In January 2018, streamer and Monster Hunter fan UncleAaronT was intrigued by a clip showing Rathian from Monster Hunter World being defeated by the Street Fighter 5 Hadoken emote available in a collaboration pack. Realizing that this could harm the monsters, he immediately used the emote for the first Hadoken-exclusive Great Jagras hunt.
Fast forward about seven years and Aaron has now used the Hadoken, combined with a few other emotes, to beat the entirety of Monster Hunter World without swinging or firing a single weapon, which I would compare to putting together a bookshelf using only your mouth. He began taking on the challenge seriously in November. To put things into perspective, one of his Nergigante hunts lasted 41 minutes.
“I couldn't continue doing the challenge at the time due to life commitments, but fast forward to the end of the Monster Hunter Wilds beta, the idea popped back into my head,” Aaron tells GamesRadar+. “I had the most available time of the night and in turn came back to complete the challenge. The gesture/emotion alone really felt like something I knew I could do. While there are others that might not have caused any harm or others related challenges, I couldn't find anyone who seemed to have done what I did. It doesn't help. I'm a stubborn person, so when I set myself a challenge, I commit to seeing it through.
The Hadoken was the lynchpin because it's a reliable ranged emote that deals constant critical damage (a whopping 13 with a clean hit) without draining all of your stamina like the Shoryuken emote does. Another tool was the Devil May Cry emote with Dante's weapons, which deals about twice as much damage as the Hadoken, but much less reliably and in wide distribution. This made it difficult to use, but was still useful for small but welcome DPS boosts in the right situations.
Monster Hunter World Emotes is only possible. I've played the entire game using emotes as my only form of damage to my hunter. from large jagras to xenojiva. This silly challenge was completed on 06/01/2025. I think I'm the first person to do this right now. from r/MonsterHunter
“In the end, the Hadoken really came out on top, giving me a set damage number that was consistent but also allowed me enough time to learn the pattern when I needed to dodge,” Aaron explains. There are other harmful gestures, but they have their complexes. “The other emotes I mentioned are either more paid emotes or are locked behind certain requirements that meant completing the game once to access the emotes. Witcher's Fire and FF14 Jump, both of which could provide some help against some monsters like dodging attack in general or using elemental damage to my advantage. In the end, it just came down to situational actions against certain monsters.”
The good news is that without having to worry about his weapon skills, Aaron could build his Monster Hunter World loadouts around defensive and utility skills like windproof, earplugs, and tremor resistance. If it makes it easier to get Hadokens or keeps you alive, it's useful. This mainly came into play later in the game with high-ranking elder dragons, and Kushala Daora proved especially challenging. Fortunately, flash bombs saved the day.
If you're wondering, Aaron had a Palico to help, but it was specified to heal and didn't really contribute much damage. One of the most impressive things about this run is Aaron's ability to fight these monsters for so long without being slowed down. With a normal build, killing monsters faster reduces the damage you will receive in the long run and reduces the opportunities for making mistakes, but Aaron was deliberately following the complete opposite strategy.
Another wall was Zorah Magdaros, a volcano-like beast with a lot of health that is usually destroyed with special environmental items like cannons. Aaron's followers agreed that environmental damage was permissible here, lest Zorah kill on the run, so cannons and ballistae (which are also not technically hunter weapons) were allowed.
Aaron's final fight with Xeno'jiiva is something to see, and about half the length of a movie to boot. “The challenge is complete!” he says triumphantly. “It's possible to beat Monster Hunter World with just emoticons!” As icing on the cake, he took out a rare gem from the monster's corpse. He says he's now “taking some much-needed time to think about the time I've spent since November doing this challenge and how, in some ways, it was gratifying to see it finally accomplished after six years.”
Monster Hunter Wilds gets a second beta test with a “returning monster from the series,” but the improvements from the first round “won't be ready” in time.