdown

• Smash Bros.

• Dragonball FighterZ

• Street Fighter V

Rev Major 2019: Technique And A Lot Of Fun

If there’s anything this year’s Rev Major proved, it’s that it’s really hard to get into fighting games. Nah, just kidding. Rev Major 2019 proves the fighting game community always unites under the banner of good sportsmanship, especially when it comes to their favorite fighting games.

And while a lot of exhibition matches and tournaments in Rev Major 2019 can overwhelm newcomers, the event proves it can be just as fun to cheer for participants from the sidelines. How was your Rev Major 2019 experience?