u/The1joriss

Prologue

If you are into video games, the Fighting genre will not be unknown to you. The genre where you play a character, often shirtless if be a male, fighting against another character and win if you deplete their health bar before they do yours. In the Fighting game community, it is often considered as creating art with your punches and kicks being the paint and your opponent’s body the canvas. The Street Fighter series is widely considered to be the best known for creating these art exhibitions.
The very first Street Fighter, released in 1987, was a decent enough success to birth a sequel in 1991, Street Fighter II. To say this game was a mega-hit would be an understatement. It revolutionized the arcade industry and played a major role in home console sales (ignoring the fact that you only fight in one actual street in the entire game). Its success was so grand that its developer Capcom would instead of merely creating sequels, spawn revisions and updates of Street Fighter II to maintain its longevity. As of this writing, there are seven official versions of Street Fighter II with many more counterfeit versions wandering about in the gaming universe.

Street Fighter II would open the gates for Capcom to create all kinds of fighting games. We would be getting spin-off series in the form of Street Fighter Alpha, getting spooky with a monster mash in Darkstalkers and scoring a licensing deal with Marvel for X-Men and other Marvel heroes fighting games, even resulting in crossover games like X-Men VS Street Fighter. While Capcom would go mad with their fighting mayhem, they stayed clear from a true Street Fighter sequel. Or so we were to believe.
In the darkest caverns of the Capcom offices, many a years were spent developing Street Fighter III. It would have graphics like the world has never seen, hard-hitting gameplay and an impactful roster to usher in a new era. The final part was the key. After the several revisions of Street Fighter II, every player got bored of playing the same old cast led by the Japanese karate white gi red bandana wearing Ryu, and his rival red gi wearing blond haired Ken. It was time for a new face to lead a new generation. And that face would belong to Alex.

Alex: an incredible tall muscly wrestler yet with small waist, from the streets of New York with beautiful long wavy blond hair, red face paint under his eyes, green overalls with the straps down because he can, shirtless as is tradition but with red devilman-like stripes at his broad shoulders and a red bandana just like Ryu but bigger! Badassery incarnate. Raised and trained by his adopted father Tom and Tom’s daughter Patricia, Alex would face off against a red and blue-skinned cult leader named Gill for injuring Tom. Alex would be the new poster boy for the sequel to the most successful fighting game at that time. And with Alex at the helm Street Fighter III would become an even greater success by selling a mere 1000 arcade units in Japan.

Street Fighter III: New Generation

Ha misdirection. Let’s dial back a little bit. This is the story of Alex but his story cannot be told without the tale of how Street Fighter III truly came to be. Capcom in the 90s was running wild on fightermania. Around 1994, a mysterious all-new fighting game was green-lit for development which main purpose was to highlight their new CPS-3 arcade hardware, which supported higher color count for the 2D sprites Capcom used for their fighting games (also the reason why the boss in Street Fighter III has red/blue skin, as it was a new feature of the arcade hardware to show sprites that no longer be mirrored). While the exact dates are lost to the sands of time, we can be certain that Alex was created during this early development. The new game was meant to quickly appeal to western audiences, mostly the US market and what was hot and fighting-like in the mid 90s? Wrestling.
From late 1996 till early 2001 there was the Monday night wars, where two wrestling promotions, World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation, were broadcasting their weekly shows head-to-head for ratings. Capcom designers took inspiration from this and thus it was decided that the lead character for their new game should be an American wrestler. Process on this new game was slow and troublesome and at some point management felt it needed more recognition to be marketable, so it got redesigned to be Street Fighter III. Alex and the rest of misfits remained as part of the roster but Ryu and Ken were added to play it safe. Alex however would still be the lead character because reasons, despite the lead character no longer needed to be an American wrestler as Street Fighter was already an established popular series in the US.

Street Fighter III: New Generation would launch on February 28 1997, about six years after the launch of Street Fighter II, to an absolute poor reception. Many factors played into this. To start, this was the 90s brah and 3D graphics were all the rage. Capcom stuck to what they knew and relied on 2D graphics in their traditional Street Fighter games but just around that same time Tekken 3 was released in arcades with stunning rocking 3D graphics (for it’s time) and stole the cake. Nobody back then cared about 2D graphics, no matter how greatly animated they were. Speaking of which, the hardware needed to run Street Fighter III was too advanced to port to current home consoles so that also was a huge hit to Street Fighter III sales. And then there was the roster. While fans were very keen on seeing new faces, they didn’t want to see their favorite characters been stripped away completely. Having only Ryu and Ken present was unacceptable. And as for Alex? He may look cool but played slow and difficult. He had no fancy fireballs or dragonpunches, his super attacks were weak and was overall not beginner friendly. While his presentation was not the main reason for the failure of Street Fighter III, it certainly didn’t help and with him being the poster boy of this new game, he was at the front of the dismay.

