The fighting game "Street Fighter II" (1991) popularized the concept of direct, tournament-level competition between two players. Previously, video games most often relied on high scores to determine the best player, but this changed with "Street Fighter II", where players would instead challenge each other directly, "face-to-face," to determine the best player, paving the way for the competitive multiplayer and deathmatch modes found in modern action games. The popularity of fighting games such as "Street Fighter" and "Marvel vs. Capcom" in the 1990s led to the foundation of the international Evolution Championship Series (EVO) esports tournament in 1996.