The Top 7... badass old folks

Age: 152

Unleashing wrinkly whupass in: Street Fighter III

Oro has survived for ಌmore than a century and a half, presumably as a direct result of simply being really, really, really hard. We’re talking about a man who gave up normal life in favour of jungle hermitdom out of nothing more than his boredom at a lack of unworthy fight challengers. That’s how important fighting is to this guy. If he can’t take a beating, he’ll give up on the world.

Also, did we mention that he fights with one arm stra🌱pped up so that he doesn’t kill his opponents by accident? And that the only reason that he didn’t beat Akuma was that he was just sparring with him for shits and giggles? But planet-busting combat abilities (and unfortunate ET-meets-Crypt-Keeper stylings) aside, Oro is a bit of a good egg. Not only does he have a great care for his adversaries’ well-being, his SFIII: Third Strike ending shows that the only thing capable of renewing his life’s purpose is a paternal desire to help Ryu reach his full potential.

Oh, and he also rides on the top of plane🦹s. Not even Batman ride🅺s on the top of planes.

If he was your Grandad:

Oro would be the ultimate badass video game grandad. He’d combine the benevolence of Johnson with the ancient wisdom of Shun Di and The End, and once fully trained, his grandkids could beat the crap out of Bไill’s grandkids in their sleep and put Heihachi himself in a coma with a moderately forceful blink.

He’d have to hug them one at a time though. Both arms, and they’d be child 🏅soup.

1. Old Grandma Hardcore

Age: 73

Unleashing wrinkly whupass in: the real world

Oh come on, we had to.

If you’re not already aware of Barbara St. Hilaire, head over to the right now. It’s not the SafeSearch baiting horror it sounds, we promise. What you’ll actually find over there is the continuing story of the coo🌞lest old lady in gaming.

Not for her, a sudden faddish interest in gaming through a chance encounter with Wii Sports. Oh no. Fuelled with games by her grandson Timothy (writer of said blog), she’ll curse, frag, swear and curse her way through any shooter or RPG she🌞 can get her hands on, devour it on Veteran, then move on to the next beforeꦏ most of us have even got through the tutorial.

Don’t assume that the site is just a one-note gimmick though. If you trawl through the blog archive, you’ll find a genuinely cool and sweet𓂃 old lady with one hell of a good relationship with her grandson. It sounds trite to call it heartwarming, but the day-to-day story of two generations bonded by gaming is one of the most smile-inducing things on the internet.

If she was your Grandma:

It would be awesome.

13 July, 2009


Solid Snake bꦗecame a ripe old git &ndashꦓ; what if others did too?


We recount the seminal action series


Videogame vixens gone horribly, horribly wrong

Long-time GR+ writer Dave has been gaming with immense dedication ever since he failed dismally at some '80s arcade racer on a childhood day at the seaside (due to being too small to reach the controls without help). These days he's an enigmatic blend of beard-stroking narrative discussion and hard-hitting Psycho Crushers.