Despite the failed launch, Capcom still created two revisions of Street Fighter III; Second Impact and 3^(rd) Strike. Both were much better received than New Generation but were still nowhere close to the success that Street Fighter II was. Did things get better for Alex though? Not really. While Street Fighter III 3^(rd) Strike went on to become a cult classic, created this glorious moment in e-sports history and seen today as one of the best 2D Fighting games of all time, it wasn’t thanks to Alex. He was judged as low tier and would almost never be used in tournaments, unless you wanted to make it difficult for yourself.

Life after Street Fighter III

From the original Street Fighter III roster there are some that as of this writing, would never be featured again but that was not the case for Alex. He would get more opportunities though be it unusual and even unfortunate ones. In the early 2000s Capcom would dip their toes into the 3D world with developing Capcom Fighting All-Stars, and Alex would be part of that roster. But that game got cancelled. The original 2D sprites of Alex would later be re-used along with many other capcom creations in Capcom Fighting Evolution, but that game was so badly received it almost stopped Capcom from ever creating a new fighting game all together. And finally, Alex would get featured in Tatsunoko vs Capcom, a crossover fighting game that seemed way too Japanese for the west to truly make an impact.
Interesting though; at EVO 2010 (Evolution Championship series), the biggest annual fighting game event, the 1^(st) place for Tatsunoko vs Capcom was won by a player using Megaman Zero and Alex. Granted, Zero did most of the lifting but that means technically the character Alex has an EVO 1^(st) place trophy on his resume.

Capcom would eventually give Street Fighter another shot with Street Fighter IV in 2008. Learned from the mistakes of Street Fighter III, the game was fully 3D and featured the eight original characters of Street Fighter II along with their respective four boss characters. Nobody from the Street Fighter III cast was present. At first. Street Fighter IV came a massive hit and daresay revived the fighting game genre. This also became the first time for Capcom to add new characters to the game by use of downloadable content. Through DLC, eventually seven characters from Street Fighter III made their appearance in Street Fighter IV. Alex was not one of them. Alex was left out of Street Fighter IV’s success, as if he was a bad omen. The only mention of Alex would be as a DLC skin for the wrestler King in the crossover game Street Fighter X Tekken (which has it own hobbydrama article), along with being featured on an out of bound billboard in one of the stages, possibly as a joke towards whatever fans Alex had.

Street Fighter V

Calling Alex a bad omen would be far too harsh. It seems however almost too much of a coincidence that the fifth installment of Street Fighter, after following the massive success that was Street Fighter IV, would have a very rocky launch in 2016 whilst the game does include the return of the beefcake better known as Alex. That is, as a background character. Alex did obtain by this point a cult following of sorts and him being merely present in one of the background stages of Street Fighter V felt like another slap to the beautiful faces of the respected cultists. But they didn’t need to mourn for long, as Alex was released as a full playable character on March 30, 2016. His new look was questionable, with fans pointing out his banana-like hair and his legs standing opposite the direction they should be facing. This wasn’t a bug, it was a feature. Gameplay-wise Alex got some new skills complimentary to the Street Fighter V style but he still wasn’t a top tier player. Alex did gain fans, one person in particular known as the highly talented wrestler Kenny Omega. Kenny Omega would use one of Alex’s catch phrases in matches (“You can’t escape!”, ironic because Alex would say that during one of his ‘super arts’ in Street Fighter III which you most certainly could escape from) and Kenny named one of his signature moves the ‘V-trigger’ after a skill in Street Fighter V.

In the lore timeline, Street Fighter V came after Street Fighter IV but before Street Fighter III and Capcom would release on July 1, 2016 a story mode where the events would tie in towards the start of Street Fighter III. This would be the moment for Alex where his character gained development and how he ended up becoming the badass main guy of the 3^(rd) installment. But no, Alex was barely present in the story mode. He was briefly featured in a wrestling match and later again when he mistook the Street Fighter II Indian veteran Dhalsim for a mugger, because Alex is from New York. Capcom gave us back Alex but decided that his uneventful reign as Street Fighter III’s poster boy was something best left collecting dust in a filing cabinet.

