Check Out The Star-Studded International Lineup For Battle Arena Melbourne 9

Battle Arena Melbourne has slowly grown over the years to become quite the massive event, and the upcoming competition on May 12-14 is boasting the biggest roster of international competitors yet, thanks to it being an official Capcom Pro Tour event.

With some of the major standouts being the Beast himself, Daigo Umehara, as well as Momochi, Xian, and Infiltration. These are household names to those in the fighting game community, and they’ll be competing for their share of a $20,000 prize pool alongside our local best: Somniac, Falco, Burnout, and ZG.

Have a look at this lineup:

Most of the above are Street Fighter competitors, and I’ll admit to a bit of bias as I’ve always followed that scene a bit more, but there are some very cool non-Street Fighter attractions as well, and given the popularity of Smash Bros I almost feel bad for always talking about Street Fighter first.

The truth is, at these events, the Smash Bros crowd dwarves the crowds of the games you’d traditionally think of going to these fighting game events. I’m talking triple the competitors or more. Nakat and SuperBoomfan will be coming from the US to compete in SSB Wii U and SSB 64, respectively. Expect a huge Australian turnout.

Last but not least, this will be the first official esports tournament with the full version of Tekken 7.

All up, BAM 9 is expecting over 1,000 competitors, and is booking out two bays of the Melbourne Convention Centre to provide both a super-competitive esports atmosphere and also a more chilled out community vibe, depending on where you wander. If you can’t make it to the event, you’ll be able to stream it live.

For those interested, you can also register to compete, as well as check out the rules, and the schedule.