Battle by the Bay explained

Battle by the Bay
Location:Sunnyvale and Folsom, California, United States
Tournament Format:Round-robin/Double elimination
Venues:Golfland Sunnyvale;GameRoom Folsom
Next:Evo 2002

B3: Battle by the Bay, the B4 Championships, and the B5 Championships were the first three instances of the open fighting game event that is now known as the annual Evolution Championship Series. B3 was created by Tom and Tony Cannon, Joey Cuellar, and Seth Killian, and was held in an arcade hall in Sunnyvale, California in 1996. B4 and B5 were held in Folsom, California in 2000 and 2001 respectively, and the tournament was renamed Evolution in 2002. The three tournaments were entirely focused on the Street Fighter and Capcom Versus video game franchises.

Though the Battle by the Bay mainly drew in competitors from the Street Fighter tournament scenes that had coalesced in various cities throughout the United States in the mid-1990s, the tournaments also attracted international challengers early on.

B3: Battle by the Bay

During the mid-1990s, a Street Fighter II tournament scene had coalesced in various cities across the United States. The Golfland arcade hall in Sunnyvale, California was one of the hottest spots for competition in the country, with rivalries happening among various player groups, in particular between Northern and Southern California players. Players were also finding each other and discussing strategies through the internet on message boards. The Battle by the Bay was conceived in order to quell debate over who was the best Street Fighter player in the country.[1] [2]

B3: Battle by the Bay was organized by Tom "inkblot" Cannon, Tony "Ponder" Cannon, Joey "MrWizard" Cuellar, and Seth "S-Kill" Killian, and held in the Golfland arcade hall in Sunnyvale, California in 1996. The tournament had 40 contenders mostly from the United States, though B3 also featured players from Canada and Kuwait. Tom Cannon noted that the international interest in B3 had a big impact on him. Luke Winkie of The Atlantic described B3 as "a snapshot of the brilliant optimism of esports during its earliest days," noting the significant black American presence in the young fighting game community, and therefore the racial diversity at the event.[3]

Alex Valle made his first major appearance at the Battle by the Bay, defeating John Choi in the Street Fighter Alpha 2 grand finals. To win the tournament, Valle revealed an unblockable combo he had discovered, which was dubbed the "Valle CC."[4]

Results

Super Street Fighter II Turbo[5]
PlacePlayerAliasCharacter(s)
1st Graham WolfeGWolfe
2nd Jason Nelsonxrolento
3rd Mike WatsonWatts
4th Alex ValleCaliPower
5th Alex WolfeA_wolfe
5th unknownFiras
7th Jason ColeAfroCole
7th Dave Finnie
Street Fighter Alpha 2
PlacePlayerAliasCharacter(s)
1st Alex ValleCaliPowerKen, Ryu, Sagat
2nd John ChoiChoiBoyKen
3rd Jason NelsonxrolentoCharlie, Ken, Sagat
4th Jeff SchaeferAkuma, Ken
5th Tony NgoRyu
5th Richard KovenChun-Li
7th Julien BeasleyZassSodom
7th Thao DuongKen

B4 Championships

The B4 Street Fighter Championships were held on July 15–16, 2000, in Folsom, California. Like B3 four years earlier, B4 featured a Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Street Fighter Alpha 2, but B4 also introduced several new Capcom fighting games to the roster: Street Fighter Alpha 3, , and .[6] The newly released Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was the first non-Street Fighter game to be included, which served as precedent for the tournament to branch out to other games. The Capcom Versus series has since had a large presence in the Battle of the Bay and Evolution Championship Series events.[7] [8]

The five winners of the Street Fighter Alpha 3 tournament at B4 were flown to Japan to partake in a 5v5 exhibition match between the top-ranking American and Japanese players. The lead up to this exhibition match was the subject of a documentary directed by Peter Kang, titled Bang the Machine.[9]

Results

Super Street Fighter II Turbo
PlacePlayerAliasCharacter(s)
1st Mike WatsonWattsBalrog, M. Bison, Ryu
2nd Alex ValleCaliPowerRyu, O. Sagat
3rd John ChoiChoiBoyRyu, O. Sagat
4th Jason de HerasShirtsO. Dhalsim
5th Jason ColeAfroColeO. Sagat, Dhalsim
5th Jason NelsonxrolentoBalrog, M. Bison
Street Fighter Alpha 2
PlacePlayerAliasCharacter(s)
1st Alex ValleCaliPower
2nd John ChoiChoiBoy
3rd Thao Duong
4th Jason WilsonDreamTR
Street Fighter Alpha 3
PlacePlayerAliasCharacter(s)
1st John ChoiChoiBoyV-Sakura
2nd Alex ValleCaliPowerV-Akuma, V-Sakura, X-Rolento
3rd Thao DuongA-Charlie, X-Dhalsim
4th Eddie LeeV-Karin, V-Sodom, V-Vega
5th Mike WatsonWattsV-Akuma
5th Jason ColeAfroColeA-Balrog, V-Dhalsim
PlacePlayerAliasCharacter(s)
1st Alex ValleCaliPowerChun-Li, Ryu
2nd Hsien ChanghsienAkuma, Yang
3rd John ChoiChoiBoyRyu
4th Eddie LeeChun-Li, Ibuki
5th Mike WatsonWattsChun-Li
5th Martin VegaUrien, Sean
7th Mike DevonishMike DIbuki
7th Jason WilsonDreamTRElena
Marvel vs. Capcom 2
PlacePlayerAliasCharacter(s)
1st Duc DoDucvader
2nd Alex ValleCaliPower
3rd J.R. GutierrezImage
4th Arturo SanchezSabin
5th Eddie Lee

