Ryan Joseph Hart, also known as Prodigal Son, Tsuujin, Robotnik, The Terminator and NeriahSensei, is a British professional

fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as blocking, grappling, counter-attacking, and chaining atta ...

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

. He specialises in 2D and 3D fighter games released by

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. It has created a number of multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being '' Resident Evil'', '' Monster Hunter'', '' Street Fighter'', '' Mega Man'', '' ...

Bandai Namco also known as the Bandai Namco Group and generally Bandai Namco, is a Japanese multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, formed from the merger of Bandai and Namco on ...

, Sega, Midway,

NetherRealm Studios NetherRealm Studios (stylized as NetheЯRealm Studios) is an American video game developer based in Chicago and owned by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Led by video game industry veteran and '' Mortal Kombat'' co-creator Ed Boon, t ...

and

SNK is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. It is the successor to the company Shin Nihon Kikaku and presently owns the SNK video game brand and the Neo Geo video game platform. SNK's predecessor Shin Nihon Kikaku was founded in 1978 ...

. Ryan holds numerous National, European and World titles and has won the Evolution Championships twice. Hart also holds four world records within the

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

's for most international ''

Street Fighter , commonly abbreviated as ''SF'' or スト (''Suto''), is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Capcom. The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by six ...

'' competition wins, most well-travelled fighting game champion, the longest winning streak on ''

Street Fighter IV is a 2008 fighting game published by Capcom, who also co-developed the game with Dimps. It was the first original main entry in the series since ''Street Fighter III'' in 1997, a hiatus of eleven years. The coin-operated arcade game version was ...

'', and the most consecutive opponents on ''

Street Fighter V ''Street Fighter V'' is a fighting game developed by Capcom and Dimps and published by Capcom for PlayStation 4 and Windows in 2016. An arcade version exclusive to Japan was released by Taito in 2019. Similar to the previous games in the ''Stre ...

''. While Hart is predominantly known for his professional gaming career, he is also a commentator, tournament organiser, author, presenter, event host, model, translator and content creator.

Early life

Hart was born and raised in South West London. At the age of 10 he visited his local arcade at a mini cab station, it was here that he was first introduced to his first arcade

action game An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, and platform ...

, ''

Golden Axe is a series of side-scrolling beat 'em up arcade video games developed by Sega. The series takes place in a medieval fantasy world where several heroes have the task of recovering the legendary Golden Axe, the mainstay element of the series. ...

''. A year later he discovered the fighting games ''

'' and '' Street Smart''. When

amusement arcade An amusement arcade (often referred to as a video arcade, amusements or simply arcade) is a venue where people play arcade games, including arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers (such ...

s grew in popularity within the UK, Hart became a frequent visitor to the different arcades located around his local area, where he started to play ''Street Fighter'' and '' Street Fighter II: The World Warrior'', among other games. For a portion of his teenage years, Hart was homeless. During his secondary school years, Hart's family relocated to

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extens ...

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the boroughs, in whole or in part, of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Richmond, Southwark, ...

, where he frequently visited arcades and began to gain local reputation among classmates and arcade visitors.

Career

Hart has worked in many different areas of the Esports industry, these include (but not limited to) professional player, tournament organiser, team manager,

caster A caster (or castor) is an undriven wheel that is designed to be attached to the bottom of a larger object (the "vehicle") to enable that object to be moved. Casters are used in numerous applications, including shopping carts, office chairs, ...

interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...

er,

consultant A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servi ...

, translator, model, coach and

content creator Content creation is the contribution of information to any media and most especially to digital media for an end-user/audience in specific contexts. Content is "something that is to be expressed through some medium, as speech, writing or any of ...

. Outside of Esports, Hart has also worked for many years in the video game industry, for companies such as Sammy Europe,

Sega Europe is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, respectively. Its division ...

and

Nintendo of Europe is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing cards ...

Professional player

Early career

Hart's first tournament was for the game ''

Street Fighter II Turbo ''Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting'' is a competitive fighting game released by Capcom for arcades in 1992. It is the third arcade version of '' Street Fighter II'', part of the '' Street Fighter'' franchise, following '' Street Fighte ...

'', held in

London Trocadero The London Trocadero was an entertainment complex on Coventry Street, with a rear entrance in Shaftesbury Avenue, London. It was originally built in 1896 as a restaurant, which closed in 1965. In 1984, the complex reopened as an exhibition and en ...

in 1994, the event was sponsored by

Kiss FM Kiss FM, Kiss Radio or variants may refer to: Asia-Oceania * Various Kiss FM-branded stations in the Philippines ** 95.1 Kiss FM, Lucena, Quezon ** 102.3 Kiss FM, Tagbilaran, Bohol * Kiss92 FM, Singapore * KISS 969, Sri Lanka * Kiss Radio Taiwan ...

