Celebrating its 25-year anniversary, one of the longest-running fighting game tournaments in the world is back in action from March 27 to 29 in Houston—with more than 1,200 players preparing to throw down at Texas Showdown 2026.
Touted as one of the largest fighting game tournaments in North America, Texas Showdown lives up to the “grassroots at its core” tagline in a number of ways, namely through boasting a massive roster of modern and classic titles on its main stage. Talk about doing things bigger while still catering to the players coming from around the world to compete.
This year, there are more than 25 official tournaments, including the biggest modern titles and dozens of additional games getting some love as part of the community roster.
Every Texas Showdown 2026 Tournament and how to watch
25 years ago, something started in Houston.
— TEXAS SHOWDOWN (@Texas_Showdown) February 12, 2026
Not just a tournament:
A proving ground.
A home for killers.
A family for the FGC.
Texas Showdown is 25 years deep and we're just getting started.
If you have a Texas Showdown story, drop it below.
Tag the person you used to room… pic.twitter.com/90NkU1xMtL
As we just mentioned, there are a total of 25 games listed as main titles for Texas Showdown 2026, to keep in line with the event’s 25th anniversary. This means the over 1,200 competitors will have a packed schedule, especially if you count side events that might draw some eyes, too.
Texas Showdown 2026 Tournament Lineup: 2XKO BlazBlue: Central Fiction Capcom vs. SNK 1 Capcom vs. SNK 2 DRAGON BALL FighterZ FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves GranBlue Fantasy Versus: Rising Guilty Gear AC +R Guilty Gear -Strive- Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 Killer Instinct THE KING OF FIGHTERS XV Marvel vs. Capcom 2 Mortal Kombat 1 SOULCALIBUR VI Street Fighter 6 Street Fighter Alpha 2 Street Fighter Alpha 3 Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Super Street Fighter II Turbo TEKKEN 8 Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Ultra Street Fighter IV UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys: Celes Vampire Savior Virtua Fighter 5 REVO
As is tradition at Texas Showdown, the event’s Ultra Street Fighter IV bracket is named the Brolylegs USF4 Memorial Tournament in honor of Mike "Brolylegs" Begum, who passed away in March 2024. The legendary FGC community member competed in plenty of major tournaments, especially around Texas, in spite of having Arthrogryposis.
You might not be able to watch every game’s full bracket, but most of them will be streamed across a number of channels throughout the weekend on both Twitch and YouTube. Thankfully, the Texas Showdown team has compiled a full schedule, which includes the start and end times for every game’s bracket and where you can find the broadcast, over on the event’s official website.
The most important channels to note are TX Showdown Live, Bifuteki, and FullBarEsports. These will be where you can watch some of the weekend’s brackets and the top eight for every featured title.
There is also a full list of community events available on the website too.
What to look out for at Texas Showdown 2026
It should go without saying that you won’t be able to catch all the action at Texas Showdown in a single weekend. However, there are a few key games that are going to have some exciting extra storylines going on, along with some that will happen immediately after the tournament ends.
Several of the top Street Fighter 6 players in the world will be attending Texas Showdown, which is one of the first big tournaments where the game’s latest patch and Alex will be legal to play following the DLC character’s March 17 release. Expect to see the likes of MenaRD, Brian_F, Stealth, and more show off some new strategies in what will be the tournament’s largest bracket.
Just like Street Fighter, FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves will also have a new fighter on its roster, with Blue Mary releasing just a day before the event. To celebrate, on top of having the character legal according to the tournament ruleset, Texas Showdown is also hosting a Blue Mary only side event that is free to enter for all attendees on March 28.
A new unique event has entered the ring for #TXS26!
— TEXAS SHOWDOWN (@Texas_Showdown) March 24, 2026
Since Blue Mary releases the day before our event, for Saturday we've decided to host a FREE Blue Mary-only tournament for ALL TXS attendees!
Details are below, we expect it to be hype as always: pic.twitter.com/En2tBBRyOy
Speaking of recent releases, TEKKEN 8 just received an emergency patch that many players have been begging for since the game’s third season of content began on March 16. This patch takes into account plenty of recent feedback, implementing critical bug fixes and updates to unintended behaviors that have been causing issues in the new season.
The TEKKEN team acknowledged in this patch that the newest update didn’t meet player expectations, and additional patches will be released as more improvements are made. For now, you can expect to see the newest changes to Tekken 8 at work in the bracket, with updates to Feng, Lidia, Heihachi, and more now available.
Just last weekend, the 2025-26 ARC World Tour Finals concluded, naming new world champions for Guilty Gear -Strive-, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, and UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys:Celes. All three of those games are featured on the Texas Showdown 2026 roster, along with plenty of classic Arc System Works titles. Though, only Guilty Gear -Strive- is going in with a ticking clock.
Texas Showdown will be one of the final major events where Guilty Gear -Strive- is played on the current version, with the massive Version 2.0 update and new DLC slated to drop on April 9. This includes a new battle mechanic called Counter Blitz being added, fresh balance adjustments, more costumes, a new stage, and the release of Jam Kuradoberi as the first fighter in the game’s fifth season of DLC.
Both Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising and UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys:Celes will also be getting a new character and update later this year, though those haven’t been given dates yet.
In addition, just because some of the other games might be older or running on existing patches, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t tune in!
2XKO released a new patch on March 10 that saw Ekko and Yasuo nerfed (among some other smaller changes), Vampire Savior is getting some extra love this year heading into a main stage appearance at Evo Japan 2026, and the hype for games like Guilty Gear Xrd or Marvel vs. Capcom can always electrify a venue.
