Alex (アレックス Arekkusu) is a video game character from the Street Fighter series of fighting games, first appearing in the Street Fighter III games, serving as the sub-series' lead character. He is an American from New York who enters the third World Warrior tournament after its sponsor, Gill, seriously injures his fighting mentor and father figure Tom.
Biography[]
Appearance[]
Alex is a very tall, heavily-built individual with long blonde hair, camouflage green overalls with the straps down, open-fingered gloves of the same color, combat boots, and a wide red bandana. He also has red marks (most likely painted on) on both of his shoulders where his overall straps should be, and red marks under his eyes (possibly face paint). Some official artworks also depict him wearing his default attire along with a bomber jacket (sometimes wearing a white button shirt underneath it) or a sleeveless black T-shirt. His classic appearance is his "Nostalgia" costume in Street Fighter V.
In his Capcom Fighting Evolution ending, Alex wears camo green MMA shorts, along with what appears to be slate colored open fingered training boxing gloves.
The event that Alex and Balrog fought in shown in an arcade flier for SFIII New Generation is called the Vale Tudo Eternal Fighting (B.E.F). He wears the same attire as his CFE ending, except his trunks have a red stripe designed along each side.
At the time of Street Fighter V, he wears red suspenders with black linings, a red and white flannel plaid long sleeve button shirt tied on his waist, tattered military green pants and black combat boots. His hair is cut short and is styled slicked back but have short fringes in each sides which are hanging loose on his bandanna. He doesn't have the red marks on his shoulders yet. His fingerless gloves are blue and black. In his City of Chaos background cameo, he wears a dark red short sleeved loose button shirt.
In his character story, he gains a scar inflicted on his cheek during his fight with a reimagined Ryu, implying that he put the red marks on his eyes to match his right scar and his left cheek.
He has several alternate costumes in the game, his first outfit is a white short sleeve v-neck shirt with a golden anvil emblazoned at the center that reaches his lower abs, green trousers with white linings in each sides, a matching green tie in the center and black boxers underneath. He is barehanded, walks barefoot and his hair is messy. Another is a white sleeveless shirt with a red X sign of "Extraordinary", green MMA shorts with his name inprinted on the buckle and a black thigh support within his shorts. His hair is longer and he wears a red cap and matching green MMA gloves with his imprinted name.
His premium work costume, which is that of a firefighter, consists of a pair of orange trousers with yellow outlines and designs and black short boots. He is shirtless and accessorized with a red fire hose as a side belt, a brown holster on his left side and a red axe holstered at the back. He also wears a red firefighting hat with black designs and black gloves with yellow linings.
Concept[]
During the early development of Street Fighter III, Alex was originally a police officer who used to be a pro wrestler.[6]
Many of Alex's character traits allude to famous professional wrestler Hulk Hogan. His fighting style can be considered as an amalgamation of Hogan's repertories during his career in both the New Japan Pro Wrestling circuit and WWF back in the 80's; in Japan, Hogan used more traditional wrestling maneuvers in the ring, while in the US, Hogan was well known for his brute force and raw power brawling. His intro actions before a fight reference quite a few of Hogan's own introductions; both are known to rip off their shirts before engaging in the match. His most notable opening is with Hugo, as this opening references the staredown between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant (who Hugo is designed after) before their famous match at Wrestlemania III. His Street Fighter V concept art bears a little resemblance to Hogan when he briefly competed in a wrestling ring in WWE Raw in 2002 and later being inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame.
A secondary inspiration likely comes from Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose; his trademark forehead bandana headband and long hair depicted is most similar to Axl's youthful appearance around the early 1990's, and share a mercurial, almost short tempered but well meant disposition, as Axl was at times notorious for being extremely headstrong and combative. On a lesser note regarding Street Fighter III's urban and hip hop styled themes, Axl was also a fan of gangsta rap groups that started around the same time as Gn'R, specifically that of N.W.A. and Public Enemy.
Alex is also possibly based on "Mike Awesome/The Gladiator", a cult-popular pro wrestler in 1990s Japan - particularly Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (FMW). Mike Awesome was known for being a long-haired high-flyer despite his tall, muscular frame and powerhouse attack style, used a jumping powerbomb as his finisher, and wore similar warpaint under his eyes.[citation needed]
Additionally, two of Mike Awesome's long-running rivals in FMW, Atsushi Onita and Masato Tanaka, were fond of using repeat headbutt combos and jumping tornado DDTs, respectively. Another recurring foe, W*ING Kanemura, favored a double-footed stomp out of the air.[citation needed]
Alex also bears a resemblance to Biff Slamkovich (whose name in Japan is Aleksey Zalazof) from Capcom's Slam Masters series of wrestling games.
