Last weekend (14 – 15 July) was a loud and a lit one for Battle Arena Malaysia. Between button smashing and filthy comebacks, both local and international fighting game players fought their best in the esports battleground much to the delight of the cheering spectators.

https://www.facebook.com/kakuchopurei/videos/1495740853863658/

Whether you’re a casual fan of fighting games or an esports follower of said genre, there was plenty of hard-and-fast action to keep you satiated throughout the two-day FV x SEA Major Malaysia 2018 event, which was co-organised by Flash Vision and Eliphant.

Non-Stop Tournament Action

While there were quite a number of gaming tournaments held during the event, two prominent ones were the Capcom Pro Tour (Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition) and Tekken World Tour (Tekken 7) competitions. Many players across the Asian region had participated in said ‘Big Two’ for the opportunity to get ranking points.

Notable players in attendance include Haitani, Jeondding, OilKing, Take, Nobi, Xian and Gamerbee among others. There many local participants (#MalaysianPride) too such as IamChuan and NekoXX!

After a long series of blood sweat, tears and battles, Singapore’s Xian was SFV: Arcade Edition’s champion while Japan’s Take was crowned as Tekken 7’s winner!

Contra: Returns

Garena once again made their presence known by featuring three titles (Free Fire, Arena of Valor and the surprise unveiling of Contra: Return) in the FV x SEA Major Malaysia 2018 event. Team Omega (OMG) was the Free Fire: Royal Rush tournament, taking home RM4,000 and four ASUS Zenfone Max Pro (M1) smartphones while many participants won permanent skins in the AOV 1v1 Challenge.

Of course, the main star of all these was Contra: Return! Co-developed by Konami and Tencent Games, this Contra title in the form of a mobile game was actually released last year exclusively in China only. Now, Garena is bringing this title to our region with an expected release date later this year.

Event attendees were able to try out the still-in-development Contra: Return during the event and it’s a pretty encompassing title that features PvP, RPG elements (yup, the game will feature voice-overs too) and side-scrolling platform shenanigans that suit both casual and competitive mobile players.

Available for both Android and iOS, it won’t be a surprise to see Contra: Return esports tournaments in the near future. You can find out more info about Contra: Return in our recent article (and video below)!

https://www.facebook.com/kakuchopurei/videos/1495953100509100/

Fighting Games Everywhere

Aside from the aforementioned ‘Big Two’ titles, other featured tournament titles were Dragon Ball FighterZ, Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator, Injustice 2, Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite, King of Fighters XIV and Blazblue Cross Tag Battle. It was a good fighting game fest indeed. True to the genre, there was so much energy coming from the young and enthusiastic crowd.

At HyperX’s booth, attendees can try out the brand’s headphones while playing Dragon Ball Fighter Z and Tekken 7. So for anyone who hasn’t had a chance to play those titles, it was a golden opportunity to do so, which was exactly what I did shamelessly.

Thankfully, there were no pro players around when I lost some fights. *awkward laughter*

Strong Community Support

One of the best things about Malaysian esports regardless of genres and titles is the home crowd. They were a cheering bunch of loud & passionate fans and totally acted as an energy fuel for players to perform and play better.

FV x SEA Major Malaysia 2018 or any local esports event would not be a success if not for the turnout of supporters united by the love of video games! And yes, the fighting game community is one of the best local gaming communities!

Pizza Time

Thanks to Domino’s Pizza, everyone’s teatime food on Sunday was a variety of pizza choices! Amazingly, everyone actually sorted themselves into an orderly line to get those yummy pizza slices. Food sure is a great motivator for good behaviour, eh?

Overall, FV x SEA Major Malaysia 2018 was awesome and let’s hope we’ll get another round in the future! Scroll below to see the winners of each tournament (via EventHubs).

Street Fighter V

1. RZR|Xian (Ibuki)
2. FightClub|UD (Cammy)
3. FD|Haitani (Akuma)
4. CYG|GamerBee (Cammy)
5. Tse4 (Balrog, Chun-Li)
5. Mago (Cammy)
7. AB|StormKubo (Abigail)
7. VS|NekoXX (Cammy)
9. Rise|Marn (Ibuki, R. Mika)
9. UYU|OilKing (Rashid)

Tekken 7

1. Yamasa|Take (Kazumi)
2. UYU|Jeondding (Eddy, Lucky Chloe)
3. Ulsan (Kazumi, JACK-7)
4. Yamasa|Nobi (Steve, Dragunov)
5. Dee-On Grey (JACK-7)
5. AR|Book (Jin)
7. FATE|Bilal (Bryan)
7. HXI|Zaba (Paul)
9. SoG|Meat (King)
9. Loveneet (Josie, JACK-7)

Dragon Ball FighterZ

1. CGP|Alden (Adult Gohan, Cell, Kid Buu)
2. Coco Moom (Adult Gohan, Cell, Vegeta)
3. WG|Abegen (Nappa, Goku Black, Android 16)
4. Blackwell|E.T. (Bardock, Tien, Vegeta)
5. Inc|VGD (Android 16, Cell, Vegeta)
5. MagoGosora (Adult Gohan, Bardock, Goku)
7. Rise|Marn (Adult Gohan, Teen Gohan, Vegeta)
7. ArmorX (Bardock, Kid Buu, Goku Black)

KOF XIV

1. Blackwell|E.T. (Iori, Daimon, Clark)
2. Jhun (Shun’ei, Heidern, Iori)
3. BL2game (Iori, King, Vice)
4. Zephyr (Heidern, Leona, Mai)

Injustice 2

1. XD|RyanGabriel (Doctor Fate)
2. Mousetrap (The Flash, Green Lantern)
3. VS|Prototype (Black Manta)
4. VS|HentaiTail (Black Canary)

Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2

1. RenSato (Millia)
2. WG|Abegen (Potemkin)
3. ADMY|D.R. Fierce (Slayer)
4. PPM|0re0z (Potemkin)

BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle

1. WG|Abegen (Yang, Tager)
2. Asher (Ruby, Carmine | Ruby, Es)
3. Inc|VGD (Vatista, Waldstein)
4. Dinman (Tager, Kanji)

Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite

1. InC|VGD (Haggar, Dante)
2. InC|RoLLynX (Captain America, Dante)
3. InC|Pengoo (Ultron, Nova)
4. PPM|0re0z (Thor, Monster Hunter)

To watch the FV x SEA Major Malaysia 2018 tournaments, click here.

All Contra: Return booth and Free Fire-related photos are courtesy of Garena. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more action!