Esports
Sven Van de Wege isn't your typical fighting game guru. In our new series Esports PRISM, we find out how a lack of sight isn't holding him back from trying to realise his dreams.
To see Sven 'BlindWarriorSven' Van de Wege playing Street Fighter, is a thing of beauty. Watching him nailing cross-ups, landing Critical Arts and blocking combos like the rest, the Ken main looks just like any other aspiring Street Fighter competitive player – until you remember he can't see.
Losing his sight to cancer in his youth hasn't stopped Van de Wege from competing in Street Fighter. He relies on the specific sounds made in Street Fighter V, from little grunts to Hadouken shouts, and listens out for those tiny calls and momentary gaps to make his move.
Coupled with his technical know-how and expertise with Ken, he's able to punish mistakes just as well as many players with 20/20 vision, making Van de Wege incredible to watch – even more so when you realise he's only been playing Street Fighter V for around a year. In our new series, Esports PRISM, which focuses on the exceptional stories and people within the eSports community, we speak with the Dutch gamer about what he hopes to achieve and where he wants to go.
Van de Wege has been a gamer for almost all of his life. Starting when he was just a toddler, he tells Red Bull Esports, he was obsessed by the fact that he was able to move things on a TV screen by pressing buttons on a joystick or keyboard.
But then tragedy struck. "When I was six years old I was hit by cancer and lost my sight," Van de Wege says. "I was afraid that I couldn't play video games anymore."
That didn't stop him from trying though: he picked up the pad again, and tried a different approach – focusing on the sounds. “After a while, I learned to play Street Fighter II on the SNES just by playing by sound effects,” he tells us.
Van de Wege tells us he prefers to compete in Street Fighter, but that's not the only game he's capable of playing. He runs through an array of titles, including Mortal Kombat, Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury, Street Fighter EX3, Killer Instinct, and more – but it's not just fighters he plays.
"Super Mario RPG, Pokémon Stadium, Pokémon Blue, Red, Yellow, Silver, Gold, Fire Red, Leaf Green, Soul Silver, Heart Gold, Sun and Moon," he lists out to us. Sure, these are much slower paced compared to Street Fighter, but they're just as tactical.
While Street Fighter V made its debut on the PlayStation 4 in early 2016, it wasn't until later on in the year that Van de Wege actually started getting into it. "I started playing Street Fighter V in August 2016 and started playing online in October," he tells us. "I had a difficult period in my life at that time and my girlfriend wanted to help me out so she bought a PlayStation 4 and Street Fighter V for me.
"She was impressed by the way I was able to play earlier versions of Street Fighter on my old SNES and she wanted me to try the new version."
With a new version of Street Fighter comes a new set of characters – some from the Street Fighter II days aren't playable in the latest iteration – so who does he like to play?
It turns out he likes to keep it classic. "My favourite character is Ken. I like his moves, his voice and his personality. I've tried many characters and I also like to play Zangief, who's a totally different fighter than Ken. I like Ryu, Chun-Li and Balrog (Boxer) as well, however Ken is my best option for the moment," he says.
I remember I was so happy when I won my first match. I couldn’t believe I did it. I know it was just one match but it felt like I won the championship
Capcom have also been adding to the Street Fighter V roster recently, and while learning a new character can be difficult for some gamers, Van de Wege has to learn a whole new set of sounds for him to react to. "When a new character is released, I have to learn their sounds. First I'll do that by picking them for a training session, and after that I'll practice against the computer and playing online a lot."
Despite only playing the game for a year, Van de Wege has managed to impress the fighting game world. Earlier this year at the Sonic Boom tournament in Madrid, Spain, he made waves when he managed to take a few sets off his opponent in the early rounds of the tournament. Drawn up against Musashi, who was playing as Akuma, he looked to be a formidable challenge against Van de Wege's Ken, but the Dutchman managed to beat out Musashi 2–0 in a best-of-three game, taking the win. The crowd erupted.
"I remember I was so happy when I won my first match," he says. "I couldn't believe I did it. I know it was just one match, but it felt like I won the championship. I had no idea all the things that would happen after that victory. I was very nervous, but at the same time, I knew this was my chance to show everybody that gaming is possible even when you can't see the screen."
With a tournament win under his belt, Van de Wege is confident about continuing his passion. He's proved that he can compete on the same stage as many players with their vision and he wants to keep on playing, but he also wants to help out other would be blind gamers too.
"I would like to continue playing in tournaments," Van de Wege tells us. "Hopefully I'll find a sponsor one day. Besides being a pro gamer, I would like to help other blind people to start gaming. I'm thinking about promotion and workshops and such."
It's already impressive that Van de Wege is competing in ways that even players with their vision could only dream of – and given enough time, we could even see him climb the ranks. Let's face it, he's only just getting warmed up.
