Times Kids challenged Fighting Game Pros 

"Wong would 10-0 a make a wish, child" Actual line in a Justin Wong video.

look out for skullzer in a couple years. anyone that gets bodied that hard and still comes back for more has the heart of a champion

"You're only gonna get one perfect this time." And he doesn't get perfected ONCE. What a god. Who's the real winner here??

The fact that Skullzer came back at all is a great sign for the future. He got stomped, unilaterally, unequivocally, undeniably rekt. But he didn't let it break his spirit or his love of the game, and those are the people that grow and compete.

A man after my own heart. My niece told me she could "destroy" me in SFV when she was like 7, she even put $15 on the match. I told her i wasn't holding back and accepted. 3 perfects later she's running to my brother telling him what happened and how mean i am. He looked at me and said "I taught you well." The look on her face was priceless.

The way Justin's smile just got it's coat and straight up walked off his face when that kid made the "it's that all you ever do in your house?" is COMEDY GOLD

In Skullzer's defense, he did prevent 801 to perfect him in the rematch. So he definitely learned from the last time.

Daigo: Letting kids do some of their thing for everyone's entertainment. Good kind spirit. JWong: THIS THE REAL WORLD, YOU LEARNING EARLY SON

My favorite time a child got bopped by a pro was when Viscant beat LTG at WNF.

The “Is this all you ever do in your house?” comment wiping Wong’s smile off his face is so funny to me. Everybody gangsta till the kid you’re bodying makes a remark that fills you with existential dread.

Man I love how skullzer could keep up and play along. We saw him grow from a prince to a king

If Skullzer doesn’t end up being a top SF6 player in the future I’m gonna be so disappointed. I wanna see this character arc to fruition

You can't go easy on kids. Remember when 8yr old Noah Hulk smashed his way to top 32 at EVO in Marvel 3 because people weren't taking him seriously lol?

I think the best part of the Skullzor match was calling out only one perfect, but managed to hit back and strider didn't get a single perfect. And to rotate towards him during the stare off? Golden. I think strider "popping off" at the end actually made the kid's day. Strider treated it like a real match, and Skullzor earned it. That was perfect.

Skullzer knowing how to take a joke, as it were, is absolutely the best way to gain respect and acceptance into a community, what a champ!

Mad respect for Skullzer's confidence, looking forward to Act III of this epic

Technically, Justin did go easy on the kid, by repeating the same special moves. He'd win even harder if he plays footsies and turtles and do big combos.

I patiently wait for Justin Wong's child to play an online fighting game so this whole arc can come full circle

Damn I respect Skullzer for coming back to run that shit back after the years. He's the king.

That kids staring down Strider while he stared back with the most Chad thing I've seen in the fgc in a long time. That moment is what the fgc should be about to me. Two dudes having a blast playing fighting games despite knowing one of superior

Not gonna lie, skullzer turning amd meeting Strider's gaze was wild. The kid definitely has stones and I hope he sticks with the FGC

To be fair to Justin, he lost an EVO for going easy on one of his opponents, so he used that past experience as a lesson when he decided to body that kid in MK.

My first kof tournament there was just me, my 3 friends and 4 other guys. 1 older dude brought the only other setup. He asked if we wanted to play before the tournament and we got a rude awakening at how bad we were. We didn't even understand point or anchor characters. And he was teaching us so much shit that it was like we went to a damn dojo. Then when the tournament came around I actually beat a random dude but then had to go against my new master. He unleashed hell apon me and it was the most respectful thing I've ever felt because he treated me like a real opponent as opposed to when we were casually learning from him with our favorite game. I'm still friends with him.

I had a mid-life crisis when you said "I'm an OG at this point, I'm an 09er" and realized that even though I've also been playing like every game since SF4, I still thought I was new lol

"Is this all you do at home" LMAO, Justin's face.

Not only did Skullzer come back after being humiliated on stage, he landed a 'punch' in the grudge match. That's shonen protagonist shit right there.

That kid mashing his heart out was actually terrifying. You have no idea what his character is going to do.