Personality[]
Often crass and abrasive, Alex's boldness tends to land him in deep trouble; he is also prone to violent outbursts of extreme aggression, especially if the people he loves are threatened. He is also very straightforward and refuses to mince words, especially when it comes to his confidence in his abilities. At times, this desire to prove himself can overwhelm his common sense, leading to very dangerous situations that test the very limits of his fighting capabilities.
Despite this, Alex does have a softer side that he only shows to people he cares about (such as Tom and his daughter Patricia) and/or hold in high regard (like Ryu).
After defeating Gill during the events of Street Fighter III and 2nd impact, Alex became slightly more humble and toned down his hard tongued insults in favor of actually evaluating his opponent and offering them advice, excluding characters like Urien, Gill and sometimes Yun and Yang due to being evil, overly cocky or both in Urien's case.
Relationships[]
Gill[]
Alex holds a grudge against Gill for hurting his friend Tom.
Ryu[]
Alex considers Ryu as his ultimate rival, after being momentarily caught off guard by his attacks. They engage in a fight with a currently unknown outcome.
Story[]
Background[]
Alex is an American fighter from Manhattan, District of New York, who hasn't been with his parents since they died when he was a young boy;[5] his current family consists of his father's friend, Tom and his teenage daughter, Patricia, who live under the same roof with him. Alex trains daily at Tom's gym, having learned everything he knows about fighting from Tom himself. Tom, being a military veteran[7] and a renowned refiner of fighting moves, often visits military bases as well as maintaining his own gym.[7]
Street Fighter V[]
Character story[]
In his character story, Alex is fixing his trailer car when Patricia arrives to inform him about an invitation mail, she also gives him a basket full of sandwiches before leaving. Afterwards, Alex falls asleep, unaware that two Shadaloo foot soldiers are approaching him.
Alex wakes up in unfamiliar surroundings and is watched by F.A.N.G who calls him Shadaloo test body number 222222 and begins an AS simulation experiment on him. Alex is confronted by reimagined fighters; the first three are Dan, E. Honda, and Hakan. After beating them, he decides to go back to his trailer but F.A.N.G reveals to Alex that he was kidnapped by Shadaloo to become one of their experiments and he forces him to fight Birdie, after defeating the thug, Alex tries to find the exit and escape but fails, Chun-Li approaches him soon after. After her defeat, F.A.N.G notices Alex's resilence to escape and warns him if he escapes he will die.
The final opponent Ryu (in his Alpha appearance) appears and he manages to inflict a scar on Alex's upper cheek during the fight before Alex beats him causing F.A.N.G to panic, a furious Alex starts to destroy the lab while warning the Shadaloo member to bring another of his "toys". F.A.N.G orders some of his men to get Alex out before the former unleashes the poison cloud in the surroundings. Alex soon wakes up thinking the whole event was a dream.
Patricia informs him about Tom's invitation and his mail. She notices a scratch on his face, Alex looks in the mirror and sees the scars on his cheek that wasn't there before he slept, which causes Alex to reconsider if the events from before really were a dream.
Other character story Appearances[]
In Abigail's character story, Alex is the only fighter who recognizes Abigail's car sounds similar to a diesel engine and which car Abigail is missing, but both of them eventually fought.
A Shadow Falls[]
At the main's story, Alex is shown handling a trophy and he had an exhibition wrestling match with Zangief who is alongside with R. Mika as Alex smiles knowing that his tag partner is none other than Laura who quickly gets the announcer's megaphone as she announces to the audience that their tag team match will turn into an epic showdown. When Zangief, R. Mika and Laura tries to cheer the audience, Alex watches them in a shrug until their fight is soon postponed due to the black out made by one of its seven Moons created by Bison.
Alex returns back to his trailer car to fix it. Afterwards, he was horribly surprised to see Dhalsim who teleports in front of him when he is about to close the front car door. Alex angrily mistakes Dhalsim as a mugger as the two fight. Dhalsim corrects that he is not a mugger and he just came here to get the chess piece as Alex looked at the chess piece which has given to him by Patricia. Alex gives Dhalsim the chess piece stating that he is not interested as Dhalsim informs him about his future before teleporting as Alex watches the Yoga Master teleport.
