16-year-old’s surprise Street Fighter win

A 16-year-old Street Fighter player has pulled off a shocking victory in a tournament, and then immediately walked offstage.

A 16-year-old Street Fighter prodigy has won the Street Fighter V Ultimate Fighting Arena tournament this past weekend, a victory that left even the winner lost for words.

EndingWalker, the young player for whom the Ultimate Fighting Arena tournament was only his second in-person event, played a magnificent set of games throughout the weekend, winning his way through the winners bracket with ease (thanks PC Gamer!).

After landing himself in the grand finals, EndingWalker scored a 3-0 victory against veteran player Valmaster, earning him the medal and about $3000 USD (~$4500 AUD) in prize money.

Winning the tournament at the age of 16 would be incredible enough, but what was more incredible was EndingWalker’s reaction to winning.

After securing victory and shaking hands with his opponent, the player simply packed up his controller and casually strolled offstage, leaving hosts and the audience confused as to what was going on.

He did reportedly come back after some encouragement from the crowd, and received a warm round of applause from the audience alongside his prizes.

EndingWalker later said on Twitter that he hadn’t intended to act cool about the win, but instead was simply overwhelmed, and that “reality hadn’t kicked in” yet.

The final match saw EndingWalker using Street Fighter V character Ed against Valmaster’s Chun Li, a match-up usually thought of as favouring Chun Li.

In the video we see that EndingWalker’s Ed was knocked down to a tiny sliver of health, one hit away from a knockout, before staging an incredible comeback and clinching the win.

The latest version of Street Fighter V has over playable characters, but most players stick to learning just one or two. Picture: Capcom

Competitive fighting games are a fairly accessible genre for most players, but the costs for serious players can add up over time. A new PS5 controller that costs almost $500 is aimed specifically at competitive gaming, with high quality mechanical buttons and programmable back-buttons offering the slightest edge.

In other news, Microsoft has revealed that 7 million Xbox accounts were banned in 2022, as the company cracks down on “cheating and inauthentic accounts”. The company said that most of the bans handed out were for cheating, while a number of other accounts were banned for profanity, adult content, and harassment.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.