Alex - Capcom

"You can talk the talk, but you can't walk the walk yet, loser!"

TATSUNOKO VS CAPCOM BIO:

Alex, a young fighter born and raised in Manhattan, sets out to find the mysterious challenger who defeated his mentor and trainer, Tom. Extremely quick and powerful, Alex specializes in hand-to-hand combat with a fighting style that utilizes wrestling techniques and throws, complemented by swinging punches.

CHARACTER ORGIN:

Alex originated in Street Fighter 3: New Generation. He was intended to be the flagship character for that series.  He's a wrestler from New York who wants to defeat Gill, who badly beat up his friend.

Gameplay Details:

Alex is extremily powerful but also quite slow and lacks a way to safely negate projectiles. He has very poor mobility and can not air jump, which limits his aerial combo ability as well. Thankfully, Alex's raw damage makes up for this. Add to this his many unblockable grabs and powerful reset setups and you have a character who can quickly destroy opponents in the blink of an eye, so long as he is able to get in close enough to really show off his wrestling skills.

CHARACTER STATS

Difficulty: Moderate-hard

Style: close range grappler

Defensive power: He has the highest HP for a normal character alongside Tekkaman. His powerful command grabs allow him to deal with close range pressure in many situations. He lacks a good anti-air, since his Air Knee Smash doesn't beat out much.

Offensive power: Alex does huge damage with his attacks and combos. What most characters would do in 20 hits, he can do in only 6 hits. His grapples are very strong and he has a brutal unblockable setup which does more damage in a single move than some characters can do with their bread and butter combo.

Approach strength: Alex has some trouble getting in on opponents. His lack of mobility gives him few options when it comes to approaching. He can move surprisingly quickly by using certain moves, especially with baroque to cancel  his laggy specials.

Combo ability: Alex has some ways to extend his combos, but in general he won't be doing too many hits and his air combos are doomed to always be short due to his lack of an air jump.

Meter Usage: Alex should save up for his Hyper Bomb, which is an incredibly useful attack. Other than this he has enough defense to avoid using megacrash too often, and his level 1 Hypers are fun but for the most part he can do without them.

Key Techniques: Players should learn how to use his aerial heavy attack as a means of mobility as well as slash elbow. Learning how to set up for his unblockable reset is also a good idea if your assist allows it.

Partner Options: Frank West's assist is good for Alex and allows him some time to get closer to the opponent and it also does a good job of setting up tick throws. Polimar's assist is great for setting up unblockable resets. Alex can also benefit from projectile assists from Ryu, Morrigan or Jun the Swan, as they will aid in covering his approaches and can be used in combos. Tekkaman's assist is useful for creating stronger combos off Alex's wall bouncing special attacks. Anti-air assists like Chun Li are also useful for setting up air resets from his Air knee Smash, and also covering for his weak anti-air options.

Special Moves

FLASH CHOP

   
QUARTER CIRCLE FORWARD + ATTACK

Alex performs a powerful chop.  If the chop hits, the opponent is turned around and is staggered.  The Light Attack version of this move comes out faster but causes less stun and does the least damage.  The Hard Attack version causes more damage and stun and has the most range but has slower start-up. 

When you hit with this move you can follow-up with other moves or combos due to the stun it causes. This special is the only attack in the entire game which causes the opponent to turn away from the attacker while staggering.

The Hard Attack version can be charged, and when fully charged it becomes a Machine Gun Flash Shop which does multiple hits.  If it is fully charged, the move becomes unblockable.  However, if you charge the move fully you cannot follow-up with other attacks.

Through the use of partner assists, this can easily set up for resets.

POWER BOMB

    
HALF CIRCLE BACK + ATTACK

This is Alex's main command throw.  It can be used in the air and in combos.  Because this move is a throw, it cannot be blocked. Being a command throw it misses jumping opponents if used on the ground, and if used in the air it will miss standing opponents. Alex's aerial momentum is halted while performing the attack, making it possible to set up for some tricky resets.

AIR KNEE SMASH

   
FORWARD DOWN DOWN-FORWARD + ATTACK

Alex leaps upward and if he hits his opponent he slams them into the ground.  This is an anti-air throw. It can only be used while the opponent is in the air.  The strength of the attack button used determines how high Alex leaps.

SMASH ELBOW 

   
CHARGE BACK, FORWARD + ATTACK

With this move alex rushes forward with his elbow.  This move is most useful as a set-up for the Drop Kick (see below). This move can even be used in some combos.

The attack button pressed determines how far Alex lifts his enemy off the ground.  Light Attack version keeps the opponent virtually grounded and stuns.  The Medium Attack version lifts the opponent off the ground and knocks down, and the Hard Attack version causes wall bounce.

You can use Alex's Drop Kick after any version of the Smash Elbow, but only the Hard Attack version will let you combo after it.

DROP KICK (USED AFTER SMASH ELBOW - SNAP BACK)

DURING SMASH ELBOW   
FORWARD, DOWN, DOWN-FORWARD + HARD ATTACK

This move can only be used after a Smash Elbow.  It has a snapback effect, so your opponent's character will be switched and their partner will lose all red life. After landing this, Alex can immediately baroque and start charging his unblockable, then summon his partner to assist. This will allow him to guarantee a huge chunk of damage on the helpless opponent who is tagged in after the snapback.

AIR STAMPEDE

   
CHARGE DOWN, UP + ATTACK

Alex does a quick jump followed by a stomp.  This move must be blocked high. The strength of the attack button used determines its range. Hits downed opponents.

Hyper Moves

BOOMERANG RAID - HYPER COMBO LEVEL 1

    
QUARTER CIRCLE FORWARD + ANY TWO ATTACKS

Alex does several flash chops ending in a back drop.  It does good damage and it is easy to combo into. Userful in Delayed hyper combos due to the stun on the last hit before the throw.

STUN GUN HEADBUTT - HYPER COMBO LEVEL 1

    
BACK, DOWN, DOWN-BACK  + ANY TWO ATTACKS

With this Hyper Move Alex jumps into the air and grabs the opponent, then delivers several headbutts leaving them dizzied.  Due to the dizzy you can follow-up with anything you want. This move is very hard to land on an opponent who's paying attention, since they can react to the super flash and jump to avoid it. It is possible to combo into it through certain specials though, such as the medium flash chop.

HYPER BOMB - HYPER COMBO LEVEL 3

    
360 MOTION + ANY TWO ATTACKS

Alex grabs his opponent and performs a combination of back drops and power bombs.  It does more damage if it hits from behind, so super-cancelling out of a Medium Attack Flash Chop is a good setup. 

Assists

Partner Assist

Medium Elbow Smash

Variable Counter

Lariat

Variable Combination

Boomerang Raid

This seems to be a poor move as part of a Variable Combination as it is hard to hit fully.  Even when it does, the opponent cannot be hit by your partner's own Hyper Move while Alex is throwing him.

Combos

Bread and Butter

Crouching Light, Crouching Medium -> Launch -> Light, Medium, Medium  -> Hard Power Bomb

Other Combos

Crouching Light, Medium, Crouching Medium -> M Flash Chop -> Stun Gun Headbutt -> Crouching Light, Crouching Medium -> Launch -> Light, Medium, Hard -> Power Bomb

Crouching Light, Crouching Medium -> Medium Flash Chop -> Hyper Bomb 

Baroque

Crouching Light, Crouching Medium, Crouching Heavy -> Light Slash Elbow -> Baroque -> Launch -> Light, Medium, Heavy -> Power Bomb