Street Fighter III series[]
New Generation and 2nd Impact[]
Alex entered the third World Warrior tournament because its sponsor, Gill, had seriously injured Tom; even though he had told Alex that Gill had won fairly, Tom allowed Alex to go, letting him make his own decisions. Alex won every match and then faced Gill. Although he defeated Gill, Alex did not have a chance to kill him, and he went home to find Tom fully recovered. Meanwhile, Gill seems to notice something special about Alex that concerns and later intrigues him.
3rd Strike[]
With thoughts of revenge no longer clouding his mind, Alex encountered Ryu, who offered a match with him. Ryu won, with Alex being unable to counter any of his blows. Ryu encouraged Alex to hone his skills and seek out worthy opponents. Alex then became obsessed with fighting Ryu again. He eventually got his chance, but the outcome is currently unknown.
Crossover appearances[]
Capcom Fighting Evolution[]
Alex appears as a playable character in Capcom Fighting Evolution.
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom[]
Alex also appears playable in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes/Ultimate All-Stars.
Capcom Fighting All-Stars[]
Alex was intended to appear in the canceled 3D fighting game Capcom Fighting All-Stars along with Ryu, Chun-Li, Charlie and Poison.
Comics[]
Street Fighter III: Ryu Final[]
Alex appears in the second final volume of the Ryu Final manga. He is first seen crumpled in the alley after suffering defeat from a battle with a strong fighter, who he would later learn was Ryu. While not proud of his defeat, Alex is left with a calmness that he's never felt before. He later faces Ken in a martial arts tournament, who confirms the identidy of Alex's earlier oppenent as Ryu and asks if Alex wants to see him again. Alex loses to Ken and afterward, Mel gives Alex Ryu's red headband. Ken tells Alex where to find Ryu and he ends up at the ruins of Shujyaku Temple.
Alex ties Ryu's headband to a wooden post, sensing Ryu's presence behind him. Alex asks Ryu if he has the same fighting spirit as him, something that can only be conveyed through their fists and a smiling Ryu tells Alex to "find out for [himself]".
UDON comics[]
Alex appears as a major character in UDON's Super Street Fighter series and Street Fighter Unlimited.
Cameo Appearances[]
Alex made a humorous cameo appearance alongside K' in one of the black and white error screens in SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium. Alex complained about being left out of the game despite being a main character, and K' attempted to reassure him they'd be included in the sequel, though both young men seemed unconvinced.
Alex made a cameo appearance in Capcom vs. SNK 2 where he can be seen in the Nairobi stage.
In "The Half Pipe" stage in Street Fighter X Tekken, a billboard has a picture of Alex (with the text; "I Will Be Back") to the far right of the background. In said crossover game, Tekken character King II's swap costume is based on Alex.[8]
Gameplay[]
Fighting style[]
Alex fights using wrestling and kickboxing; he makes good use of a good amount of professional wrestling maneuvers and throws, and also uses a powerhouse variation of street brawling and kickboxing. Many of his techniques revolving around maneuvering and positioning about the arena, all the while using his bulk, strength and speed to his advantage.
Moveset[]
In-game, Alex is considered an all-around type of character. He possesses both charge moves and rotational moves, with rushing attacks, aerial attacks and grapples. His size also allows him a good reach with his heavy punches and kicks. His speed is also surprising, given his size. However, his setups are difficult and rarely used.
Alex makes use of a Power Bomb similar in appearance and in execution to Zangief's Flying Power Bomb. He also uses a Spiral DDT, leaping at the opponent and grabbing hold of them, spinning around them and slamming them headfirst into the ground, reminiscent of the later-introduced El Fuerte's lucha libre style. His Air Stampede consists of a leap into the air, landing feet-first on his opponent's head in a manner similar to M. Bison's trademark Head Stomp, with the same input (but with shorter range). His Air Knee Smash has him lumping diagonally forward knee-first, and is his anti-air move. Finally, he possesses the Flash Chop, in which he performs a short-range horizontal hand chop in a stationary position like real-life WWE wrestler Ric Flair's "Flair Chop", and a Slash Elbow, which is visually similar but has him rush forward before delivering the horizontal slash with the elbow instead of the side of the palm.
