Huge respect to the creator of the EVO 2023 fightstick so unwieldy they had to carry it around on their back

EVO 2023 just wrapped up in Las Vegas. This mega-sized fighting event has become the home of top-tier tournaments for games such as Dragon Ball Fighter Z, Tekken 7, and, of course, Street Fighter 6. It's also the place to go if you're a fightstick aficionado, as competitors swarm to the event with their own hardware in-hand.

One particular custom fightstick caught my eye over on X (still doesn't sound right, does it?). The owner of the flightstick remains a mystery, though their creation was snapped by ChaseTantVO and posted online.

Even better, they were snapped by RamEsRock in line with the fightstick strapped to their back like a bouldering mat.

EVO is chocked full of custom sticks and odd setups. This custom fightstick setup built into the chassis of an Xbox 360 definitely takes the cake for one of the more ingenious approaches. Tamparoth caught a video with the creator below.

UisZtupid also caught a player covering up their golden fightstick with a carefully fitted box, assumedly to prevent their opponent from scoping out their moves mid-game. Whatever makes you comfortable, I suppose, and it sounds like they were dishing it out in-game. Fair play.

If you were skilled enough to finish in the top three at EVO 2023 this year, you'd be in line for one of these gorgeous sticks from Victrix. Specially made in bronze, silver, or gold, these are reportedly going to remain an EVO 2023 winners' exclusive. 

Winning isn't everything, but damn, that gold fightstick was something worth fighting for.

If you're curious as to what sort of hardware the winners of EVO were rocking this year, user hugs_n_giggles posted an exhaustive list to the r/fightsticks subreddit confirming the Top 6 and their choice of controller for each game in the wider tournament.  They confirmed 29 different controllers were used by EVO's top players, including a wider variety of controllers than you might think.