The gaming community is known for its creativity - especially when it comes to inventive controller inputs. Blizzard Entertainment’s multiplayer shooter Overwatch has been played with a bunch of bananas and even a breadstick, while Cuphead has been beaten using a Dance Dance Revolution pad.
This creativity was on show again at the anime fighting game convention, Anime Ascension 2019, which took place over the weekend. A video posted on social media showed fighting game player and Twitch streamer Joeseff using a Guitar Hero controller to beat an opponent during a match of (what appears to be) a game from the Guilty Gear series.
Joeseff can be seen furiously shredding away on the plastic peripheral, which has been modified to replace the strum mechanic with a fight stick. The player’s opponent tries to keep up, tapping on a traditional fight stick controller but it’s not enough, and Joeseff’s impressive Guitar Hero guitar-playing wins out.
As of the time of writing, Joeseff’s victory has been viewed 413,000 times, 11,750 Twitter users have retweeted the video, and 28,483 people have liked it. There are also hundreds of replies to the video (originally posted by professional fighting game player MarlinPie) praising Joeseff’s skills. Many are gobsmacked by the player’s talent, with one calling Joeseff “too legit to quit,” another calling the player a “legend,” and another joked that Joeseff’s character was simply so impressed by the shredding that they had just decided to battle of their own accord.
Some others have given Joeseff some suggestions of strange controllers for other fighting games. A popular suggestion is to use a pair of Donkey Kong bongos. Headlines were previously made when someone beat Dark Souls 3 with Donkey Kong bongos controllers and some would love to see the unusual controller used to play fighting games too.
One user even asked Joeseff to go from a Guitar Hero guitar controller to a microphone. It’s unclear exactly how the inputs would work and how quickly someone may go hoarse if they try that, but if anyone was going to try, it would probably be Joeseff.
There will be plenty of opportunities for players to flex their fighting game skills this year - whether they choose to play those games with Guitar Hero controllers or not. In addition to Mortal Kombat 11, there’s Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid, and Guilty Gear 20th Anniversary Edition.
Source: Twitter - MarlinPie