. It was also during this time he began to play King of Fighter '94, a year later Hart entered the National King of Fighter '95 Championship hosted by Play 2 Win arcade on

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Unsuccessful in both tournaments Hart began to visit central London to play with more experienced players, it was there that he was introduced to ''

Tekken is a Japanese Media mix, media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The franchise also includes film and print adaptations. The ...

'' and ''

Tekken 2 is a fighting game, the second entry in the '' Tekken'' series. It was released in arcades in 1995, and for the PlayStation in 1996. The original arcade version of the game was released in '' Tekken 5''s Arcade History mode for the PlayStatio ...

''. It was with ''Tekken 2'' that Hart had his first success, entering the Tekken 2 UK National Tournament, where he placed 4th with the character

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the ...

. With the release of ''

The King of Fighters '96 ''(KOF '96)'' is a fighting game released by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home consoles in 1996. It is the third game in '' The King of Fighters'' series, following '' The King of Fighters '95''. Like its predecessor, the game was ported to th ...

'', Hart entered the National King of Fighters 96' Championship on 22 December 1996. This was the first competition that Hart won, defeating the player Motohide Nishio in the grand finals thus cementing his name among the ''

King of Fighters ''The King of Fighters'' (''KOF'') is a series of fighting games by SNK that began with the release of ''The King of Fighters '94'' in 1994. The series was developed originally for SNK's Neo Geo MVS arcade hardware. This served as the main plat ...

'' community. Hart began to explore other fighting games, having huge success with Sega's ''

Virtua Fighter 3 is the sequel to 1994's ''Virtua Fighter 2'' and the third fighting game in the ''Virtua Fighter'' series, developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega in 1996. It was the first arcade game to run on the Sega Model 3 system board. Like its p ...

'', winning nine championships in a row at the Namco Wonderpark on 6, 7 and 8 June 1997, which was located on

Great Windmill Street Great Windmill Street is a thoroughfare running north–south in Soho, London, crossed by Shaftesbury Avenue. The street has had a long association with music and entertainment, most notably the Windmill Theatre, and is now home to the Ripley ...

in Central London. With the release of ''

Tekken 3 is a fighting game, the third entry in the ''Tekken'' series. It was released to the arcades in 1997, before being ported for the PlayStation in 1998. The arcade version of the game was released in 2005 for the PlayStation 2 as part of '' Tek ...

'', Hart trained heavily with his Tekken 2 background and went back and forth in arcades with other top players including Sho Hiraki from Japan, who was living in the UK at the time. Hart became the UK national champion defeating Sho Hiraki along his path in September 1997, and even appeared in a four player exhibition on the UK's

GameMaster A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, or storyteller) is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game. They are m ...

TV show again competing against the player Sho from Japan within the final, which he ultimately lost. In 1998, Hart won the ''

Ehrgeiz , fully titled ''Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring'', is a 3D fighting video game developed by DreamFactory and published by Namco in 1998 for the arcade platform. It was first ported to the PlayStation and published by Square Co. in 1998, then to ...

'' UK championship and a flight to Japan to compete in the Ehrgeiz World Finals, he was defeated but during his time in Japan, he entered and won the '' King of Fighters '98'' World Tournament held at the Amusement Machine Show in

Tokyo Big Sight , officially known as , is a convention and exhibition center in Tokyo, Japan, and the largest one in the country. Opened in April 1996, the center is located in the Ariake Minami district of on the Tokyo Bay waterfront. Its most iconic featur ...

. While still in Japan, Hart placed first in three ''Tekken 3'' tournaments held at Shinjuku Playmax arcade. Adding to Hart's success within Japan, he also placed second at the ''

'' tournament held in Ikebukuro Gigo arcade. After returning to the UK, Hart entered the 1999 Official Namco Tekken 3 World Championship, it was there where he managed to win his second world title and one of the last

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...

collaborated events within the Namco Station arcade.

2000–2010

After the closure of the Namco Wonderpark, Hart began to frequently visit Play 2 Win and Casino arcade within the city of London, shifting his focus from ''

'' and ''

The King of Fighters ''The King of Fighters'' (''KOF'') is a series of fighting games by SNK that began with the release of '' The King of Fighters '94'' in 1994. The series was developed originally for SNK's Neo Geo MVS arcade hardware. This served as the main ...

'', he started to play ''

Tekken Tag Tournament is a spin-off of Namco's ''Tekken'' fighting game series. It is the fourth installment in the ''Tekken'' fighting game series. ''Tekken Tag Tournament'' was released as an arcade game in 1999, before becoming a North American and European launc ...

