Hiya!

Alex has now been part of Street Fighter 6‘s roster for around a week now. Usually, I kind of rush out to talk about whenever Capcom adds a new character to Street Fighter 6. This time, though, I decided to take my time. Alex is this season’s fan favorite DLC character so I wanted to see if Capcom took that into consideration when designing how we was going to play. Well, I do have to say, they really did something different with Alex in Street Fighter 6, to say the least.

Since we all had some time to dissect what is good and what is bad about how Alex comes off in Street Fighter 6, I would like to give a breakdown of what I believe is what’s good, what’s bad and the WTF about Alex.

The Good

#1 He’s not just a grappler anymore

I may in the minority when it comes to fighting games but I like grapplers. I may not be really good at playing with them or against them. That doesn’t matter because I have a lot of fun playing as a grappler. There’s just something incredibly satisfying with sneaking in just close enough and say “gotcha!” as you slam them with an untechable throw. Alex is still technically a grappler but unlike, say, Zangief or Manon, he can also do some really awesome combos! This is mostly due to his new Prowler Stance, which I’ll talk about later.

Anway, in the right hands, Alex feels more like a crazy combo character who just so happens to have a couple of command throws. In a way, he plays more like Marisa in that way as both do have command throws but can pummel their opponents with hard hitting combos.

This does make Alex kind of a double threat more than Street Fighter 6’s other grapplers. He can start hitting his opponent with combos then, once they start trying to block more, switch things up by getting close with his command throw. I do think the most successful Alex players will be the ones who can change playstyles between rushdown and grappler as their opponents will have to adapt between the two, mixing them up.

#2 He has a command attack which gets him in quickly and is plus on block

Alex loyalists are familiar with his Air Stampede. This is a move where Alex leaps at his opponent with a big head stomp which you have to block standing. It’s still here but it’s not a charge move anymore, which probably is making a lot of Alex fans very happy. Instead, Air Stampede is mapped to the medium kick of his Prowler Stance. You can still control the distance it travels a bit by holding the direction just after you enter the command.

The thing is, this new version of Alex’s Air Stampede feels a little too good! Sure, it’s still reactable as it starts up at 30 frames and I do believe players with fast reflexes will be able to counter this with an anti-air or even a perfect parry in the future. However, what makes this a really good move is it’s +2 on block! So, technically, Alex has a way to get in safely and actually start pressuring his opponent! That’s extremely good for someone who is both a combo character and a grappler!

Honestly, I feel it’s on par with how a lot of fans felt about E. Honda‘s Sumo Headbutt and Sumo Smash during the early days of Street Fighter 6. In the future, I don’t think Air Stampede will be thought of as a good way to get in but, for now, it’s very deadly and can catch people asleep.

#3 His Prowler Stance is a great mixup gimmick

One thing I noticed with how Capcom have been creating characters for Street Fighter 6 is they have to give them some kind of gimmick. Things like Blanka‘s Blanka-Chan Bomb, M. Bison‘s Psycho Mines and Jamie‘s drinking mechanic. These are all things which give each character a little more spice to them. On the other hand, Alex’s gimmick, his Prowler Stance, isn’t just a gimmick. It’s very central to making Alex an incredible character.

The Prowler Stance gives Alex access to a total of 11 unique moves! Okay, a couple of them are just him dashing forwards and backwards and another 2 are a close throw and a pretty awful “long distance” throw which only connects with standing opponents. That leaves him access to around 7 actual good moves. Still, these 7 actual good moves are pretty fine!

His light punch from Prowler Stance is a very quick attack at 4 frames and can link into his other Prowler Stance buttons. The medium punch in this stance is his iconic rising shoulder tackle and it’s a very good anti-air if you can quickly switch into Prowler Stance to use it at a jumping opponent. Oh, it also launches his for into the air for a juggle combo. The heavy punch from here is his classic lariat punch and is plus on block and will combo if you cancel it from the light punch of Prowler Stance! Alex can also do a short hop if you hit the light kick button. It’s tricky as you can mix this up in conjunction with his Air Stampede! Finally, the heavy kick from this stance is a pretty good low attack.

I will say, as good as Prowler Stance is, it has some problems, such as Alex cannot block when in this stance. You can’t just do this close up or else your opponent will make you eat a punishing combo. You have to be a little tricky with it but I believe that’s what Capcom was going for.

#4 He has one of the best special attack anti-airs, period

Most grapplers actually have good anti-air attacks. Zangief’s Double Lariat is one of the best anti-airs in the game and Manon actually has 2 with her crouching heavy punch and the light version of her Rond-point special attack. Alex’s anti-air, however, takes the ribbon for best in class with his Aerial Knee Smash.

Aerial Knee Smash beats out most anti-air specials for a couple of reasons. First, the light version comes out in 6 frames, making just a frame slower than, say, Ken‘s Dragon Punch. It’s leagues faster than Zangief’s Double Lariat and Manon’s light Rond-point. It is on par with Lily‘s light Tomahawk Buster without a Windclad stock. Still, having a 6 frame anti-air as a grappler is insane as it makes it very difficult for opponents to jump in on you! Second, it’s a hit grab and you land along with your opponent. They can still back roll from it but, as Alex is already on the floor when you land, it does make it easy for Alex to rush in each time if they land this move.

