15 year old Super Smash Bros. Ultimate player Bocchi defeated professional player Ally at an AON Gaming tournament. Bocchi used Isabelle from Animal Crossing, a character that is not often used by top-tier players, and managed to defeat Ally's Solid Snake. The crowd at the tournament cheered for Bocchi after her upset victory, but some people online reacted negatively and decided to bully Bocchi on Twitter and in her livestreams. The bullying, which included sexist comments, got so bad that Bocchi at one point considered retiring from streaming and playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate competitively altogether.
Bocchi took to Twitter to express her frustration at the situation. "The worst of it comes from being a girl too. They get on my ass saying all kinds of rude s*** and it’s beyond stressful," she said. After Bocchi put a spotlight on the toxicity she had been experiencing since her win over Ally, there was an outpouring of support that can still be seen in her various Twitter threads. This seemingly inspired Bocchi to not give up entirely on playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate competitively, though she indicated that she will still be taking a break from the competitive scene.
"The amount of kind words you guys have given me is honestly really overwhelming. It made me feel really wanted and I know now that I need to try harder to focus on the positive. I’m young, I’m not used to this much of attention," she said on Twitter. "I'm also a very emotional girl, being a teenager is actually the worst especially in an extremely male dominated community it’s very weird."
Those interested can check out Bocchi's surprise victory in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate over Ally right here:
Bocchi's upset win over Ally isn't the only Super Smash Bros. Ultimate match that has been making headlines lately. For example, the CEO fighting game tournament saw a match between Eric "ESAM" Lew and Antony "MuteAce" Hoo end in a popoff where ESAM slammed a chair and injured his own hand.
With Super Smash Bros. Ultimate standing as one of the most popular fighting games in the world, expect its competitive scene to remain in the spotlight.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is out now, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.
