The Hololive New Year Cup (Japanese: ホロお正月CUP, horo oshōgatsu kappu), is an annual Mario Kart tournament held by Hololive members. Participation in the tournament is voluntary; however, nearly all members try to participate, thus the roster of participants grows each year as new members join Hololive. The tournament was first held in November 2019 as the Hololive Cup (Japanese: ホロライブ杯, hororaibu hai)[1]. After this, the tournaments were moved to coincide with New Year's celebrations and rebranded as the "Hololive New Year Cup".
Overview
The New Year Cup has undergone a few changes from its debut in order to accommodate a growing number of participating talents. In its first edition for 2019, the tournament was held with 21 members, and consisted of 4 preliminary races, 4 final races, and 7 "Extra" races that did not factor into the main tournament. There was no tournament in 2020, as this was a busy year for every member in Holopro with Hololive 1st Fest happening in January, Hololive Indonesia debuting in Spring, Hololive English debuting in September, and Hololive 2nd Fest being held in December. The tournament would return once again in 2021 as the Hololive New Year Cup, which is now its current branding. The 2021 edition of the tournament saw the participation increase from 21 to 25 members. The tournament was now a double-elimination format, with a "winners bracket" (Tsuyo Cup) and a "losers bracket" (Zako Cup). The tournament also separated all participants into 3 groups "A", "B", and "C", with a final set of races held for both "loser bracket" and "winners bracket" at the end. Additionally, this new format allowed Tokoyami Towa to serve as a co-host with A-chan to provide commentary throughout, and interview some of the members. The 2022 edition of the tournament saw the least amount of changes to the format, as the grouping system made a return once again, but saw the largest number of participants thus far. A total of 44 members from all the Hololive branches took part in the tournament, with Hololive Indonesia and Hololive English making their debut appearances. The 2023 edition saw a reduction in the number of participants due to scheduling conflicts, lowering the total participating members to 36. On the day of the tournament, a further 3 participants were unable to compete due to illness and connection issues.[2][3] The 2024 edition of the tournament, which features the debuts of -Advent- and Hololive DEV_IS, will feature 37 participants, and will be held in a span of 2 days. The first day of the tournament will determine the qualified entries for the second day's race, while those who finish in first place overall within each group will instantly advance to the Tsuyo Cup. Participants who finished first place overall in the second day's race will also instantly advance to the Tsuyo Cup. A week before the tournament, 2 participants were deemed unable to compete, reducing the participating number to 35.
The tournament was first held in November 2019 as the Hololive Cup (Japanese: ホロライブ杯, hororaibu hai)[1]. This tournament was held with 21 members, and consisted of 4 preliminary races, 4 final races, and 7 "Extra" races that did not factor into the main tournament. The tournament was won by Minato Aqua, who won the most points in the final Grand Prix.
2020
The next tournament was postponed to be beginning of 2021, so no tournament occurred in the year 2020.
Taking place on January 11, 2021 the second tournament was rebranded as the "Hololive New Year Cup". The tournament was hosted by Tokoyami Towa and A-chan on Towa's channel. As a talent herself, Towa also participated in the tournament. The roster of participants swelled to 25 members with the addition of Hololive 4th Generation and Hololive 5th Generation.
Towa and A-chan reprised their roles as hosts in the third tournament. This tournament marked the first time it was open to the Hololive Indonesia and Hololive English branches. The inclusion of these branches along with Hololive 6th Generation swelled the roster of participants to 44 members, almost twice the size of that of previous years.[4]
The 2023 tournament was originally set to feature a total of 36 talents, which is a lower amount of participating members due to scheduling conflicts. However, during the day of the tournament, 3 of the 36 talents could not participate, leaving only 33. Most notably absent is the tournament's founder, Minato Aqua, who attended a wedding on the date of the tournament [5][6]. First time participants for this tournament included all members of Hololive Indonesia 3rd Generation.
The 2024 tournament was originally set to feature a total of 37 talents, which is one number higher than the previous year. However, a week before the tournament 2 of the 37 talents could not participate, reducing the number to 35. Sakamata Chloe, who was originally scheduled to compete in the tournament, also dropped out of the tournament after contacting COVID-19 two days before the tournament and was replaced by the debuting Juufuutei Raden. First time participants for this tournament included all members of Hololive DEV_ISReGLOSS and Hololive English -Advent- sans Shiori Novella, although Nerissa Ravencroft dropped out of the tournament a week before.
Top Four Counts
Racer
Champion
Runner-Up
Third Place
Fourth Place
Suisei
2021, 2023
2022, 2024
Aqua
2019
2021
Okayu
2022
2019
2023, 2024
Towa
2024
Marine
2023
2023
2021, 2022
Mio
2023
Hajime
2024
Pekora
2019
Luna
2021
Gura
2022
Individual Best Performances by Gen
Key
Rank without cup
Rank in Tsuyo Cup
Mid
Avoided Zako and never entered Tsuyo: No rank
Zako rank
n/a
Never participated
Gen 0
Sora (Mid), Roboco (7th), Miko (5th), Suisei (1st x 2), Azki (n/a)
