Alex (Street Fighter)

is a video game character from Capcom's ''Street Fighter'' series of fighting games.

Conception and design

Alex was created early in development to be the series' protagonist, and was designed by Akira Yasuda. Early versions of his character established him as a police officer that used to be a professional wrestler, influenced by how popular professional wrestling was at the time. They wanted a character that stood apart from Ryu, and was intended to be a simple protagonist so the supporting cast could be "flashy", with Sadamoto comparing it to how manga ''Saint Seiya'' approached its cast.

In the ''Street Fighter III'' series, Alex wears green overalls, green open-fingered gloves, brown combat boots, a red bandana, a scar on each of his shoulders, long blonde hair wrapped in a ponytail and make-up from the bottom of his eyes down to the rest of his face. Alex also sometimes wears a black tank top, which he rips off before he fights, and a bomber jacket when he isn't fighting. In ''Street Fighter V'', Alex mostly retains his appearance. He wears red suspenders, has slightly shorter hair with no ponytail, and has a red and white long-sleeved buttoned flannel, which he either wears unbuttoned and sleeves rolled up, or wrapped around his waist. He wears green cargo pants, which are slightly torn up.

Appearances

Alex made his first appearance in ''Street Fighter III: New Generation''. Tom, his mentor and legal guardian, got in a fight with Gill, the president of the Illuminati and lost. Tom was sent into a hospital as a result of the fight. This angered Alex and prompted him to enter the third World Warrior tournament hosted by Gill in order kill him. Alex beats Gill and wins the tournament, but does not kill Gill. Gill is impressed about Alex's skills after their encounter thinks there's something special about Alex. Alex eventually returns to Tom as a changed person after fighting various people around the world.''All About Capcom Head-to-Head Fighting Game 1987–2000'', page 299Capcom. p. 12. ''Street Fighter III: Double Impact, instruction manual''. Retrieved on 2008-07-03

Alex returns in '' Street Fighter III: Third Strike'' with a slightly different personality, He met Ryu and fought him, only to lose, in which Ryu told Alex to explore the world and find worthy fighters. He re-encountered Ryu and decided to fight again, although the outcome of the fight hasn't been revealed yet in the story.

After not appearing in a mainline Street Fighter game, Alex came back in ''Street Fighter V'' as DLC, which is set before ''Street Fighter III''. He is a top wrestler in a pro-wrestling league. One day, after working on his broken-down trailer, he gets kidnapped by Shadaloo and F.A.N.G. for assessment of his skills, where he's pitted against simulations of multiple fighters, such as Ryu and Chun-Li. When he realizes that he's been kidnapped, he throws down a simulated fighter to try and destroy the facility he's trapped in but gets knocked out before he can and is sent back to his trailer. He wakes up, thinking it's a dream, but when Patricia comes to his trailer with a porcelain chess piece, which is a key to a Black Moon, a satellite that can be rigged to launch an electromagnetic pulse that can blackout entire cities, and a certificate, and notices a scar on him, Alex realizes it's not a dream.

Alex reappears as a playable character in ''Street Fighter V'' as the first of 6 characters to be released after the game's launch in 2016. He was released March 30, 2016. His prologue shows that he was kidnapped by Shadaloo, led by F.A.N.G.

In the story mode of ''Street Fighter V'', "A Shadow Falls", Alex is at a pro-wrestling tournament, where he wins and gets the wrestling trophy. He then fights in a tag-team exhibition match with Laura against Zangief and R. Mika, which is broadcast live on television. However the signal cuts out due to a Black Moon detonating over New York City, causing a blackout. Dhalsim comes to his trailer, wanting the chess piece, but Alex believes Dhalsim is a mugger and fights him. Dhalsim convinces Alex that he's not a mugger and asks for the piece, in which Alex gives it to him, saying he didn't need it. Dhalsim then tells Alex that big things will happen to him in the future, foreshadowing his story ''Street Fighter III'', and teleports away.

Alex makes an appearance in '' Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars'' as a playable character, alongside other ''Street Fighter'' characters, Ryu and Chun-Li. He also appears in '' Capcom Fighting All-Stars'' and '' Capcom Fighting Evolution''.Kashavin, Greg (2005-06-16)
Capcom Fighting Evolution (XBox) XBox Game Reviews
CNet. Retrieved on 2008-07-03

Promotion and reception

To promote the release of ''New Generation'', several items of merchandise were created featuring Alex, including phone cards and a wall clock. Meanwhile, for ''3rd Strike''s Online Edition, player avatar items of the character were released for Sony's PlayStation Network. A gashapon figure of Alex's Midnight Bliss transformation from '' Capcom Fighting Evolution'' was also released in 2005. A stationary miniature was also released by Jasco Games, as part of a ''Street Fighter III'' character pack.

