Evo 2024 just brought us a new contender for the greatest moment in fighting game history, and the man who did it is already becoming a meme
Jul. 22, 2024Where were you when Hayao gifted us with Evo Moment 38?
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
That player goes by Hayao, and he instantly won the hearts of everyone watching the3rd Strike Top Sixwith his showmanship and impressive Hugo play. Hayao elected to forgo a chair for the tournament in favor of kneeling in front of his fight stick - or, in one case, literally flexing by doing a perfect split through character select. His celebratory dances were alsoextremelyendearing.
But the big moment everyone’s talking about came in the quarterfinal of the losers side of the double-elimination bracket. Here, opponent FrankieBFG’s Ken had brought Hayao’s Hugo down to a single pixel’s worth of health. FrankieBFG brought out a mid-air super that was sure to knock out Hayao, but Hayao countered with a series of perfect parries - defensive inputs that require absurdly precise timing to pull off. Hayao parried every single hit of that super move and came back to win the match. If you want a more detailed breakdown of what happened, there’s an excellent Twitter threadexplaining all the nuance.
The match instantly earned the moniker ofEvo Moment 38, in reference to the legendaryEvo Moment 37, where Street Fighter legend Daigo managed a very similar perfect set of parries against Chun Li’s multi-hit super attack. It’s worth noting that ol' Moment 37 had its number chosen arbitrarily, serving as a hint that it’s just one great Evo moment among many others, and the same is probably true of Moment 38 here. But a moment that brings this much joy to this many people? That’s something worth celebrating, regardless of where it ranks in fighting game history.
Hayao was eventually eliminated from the tournament, leaving MOV - the player who first sent him to the losers bracket - as the eventual winner. But there’s no doubt Hayao won the true prize of Evo: the collective hearts of the fighting game community.
Become the next Hayao with our list of thebest fighting games- and a lifetime of practice, naturally.
Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
Upcoming Hunter x Hunter anime fighting game unexpectedly banned in Australia, with no reason given for the decision
Sparking Zero is the best-selling Dragon Ball game ever released in the US and Bandai Namco’s biggest published title outside of Elden Ring and Dark Souls 3
“It’s impossible to not be cocky when you have a game like this”: It Takes Two’s Josef Fares is back and drumming up another Game Awards reveal
