The fighting game community is of course no stranger to world-class competition, and it seems that some of our hardware is good enough to show up outside of video games at the Olympics.
Chinese sharpshooter Zhang Qiongyue captured attention not just for her performance at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, but also her choice in rifle customized with Hello Kitty — and apparently even an arcade stick part.
During the women’s 50m 3 positions rifle competition at the Olympics this week, Zhang stood out with her tricked out instrument using a special adjustable face rest and butt on the stock though that’s not really what caught the eyes of most people.
For them, it was probably the Hello Kitty decals plastered up and down the side of the barrel, and fighting game fans spotted something in particular of interest too.
As pointed out by FGC members like Nonimeg, Zhang had something on her bolt handle that those who like to customize arcade sticks may recognize.
She looks to have attached a bubble top lever head to her rifle and specifically likely a Seimitsu Nobi Bullet Bubble Clear Top, which is a pretty fitting name in this situation.
Yoooo, Olympian shooter Zhang Qiongyue was using a clear pink Nobi bubble top!!!
ArcadeShock has it in stock; if an Olympic Medalist uses it, why aren’t you?
— Nonimeg (@nonimegtv) August 2, 2024
While ball and bat top styles have traditionally been the default / most popular to use in fighting games for decades, the bubble top basically splits the difference between them in terms of design and feel.
We don’t have Zhang’s explanation as to why she has an arcade stick part on her rifle, but the reasoning seems pretty obvious.
The lever top on the bolt handle serves as an extra large knob to give her more surface area to pull back against, which I would presume lessens the force required and could help keep the barrel more aligned if firing back to back shots — though I’m certainly no expert on that.
U.S.A.’s Sagen Maddalena could also be seen using what basically looks like a standard ball top on her bolt handle too in the same competition, but it’s harder to tell if it really is a fight stick part with its simple black design.
This certainly isn’t the first time the FGC has gotten involved with the Olympics this year with players pointing towards a fencer’s wild jump in tactics and subsequent lack of anti-airs from his opponent.
Other sharpshooters including South Korea’s Kim Ye-ji and Turkey’s Yusuf Dikeç were also expertly recreated in Tekken 8’s character customizer after they garnered attention on the internet too.
Zhang would end up finishing with the bronze medal in the event with Sagen taking the silver and Switzerland’s Chiara Leone scoring the only gold medal for her country so far.
China’s top lady with a rifle also won the gold medal at the ISFF World Shooting Championships in 2023 as well.
If you want to use the hardware of an Olympic medalist, you can find the Seimitsu Nobi Bullet Bubble Clear Top on Arcade Shock for only $11.95 and in eight different colors.
Image via The Olympics, NBC Sports.