No vision? No problem. The Evolution Championship Series (EVO), the world’s biggest fighting game tournament, is home to many memorable moments over the years, and here’s one more for the history books. This year, the stage saw a record-breaking 9,182 players battling it out in Dragon Ball FighterZ, Guilty Gear Strive, Tekken 7, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, and other popular brawlers, but there’s one particular competitor who stole the limelight: Sven “BlindWarriorSven” Van de Wege.
The Twitch streamer and YouTuber, who’s been blind since he was six years old, won the hearts of many in attendance with his Street Fighter prowess as an E. Honda specialist. Playing with a black blindfold across his eyes, he secured a 2-1 win over opponent EternalPancake after using Honda’s signature headbutt ability in the last round. This impressive victory, pulled off at roughly 30 percent of Sven’s remaining health, drew uproarious applause and loud cheering for him, and quickly went viral within the gaming community.
Unfortunately, both competitors were eliminated before reaching the grand finals for Street Fighter 6, with Sven placing 2,049 out of 7,083 players and EternalPancake reaching 4,097. Still, it’s nothing short of an incredible feat, and the former’s performance is testament to the growth of accessibility in video games as of late. Street Fighter 6, in particular, has been praised for making improvements to accessibility features, such as using unique sounds to signal different attacks and dodges, and a distinct audio cue to indicate the character’s position relative to the opponent.
It’s a well-deserved victory for Sven, who has always advocated for greater accessibility in video games. The fighting game enthusiast started his Street Fighter journey with Street Fighter 2, and soon discovered that he could use sound to determine his opponent’s position and moves in the game. Since then, he’s been shattering barriers left and right.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Edwin Teo
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