Local and international members of the fighting game community gather at SMX Convention Center Manila for the Philippines’ biggest Fighting game tournament of the year: REV Major 2023!
Held on Sept 30 – Oct 1, REV Major promised to #DoItAgain and bring the highest level of matches to the Philippine crowd, and that they did. Players from Asia and beyond flew in to join the action.
Japanese and Korean players dominated the games, winning 5 out of the 7 tournaments sanctioned at the event.
Nouns|ITK from Japan won the Street Fighter 6 tournament with Dhalsim, followed by Singaporean Gank|Seo in second and American-based Ryan “Filipino Champ” Ramirez in third. The Philippines’ MxM|Xopowo finished in fourth with his Juri.
For Dragon Ball FighterZ, Japan’s Ikoan won the championship, earning him a spot in the Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour 2023-2024. Filipino player Sorsa finished in third place after a great loser’s bracket run until he was met with the eventual second placer: Thailand’s ZeroOne0.
As for Korean wins, MadKOF lost the Winners Final against Japan’s mok and was sent to loser’s where he faced another Japanese player YukiJP which he won 3-0. He eventually came back against mok in the Grand Finals earning him a spot in the SNK World Championship 2023.
Paragon’s Daru was the lone Korean player in the Guily Gear -STRIVE- Top 8, alongside 3 Filipino players and 4 Japanese players and he bested all of them with his I-No. The win places him in a comfortable position to qualify for ARC World Tour 2023 with current points placing him at 3rd in the global leaderboard.
Finally, we have Tekken 7 where 7 out of the 8 players hailed from Korea, with GyoGun’s Ao being the lone Japanese player in the Top 8. KDF’s Ulsan won against his own teammate CBM to win the title of the King of the Iron Fist. This earned him 400 points for the Tekken World Tour and now sits in second place in the leaderboard behind Pakistan’s Arslan Ash.
Notably, the highest-placing Filipino players were Erning P. and RGN, both from N4K, who placed 13th alongside Chikurin and Multi.
Other fan favorites were Varrel’s Pinya and Rangchu, Ashes’ Qasim Meer, Falcon’s JoKa, Team Liquid’s Shadow20z, and our very own Elite’s Jules who all placed 17th alongside Malaysian player Fate of MyFGC, and Filipino player SilverFox of BAT Gaming.
Top Filipino players Doujin and AK of PlayBook Esports placed 25th alongside fellow Filipino player GoldStandard, Russian players Higem and 7.62×39, Korean Feng player BPlus, British content creator King Jae, as well as Cloud 9’s Yuyu.
As for the other 2 games at REV Major, Mortal Kombat 1 was won by Singaporean Word-salads, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was won by U who hails from Canada.
Aside from the intense head-to-head matchups between pro players, we also had a match-up with the Vivamax Showmatch, where Vivamax actresses get to play the Tag Battle Mode of Dead or Alive alongside pro players.
While there weren’t matches going on on the main stage, event-goers could play casuals or explore the partner booths and their gimmicks. Samsung booth held their own tournament. Their Tekken 7 King of the Hill challenge offered a prize pool of Php 25,000, with the first placer earning Php 15,000 which drew in both casuals and pro players alike.
 
Ranida Games, in partnership with MSI, set up arcade cabinets for spectators to try out Philippine-made indie fighting games. Featured were Vita Fighters and Sinag.
The toilet booth was an idea that sprouted from an age-old meme and was brought to life by the folks at Rumble Royale. Aside from the photo area, they also had their own Melty Blood tournament as well as a boss rush challenge.
ASI booth offered Golden Lever products for sale. They also had a free controller clinic for fight stick repairs. You could also try out their products with both lever and leverless options available.
Artists’ booths also did not disappoint. Compared to last year, there was an abundance of fighting game fan merch available, alongside merchandise from other games as well.
While this year’s REV Major was smaller than the year before, the Filipino crowd brought the same energy and passion for fighting games as they always do. From Jamming to the Street Fighter 6 loading screen to the player chants during the Tekken 7 finals, the local fighting game community never fails to bring the hype.
Just see the high-level gameplay and FGC passion for yourself with this year’s Tekken 7 matches here:
Here’s to hoping we #DoItAgain next year!
