The seventh iteration of Evo Japan is now in the books, with 12 new champions being crowned as the fighting game community came together to compete across generations of titles in a record breaking event. Street Fighter 6 breaks FGC record.
While Evo Japan 2026 set a new record for the international event series with 10,231 total players signing up to compete in Tokyo, Street Fighter 6 made fighting game history on its own.
With 7,168 entrants, this event was officially recognized by GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS as the largest tournament for a single fighting videogame in history, surpassing Evo Las Vegas’ previous record of 7,083 players in 2023 when SF6 made its Evo debut.
This year, ZETA DIVISION’s Yamaguchi defeated former Evo champion Punk 3-1 to take home the title and keep the Evo Japan trophy in Japan for the first time in SF6. He went undefeated through the record breaking bracket, finishing at 13-0 with some incredible Mai gameplay.
If you want a full recap of Yamaguchi’s historic rise to the top of the FGC, and what it means for the legacy of SF legend Momochi, you can read about that here:
https://evo.gg/news/yamaguchi-takes-biggest-street-fighter-tournament-ever-at-evo-japan-2026
As for usage, we saw Mai and JP dominate in the current patch, both seeing 18 players piloting them in some fashion in the top 256. Kimberly was used by 15 players, while Akuma and Chun-Li rounded out the top five at 14 and 13 players respectively.
Dethroning a king in TEKKEN 8
While it didn’t have nearly the player turnout, TEKKEN 8 still had a stacked weekend ending in a rising star having their breakout performance on one of the game’s biggest stages.
By the time TEKKEN 8’s bracket settled into its second day, it wasn’t just weighty names like Arslan Ash, ATIF, or LowHigh that were drawing the most attention. Sure, they were still competing, but as a 72 seed, iKARi was the one to watch, as he took out Mangja, Zeugal, and Evo Japan 2024 champion chikurin to complete an undefeated run into the top eight.
From there, iKARi took out ULSAN and Hafiz Tanveer to clear his path to a top finish, only to be met with one of the best to ever pick up the sticks and reigning Evo Japan champion, Knee.
Knee’s path to a potential repeat took a very different route compared to his 2025 run, dropping into the lower bracket just before top eight, though he would end up getting his runback against Hafiz in the loser's finals, sweeping him 3-0.
Despite a dominant run to reach the finals, iKARi met a wall in Knee’s Bryan, losing the first meeting 1-3 as the more experienced player reset the bracket, only to compose himself and flip the series on its head immediately after the dust settled. In a near mirror of the first set, iKARi took a 2-0 lead over Knee, forcing a surprising response out of the legend in the form of a character swap to Heihachi.
The clash between father and son went the elder Misima’s way initially, largely thanks to Knee’s ability to control the momentum in that round, but Kazuya reigned supreme in the end, leading to a new champion being crowned.
No repeats in Guilty Gear Strive
Guilty Gear Strive was yet another game where multiple previous champions had the chance to defend their title, though none could stand up to Tyurara’s father/son duo as he finally claimed an Evo title for himself after years of nearly reaching the summit.
Splitting time between Sin and Ky, Tyurara worked his way through a stacked Strive bracket, though he was only pushed to the brink in a single round after clearing pools—that being in the semifinals against doram’s Unika. The post-2.0 hits kept coming as her faced down komekome’s Asuka in the winner’s finals, sweeping him to move on and set up another title defense match against the eternal Daru_I-No.
“Evo has always been something I admired, but I thought it was a tournament that felt out of reach,” Tyurara said to Saiga NAK after his win. “In this game, [Guilty Gear Strive,] I kept getting close enough to have a shot at a title—close enough to be just within reach, but always just out of my grasp—and I’d been on the podium for four years in a row. But this time, I was truly happy to finally win a championship in my fifth year.”
Hikari doubles up on hardware in 2XKO
In one of its first major tournament appearances since launching in full, 2XKO pulled some of the biggest names from across the fighting game community to compete for the game’s first Evo title. And, at the end of a 400 player, plus a few extra for those playing as duos, Hikari walked away with another first-place medal.