'' and the newly released ''

Virtua Fighter 4 is a fighting game by Sega. It is the fourth game in the ''Virtua Fighter'' series. The game was first released in arcades on the NAOMI 2 board in 2001. A console port of ''Virtua Fighter 4'', as well as that of '' Virtua Fighter 4: Evolutio ...

''. During the arcade decline within the UK, Hart began to organise tournaments within his own home, Casino arcade and

, in an effort to support the competitive fighting game community and share knowledge. The success of these events lead to a weekly ranking battle held at the Casino arcade. Hart competed at Fuce Championship on 15 October 2000, for the ''Tekken Tag Tournament''

console Console may refer to: Computing and video games * System console, a physical device to operate a computer ** Virtual console, a user interface for multiple computer consoles on one device ** Command-line interface, a method of interacting with ...

tournament held in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, placing first by defeating Sandro Aousdji from Italy in the grand final. In 2001, Hart competed at the

Euro 3 The European emission standards are vehicle emission standards for pollution from the use of new land surface vehicles sold in the European Union and EEA member states and the UK, and ships in EU waters. The standards are defined in a ser ...

tournament for ''Tekken Tag Tournament'' held in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, placing second. In the same year, Hart flew over to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

for the first time to compete within the Electric Cancel 3 tournament; Hart placed third within the main tournament due to a faulty controller, but later in the event played against the American ''Tekken Tag Tournament'' champion JOP to a first to 26 exhibition, winning 26–21. Hart had great success at the

Euro 4 The European emission standards are vehicle emission standards for pollution from the use of new land surface vehicles sold in the European Union and EEA member states and the UK, and ships in EU waters. The standards are defined in a ser ...

arcade tournament held on 26 July within the Extraball Arcade,

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Italy, winning on ''Tekken Tag Tournament''. Hart came to more success in 2002, winning first place in ''Tekken Tag Tournament'' and third place in ''

SoulCalibur II is a 2002 fighting game developed by Project Soul and published by Namco and the third installment in the '' Soulcalibur'' series of weapon-based fighting games. It is the sequel to '' Soulcalibur'', which was released in July 1998. Originally ...

'' at Absolution UK 2002. 2002 is also the year where Hart won his first ''

Capcom vs. SNK 2 ''Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001'', known in Japan as , is the sequel to the fighting game '' Capcom vs. SNK''. It was originally released on NAOMI hardware in arcades. As in the original, players select a team of fighters from va ...

'', ''Virtua Fighter 4'' and ''

Tekken 4 is a fighting video game developed and published by Namco as the fourth main and fifth installment in the ''Tekken'' series, following the release of the non-canon crossover titled '' Tekken Tag Tournament'' in 1999. It was released as an arcad ...

'' tournaments. Hart won multiple ''Virtua Fighter 4'' and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

an ''Tekken Tag Tournament'' events within 2003 including Torneo di Napoli, ''Tekken Tag Tournament'' (solo) at Euro 5 (also winning ''Tekken 3'' and ''Tekken Tag Tournament'' (pair play)) and Toreno di Ancona, thus cementing his name as the best European

and

player at the time. This led to Hart entering the ''Tekken Tag Tournament'' event held at Evolution 2003 within

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

placing second, losing to Kim Bong Min in the grand finals. Before the events of Evolution 2003, Hart challenged the

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republi ...

n and

Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

2003 champion Kim Bong Min to first to 26, winning the set 26–21, with this win Hart became the first European player ever to defeat a Korean champion on a ''Tekken'' game. Hart also had success playing ''Virtua Fighter 4'', winning the Warriors Unite Pre-Absolution 2004 event that took place in December 2003, defeating Japanese player Jun within the grand finals. Hart also entered

at Evolution 2003 tournament placing 3rd. In 2004, Hart continued to have success within ''Tekken Tag Tournament'', placing first at Torneo di Napoli 2nd Edition and second at Absolution UK 2004. It was also within this year that Hart would have his largest tournament win to date at the famous Evolution 2004 Championship tournament, Hart defeated Unconkable in the grand finals thus taking his third world championship. While at the Evolution 2004 Championship Hart also placed 4th on

defeated by the US champion, ShouTime, and 5th on

. The same year Hart took first place in ''Tekken 4'' at Torneo di Fano. Hart also managed to place first within ''Virtua Fighter 4'' at Absolution UK 2004 defeating Delune within the grand final. 2005 saw a new introduction to the

franchise;

Tekken 5 is a fighting game developed and published by Namco for the arcades in 2004, and for the PlayStation 2 in 2005. It is the fifth main and sixth installment, in the ''Tekken'' series, marking the tenth anniversary of the series. The game is set s ...