For that kid, having a pro player do that to me after I join EVO and actually remember me when I come back next year and still give me enough respect to play me and treat me like a competitor will actually be inspiring. I wouldn’t want him to pull punches just because I was younger

Man I dunno why when I watched my first video that you made, I thought you were kind of a prick lol I literally can't remember why I got that idea. Now that I've watched hours of your content I think you're one of the players/content creators in the FGC that I can easily resonate with, very concise, very humanistic, reasonable, considerate, and I can feel the love you put into your work and the care you have for this community. Feeling thankful for having your content man, keep it up

Skullzer does have the makings of a legend, played it off well

my personal rule is in a casual setting to play nice, if they get cocky, remind them of their place.

This is how my little brother figured out how to play chess; a friend who played it well would come over and eviscerate him every time in the game, and eventually, through blood, sweat, and tears, my brother toppled that player. And around the age of 6 to 8, for fuck's sake! Nobody went easy on him, and he learned how to play the game right. So I appreciate the concept of playing to win, and not letting someone else win because you can. Good video, Brian!

I took this approach with my niece and nephew in fighting games, but I also taught them how to play as their character and refine their techniques. The goal was to beat me and if they could beat me in a match, they’d get a new outfit for their favorite character(s) depending on if they beat an individual fighter of mine, or a team of mine. Not only did they become fantastic fighting game players, but they also made me better as well. They know how to take a loss and learn from their mistakes. Never once did I hold back because when they would finally win, I wanted them to know without a shadow of a doubt that they EARNED it.

I remember when I was kid and finally decided to play fighting games for real with Blazblue and Streetfighter IV, I met a friend who really got me to love fighting games in Street Fighter IV ranked. He washed me super hard but invited me to a room match and we played a few sets and he gave me a few tips and after that I was basically hooked. Can't say I've really improved over the years but I still love fighting games to this day.

"WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD!" Man, does NOT hold back.

That little kid fighting Justin is an anime origin story , he’s gona grow up and beat all of us

Skullzer's a badass. That kid absolutely has the right competitive mindset. Good on him!

Playing kids in a tournament is always awkward. Played one where he had to DQ cause his mom wanted to leave.

Yo, mad props to the kid who also turned his chair to face his opponent. Mental games like that is also a part of the fighting world and fighting game genre. A lot of it is skill, but a good portion of it is also getting to your opponent emotionally for them to make more mistakes. I give mad props to the kid for standing up for himself and showing he ain't a bitch.

Fgc is dope because it's one of the few places where you can genuinely play against a pro in a competitive environment as a beginner

7:44 Going easy on anybody is so much more disrespectful than giving them the real experience. 100% Agree

Mike “No Gustavo! He’s just a boy!” Ross

Yes. Children, adults or old people, men, women, no matter who they are, the only way to show true respect is to fight with all your strength, no matter who you're up against.

Not going to lie, I'm glad I never saw those clips before getting into fighting games. They're funny, sure, and the pros definitely didn't do anything wrong, but the thought of winding up immortalized in a clip by getting my ass completely stomped as a clueless newbie would have definitely made me too scared to even trying the game out. Granted that's really just because I'm incredibly camera shy.

"This time you're only gonna get ONE perfect one me, not three." Proceeds to deny every perfect of the set, even if he doesn't win. AND matches the BM right back. Skullzer looking like an absolute CHAD that entire set. He's fucking going places.

7:44 That happened to me a couple of times, it was really disrespectful when my opponent was like "I was going easy on you", bro, I'm your opponent, push me to my limits, destroy me, at least then I'm going to learn something xdd

JWong vs AsianLamb is one if my favorite matches. I share it every holiday season, because of how many kids get new fighting games for presents and jump straight into ranked play.

I love that you are covering this. I’ve personally been at events where I’ve had to go against kids in bracket and had to dunk on them. I was immediately compared to JWong in that video 😂

Strider handled the situation perfectly in the rematch and that actually made me like him even more. You can tell Skullzer was into the whole thing too, top level banter.

Imagine that kid comn back full circle 20yrs later and them rematching

I think something not really focused on are the positives that 8 year old can be put up against a top 10 pro in arguably the most important tournament of the year. A completely even playing field where no one gets special treatment, you have to earn your spot in the top 8 and put your reputation on the line against complete strangers. You don't really see this kind of thing in any other Esport.

