Australian fighting game event runners and community. Hosts of BAM: Battle Arena Melbourne, Australia's largest fighting game/open entry esports event.
From our larger BAM Travel Guide, here’s some local tips for popping out for a bite to eat once you’re at the venue. Plan your schedule accordingly so you can take advantage of the food options, a short 10 minutes away from the venue. Map below!
TRAIN NETWORK DELAYS:
Note that travel from the city by train is disrupted BAM14 weekend due to works. Buses replace trains on the Craigieburn line, which takes you from the city to Moonee Ponds Station, a short walk from the venue.
Near the Moonee Valley Race Course there’s a huge range of eateries and amenities.
Moonee Ponds Central has a Coles & Aldi for snacks and groceries, several fast food and restaurants.
There’s lots of options for fast food and dining experiences. Nearby fast food restaurants include KFC, Guzman Y Gomez & Grill’d, but other options include plenty of local Greek, Italian and Asian cuisine.
Closer to the the racecourse there are restaurant and pub food options.
If you’re after a movie, whether it’s the latest blockbuster or something more artsy, the nearby Palace Penny Lane is the go.
We’re pleased to have the support of POWERA who have a massive range of controllers, cases and accessories. This year PowerA is pumping up the prize pool for our Nintendo Switch titles, Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Splatoon 3.
BAM (Battle Arena Melbourne), Australia’s national fighting game community (FGC) Championship, brings the FGC together across an eclectic variety of titles, while presenting a top class competitive event attracting players from around the world. Among its returning world tour partners, this year sees BAM act as a qualifier for ESPORTS WORLD CUP
On May 31, June 1 and June 2, 2024, BAM will host nearly 50 events for gaming communities during major fighting game championships at Moonee Valley Racecourse.
ESPORTS WORLD CUP Qualifiers (Top 2 placers) for TEKKEN 8 & Street Fighter 6
TEKKEN World Tour Master Event with international ladder points and $5,000 prize
ARC World Tour Gold Event with international ladder points
Major tournaments for Super Smash Bros Ultimate, TEKKEN 8, MORTAL KOMBAT 1, STREET FIGHTER 6, GUILTY GEAR STRIVE among 47+ tournaments
Spectator seating, Casual freeplay gaming, Splatoon, Beyblade, Artist Alley and more
As a major event on the global fighting game (FGC) circuit, BAM is both a community event and an international gaming destination. By unique players, BAM is the largest esports event in Australia and will once again host TEKKEN World Tour and Guilty Gear Strive’s Arc World Tour. This year, the event causing a global sensation across esports, the ESPORTS WORLD CUP, will see an Australian qualifier at BAM.
WORLD TOUR EVENTS AND QUALIFIERS
Esports World Cup: Debuting this year, EWC has created a sensation with its Global Tournament encompassing dozens of the top competitive titles, a massive $60m USD prize pool and world finals. EWC titles at BAM this year are TEKKEN 8 and STREET FIGHTER 6
Tekken World Tourreturns to Australia as BAM hosts a Master Event, and world class Tekken players have registered to take the all important points on the TWT leaderboard and a $5,000 cash prize.
Arc World Tourat BAM will be a Gold Event for Guilty Gear Strive and Granblue VS Fantasy Rising – offering big points to qualify for the Arc World Tour finals
International players of note returning to BAM include TEKKEN masters KNEE (Last year’s BAM champion), Chanel, Rest and Ulsanfrom South Korea, and Thailand’s Book. For Guilty Gear Strive, last year’s BAM champion, IBUSHIGIN|Leo from Japan defends his title, and there are players from Malaysia, Singapore and the USA.
Australian competitors, such as Capcom Cup finalist and 2023 Street Fighter 6 champion Christian “ROF” Dedalija, will have their work cut out for them against their peers from around the country and the world.
BAM is the biggest event of the year across the ANZ fighting game community. Over 1,000 unique players have attended each event since 2019, with players coming from all over the country to claim a coveted BAM trophy and enjoy the fun and glory of competing.
Watch Live: The event will be live streamed on CouchWarriors, CouchWarriorsSmash, the official Tekken World Tour channel and multiple community channels (Schedule is found on the registration page)
Thanks to all who attended and competed this weekend as part of the twelfth Battle Arena Melbourne!!After a two year wait, the fighting game community returned to Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre to reunite old friends and reignite old rivalries in the heat of offline competition!
We all compete for different reasons, for fun, for improvement, and to enjoy the challenge of facing our friends and rivals – for the glory!
Trophies and Medals apply down the game list, and we also love to recognise players achievements with Prizes. Thanks to our amazing partners ASTROand MWAVEwe have something across all tournaments
Plus all games have a split of the entry cash pool, and a cash pot bonus for the four feature CouchWarriors League titles!
Major Titles Prizes:
Street Fighter V, Smash Bros Ultimate, Tekken 7, Guilty Gear Strive, Smash Bros Melee, Dragon Ball FighterZ all receive prizes 1st through 3rd as below.
Top 3 each receive a top notch ASTRO headset:
A40TR+Mixamp for 1st
A20 for 2nd
A10 for 3rd.
Mwave voucher for Top 3:
1st $150
2nd $100
3rd $50
We also have $50 from MWAVE for every 1st place singles Medal tournament!
ASTRO:
MWAVE:
TROPHIES AND MEDALS:
Each of the Trophy titles at BAM will have the famous boxing glove trophy, plus recognition for 2nd place with a Silver medal and 3rd with Bronze.
Each other title will receive a Gold medal for its 1st place Winner!
POT BONUSES
As Part of CouchWarriors League, our ongoing feature titles have a $500 Pot Bonus. These have a monthly online tournament – making for a weekly CWLeague event – on top of the monthly Ranbat Locals in Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane.
BAM BOUNTIES
Can you topple the best? If you can, an ASTRO A10 Gen 2 and $50 from Mwave can be yours! You must defeat the BAM Bounty in the game they placed top of ladder in. Good luck!
We are pleased to announce BAM12’s official cosplay competition! Join us in your best fighting game costume for a chance to win some awesome prizes and your very own BAM Trophy! Not only is BAM Australia’s biggest fighting game event, it’s a gaming festival, so we would like to invite everyone to appear in character!
There’s over $250 in cash and prizes for the Cosplay, Plus, TOP 4 – Passes to CrunchyRoll Expo!
Photography: On the floor of BAM, we will have a photo wall and photographer onsite, so there’ll be great shots to come from the event. We also welcome photographers to join the event!
Cosplay Changerooms: There will be a dedicated space off-floor for Cosplayers to change.
When: May 15 (Cosplay welcome all three days of event)
Cosplay registration: Just register in person at the Registration Desk. You can also pre-fill some info for our judges by entering details on this form
Event Entry: Only a spectator pass ($25 for weekend) is required.
TIMES:
Registration Ends 12:30PM Sunday
Pre-Judging 1pm to 2pm (Marshall at Photo wall 12:45)
Parade: 2:30PM Sunday (Marshall at Photo wall 2:15)
Theme: Fighting Game characters (Has appeared in a fighting game)
Where: Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Bays 23 & 24
The hype train for Battle Arena Melbourne next month is picking up a ton of steam with each passing week, and we’ve got a couple more announcements here which are sure to help fuel that engine!
Not only has the list of fighting games represented in the tournament schedule grown significantly since the initial announcement, but CouchWarriors have now confirmed the return of the “BAM Bounties” competition – offering special prizes to anyone who can take down the top-ranked players of CouchWarriors League in their favorite game.
