It was a full weekend of fighting game hype.
Combo Breaker recently concluded and as one of the biggest tournaments in the USA, it never disappoints.
From game shows, mystery games, and show matches, Combo Breaker 2023 had enough hype to get the Schaumburg, Illinois crowd roaring. We’ve picked out some highlights that really got us out of our seats and made some noise.
Will It Kill? Live!
Who would have thought that this fun little sideshow would become a full production attracting an audience of hundreds?
What really makes the show is fighting game commentator and Will It Kill host Stephen “Sajam” Lyon’s natural charisma with both a live and virtual crowd.
Street Fighter 5’s Last Hurrah
Combo Breaker 2023 was the last big fighting game event for Street Fighter 5 and boy did it have a great send-off.
Though he had too many close calls to count, David “JAK” Edwards managed to take it all and become the final Combo Breaker 2023 Street Fighter 5 champion.
Going The Full Distance in Guilty Gear Strive
Everyone loves a grand finals reset but Guilty Gear Strive went the extra mile.
Strive is unique in that its official tournaments play all their matches in a best-of-five instead of a best-of-three. This means that it’s possible for two players to play against each other 15 times in a Strive tournament. An unlikely outcome, considering how explosive Strive matches go, but that’s what we were treated to in Combo Breaker 2023.
Want to know who wins the tourney? You’ll have to watch the rest of the grand finals to find out!
The Hypest Tekken 8 Reveal
Tekken 7 is always a crowd-pleaser, especially when their grand finals had the two best Tekken players in the world squaring off against each other.
However, the real hype moment was the “surprise” reveal of the next Tekken 8 character, Bryan Fury.
For context, the character reveal was actually accidentally released online a day before. Still, it’s nice to see the crowd play along and be excited for the return of a Tekken mainstay.
Banner photo from Combo Breaker on Twitter.
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