. Hart continued to compete and place well within European tournaments, winning the Official Bandai Namco UK Championship then winning Ultimate Tournament Volume 4 within

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

and achieving 2nd at Torneo Olandese and Olanda 2005, while also still competing within

with the same placement. At Evolution 2005 Championship, Hart fought his way in

to the grand finals where he purposely forfeited his winner bracket match for an unknown reason, but still fought his way to the grand final, placing 2nd and claiming his second silver medal from the

Evolution Championship Series The Evolution Championship Series, commonly known as Evo, is an annual esports event that focuses exclusively on fighting games. The tournaments are completely open and use the double elimination format. As with Super Battle Opera, contestants ...

. 2005 also saw Hart take on a new challenge, Street Fighter III: Third Strike. Hart took the community by storm, winning both the Southgate Showdown and Chasing Dragon tournaments. In 2006, Hart displayed one of his most dominant years to date by going almost completely undefeated on seven different games and losing only a handful of events. Hart was successful multiple different tournaments for games such as Street Fighter III: Third Strike,

Street Fighter Alpha 3 ''Street Fighter Alpha 3'', released as in Japan, Asia, South America, and Oceania, is a 2D fighting game originally released by Capcom for the arcade in 1998 in video gaming, 1998. It is the third and final installment in the ''Street Fighter# ...

Hyper Street Fighter II is a fighting game by Capcom that was originally released for the Arcade game, arcade and PlayStation 2 in 2003 in Japan and in 2004 in North America and Asia. Released to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the ''Street Fighter'' series, ''Hyper ...

The King of Fighters 2002 ''(KOF 2002, or KOF '02)'' is a fighting game produced by Eolith and Playmore for the Neo Geo in 2002. It is the ninth game in '' The King of Fighters'' series and the second one to be produced by Eolith and developed by Playmore (formerly Brez ...

and Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution. Hart continued to be a prominent figure within the

scene within 2006, with 1st place wins at Torneo Roma, Roma, Torneo Francia, Ultimate Tournament Volume 5, Euroslash Poland and a 3rd-place finish at Ultimate Tournament Volume 6. 2006 was also the same year that Hart and his teammates became the first ever Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike European players to qualify for the Tougeki Championship held in Japan, also known as

Super Battle Opera Super may refer to: Computing * SUPER (computer program), or Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer, a video converter / player * Super (computer science), a keyword in object-oriented programming languages * Super key (keyboard butto ...

, winning the 3 on 3 European SBO qualifier held in

. Unfortunately, one of Hart's teammates pulled out before the

finals for personal reasons, and Hart's team was forced into a 2 vs 3 handicap match, which they lost. Hart also qualified for

by winning the SBO qualifier held in Stuttgart. Hart won Torneo Roma in 2007 defeating the player Liquid and also defeated Steve88 in

to win the event on both days. These were some of the last regular events before

introduced an update to

entitled Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, with this new entry, tournaments began to run the newer iteration of the game and Hart transitioned over to compete. He later managed to secure 4th place at Ultimate Tournament Volume 8 and 3rd place at Ultimate Tournament Volume 9. Hart had more success winning Iron Man 2, E-Games Festival and

European Qualifiers, this also became the third time that Hart qualified for the Japanese

event. Hart also won 1st place at Super VS Battle 2007 for

and 3rd place at Summer Showdown. Additionally at Summer Showdown, Hart placed 1st on

Virtua Fighter 5 is the fifth installment in Sega's ''Virtua Fighter'' series of arcade fighting games. The original version was released on the Sega Lindbergh arcade system board. The first location tests took place on November 26, 2005 leading to the officia ...

and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. Hart continued to show winning strides on Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike as he took 1st place at Ranking Battles 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3. Winning E-Games Festival, Iron Man, Netko Finals, Rome Tournament and placing 2nd at CPTL Paris Fighting Festival, Brussels Tournament and Fighters Day 3 hosted by the production company Unequalled Media. 2008 was a great achievement within Harts's career, it was this year that Hart would go on to win Evolution 2007 for the game Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, defeating Paco "Gandido" Vilaró within the grand final to secure his fourth world championship and truly cement his name as one of the best

players within the world. While also winning Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, Hart also saw success within Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike placing 7th. And once again had success within The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match by placing 3rd at Rebirth 2008. Hart would also go on to win the Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Giessen Tournament, defeating the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

champion Devil. 2008 also saw a new introduction to the

franchise with the release of

in Japanese arcades, with this release fighting games quickly became a mainstream genre again and revitalising the fighting game community. 2008 also marks an interesting moment in Hart's career, during the Battle of Destiny event, Hart played the American

Justin Wong Justin Wong, occasionally shortened to just Jwong, is a formerly American and now Canadian professional fighting game player. Wong has won more EVO titles than anyone else with nine tournaments won: seven for '' Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of H ...