Alex was mostly well received upon debut, with several outlets praising him as one of the best characters from ''Street Fighter III'' and the series overall. D. F. Smith of ''IGN'' stated that Alex served as much a departure from the norm for Capcom as his game of origin, stating he "broke the mold for fighting heroes in all kinds of ways" in how different he was from the more "conservative" Ryu and Ken in terms of design and gameplay. Smith pointed out that Alex was "unexpectedly quirky", designed with players that wanted to get up close to their opponents in mind, and his shaggy appearance and face paint made him feel more like someone able to act as a bouncer at the roughest of establishments. Meanwhile, the staff of ''GamesRadar'' stated that while Alex had been position to be the series' frontman, the character was not that popular. However at the same time, they enjoyed that there was a captivating machismo to the character, and how many of his attacks reflected real-life wrestling moves in the WWE.

Gavin Jasper of ''Den of Geek'' described Alex as a parody of fellow character Guile, noting that both men had a similar story of searching for revenge. However, while Guile's was portrayed as a righteous mission, Jasper felt Alex's demonstrated he had a short temper and did not think things out fully. He further stated that due to Capcom's tendency to downplay ''Street Fighter III'' in recent years Alex had been underutilized, appreciating the character and acknowledging that while he wasn't the strongest character in the franchise, he was still shown "having the time of his life". Jasper called Alex as the highlight of ''Street Fighter III'' due to both his character moveset but also his portrayal during the attacks, describing his voice as sounding rugged and adding "Something about his line delivery gives it an extra bit of oomph when you’re slamming your opponent".

Analysis of design

Gaming journalist John Learned in his YouTube series examining the ''Street Fighter'' characters stated that Alex's appearance, story, and moveset helped form ''Street Fighter III''s overall design, citing Sadamoto's background with Capcom in developing their wrestling games. In particular he noted similarities between Alex and professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, emphasized in the game by his pre-match introduction animation of ripping off his shirt and his rivalry with Hugo drawing similarities to Hogan's match with Andre the Giant, a real-life figure Hugo was based on. Learned also felt that as the series progressed, Alex began to develop as a character, demonstrating traits more in line with series protagonist Ryu in that he leaves his desire for revenge behind him and instead searches for stronger opponents to bring himself a sense of purpose and inner strength, something he felt came full circle with his portrayal in ''3rd Strike''. Emphasis was put on Alex's name due to its meaning as "protector", while Learned also drawing parallels to conquers Alexander the Great as a possible source of inspiration for the name.

Shivam Bhatt on a podcast for '' Retronauts'' felt Alex played poorly as a character meant to be the protagonist of the series, noting that while he was intended to be a grappler archetype in the game he didn't play as one, and his gameplay didn't seem to improve until his appearance in later games. Meanwhile Learned, who was also a guest on the podcast, stated he was surprised they made an American character the protagonist of the series, as it deviated from the trend of Japanese fighting games to use a Japanese protagonist, something the other commentators agreed with. Host Diamond Feit proposed the use of a character with blonde hair may have been intended to give a more exotic feel to the title, noting how blonde hair was often used as shorthand in Japanese works to indicate something "foreign".MP3 archive
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''Hardcore Gaming 101'' podcast commentator "Xerxes" meanwhile cited Alex as an example of how people found many of the characters in ''Street Fighter III'' offputting, something that surprised his co-hosts. Clarifying, he expressed that while the series had been known for caricatures to that point, comparing it to Nintendo's ''Punch-Out!!'' in that regard but with more innovative names. To him though Alex felt contrary to that, a terrible character that was "just a guy" that did not bring anything fun. In contrast, Bhatt on the ''Retronauts'' podcast considered this a point of praise for ''Street Fighter III'', as he felt it demonstrated a departure from its predecessor's over-reliance on cultural caricatures particularly in how Alex was in the first game the only regular white person in the title.

References

{{Street Fighter
Fictional American people in video games
Fictional characters from New York (state)
Fictional kickboxers
Fictional sport wrestlers
Male characters in video games
Street Fighter characters
Video game characters introduced in 1997
Characters designed by Akira Yasuda