I almost forgot about the heavy version of the Aerial Knee Smash. While it’s not a good anti-air as it’s too slow to be reliable, it is still fast enough to combo from any of his light attacks! In fact, one of Alex’s bread and butter combos utilizes this as it involves cancelling from his standing light kick into a heavy Aerial Knee Smash!

The Bad

#1 His overall look is meh

I’ve never really liked how Capcom designed Alex. Even way back in Street Fighter III, I’ve always thought he looked dumb. Green suspenders with the top part down so it looks like he’s wearing an apron? He also has these weird red stripes from his shoulders? What’s up with that? Capcom finally realized how dumb he looked so they updated his outfit… and they still got it wrong! Why? It’s because he’s supposed to be a professional wrestler! What kind of professional wrestler competes wearing a beanie, a fur lined leather vest and torn jeans? Is he trying to look like Biker Undertaker? You know, the worst version of The Undertaker?

Since he’s supposed to be a wrestler, Capcom should have thought of making him look the part! Now, I’m no artist so I don’t have the foggiest idea of how to update Alex to both capture his essence and him being a heel wrestler. Still, I do wish they did something more than giving him a generic tough guy look.

#2 He doesn’t have a great invincible reversal special

This is pretty much in line with all of Street Fighter 6’s grapplers. Like them, Alex doesn’t have a good way to get out of pressure as he doesn’t have an invincible OD special attack. His only way to get out of a bulldog of an opponent is with his Super Arts. This does mean, if you get cornered early in the match, you have to just try your best and either block everything and tech all those throws until you find the right opening.

In this case, the best defense for Alex is a really good offense. I’m not saying Alex doesn’t have any defensive options because he does as mentioned with his really good anti-air specials. What I’m saying is getting cornered with Alex feels much more stressful than with other characters with better reversal options. Sadly, this has been the pattern for grapplers in Street Fighter 6. So, Alex is also burdened with this curse of not having an invincible reversal.

#3 His Power Bomb is one of the weaker command throws

Despite Alex now also being a combo monster, he’s still technically part of the grappler archetype. Sadly, Alex’s main command throw, the Power Bomb, doesn’t do as much damage as you would hope. It doesn’t matter which button you use to execute the Power Bomb. It will always do 2,500 points of damage, which is a quarter of most character’s health.

That seems pretty good but the problem is, all other Street Fighter 6 characters who are in the grappler archetype can do more damage with the heavy versions of their command throws. You can say the exception is Manon but she does have the Medal gimmick, which does up the damage of her command throws. Still, Alex’s Power Bomb damage is just a flat 2,500 points of damage.

They do kind of make this up with the throw ranges as the light version of Power Bomb reaches the furthest but it’s also the slowest. I also have to add how the heavy version of the command grab seems to have very little range! It feels just a smidge less than a regular throw. It could be my imagination but I swear I was in range of a normal throw yet the heavy version of Power Bomb would still whiff!

#4 Flying Cross Chop is virtually useless

Capcom really can’t find a way to make Alex’s Flying Cross Chop a viable tool. He’s had this move ever since in Street Fighter III and it still sucks in Street Fighter 6! It’s so bad Capcom forgot to even include the Flying Cross Chop in any of Alex’s combo trials nor his character guide! I’m betting this was intentional because they know how bad this move is!

The startup is slow because Alex will pause in the air for a split second so your opponent can see he’s going to do it. Even on hit, at best, you get +13 frames and, at worse, you only get +2 frames! That’s not enough to do anything! Sure, you can space it to make it safe but is it really worth it? What’s even worse is, because the input is just down and heavy punch while jumping, it’s so easy to mistakenly do the Flying Cross Chop, especially if you’re trying to do his down and heavy punch after, which is one of Alex’s best buttons! This was a terrible move back in Street Fighter III and it’s a terrible move in Street Fighter 6.

The WTF

#1 Alex’s updated lore

Alex marries his second cousin. She’s having his baby. Yeah, that seems bad in itself… but it gets worse.

Now, depending on cultural differences, Alex marrying his second cousin may not seem that bad. I don’t think it’s a big deal in Japan, which is why they made Alex do this. Still, in most Western cultures, this is a colossal eww! That’s already terrible but Capcom managed to make it just a little more gross.

You see, based on Alex’s World Tour story, Alex had known his second cousin ever since she was a baby. Sure, he says he wants to protect her and all that but remember in Twilight where Jacob sees baby Renesmee and he imprints on her, meaning he fell in love with the baby? Yeah, this has the same vibes!

Eww and double eww, Capcom!

Byee!

What do you think what Capcom did to Alex in Street Fighter 6? Is he a good character in your opinion? Can you get over the situation where he marries and impregnates his second cousin who he knew since she was a baby? Let me know in the comments section below!