in what ended up being possibly the most memorable match of all time in European Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike history. At an even score of 1-1, Wong playing

Chun-Li is a fictional character in Capcom's ''Street Fighter'' video game series. The first ever female playable character to appear in a fighting game to gain mainstream recognition, she first appeared in '' Street Fighter II: The World Warrior'' in ...

had Hart cornered on the ground with no health. As Hart was getting up, Wong attempted to low forward into super resulting in Hart's Yun being defeated via chip-damage, however Hart parried every single hit and won the round in a similar fashion to the infamous

Daigo Umehara is a Japanese arcade fighting video game player. He specializes in 2D arcade fighting games, mainly those released by Capcom. Known as "Daigo" or "The Beast" in the West and or "Ume" in Japan, Daigo is one of the world's most famous ''Street Fi ...

Evolution #37 moment. Hart became the second person ever to parry Wong's Chun-Li super during a main stage match. Hart continued to have success In 2009 for Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection winning Torneo Spagnolo in

Vigo Vigo ( , , , ) is a city and municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits on the southern shore of an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, the ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. Within the same year Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion would be introduced to the console market, Hart would go on to place 3rd at DreamHack Sweden 2009. 2009 would also be the year that

was finally released on home consoles, with this release Hart was quick to compete and win multiple tournament such as DreamHack Sweden 2009 in Sweden, Impact 2009, Max Damagermany, Cinemasters Tournament, Insomnia i37, Capcom SFIV National Championship and Capcom SFIV European Championship. He also managed to secure 3rd place at Super VS Battle 2009. Hart also placed 1st on Street Fighter III: Third Strike at Max Damagermany and Super VS Battle 2009.

2010 – present

With the release of

Super Street Fighter IV is a 2010 fighting game produced by Capcom. It is an updated version of '' Street Fighter IV'' and has been said to mark the definitive end of the ''Street Fighter IV'' series. Having been deemed too large an update to be deployed as DLC, the g ...

in 2010, Hart was already considered one of the best players in

, continuing to increase his reputation by winning ECL 1 - Liverpool 2010, DreamHack Winter 2010, Beat By Contest Qualifier, Ultimate Clash, Ultimate Clash 2, Winner Stays On League and VSFighting. Placing 2nd at Super VS Battle 20X and 360Gaming twice, 3rd at DreamHack Summer 2010, and 7th at

World Cyber Games 2011 The 2011 World Cyber Games (also known as WCG 2011) took place from 8 December to 11 December 2011 in Busan, South Korea. Official games PC games * Counter-Strike 1.6 * CrossFire (developed by Smile Gate) * FIFA 11 * League of Legends * Spec ...

. Even with the success of his placements within

, Hart would continue to compete within other games such as

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix ''Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix'' is a two dimensional fighting game released using the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Arcade download services. A physical copy of the game was later released as part of ''Capcom Digital Collection''. It ...

placing 2nd at VSFighting and 2nd within Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike at Super VS Battle 20X. He would also continue to compete within Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion placing 3rd and 4th at World Game Cup 2010 and VSFighting. 2011 saw the announcement for Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, and with this announcement Hart competed less within

as events faded away in prepare for the new iteration, Hart entered a handful of tournaments; DamaGermany 2011 (3rd), World Game Cup 2011 (3rd), and Beat by Contest 2011 (9th). He also competed and won European Gaming League 4 ( Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike), the Winner Stays On League and 360 Gaming twice (

). Hart also managed to secure 2nd at Red Fight District 2011 (

Super Street Fighter II Turbo ''Super Street Fighter II Turbo'' is a fighting game released for the arcades by Capcom in Japan on February 23, 1994, in North America on February 23 and March 26, 1994 (beta) and in Europe in March 1994 (beta). It is the fifth installment in ...

). In June 2011, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition was released to home consoles and along with it, a new game for Hart to continue his gaming success. Hart managed to win DreamHack Summer 2011 and Super VS Battle 20XI while placing 2nd at

DreamHack Winter 2011 DreamHack is an ESL Gaming brand specializing in esports tournaments and other gaming conventions. It is recognized by the Guinness Book of Records and Twin Galaxies as being the world's largest LAN party and computer festival with the world's f ...

