It’s been a while, but we’re finally returning to the international Tekken stage.
Manila Madness 2025 is shaping up to be the biggest one yet as they’ve recently announced that they’re now a Challenger event in the Tekken World Tour. The official Bandai Namco Esports X account revealed their inclusion in the tour last weekend, bringing the Philippines back into the fold.
Established back in 2022, Manila Madness was a relatively small local tournament organized by Australian Tekken commentator Yuven “Brownman” Vincent. Since then, it’s grown in both size and popularity and has even gotten the attention of international players. Just last year, we had heavy-hitters such as Lim “Ulsan” Soo-hoon and Jeong “Rangchu” Hyeon-ho coming over,r with Rangchu sweeping the tournament.
This is a big step for the event as Manila Madness 2025 brings the Philippines back into the TWT. The last TWT event held here was REV Major 2023, which ran into numerous problems and criticisms from the community. Since then, we’ve been absent from the TWT roadmap, and that absence has been sorely felt by fighting game fans in the country.
Ultimately, this is a huge win for the Filipino fighting game community. The Philippines has always been a Tekken country, and the fact that we can show that off again on the international stage is a boon for the community.
Now, the question is how Manila Madness 2025 is going to handle the new responsibilities of being a Challenger event. They’ve done a stellar job so far in growing their event so we’re confident they can pull this off.
Banner image from Brownman’s X.