But, let's move on to the event I was at last weekend: Evo 2014.
This was my third Evo I attended. Although I must admit, I've only watched Top 8 for The King of Fighters XIII the past years...Unfortunately I didn't enter this year, since I knew I was going to get my butt kicked yet again, along with the work grind I pulled the past months.
But ever since the Friday night where I got to spend time with friends, Elric and Carlo, it made me remember my love of King of Fighters. Work, dating, and school can do what it takes to make me occupied, but at the end, I realized it could never take my love of King of Fighters or fighting games away from me. It made me remember how much I would fangirl all the cool combos my friends would do and made me remember how crazy I was for the character, Mai Shiranui! Although I was so scrubby in general with the game, the one character I always saved for last was Mai as a way to redeem myself! I thought she was so cool, outgoing and sexy, so I always liked picking her in my teams. Getting to Neo Max Carlo with Mai was awesome...sorry Carlo!
As for Saturday, it was the King of Fighters-only day. I got to see a ton of cool matches and *gasp* met some other KOF ladies! It was definitely nice, but then I got pulled away for a wee bit since I had to watch my friend's art booth. But after she came back, I immediately dashed inside the main venue to get some nice seats for Top 8!
Overall, I'll be honest: It was okay. Maybe I'm bummed out I didn't see Woo's Mai in action, or that there was no intense Grand Finale when Xiaohai just slaughtered Tokido after Tokido restarted the bracket.
I think the most tragic part of Top 8 was after the tournament was over. As the announcers called everyone back to stage, it didn't feel as united as the other two years. After everyone from Top 8 got their medals...nothing really happened. There was an attempt to chant "K.O.F.!" and have all of the Top 8 players hold hands and lead, but it pretty much was a broken, low chant. It broke my heart a bit. Is that odd to say?
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| Dressed up like Chun-Li...watching KOF XIII Top 8. Wait, what?! Credit to: David Zhou |
I hope next year KOF XIII can at least have one more year at Evo...Otherwise SNK, please release KOF XIV!
