More electrifying than a Mishima’s Electric Wind God Fist.
The Filipino Fighting Game Community converged at the SMX Convention Center for the biggest fighting game event in the country. After a bombastic return last year, REV Major 2023 promised to Do It Again and is bringing hype back to the Philippine FGC.
The two-day event was smaller than the previous year but was still packed with fighting game fans and competitors. Day one was all business though as the pools for all of REV Major’s tournaments were running around the clock. All games had to go down to their top eight by the end of the day, bringing up the tension as spectators watched to see if their favorite player would make it out or drown in pools.
Of course, REV Major is more than just a tournament. Across the event floor were booths and side events to entertain fighting game players and beyond. Bystanders can try their luck at the minigames set up by gaming partners such as Globe, Samsung, or Republic of Gamers, browse the artist alley for cool merch, or just chill at Tito Steef’s free play arcade.
Day two would open up the tournament area for casual play, giving everyone a spot to play their favorite fighting games for free and maybe even meet their fighting game idols.
Battles on the Big Stage
The main event however was right next to the free play area. The crowd was ready as it was top eight to grand finals the whole day on the mains stage. It’s here where we would see who would be crowned the 2023 REV Major champion for their respective fighting game.
The power and passion of the Filipino FGC really come to light in these moments. No matter the game or player, we all cheer on as players give it their all on the big stage. You could hear it from the crowd’s visceral reaction to a counter hit in Guilty Gear Strive and to their chanting along to the character intros in Street Fighter 6.
GG Strive and SF6 also had ample support from the crowd as both still had Pinoys duking it out. Even the notorious Ryan “Filipino Champ” Ramirez had the crowd behind his back as he almost made it to the SF6 grand finals. Unfortunately, he fell short of Singapore’s Nicholas “Seo” Choo Yuan in a nail-biter losers finals.
At the end of the day, the Philippines is still a Tekken country. No other fighting game will draw a bigger crowd or louder cheers, even when their top eight were mostly Koreans. Tekken has always been the highlight of REV Major and it always comes together, from the casters to the fans, to bring the most hype fighting game event in the Philippines.
Banner image from REV Major on Twitter.
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