Street Fighter V would get a wealth of new characters, updates, modes and transformed from a badly launched fighting game into one of the best Street Fighter games ever. And Capcom wrapped things up with an unusual, final update in 2021. Capcom released an all-new character, a MMA-style fighter named Luke.
The community didn’t really know what to make of Luke. He appeared quite unoriginal and his moves had a similar vibe to those of Ryu and Ken (Fireball, Dragon punch and Hurricane kick) but more… westernized. He was rather strong to play, thus a popular choice to pick up. It seemed like Capcom tried to really want you to like Luke. Feeling familiar yet new, not Eastern but Western. Powerful, easy to pick up. Why? Well because Luke wasn’t really a ‘new’ character, but a ‘guest’ character from the future.

It all came together when the trailer for Street Fighter 6 was revealed. Ryu, the classic main guy versus Luke, the new new up-and-comer. The Alex project failed but the idea of a new poster boy for a new street fighter was attempted once again. By presenting Luke first as a DLC character in Street Fighter V, the community could warm up to him. Luke would be the main poster boy for Street Fighter 6. And the community was… tepid for it. Street Fighter 6 would be released worldwide after a huge marketing campaign on June 2 2023 to a great reception. Luke was mainly used as the coach for new players and it did result in him being a popular character (his move-set was also the default setting when creating your avatar in the ‘world tour’ mode, sneaky) but still not at the height of the original eight world warriors of Street Fighter II. And what about Alex? Nothing. He was not part of the sixth entry.

Street Fighter 6’s season 3

By 2023 the whole of the fighting genre was used to the concept of season passes. The time of unlocking new characters was behind us all. If you want new characters, you’d have to wait and pay for them. Capcom provided in Street Fighter 6 four new characters per season pass, one for each season of the year. It became very standard for fans to speculate whose favorite would join the roster next, and cry when their specific favorite would not be revealed. But Capcom threw a curveball into the speculations by adding two guest characters from their once rival company SNK to the season 2 pass, opening the possibility for many more characters to be added outside the standard Street Fighter universe. Any chances for the mediocre Alex to return were, unlike his shoulders, slim.

On June 7 2025 a new trailer was uploaded, featuring Kenny Omega. Kenny would throughout a dream sequence cosplay as the four new characters that were going to be added to Street Fighter 6 and one of them was, indeed, Alex. It was a very surreal approach but a welcoming one. The presentation ended with artwork of the new joiners; Sagat, C.Viper, Alex and Ingrid (Ingrid was part of the roster of the canceled Capcom All-Star game) and fans noticed something peculiar about Alex right away. He didn’t have the banana-hair like in Street Fighter V nor his traditional look of Street Fighter III. Sporting a black vest, black trousers and a black beanie, he came across as edgy. Almost like a bad guy, or as they say in the wrestling world, a heel. Fans speculated that Capcom might be going in a new direction with Alex. In the wrestling world it is a typical trope for success. Wrestlers who were always the nice guy, or a baby-face, would be considered boring and dull. Until they switch gears and show a meaner side of themselves and address their frustrations, making they feel more real and entertaining. It happened to Hulk Hogan who in the 80s would tell you to say your prayers and eat your vitamins, to becoming the leader of the bad guy group New World Order in the 90s. It happened to Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson who was a dull smiling rookie, till he did a promo about the ‘Die Rocky die’ signs in the crowd and showed his true charisma. It even happened recently with Roman Reigns, who was booed like crazy as a good guy until he turned himself into the Tribal Chief and became a ruthless champion for 1316 days. It was a theory that made perfect sense for Alex. Alex was received as a joke while in the street fighter lore, he’s the main champion for defeating Gill. He’s being ignored despite his efforts. He needed to be acknowledged and being nice didn’t achieve any acknowledgment. So being bad might.

Fans speculation was all justified when the teaser trailer for Alex was revealed on January 9 2026. Alex fought in a wrestling match with absolute brutality whiles the crowd was booing like crazy, to which Alex simply said to ‘shut up!’ (what a heel!). The hype became real. And the hype became even bigger with a gameplay trailer on January 21 2026. Alex was giving a whole new arsenal of awesome looking moves, along with a new song by JAM project, a popular anison band, titled ‘Go Alex, hope is born!’. Kenny Omega did motion capture for the moves of Alex, immortalizing his own signature moves. Alex was presented as cocky and strong (and his legs were standing the correct way!), with a special line being said “I’m used to being hated”. Capcom went all the way with Alex. But there was also a prominent detail in the gameplay trailer that fans instantly caught: the opponents of Alex. In the gameplay trailer Alex was fighting (and destroying) Ryu, and Luke. His rival poster boys. The message was clear. Alex is back and he’s coming for the title of thé world warrior of Street Fighter.