B5 Championships

Held in August 2001 in Folsom, California, the B5 Championships was attended by a much larger international crowd, particularly from Japan. made its introduction in the tournament roster at B5, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was again a headliner of the event, being described by TechTV as "the hottest arcade fighting game of the season."[10] Justin Wong was only 15 years old when he traveled to B5 and won its Marvel vs. Capcom 2 tournament.[11] Tom Cannon later remembered 2001 as a difficult year for the fighting game community: while the tournament scene was growing in size, many arcades throughout the country were closing down. The tournament was rebranded as "Evolution" the next year, with a mission of preserving the arcade tournament scene. Joey Cuellar noted that naming further tournaments "B6" and "B7" would have seemed too confusing.[12]

Results

Marvel vs. Capcom 2
PlacePlayerAliasCharacter(s)
1st Justin WongJwongStorm/Sentinel/Cammy
2nd Duc DoDucvaderSpiral/Cable/Cyclops
3rd Jay SnyderViscantDoctor Doom/Storm/Sentinel
4th Mike DevonishMike DStorm/Cable/Cammy
5th unknownGolden NismorSpiral/Cable/Sentinel
5th Alex ValleCaliPowerMagneto/Storm/Psylocke
7th Rattana PhanthourathRattana
7th Peter RosasCombofiendMagneto/Cable/Cyclops
Super Street Fighter II Turbo
PlacePlayerAliasCharacter(s)
1st Jason ColeAfroColeDhalsim
2nd John ChoiChoiBoyO. Sagat, Ryu
3rd Alex ValleCaliPowerRyu
4th Mike WatsonWattsRyu, Balrog, Vega
5th Jason NelsonxrolentoM. Bison, Dhalsim
5th Jason GonzalesApocVega, Balrog
7th Bob PainterkuroppiE. Honda
7th Graham WolfeGWolfeBalrog, Vega
Street Fighter Alpha 3
PlacePlayerAliasCharacter(s)
1st Ryo YoshidaBASV-Akuma, V-Cody
2nd Tomo TaguchiChikyuuV-Rolento, V-Sodom, V-R. Mika
3rd John ChoiChoiBoyV-Sakura
4th Mike WatsonWattsV-Akuma
5th Alex ValleCaliPowerV-Akuma
5th unknownWhiteV-Sakura
7th Kuni FunadaKuniA-Zangief, V-Sodom
7th Ricki OrtizHel-o Kit-eISMsV-Sakura
Capcom vs. SNK
PlacePlayerAliasCharacter(s)
1st Tomo TaguchiChikyuuC-King, Sakura, Raiden
2nd Jason Nelsonxrolento(S) EX-Balrog, EX-Guile
3rd Jean-Francois LussierJFL
4th Ricki OrtizHel-o Kit-e

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Oral History of EVO: The Story of the World's Largest Fighting Game Tournament. USGamer. Learned. John. 2017-07-17.
  2. Web site: OPINION: The Past, Present, and Future of Evo Makes It Prime for Investment. The Esports Observer. Brathwate. Brandon. 2018-07-23.
  3. Web site: The Original Kings of Esports. The Atlantic. Winkie. Luke. 2021-05-05.
  4. Web site: Casuals: Alex Valle, the Veteran. Red Bull. Martin. Michael. 2016-01-21.
  5. Web site: Evo Tournament Results 1996-2011. Kuroppi. Painter. Bob. https://archive.today/20130127081309/http://www.kuroppi.com/tournamentresults/evo/. 2013-01-27.
  6. Web site: The History of EVO (Part 1): B3-EVO 2002. Destructoid. Virtua Kazama. 2015-07-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20150716195008/http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/Virtua+Kazama/the-history-of-evo-part-1-b3-evo-2002-295912.phtml. 2015-07-16.
  7. Web site: Evo Sidelined Marvel Vs. Capcom Players But They Killed It Anyway. Kotaku. Walker. Ian. 2018-08-04.
  8. Web site: Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 in Evolution Championship Series. The Quad. West Chester University. Park. Edward. 2020-02-17.
  9. Web site: How A Fighting Game Documentary Survived 9/11 And Became A Cult Favorite. https://web.archive.org/web/20170418034429/http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2017/04/16/how-a-fighting-game-documentary-survived-9-11-and-became-a-cult-favorite.aspx. dead. April 18, 2017. Game Informer. Vazquez. Suriel. 2017-04-16.
  10. Web site: B5 TechTV coverage. TechTV. 2001.
  11. Web site: The evolution of the world's largest fighting game tournament. ESPN. Smith. Wynton. 2016-07-12.
  12. Web site: The Oral History of EVO: The Story of the World's Largest Fighting Game Tournament. VG247. Learned. John. 2017-07-17.