No ammo, 40 seconds, all fury—series vet earns the title 'The Fireworks of Shibuya' at an Armored Core 6 preview event when he punches an airship out of the sky

A mech from Armored Core 6 engages its boosters in an industrial locale.
(Image credit: FromSoftware)

If you were asked to get up on stage and play an unreleased game in front of a whole crowd, do you think you'd be able to keep your cool? A player by the name of Fireworks certainly did, etching his name into the series' storied history.

Earlier this month, PlayStation Japan hosted a pre-release event. During which a player was selected (by raffle) to play through a never-seen-before mission from Armoured Core 6. A man from Shibuya (a special ward in Tokyo) was selected to get behind the pilot seat. Going by the name "Fireworks", he revealed during a brief interview that he was an Armored Core vet and had played every game in the series prior.

Fireworks had been given a dire mission statement—one translated and summarised by Twitter user steelballrunner. He was given only 60 seconds to build a mech with which to protect three giant missiles, for five long minutes, in a game he'd never even touched.

Like a man possessed by the spirits of mecha mavericks that came before, Fireworks immediately chose to dual-wield gatling guns, pairing them with a heavy set of bipedal legs and tanky arms to shore up his unit's armour. After fumbling over his generator and targeting system (FCS) choices, his time ran out, and it was time to deploy.

His instincts pay off at first—gatling guns are brutally effective but inaccurate, and this mission is packed with slow-moving aircraft, so the large cumbersome targets are a perfect fit for his weapon of choice. Fireworks darts around enemy units, firing missiles and boost-dodging while he gets to grips with the game's newer systems.

You can only carry so many bullets, though. While he puts up an admirable defence, when a massive airship darkens the sky with its shadow, Fireworks has less than 200 rounds in either weapon, and that ship needs to go down fast before it shreds through the missiles he's charged with protecting. 

Tragically, he wastes his remaining ammunition spraying at the airship's underbelly before realising he needs to hit the ariship's command bridge to take it out of the sky. With 40 seconds remaining, and the missiles' health rapidly depleting, Firework's mech automatically purges its empty weapons.

Then he charges the ship's bridge head-on.

Without the ammo—or the time—to deal with its defences, Firework's mech simply tanks shell after shell, smashing into a bridge full of terrified staff until the whole airship goes up in flames. Two out of three of the missiles he's been tasked to protect are destroyed, but one remains standing at half health, and with the airship downed there's no-one left to finish the job. Mission complete.

This feat has earned him the title the 'Fireworks of Shibuya' from the Japanese community, which is one hell of a step up from 'Let Me Solo Her'. Mechanical concept and comic artist LAS91214 even commemorated his performance with a killer piece of art, showing his ramshackle mech streaming over the enemy airship like an angel of wrath sent by a god of steel.

If you want to watch the full run for yourself, you can do so below—it starts at around 1:03:00 (one hour three minutes). While it's already been proven you can beat Armoured Core 6 without weapons, keeping your cool on a live stage, playing a game that's not even released yet, and having the mental clarity to decide "Yes, I think punching the bridge of this airship to death will work" is really something else. From where I'm sat, the "Fireworks of Shibuya" can take his place among the hall of FromSoftware legends with pride.

Harvey Randall
Staff Writer

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.

Read more
dinossindgeil celebrates a hard-earned victory over seven consecutive souls games without a single hit, at level 1.
Streamer achieves git gud godhood by beating all mainline Souls games at level 1, back to back, without getting hit—then explodes into tears of relief
Elden Ring Malenia
'That's why they call me the Elden Ring sicko' proclaims streamer as he beats FromSoft's RPG at NG+1000 without taking a single hit
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree trailer screencap of a red haired character holding fire in their hand
An Elden Ring player has promised to fight Messmer every day with a new weapon until FromSoftware releases Elden Ring: Nightreign
Nata points forebodingly at the camera in Monster Hunter Wilds.
I've been playing Monster Hunter for 10 years and even I'm terrified of this Wilds speedrunner deleting a Tempered Gravios in 37 seconds
Groot and Rocket
'Rocket's devastated': Marvel Rivals player who took on the daunting task of rising to GM without doing any damage accidentally fumbles the ball right before Celestial
A hunter with his Switch Axe in sword mode in Monster Hunter Wilds.
Man builds Monster Hunter switch axe, complete with working flamethrower, because why not
Latest in Sim
An ancient, angry stone mech from No Man's Sky's new Relics update
No Man’s Sky lets you unearth ancient, angry mechs in the astro-archaeology filled Relics update
Dwarf Fortress adventure mode art
After 23 years of making Dwarf Fortress, even its creator is still 'terrified' of drowning all his dwarves with aquifers: 'Part of the problem is we are just not good at videogames'
Tarn Adams, who cofounded Bay 12 Games with his brother Zach, talks about their single-player simulation game "Dwarf Fortress" during an interview at their home office in Poulsbo, Washington, west of Seattle, on December 9, 2022. - A cult favorite among indie game fans, "Dwarf Fortress" has been available for purchase on the Steam online store since December 6, a first for this title that has been distributed for free since its debut in 2006. The real-time management game, set in a medieval-fantasy world and involving overseeing a group of dwarves seeking to build a mighty fortress, has climbed to the fourth best-selling weekly title on Steam. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP) (Photo by JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)
Dwarf Fortress' creator is so tired of hearing about AI: 'Press a button and it writes a really sh*tty, wrong essay about something—and they still take your job'
Decorations in TCG Card Shop Simulator
TCG Card Shop Simulator finally adds the ability to decorate our stores, and suddenly all my profits are being spent on adorable Pigni posters
A person on a snowmobile riding a track in the forest in game Sledders.
Powder enthusiasts seem pretty pleased with new physics-based realistic snowmobile sim Sledders
Dean Hall at GDC 2025.
Outer space inspired DayZ's Dean Hall to become a modder and game developer, and now he's making a Kerbal successor called Kitten Space Agency
Latest in News
A female Zoi making two hearts with her fingers.
Following 24 hours of Denuvo-based backlash, Inzoi is taking a surprising step and removing it entirely: 'We want to sincerely apologise for not aligning more closely with player expectations'
An image of a Helldiver from Helldivers 2 shooting at a red dragon from Dungeons & Dragons.
'Ok, so dragon builds are a thing now': galaxy-brained Helldivers 2 player incinerates a bile titan with a hover pack and a flamethrower
An ancient, angry stone mech from No Man's Sky's new Relics update
No Man’s Sky lets you unearth ancient, angry mechs in the astro-archaeology filled Relics update
Assassin's Creed Shadows promo image
Ubisoft scores a legendary ratio against Elon Musk on his own platform—which hopefully marks a final end to all the Assassin's Creed Shadows' culture war nonsense
Tzarina Katarin Bokha, the Ice Queen of Kislev
Total War: Warhammer 3 rolls out a cool Kislev overhaul, changes befitting Tzeench’s magic, new projectile units and creakier skeletal horses
An image of a golden first place award from Geoguessr
'We're actually getting GeoGuessr on Steam before GTA 6': the Google Street View puzzler arrives on Valve's platform this April