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The story
A 97-year-old woman living in a nursing home has become obsessed with the fighting game Tekken, according to an article in Josei Jishin (Women’s Own) that went viral on 5ch. The article also features an 89-year-old fellow resident who battles alongside her, and says gaming has become a new reason to live. On the thread, comments ranged from sarcastic jabs at the once-widespread “game brain” theory that demonized video games, to praise for incorporating games into elderly care facility recreation, alongside surprise and skepticism about how well a 97-year-old could truly grasp the game’s strategy and mind games.
“I’ll Keep Fighting as Long as I’m Alive”: 97-Year-Old Woman, the Oldest Fighting-Game Fan Around, Goes Wild for Tekken! The “Too Hot” Passion That Blossomed at Her Nursing Home
Article posted: 2026/09/27 11:00 Last updated: 2026/09/27 23:27
Josei Jishin Editorial Team
Source: jisin.jp / Original article here
What people said
I wonder what happened to the idiots who used to say that.
Huh?
Doesn't make sense.
Nursing homes putting out pachinko machines for residents to play is standard too — does that make you a pachinko fan?
No matter how old you get, having an environment where you can compete with others keeps you feeling alive.
She got skillfully brainwashed by a gamer working in caregiving.
Finger exercises give the brain good stimulation.
Street Fighter 6 is basically the only fighting game still surviving at this point.
You'd think she'd be from a generation that hates video games.
Maybe she wasn't a housewife, which is why she's so open-minded?
Every year, updating the players' stats using the Weekly Baseball annual guide, the player handbook, and his own judgment was his favorite pastime in his later years.
Still, considering he died in his 70s, this grandma is incredible — and she's playing a fighting game, no less.
Guess that doesn't change even for the elderly.
Like the late Nobuyo Ohyama playing Arkanoid, for instance (Ohyama was the original voice actress of Doraemon).
So basically, letting them play games keeps them out of trouble and makes life easier for the care staff?
If that's the case, there'll be demand for AI-powered care robots that can chat and play games with residents too… well, the government should just budget for developing those.
Then we wouldn't need to keep bringing in caregivers from overseas either.
It helps prevent senility.
That's why they have residents do word-association games, origami, and other recreational activities.
Video games probably help prevent senility too — and they're probably more fun than word-association games or origami.
Apparently she was a hairdresser.
Tekken's fine, but so would Puyo Puyo, Animal Crossing, or action games like Resident Evil.
If they offered a variety of games matched to each resident's tastes, it'd be even better.
Since it helps prevent senility, it'd reduce the number of residents ending up needing the most severe level of care.
Isn't there a lot to remember in Animal Crossing? Visually it's nice, but a purely task-based game like that might be tough.
They've been incorporating games for ages already.
That's a Virtua Fighter line.
https://img.jisin.jp/uploads/2026/09/e-sports2.jpg
If she's found something that gives her a 'sense of purpose in life' while she's still alive, she should keep at it.
Oxygen catheter lol
Apparently the catheter patient is 97. And the one next to her is 89…
Background and Key Points of This Topic
“Game brain” is a theory that spread around 2002 claiming video games harm children’s brain development, which has since been criticized for lacking solid scientific grounding. This article runs in the opposite direction, presenting a case where a competitive video game may be helping an elderly person find purpose and maintain cognitive function. The thread was divided between surprise and skepticism over whether a 97-year-old could really understand command inputs and strategic back-and-forth well enough to play, and voices welcoming the shift toward incorporating video games into nursing home recreation that had previously centered on coloring books and origami. Some replies pointed to research suggesting that games requiring dynamic visual tracking and quick judgment, such as 3D shooters, may help counter cognitive decline, expressing hope for preventive benefits beyond mere pastime. At the same time, there were also comments lamenting the shrinking fighting-game scene and questioning how widely Tekken itself is still played today, making this a topic that touches on both elderly care and the video game industry.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geino/Sports News+) thread “✊ “I’ll Keep Fighting as Long as I’m Alive”: 97-Year-Old Woman, the Oldest Fighting-Game Fan Around, Goes Wild for Tekken! The “Too Hot” Passion That Blossomed at Her Nursing Home 💥.”
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