| 2012 Evolution Championship Series | |
| Location: | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States |
| Start Date: | July 6 |
| End Date: | 8 |
| Tournament Format: | Double elimination |
| Venues: | Caesars Palace |
| Previous: | 2011 |
| Next: | 2013 |
The 2012 Evolution Championship Series (commonly referred to as Evo 2012 or EVO 2012) was a fighting game event held at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas on July 6–8. The event featured a major tournament for six fighting games, including and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, as well as various smaller-scale competitions.
Held in Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, Evo 2012 featured over 3,500 entrants among its six major tournaments. The tournaments held at Evo 2012 were livestreamed through the Twitch online video service.[1] A "Road to Evo" tournament series started in January 2012, in which competitors could earn seeding points for the main event.[2]
Six major tournaments were held at Evo 2012. The games played were:
Evo 2012 was the first event in the Championship Series to include a major King of Fighters tournament. The 2011 reboot of the Mortal Kombat series benefited from multiple balancing updates after its release, allowing the game to be popular among the fighting game community where earlier games in the series weren't. The Mortal Kombat tournament featured the second-largest prize pool at Evo 2012, after Street Fighter IV. Spin-off Street Fighter X Tekken, meanwhile, was unpopular among the fighting game community at the time. The game featured various bugs and unbalanced aspects.
The event also featured various smaller-scale competitions, such as an exclusive Super Street Fighter II Turbo tournament, and side tournaments for Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown and Skullgirls. Sony showcased a playable demo for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, while NetherRealm Studios revealed gameplay footage of at Evo 2012.[3]
While the recent release of Street Fighter x Tekken caused players to juggle between more familiar aspects of the characters and the game's more unusual features, the King of Fighters XIII tournament was praised by commentators for its high-level play, unexpected for such a new game. Meanwhile, Brenna Hillier of VG247 described the Mortal Kombat tournament at Evo 2012 as a "mixed bag", featuring plenty of unusual play styles.[4]
Though there was a lot of discussion regarding whether the character Phoenix in Marvel vs. Capcom is overpowered compared to other selectable characters in the game, competitor Filipino Champ won the tournament with the characters Magneto, Dormammu and Doctor Doom. The final match at Evo 2012 was the Street Fighter IV finals, in which Infiltration defeated GamerBee to claim the title.
| Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (Version 2012)[5] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Player | Alias | Character(s) | |
| 1st | Seon-woo Lee | WW.MCZ Infiltration | Akuma, Gouken | |
| 2nd | Bruce Hsiang | AVerMedia GamerBee | Adon | |
| 3rd |  Eduardo Pérez-Frangie | CVapor PR Balrog | Balrog | |
| 4th |  Zhuojun Zeng | eLivePro Qanba Xiaohai | Cammy | |
| 5th |  Daigo Umehara | MCZ Daigo Umehara | Ryu | |
| 5th |  Jonny Cheng | HumanBomb | Sakura | |
| 7th | Kevin Landon | BT Dieminion | Guile | |
| 7th | Chung-gon Lee | TH Poongko | Seth | |
| Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Player | Alias | Character(s) | |
| 1st | Ryan Ramirez | coL.CC Filipino Champ | Magneto/Dormammu/Doctor Doom, Magneto/Doctor Doom/Phoenix | |
| 2nd | Carlos Randay | LxG Infrit | Nova/Spencer/Sentinel | |
| 3rd | Christopher Gonzalez | FC NYChris G | Morrigan/Doctor Doom/Akuma, Wesker/Ryu/Hawkeye, Morrigan/Doctor Doom/Hawkeye | |
| 4th | Peter Rosas | coL.CC Combofiend | Nova/Spencer/Hawkeye, She-Hulk/Taskmaster/Spencer | |
| 5th |  César García | TA Frutsy | M.O.D.O.K./Captain America/Taskmaster | |
| 5th | Job Figueroa | Flocker | Zero/Vergil/Hawkeye, Zero/Vergil/Strider Hiryu | |
| 7th | Justin Wong | EG Justin Wong | Wolverine/Storm/Akuma, Spencer/Vergil/Frank West | |
| 7th | Jay Son | Y2J | Wolverine/Spencer/Magneto | |
| The King of Fighters XIII | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Player | Alias | Character(s) | |
| 1st | Kwang-noh Lee | CafeID MadKOF | Duo Lon, King, Kim, Chin | |
| 2nd | Armando Velázquez | IGL Bala | Billy, Iori, Shen, Takuma, Ralf, Clark, Benimaru | |
| 3rd | Min-su Shin | CafeID Verna | EX Iori, Duo Lon, Kim, Shen | |
| 4th | Pil-su Jun | CafeID Guts | Saiki, EX Iori, Vice, Shen, Mr Karate | |
| 5th | José Navarrete | vVv TC Romance | King, Benimaru, Yuri, Hwa | |
| 5th | Myung-gu Kang | CafeID Lacid | Ash, Kyo, Kim | |
| 7th | Reynald Tacsuan | AS Reynald | Mr Karate, Benimaru, Kim | |
| 7th | Yang Yao Ren | Yang Yao Ren | Mr Karate, Mature, Hwa | |
| Mortal Kombat | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Player | Alias | Character(s) | |
| 1st | Carl White | EMP KN Perfect Legend | Kung Lao | |
| 2nd | Emmanuel Brito | vVv NOS CD Jr. | Jax, Kabal, Rain | |
| 3rd | Brant McCaskill | Pig of the Hut | Kenshi, Mileena | |
| 4th | Malik Terry | IGL MIT | Johnny Cage, Reptile, Scorpion, Stryker | |
| 5th | Christian Quiles | CoCo ForeverKing | Sonya, Kung Lao, Kenshi | |
| 5th | Julian E. Escobar | EGP XBlades | Liu Kang | |
| 7th | Mario Sako | CoCo M2Dave | Freddy Krueger | |
| 7th | Elijah Williamson | EGP Tyrant | Jax | |
| Street Fighter X Tekken 2 vs. 2 Teams | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Team Name | Player | Alias | Character(s) | |
| 1st | Western Wolves | Seon-woo Lee Ryan Ahn | WW.MCZ Infiltration WW.MCZ Laugh | Rolento Ryu | |
| 2nd | FGTV | Eduardo Pérez-Frangie Ricki Ortiz | CVapor PR Balrog EG Ricky Ortiz | Ryu Rufus | |
| 3rd | Mad Catz/Razer | Hajime Taniguchi Keita Ai | MCZ Tokido RZR Fuudo | Chun Li Ryu | |
| 4th | Complexity Cross Counter | Peter Rosas Mike Ross | coL.CC Combofiend coL.CC Mike Ross | Julia Marduk | |
| 5th | TotalHeads | Joe Egami Chung-gon Lee | TH MOV TH Poongko | Ryu Kazuya | |
| 5th | Eternal Rivals/PxG | Richard Nguyen Darryl Lewis | ER MCZ Richard Nguyen PxG SnakeEyes | Law Zangief | |
| 7th | KazBon | Ryota Inoue Masato Takahashi | Kazunoko Bonchan | Raven Ken | |
| 7th | Algo Cacho |  Victor Duarte Rubén Ponce | Evil_Craa Sicario | Ryu Rolento | |
| Soulcalibur V | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Player | Alias | Character(s) | |
| 1st | Naoaki Yanagihara | Shining Decopon | Tira | |
| 2nd |  Jovian Chan | Shen Chan | Cervantes | |
| 3rd | Omar Mohammed | Something-Unique | Pyrrha | |
| 4th | Jonathan Vo | Woahhzz | α Patroklos | |
| 5th | Michio Irie | CRNA Ruka | Patroklos | |
| 5th | Sean Paquette | Xephukai | Astaroth, Patroklos | |
| 7th | Takeaki Takahata | Kamaage | Mitsurugi | |
| 7th | Moon-su Jang | CafeID Kura | Patroklos | |