How's the Skullzer kid doing these days? Honestly he just needs a good mentor and he'll be on that guys ass in no time.

I died at the 20% taller joke lololol

the skullzer match provided a valuable lesson for fighting games. technical knowledge is great, but if youre able to get into your opponents head, you play the game through them. strider is a scary individual. skull and strider are dope, but strider is another level of spooky. god bless him for it.

This is legit. Similar to my experience when learning competitive MTG for the first time, in a new card shop. I got my ass handed to me by the vets every Saturday for 2 months straight, slowing learning about the game week by week, I stuck with, got chosen as a testing partner for the players that traveled for major regional tournaments and a year later, I was picked to represent the shop at a Regional Qualifier for the Pro Tour. These are the types of traditions we need to keep in gaming.

7:48 That's an absolute fact. That's also why I go on easy on some friends and handicap myself only to certain normals, just to piss them off

"It wasn't that patronizing" *Doesn't even look at the screen*

That Skulzer kid is gonna be a great tournament player if not already. Gotta have nerves of steel to do what he did.

Mad respect for skullzor

Brian_F The best fighting game advice in the world is "You beat their ass" "Every time" hehe nice 1 dood

Justin Wong got faced verbally by a kid lol. But Justin Wong is a certified pro…but maybe not responding was good

My kids only know of "Dad loses at mario kart vs us". Little do they know I'm only using 1% of my power, they aren't worthy yet. I've been playing since coins were mere pixels pasted on the ground. Where my OG racers at?!

My man's passionate about destroying kids on competitions And I like how the chat was blurred during the Skullzer x 801Strider

I was once that kid in the arcade who got beat in Tekken 6 every weekend. Got better every week till I could hold my ground against the good players. As I grew older occasionally some kid would put a coin in the other side to challenge, I treated them the same way the older guys did to me. My friends asked me why I'm not going easy since its just a kid, my reply was "It don't matter if they're a kid, its about respect. If I go easy on them, I'd be insulting them. Who knows if the kid goes back to practice and get better, if they don't and stop playing ever again then the game isn't for them." Now, I beat up people online since arcades no longer exists in my city 😥.

Justin did the right thing. The lesson that child learned is priceless.

“Welcome to the real world ! You gonna learn today “😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Ah, brings back memories of my oldest brother kicking my ass in every fighting game imaginable, the day I finally was able to beat him, I was insanely excited and happy. lol The first one, though, I am seriously impressed that the kid, mostly, kept his cool and didn't start screaming to the top of his lungs. lol

As I remember it, both Daigo and Lupe assumed that the match was standard best of 5 when it was actually scheduled best of 3. On top of that Daigo knew both Lupe and masher kid were gifted amateurs at best and thus decided to play what is called a "teaching game" in East Asian culture. Where the pro keeps it close, but has the skill to control the outcome either way. Over time the amateur figures out what works and what doesn't bringing up the overall level of the community which gives the established pro's a consistent pool of worthy talent to train against and this is why save for Justin Wong, SonicFox, and the 5 gods of Smash; the west has yet to have a consistent champion to challenge East Asian communities whenever they decide to embrace a game. Every where else seems to be infatuated with looking good or "cool". But looking cool means nothing without the dub. Just ask Lebron.

Strider is kind of an ass but it was clear that he was joking around with the kid and it looks like the kid took it well, especially in the rematch.

"Is this all you ever do in your house??" Actually, yes.

That moment with Skullzer was awesome. Very kool that he came back. Skullzer is a champion in the making 🔥

"Today you gon' learn, you gon' learn today!" A lesson to all of us. Mercy is for the weak.

When I saw the title and thumbnail for this video, I knew immediately that this was not to be watched on my phone with headphones on. I waited till after work to watch it full screen on a monitor giving it my undivided attention. Totally worth it. Great vid Brian.

Really nice video. It reminded me of my first time at a fighting game event in my city back in 2006, the game was KOF '97 (really popular in my country) and I had an experience that put me off from the fighting game community for a good time, I was just playing with some friends and some older players came to ridicule me that was bad at the game and proceed to beat the living crap out of me in the game. I tried to keep calm (as best as a 12 year old could) and I just got my stuff left and didn't play any fighting game until 2015, when some friends in college got me to play KOF with them and I actually had a good time, and despite me losing a lot of matches, they actually encouraged me to learn more and gave me pointers on how to improve. That first impression I had wasn't really indicative of how the community really was, but such bad experiences can really push a lot of people away from fighting games.

