EVO is a staple of the fighting game community, a massive tournament and celebration of fighting games and fighting game culture, and this past weekend the Japanese held version of the event, EVO Japan, reached its conclusion. The tournaments themselves are celebrated and beloved as always, but the real draw of the event is, obviously, the trailers. People watch EVO half for the good gameplay and half for the teasers of upcoming content. Luckily, EVO Japan did not disappoint.

First up is the trailer for SNK’s Garou: City of the Wolves featuring Marco Rodrigues, formerly known by his hilarious name of Khushnood Butt, it looks like his localized name has been changed for the better since the 90s. Marco’s moveset is very reminiscent of SNK staple characters Ryo Sakazaki and Mr. Karate, since he practices the same martial art as them. SNK faithful will likely be more than happy to pick up Mr. Rodrigues, and Garou is honestly looking like the most promising fighting game release on the horizon.

Not to be outdone, Bandai Namco released the trailer for Tekken 8’s next season, promising patches (the first of which should be out soon) and new items in their, admittedly controversial, in-game shop. This trailer is topped off by the announcement of Lidia Sobieska as the next character in Tekken 8’s season 1 lineup. A surprising pick, Lidia was a newcomer in Tekken 7 who was popular initially due to her strong gameplay, but never really saw the light of day post-nerf. Time will tell if Lidia makes more of an impression this time around, and her reveal actually has some interesting implications to who will be featured on the rest of the season 1 DLC roster.

And finally, about a year in the making, Akuma has finally shown his face as well as his gameplay trailer to the world for Capcom’s Street Fighter 6. Street Fighter 6 has been a bit stale lately, so the addition of Akuma, as well as the season 2 patch that will come soon after him, really revitalized the live crowd at EVO Japan. Akuma has all the typical satsui no hado moves, Demon Flip and his infamous standing medium kick, all topped off with the most impressive Raging Demon animation ever seen in a Street Fighter game. A thousand deaths indeed.

Regardless of how you may feel about the current state of fighting games, it cannot be denied that current fighting games are at least trying. All these constant updates as well as new characters mean that, while things may seem a bit dark now, there is a great chance that things will improve in the future.