March 17^(th)****, the launch of Alex in Street Fighter 6

The man with no allies named Alex became a playable character on March 17^(th) 2026 and within less than 24 hours of his release, we got that which is the driving force for creating this post: Drama.

What caused drama around Alex? Did his release crash the game? No. Was Alex too overpowered and broken to play? No. Was he too weak? No. Did he come with an additional price tag of 150 dollars? No. The drama came from Alex’s story in Street Fighter 6. We did in fact not get the imagined promise of heel Alex reclaiming his title as poster boy from Luke or Ryu. His whole heel persona was merely seen ‘as his job’. He was a bad guy in the wrestling ring, but outside he was a good guy. Mayhaps ‘too good’ in the eyes of the fighting community. Playing through the arcade mode and getting Alex’s ending reveals that Alex has married Patricia, the daughter of his adopted father Tom, and they’re expecting a baby. This appeared very out of character for Alex, but playing through the World Tour mode reveals more. When your avatar engages with Alex, he reveals more of his backstory and eventually mentions that Tom is the cousin of Alex’s mother, thus making Alex and Patricia second cousins. You could even unlock special artwork showing Alex & Patricia’s relationship throughout the years, showing Alex as a kid holding baby Patricia to him as a grown giant in a suit holding his tiny bride Patricia. Whiles Alex’s being from New York where it is legal to marry your second cousin, this story leant too deep into incestuous and grooming behavior.

This did not sit well with fans and the moment Alex was released so did memes and jokes about his storyline with the most recurring one being that Alex is actually not from New York but from Alabama or Shelbyville. Youtubers would have a field day with creating reaction videos around this drama and Maximilian Dood (a popular youtuber in the fighting game community) would go on to downright call it ‘character assassination’. In a rather surprising move, Street Fighter 6 director Takayuki Nakayama addressed the uproar just a week after the drama was born. Capcom would revise text passages in the story of Alex and released a developer’s column called ‘A Toast Between Fathers’ in an attempt to explain that Alex and Patrica did not grow up as close siblings, hoping to remove the grooming allegations. Fans did not accept it. The revised text passages also did very little to fix anything. The most noticeable one was Tom being no longer a cousin to Alex’s mother but “He's a distant relative of my mom or something”. Fans just wanted the whole family relationship to be simply dropped but Capcom did no such thing. Thus, Alex from Alabama was here to stay.

But what about the actual gaming side of Alex? Most fighting game players, especially the pro players, don’t care about any lore. What’s important is how Alex plays. Every character in Street Fighter 6 gets a difficulty level, and Alex was given ‘Hard’. This is due to the complexity of his new ‘stance’ which allows for several mix-up attacks and keeps his opponents guessing but at the risk of putting himself vulnerable as you can’t block in this stance. He also had barely any reversals so once an opponent could keep the pressure on Alex, there was very little Alex could do. Long story short, Alex had great offense but terrible defense. His complexity made him anything but suitable for newcomers and now with his cringeworthy story, his chances of being seen as a poster boy were non-existent.

Aftermath

Drama goes as quickly as it comes and any focus that was on Alex eventually shifted over on 3 April 2026 to the trailer of the next character following his release, Ingrid, as the community was in doubt if they were ready for this magical fourth wall-breaking anime-girl of a 1000 years old. And later drama was shifted again on 24 May 2026, now toward Tekken 8 with their announcement of adding Yujiro Hanma to their roster, a controversial villain from the Baki franchise.

Alex was not forgotten though. Whenever Capcom mentioned Alex on their social media, whether it be a birthday or a new DLC outfit, there always be remarks in the comment sections mocking Alex for his life choices or how Capcom ‘massacred their boy’. It remains a mystery why Capcom handled Alex the way they did from the very start in 1997 all the way to this point. Alex was placed into an impossible position from the moment he was created and much like they would say in wrestling, he was ‘booked horribly’ ever since. The future of Alex is in a void. The community is certain we will see Street Fighter 7 and more one day but after the damage that Alex has endured it’s unlikely that Alex will be an absolute in those games. The biggest mystery will forever be as to why Capcom hyped him up as greatly as they did in Street Fighter 6 only to pull the rug from under him the moment he was released, as fans were now less likely to purchase the fighter thus causing no boost in DLC sales. Alas, there was potential in the character Alex thanks to his unique look and grappling fighting style but in the end, he got ‘jobbed out’.

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