Daigo's the real FGC dad.

The Wong match is GD hilarious. The fact that he finished the kid off with the same move at the end of the match, this time at point-blank range, was even more hilarious. He trolled the crap outta that kid. :)

It amazes me how people couldn't tell Strider was clearly playing Heel to cast Skullzer in the Babyface role. When did we all forget all the wrestling we watched or all the lonely nights of story mode on Guilty Gear or Street Fighter Alpha 2? You know, that might have just been me...

Skullzer is next years chad for coming back and asking strider for that rematch. I'll root for that kid to be a new pro. :)

The most respect you can show to a challenger is to give your all.

"Welcome to the real world!" I felt that when I started learning fighting games.

such respectful gentlemen, not allowing their opponents age to influence how they treat them

in any games, pre live services, "damn im pretty good, im better than most ppl here" *goes live* "holy shit...."

Honestly my biggest piece of advice to these kids is to just block more. Going heavy on the offensive is great yes but knowing when to block and when you're in the mix is what makes you better and honestly what makes me worse. I'm definitely a buttons presser so I suck

Child: i'm new, please go easy on me J.Wong: no i don't think i will

The Lisa Brawlin' track makes a comeback! Love the original game and it fits so much. I wonder if Brian has ever played this, maybe the editor?

Sometimes I challenge my uncle who is a Tekken god Omega if I recall correctly, knowing he is the better player to me because of my love for Tekken (and video games in general). Plus, despite losing multiple times, I learned some things from him, like how to avoid Akuma's rage art by jumping backwards and exploit it's odd hit reception by, well, jumping backwards when I used it. This resulted in me learning to refrain from using my rage art as a panic button, but rather using it as a combo finisher.

Funny thing about this, that Justin wong MKX clip is what made me buy my first fighting game where I did the same jax rocket strat. After that I got my shit rocked by a much better player which made me realize that combos exist, and the rest is history. I really did learn that day

Went to a tekken local and got matched up against the TO's kid, around 5 or 6 at the time. I let him get a few rounds when he was doing good things, and helped him out throughout the set.

This reminds me of the time I (as a kid) challenged my uncle to SF4 thinking I’d beat him because I played video games more than anyone else in my family. What I didn’t know is that my uncle was a cabinet king back in the day and he proceeded to perfect me over and over again.

I played a match of cvs2 against Combofiend at a tournament. He was polite but clearly he wasnt holding back. he demolished my team while i was barely able to damage his first character. Im glad he didnt hold back. I had traveled to EVO to see what it was like to play against the best! It was great to see how i measured up.

My gf when she see me playing mk: can i play?? I know that game. Me: Sure, u know how to play? I can teach u if u want. She: Yeah i know, im going to beat u. Me: if u say so... Me: **does %75 combo** She: **leaves the gamepad in the table**

Personal experience, playing with my older brother in _Street Fighter_ where he would beat me every single time. Few years later, he never beat me again...

Strider only popped off because Sp00ky was booing him in the background, so he did it just to annoy him more. He also talked to the kid and gave him tips.

I remember my ranked mkx days, where one kid picked jacqui brigs machine gun version and pleaded to let him win while he spammed her projectiles. Me being a filthy mileena main proceed to almost double perfect him so I feel jwong on this one.

🤣🤣🤣 this was great. Loved the kid smasher

The corollary this is that Skullzer guaranteed his place in FGC folklore by taking his losses like a pro, whereas the kid Justin blew up will forever be remembered as a walking Scrubquote.

I’m not a child by any stretch but I just started playing fighting games again after a 20 year hiatus with KoF XV. Absolutely don’t hold back. If I can’t accurately gauge my skill, My growth will be stunted. We both paid the same price to play. Come at me with everything.

Justin’s face when the kid calls him out lmao 🤣 I can’t that was perfect.

You know what, I'm a Skullzer fan now. I'm gonna pop off heavy when this kid wins