and the European Gaming League 4. Hart also managed to place 7th and 9th respectively at Red Fight District 2011 and Canada Cup 2011. Hart would also continue to play Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion, finishing 1st at 360 Gaming twice again, 2nd at Canada Cup 2011, 5th and 7th at Max Damagermany 2011 and Evolution Championship 2011, while also placing 2nd at Shadowloo Showdown 2011 for Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown. This would also be the year that Hart got his first

for defeating 169 people in a row. Hart accomplished this using the character Sagat, with his fastest victory being just a mere 7 seconds. This led to Hart being featured within the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2011. 2012 was a very busy year for Hart within Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, he managed to win multiple events; Berlin Campus Party, Ultimate Clash 13, Bushido Impact International 2v2, Proving Grounds 4, EGL 8 2v2, Hypespotting and WinnerStaysOn Xmas Special, while also placing 2nd in four tournaments; Bushido Impact International II, European Gaming League 8, Kuwait Battle Royale 2012 and DreamHack Winter 2012. This would also be the same year that Hart supported the creation of the Esports team Western Wolves, under his Low Land Lion manager, team Western Wolves would become a subsidiary of Low Land Lions, this was due to the manager of Low Land Lion wanting to separate his international players with

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a Political union, politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in ...

based players thus Low Land Lions then became a strictly Benelux based team. Hart who created the name for the new team Western Wolves would also lead the team and was responsible for bringing in new players such as Seon Woo "Infiltration" Lee, Ryan "Laugh" Ahn from

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, Femi "F-Word" Adeboye and Andreas Demetriou from the UK. Hart believed these players to have potential, he especially expressed Lee's potential after he visited

and spent some personal time with

Lee Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...

and Ahn. Hart's belief was proven true as each player went on to be a champion,

and Ahn both went on to win Evolution 2012 Championship for the game

Street Fighter X Tekken (pronounced "Street Fighter Cross Tekken") is a crossover fighting game developed by Capcom and released in March 2012 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, in May for Microsoft Windows and in October for the PlayStation Vita. The game features ...

with

also taking the title for Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition,

Demetriou Dimitriou or Demetriou ( el, Δημητρίου) is a Greek patronymic surname, meaning "child of Demetrios". Notable people with the surname include: *Andreas Demetriou (born 1950) Greek Cypriot developmental psychologist and a former Minister o ...

would go on to win DreamHack Valencia, with Adeboye winning World Game Cup team tournaments and Winner Stays On singles events. Hart's other results would see him placing 17th at Evolution Championship 2012 and Shadowloo Showdown 2012, 3rd at Street Fighter 25th Anniversary UK, 9th Capcom Cup Tokyo Game Show, 4th at Stunfest 2012, DreamHack Energizer, and 5th World Game Cup 2012. Hart would continue to compete and place well within other

games such as Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike placing 2nd at Hypespotting,

placing 1st at Stunfest 2012, Max Damagermany Europe and Cross Up tournament which Hart won three times in a row. He managed place 2nd at Hypespotting,

DreamHack Summer DreamHack is an ESL Gaming brand specializing in esports tournaments and other gaming conventions. It is recognized by the Guinness Book of Records and Twin Galaxies as being the world's largest LAN party and computer festival with the world's ...

and 9th at Shadowloo Showdown 2012.This was the same year that a new introduction to the

franchise would take place, with the release of

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 ''Tekken Tag Tournament 2'' is a sequel to the ''Tekken'' fighting game series. It was released for the arcades in September 2011. It received an update, subtitled ''Unlimited'', on March 2012. A console version based on the update was release ...

, Hart would continue his dominance within the new title, winning 1st place at Proving Grounds 4, European Gaming League 8, Kuwait Battle Royale 2012 and Insomnia i46 - Madcatz UK Championship, not contempt with competing in so many games Hart won Hypespotting's Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown event and came 2nd at Shadowloo Showdown 2012. Hart also had success on

Tekken 6 is a fighting game developed and published by Bandai Namco Games. It is the sixth main and seventh installment in the ''Tekken'' franchise. It was released in arcades on November 26, 2007, as the first game running on the PlayStation 3-based ...

with winning Snake Pit 3v3, coming 2nd at Damagermany Crash and 5th at the Tekken Rules Tournament in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

. Hart would expand his gaming results further by playing The King of Fighter XIII and winning the European Gaming League 8 while also placing 2nd at Hypespotting. 2012 would also be the year that Hart was featured in the

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

2012 Gamers Edition book for holding three records within

; Most International Street Fighter Competition Wins, Most Tournament Wins in Street Fighter, and the Longest Winning Streak on Street Fighter IV. Controversy struck Hart in 2012, which would see him temporarily suspended by his current sponsor Western Wolves for a tweet he posted after losing to his teammate MCZ, Mago at the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary UK event stating "''Thank you very fucking much Madcatz. Sending Mago to beat his team mate. Great teamwork! Last time I fucking help any of you.''", Hart would apologise minutes later for the incident with the tweet "''I know everyone likes a bit of drama, but I'm sorry Mad Catz. I just said that out of frustration to my loss. Everyone knows Mad Catz rock!''". Hart was reinstated back into Western Wolves – who were sponsored by Madcatz, after only a month of suspension. His first event back under the Western Wolves banner was the Alienware Championship in January 2013, where he won both the qualifier and the finals itself. Hart continued to be very active within 2013, as well as winning the Alienware Championships Hart also scored wins at DreamHack Valencia 2013, Ludus Magnus Gaming, Paris World Warriors, World Game Cup 3v3, Stunfest 2v2 and Razer Fighting Championships for Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. Along with these victories, Hart placed 2nd at a number of different events such as Da Ultimate Crushing, Final Round 16, Treta Aftermath, Wednesday Night Fights, DreamHack Valencia and VSFighting 3. His other results would be

