Evo 2024 is in the books, and this year's edition of the biggest event in fighting games brought plenty of incredible stories and competitive action. But the undeniable highlight of the weekend was a moment in a Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike tournament that's already being hailed as Evo Moment 38, instantly catapulting a player who was already legendary in the scene to a much more widespread audience.
That player goes by Hayao, and he instantly won the hearts of everyone watching the 3rd Strike Top Six with 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 also extremely endearing.
【EVO2024】!? pic.twitter.com/rIM5ftN5GoJuly 21, 2024
"HOW DID HE DO THAT?"Hayao wins the game and wins over the crowd.https://t.co/pRm0CRum2y | #Evo2024 pic.twitter.com/OBPy25GcBAJuly 21, 2024
Hayao the goat. pic.twitter.com/NtQGFNrHaKJuly 21, 2024
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 thread explaining all the nuance.
"WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?" #Evo2024 pic.twitter.com/FKlprooTFTJuly 21, 2024
The match instantly earned the moniker of Evo Moment 38, in reference to the legendary Evo 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.
I Was There pic.twitter.com/6b579MTWrnJuly 21, 2024
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 the best fighting games - and a lifetime of practice, naturally.