In Street Fighter V, Alex plays extremely similar to his Street Fighter III counterpart by retaining all of his special moves with some very minor changes and new additions; his Hyper Bomb Super Art becomes a EX special, he has another EX special called the Power Drop where he lands two Back Drop Suplexes on his opponent. He gains a new special move called Head Crush which is a combination of his Headbutt normal command and Stun Gun Headbutt Super Art from Street Fighter III in which he jumps towards the opponent using a single headbutt if he grabs them successfully. His V-Skill is Overhaul where he stretches one of his arms then executing a hard hitting attack to damage his opponent if they are counter attacked, fans will notice that it's just like his taunt in "Street Fighter III". His V-Trigger is the Rage Shift where Alex empowers his wrestling fighting style and gain access to a powerful clothesline attack called the Sledge Hammer. His V-Reversal is the Big Boot, he hits the opponent with a powerful foward kick. Like Ryu, Alex also gains a parry when his V-Trigger is activated as he can block either basic attacks or projectiles.
His Critical Art is the Heavy Hammer where he knocks his opponent with a powerful Flash Chop followed by a Power Bomb then he grabs them and takes them to the highest height in a crucifix hold and viciously drops their heads down to the ground in a quick pace. When he misses a single Flash Chop while executing this move or to easily finish his opponent while in critical, he will swiftly knock the opponent down with double Flash Chops.
Super Arts[]
In the Street Fighter III games, in keeping with his wrestling style, Alex's Hyper Bomb sees him preforming a waist-lock before backward rolling into two successive German suplexes, followed by a Power Bomb. If used after a Flash Chop (due to said move's unique property of turning the opponent around), it becomes a series of Backdrop Suplexes which does slightly more damage. His Boomerang Raid involves punching his opponent, then Flash Chopping, punching, Flash Chopping and finally suplexing them. His third Super Art, the Stun Gun Headbutt, sees him jump a small distance towards his opponent and headbutting them four times, always leaving the opponent stunned afterwards.
Trivia[]
- Alex is the second reigning Street Fighter champion in the main series' current timeline, the first being Ryu.
- In the SFIII Q&A from Gamest's SFIII Fanbook, Alex's favorite move is stated to be the back drop.
- The book also states that he thinks about his parents from time to time, but still sees Tom and Patricia as his own flesh and blood family.
- In the US translation of the Street Fighter III New Generation and Second Impact instruction manual, Alex is depicted as a former enlisted US Army soldier who lives with Tom after having moved out from his family's home at a young age.
- Alex is the only playable American character in the Street Fighter III series to speak English in-game.
- Ken is American but speaks Japanese in-game.
- Both Ken and Alex are also the only American playable characters in the Street Fighter III series.
- Alex's mentor, Tom, bears a huge resemblance to French actor Jean Reno.
- Alex's car in Street Fighter V is based on Daihatsu Feroza's 1994 model.
- In Street Fighter V, Alex was first seen in the background of the City of Chaos stage and on October 2015, a datamining of Street Fighter V's PC beta test revealed fighter data and character meshes of Alex, Juri, Dhalsim, Ibuki, Urien, Guile and Balrog.[9][10] On December 5th, 2015, Alex and the rest of the characters (except for Dhalsim who was confirmed earlier as a default fighter) were confirmed as DLC fighters at the PlayStation Experience. Alex was officially revealed on March 10th and became available on March 30, 2016.
- In Makoto's 3rd Strike ending, Alex can be seen among the fighters defeated by Makoto.
Gallery[]
For more of this character, see their gallery.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Street Fighter V Character Encyclopedia: Alex
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Street Fighter: World Warrior Encyclopedia Hardcover
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 http://www.capcom.co.jp/sfv/chara_alex.html
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Street Fighter V Stat Card
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Gamest Mook Vol. 81: Street Fighter III Fan Book(Capcom Q&A article)
- ↑ Street Fighter V Guests interviews: SFIII character designs
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Street Fighter: World Warrior Encyclopedia(Bio)
- ↑ A Closer Look at Street Fighter X Tekken's Alternate Costumes
- ↑ http://wccftech.com/street-fighter-pc-beta-file-analysis-revealed-unconfirmed-characters/
- ↑ http://hadoken.net/sfv-audio-leak/