DreamHack Winter 2013 The 2013 DreamHack SteelSeries ''Counter Strike: Global Offensive'' Championship, also known as DreamHack Winter 2013, was the first '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' Major Championship. The tournament was organized by DreamHack and sponsor ...

(5th), Capcom Cup UK Play Expo (3rd), Community Effort Orlando 2013 (12th), VXG 2013 (5th), Evolution Championship 2013 (33rd),

DreamHack Summer 2013 DreamHack is an ESL Gaming brand specializing in esports tournaments and other gaming conventions. It is recognized by the Guinness Book of Records and Twin Galaxies as being the world's largest LAN party and computer festival with the world's f ...

(3rd), Paris World Warriors - 2v2 (3rd), Stunfest 2013 (4th) and World Game Cup 2013 (7th). This year would also see Hart continuing with his victories within

, winning VSFighting 3, IGN Con Bahrain and Treta Aftermath,

winning VSFighting 3, and placing 2nd in Super Turbo Sunday V and VSFighting 3 2v2 event, along with placing 3rd for

at Electronic Dojo @ Play Expo. Hart would also win competitions in

The King of Fighters XIII ''(KOF XIII)'' is a fighting game in '' The King of Fighters'' series, developed and published by SNK Playmore originally in 2010. ''King of Fighters XIII'' was released for Japanese arcades on July 14, 2010, while ports for the Xbox 360 and Pla ...

at 360 Gaming and also came 3rd on Injustice: Gods Among Us, adding yet another competitive game to his list. Hart also competed in exhibition matches held at the

office in May, dubbed Frame Trap x Capcom FT10, which saw him defeat fellow UK players Benjamin "Problem X" Simon and Andreas. Hart would also find himself without a sponsor mid-way through the year after Team Western Wolves disbanded on 17 August, Western Wolves would officially close it doors on 20 December 2013. 2014 was the last year of Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition before

Ultra Street Fighter IV is a 2008 fighting game published by Capcom, who also co-developed the game with Dimps. It was the first original main entry in the series since ''Street Fighter III'' in 1997, a hiatus of eleven years. The coin-operated arcade game version was ...

was released on 3 June 2014, but this did not stop Hart from being proactive within the game. He managed to secure victories at a number of events including but not limited to Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament 10, Warriors Return 3, Republic of Fighter 3 (3v3), International Video Game Cup 2014 (5v5), Final Round XV, Winner Stays On Invitational, Super Vs Battle 2014, Road To Ultra 2014 and Next Level Battle Circuit #71, along with multiple 2nd places at International Video Game Cup 2014, International Video Game Cup 2014 (3v3), Next Level Battle Circuit #72 and Republic of Fighters 3. Hart still maintained great results in other

fighter such as

with 1st place at Triple Threat Volume 10, IGN Con Dubai Arcade Cafe Tournament and International Video Game Cup 2014, 2nd-place finish at Gigacon and 4th place at VSFighting 4, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike winning Shadowloo Showdown V and Triple Threat Volume 10, he then placed 2nd at Proving Grounds 4 and 3rd at Stunfest 2014. June 2014 also saw the introduction of a new sponsor for Hart, with

Team Dignitas Dignitas, formerly known as Team Dignitas, is a professional esports organization based in Newark, New Jersey, founded by Michael "ODEE" O'Dell on 9 September 2003 as a merger of two top ''Battlefield 1942'' clans. Dignitas was acquired by the P ...

