On October 14th-16th, 2016, Southern California Regionals aka So Cal Regionals or SCR for short, held their event at E Sports Arena in Santa Ana, California. This is the first FGC major to not be at a traditional hotel, university, arcade, or convention center like where they typically take place. It was held at a venue that’s specified for gaming of this magnitude.

Games included were Street Fighter V which was also a premiere event for the Capcom Pro Tour, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, Mortal Kombat XL, Killer Instinct, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and more. Tekken 7: Fated Retribution was available for a free to enter tournament as long as the venue fee was paid. It was also the first American major with an international presence for King of Fighters XIV.

First and foremost, it was my first time at this venue, and it was amazing. The venue was huge and unlike any venue for a major I have ever seen. There were two floors of gaming, and if that wasn’t enough, there was a tent for a bring your own console area along with side tournaments.

This tournament had a who’s who in the fighting game community for all titles. There were players from all over the state of California which already has great talent as So Cal and Nor Cal have had a heated rivalry for such a long time. Enter the East Coast, South, and Midwest which wanted to invade the West Coast. After that, there were people from Japan, South Korea, and Mexico that wanted to stake a claim into dominance at this event. It helped that all eyes were on Southern California along with all these pot bonuses across multiple games.

This event also was for the spectators. There were casual stations to play if competition was not their thing. Some E Sports organization ran a “Sportscenter” like recap and analysis show. There were so many godlike food trucks and more great eats were just a short walk away. There was a DJ spinning dope hits and of course, corn hole. Raffles were being ran with chances to win something besides a tournament. Many booths had awesome swag.

I really enjoyed this event. It was ran as something more than a tournament. It was ran on the intent of being something special. It was a glorified event where you had to be there.

Written by: Timtastic