As arguably the best Dragon Ball FighterZ player in the game’s history, with his recent victory at the Masters Showdown potentially cementing that legacy, Hikari traded in his usual fusions for fuses after taking home the Evo France 2025 title. Heading into Evo Japan, he had already bested the duo of SonicFox and INZEM at LVL UP EXPO, avenging his loss from Frosty Faustings two months prior, and carried over that momentum.
Through his run, he went a perfect 9-0, dropping just two games overall. In the top eight, all of his wins came against familiar rivals from DBFZ, as he took down Yasha, Wawa, and Supernoon (twice) to claim his third Evo title, joining an elite group who have managed to do so in multiple games, using the duo of Akali and Ahri.
“I was studying everybody and with the new champion (Akali,) I feel like I had an edge because she is very new and not everybody is comfortable with the matchup. I just spent a lot of time on her, to be honest, on her routes. I fell like it just paid off a lot.” Hikari said. “I feel like I understand how to use a lot of team management on resources, health… and how team games work in general.”
The legend of Xiaohai grows in Fatal Fury
While most other games had narratives ending in new stories being born, the narrative of Evo Japan’s Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves bracket only added to the legend of Xiaohai.
He went 9-0 through the bracket, eventually beating fellow KoF stalwart and reigning SNK World Champion Laggia 3-0 in the finals. His most competitive round actually didn’t come against any established rivals, but rather a rising name in Kenta "mi2ha4" Ichihara, who burst onto the scene in 2025 and has been keeping pace with many of the other top players in CotW, during the semifinals.
With this win, Xiaohai is now a six-time Evo champion across Fatal Fury and King of Fighters titles, while also being a legendary Street Fighter player on top of those accomplishments.
Evo Japan 2026: All tournament results
While those narratives might stand out the most to anyone who didn’t get a chance to watch Evo Japan this year, there are still plenty of great matches to enjoy from the event. To that end, here is a compiled list of final results for all 12 games on the main lineup, with links to VODs for each top eight!
- Street Fighter 6: Yamaguchi 3-1 Punk
- Tekken 8: iKARi 3-1 (Reset) Knee
- Guilty Gear -Strive-: Tyurara 3-1 Daru_I-No
- Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising: Kasausagi 3-0 Zangief_Dream
- FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves: Xiaohai 3-0 Laggia
- 2XKO: Hikari 3-0 Supernoon
- Vampire Savior: Kaji 3-1 nakanishi
- THE KING OF FIGHTERS XV: M’ 3-0 (Reset) Lacid
- Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage: Virgo 3-0 (Reset) Yatsuki
- MELTY BLOOD: TYPE LUMINA: Yutta 3-1 (Reset) Moai
- UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys:Celes: Oushuu-Hittou 3-0 Chobi
- Hokuto no Ken: K.I 3-0 (Reset) Yuttori
Every major announcement from Evo Japan 2026
Outside of the tournament action, several developers showed off some new information about upcoming content for their games, including Tekken,
The biggest news of the bunch was Arc System Works showing off both Hulk and Black Panther for Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, opting for a very gladiatorial approach to the gamma giant and going with Shuri as this iteration of Wakanda’s protector.
SNK doubled up on announcements, revealing Mr. Karate as the next DLC fighter for City of the Wolves—with a slight twist that should be easy enough for fans of the series to pick up on. Additionally, a new balance patch is coming to King of Fighters XV this July, which will include changes for the game’s entire roster.
And, to pair with SNK’s announcements, Koei Tecmo confirmed that both Mai Shiranui and Kula Diamond will return for Dead or Alive 6: Last Round when it launches on June 24.
Bandai Namco showed off a full gameplay trailer for Kunimitsu, who will join the Tekken 8 roster on May 28.
Lastly, Type-Moon and French-Bread gave a pair of announcements for their projects.
Zorhar is coming to Under Night In-Birth 2 [Sys:celes] later this year, along with a balance patch. And Melty Blood: Type Lumina is getting a new look with the reveal of Melty Blood: Twi-Lumina, a new game which will release in early 2027 with new characters and “evolved” battle system.