picking him up which he would only stay with until December 2014 when

left the fighting game scene. In the six months Hart was with Dignitas, he won 20 medals across four continents for the team, leading to speculation of this being the most championships any Dignitas player has ever won within a six-month period. With the eventual release of

later within the year, Hart took 1st place at Warriors Return 3, Bracket Reset, Gigacon (2v2), Keep It Classy and Triple Threat Volume 10, while placing 2nd at Street Grand Battle 2014, DreamHack Valencia 2014, ROF, Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament 10, Shadowloo Showdown V, DreamHack Stockholm 2014, Hypespotting 3 and The Luffy Beatdown Special. Hart still managed to compete within different titles at events winning

at IGN Con Dubai, International Video Game Cup 2014 and Hypespotting 3 while obtaining 3rd-place finishes at Wednesday Night Fights on both

and

. Hart also had a 4th-place finish at VSFighting 4, a 2nd-place finish at Hypespotting 3 for

and competing in his last Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown tournaments with 1st place victories at International Video Game Cup 2014 and Final Round XVII. 2015 would be the final year of

being the main game of the

franchise. This did not hinder Hart from competing within multiple events around globe, winning Bracket Reset 21, IGN Con Qatar finishing 3rd place within Topanga Charity Cup EGX 2015, Stunfest 2015 (2v2) and Kakutop League II, along with 4th-place finishes at DreamHack Summer 2015, Milan Games Week, Hypespotting 4, Ouka Ranbu Cup and Kakutop League I. Hart also took 3rd place at Stunfest 2015 Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike tournament. 2015 would also be Hart's last event for

taking 1st place at

Canada Cup The Canada Cup (french: Coupe Canada) was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true worl ...

. 2016 welcomed the new release of

and a lot of fresh new competition with it. Hart was very active during the first year of the new games release, winning Bracket Reset 59, Take TV Take's Dojo, Fight Club NRW and placing 2nd at Lockdown 2016, EGX 2016 and Paris Games Week Invitational. Along with these results Hart secured 3rd and 4th place victories at events such as Kuwait Battle Royale 2016, Celtic Throwdown 2016, VSFighting 2016, and Cannes Winter Clash 2016. Hart started to focus more on his private life and this led him competing a lot less than he had previously at this point, but also allowed him to be more active within different areas of the Esports industry. In 2017 he only entered a handful of events for

with his best result being 1st at Take TV Weekly, Meltdown Weekly and Greek Empire Tournament, additionally Hart placed 3rd at TakeDojo X-Mas 2017. within this same year, Hart casually picked up the new

game;

Tekken 7 is a fighting game developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is the seventh main and ninth overall installment in the ''Tekken '' series. ''Tekken 7'' was released to Amusement arcade, arcades in March 2015. An updated arcade ve ...

, where he placed 9th at Hypespotting 6. Hart continues to compete within fighting game events but to a lesser extent as he continues to grow his career within other areas, he still enters events for

and

with his best results of 7th (

) and 9th (

) at Brussels Challenge Major 2018, Headstomper 2018 and Fight Club NRW 2018.

Team manager

Hart has managed Western Wolves as a team leader during the team's run. Western Wolves closed its doors on 20 December making Hart and all team members free agents.

Caster

Hart has been a caster for multiple different events including Pokkén's Nationals, Black Label ESports Masters,

World Cyber Games The World Cyber Games (WCG) is an international esports competition with multi-game titles in which hundreds of esports athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competitions also known as Esports Olympics. WCG events attempt to ...

Capcom Pro Tour The Capcom Pro Tour is a series of international fighting game tournaments sponsored by video game developer Capcom. The Pro Tour culminates in the annual Capcom Cup, a single-day tournament held in the San Francisco Bay Area. 2014 Capcom Cup 20 ...

, GamesCom Dragonball Fighter Z Tournament, and the Tekken World Tour.

Presenter

Hart works as a host and presenter for variety of gaming events, shows and TV such as

ESL English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EF ...

Content creator

Hart works as a content creator for ESL's main products, such as

ESL One The ESL Gaming GmbH, doing business as ESL (formerly known as Electronic Sports League), is a German esports organizer and production company that produces video game competitions worldwide. ESL was the world's largest esports company in 2015, ...

, IEM and

ESL Pro League The ESL Pro League (formerly ESL ESEA Pro League; shortened as EPL) is a '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' (CS:GO) professional esports league, produced by ESL. It is based on four regions: Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania, and curren ...

. Among Ryan's long career within the Esports industry he has had the opportunity to co-author a book and write articles for his own blog and

Ars Technica ''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sc ...

Tournament organiser

Since 2001 Hart has also setup and ran many tournaments during his time within the competitive fighting game scene including but not limited to TTT 1 Crackdown, SBO Netko, Chasing Dragon 3s Tournament, VF4 Feet Bribe, 50 Man Trocadeo KO Showdown, 3S Neko RB Season, Prodigal Summit, Namco Station Tekken 5 Bi-Weeklies, USA vs Europe SF4 Showdown and the Venezuela Tour 2012. Hart currently hosts the community initiative Silent V Trigger within

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

to help local players improve.

Some achievements

Media Appearances

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Ryan English esports players Living people Black British sportsmen Homeless people Street Fighter players Fighting game players Tekken players Year of birth missing (living people)