Street Fighter 3: New Generation protagonist Alex is available now in Street Fighter 6, but it’s not necessarily his gameplay that’s got tongues wagging.
Some bizarre lore changes have sent ripples through the Capcom community, as it turns out our favourite facepainted wrassler may be engaging in a spot of the ol’ incest. Well, sorta.
Look, the evidence mounting against Alex is somewhat comprehensive but crucially not conclusive.
But to cut a long story short, Alex’s story in Street Fighter 3 is effectively one of revenge, as he seeks payback for the injury to his adoptive father, Tom.
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Now there’s some debate here over whether Tom actually is Alex’s father or just a mentor, but he does refer to him as a parental type figure in World Tour.
The problem here is that Tom’s daughter is Patricia, who throughout the past has been treated as a kind of younger sibling to Alex.
But in Street Fighter 6’s story, well, they’re married and having a baby. It’s also revealed that Tom is the cousin of Alex’s mother, which would technically make him related to Patricia – although that doesn’t necessarily have to be a blood relation, we suppose.
Anyway, the bottom line is that this is all weird and unexpected. There’s some artwork in Street Fighter 6 which shows Alex holding Patricia as a baby, so even if you don’t buy into the incest stuff, it’s still all a bit odd.
We genuinely think Capcom was going for a heartwarming plot here, but it all just reads a bit weird when you break down the details.
Street Fighter’s not known for its story, of course – and that’s fair. But there are hundreds of comic books and novels based on this franchise, so expecting fans not to care at all doesn’t really wash with us.
We wonder if this will all get retconned again in the future? Either way, Capcom’s got a hole to write itself out of here.