All right, I know that headline is probably a lot to take in, but let’s get the background info out of the way first. Earlier today, Street Fighter 6’s latest DLC character, Alex, finally dropped. Fans have been excited to get their hands on Alex for a long time, considering he was the main character in Street Fighter III: New Generation, which probably explains why Street Fighter 6 just broke its all-time concurrent player count peak on Steam.
Fans want to get their hands on Alex for a different reason now, though, as the Arcade Mode ending for the character features a rather questionable trajectory for his ongoing lore: incest.
For context, every new DLC character in Street Fighter 6 gets a little custom slideshow with some new story beats and some unlockable content when you beat Arcade Mode for the first time. In Luke’s ending, he gets into a street fight with Jamie. In Guile’s ending, he attempts to make up with his brother-in-law, Ken. And, in Alex’s ending, he marries and impregnates his second cousin and step-sister, Patricia.
As spotted by Event Hubs, the Street Fighter fanbase is not taking this well. Alex is a fan-favourite character, and a lot of people, myself included, have a bit of an attachment to him, as Street Fighter 3: New Generation was the first game in the series we played. Fun side note: the Arcade Mode ending in that game features a 20-year-old Alex and a 14-year-old Patricia talking to Tom, Patricia’s dad and Alex’s adoptive father, as he lies in a hospital bed. Tom is the first cousin of Alex’s dead mother, by the way.
Some fans are desperately trying their best to explain the resolution in a way that makes it slightly less weird. For instance, fans are currently arguing whether Tom is technically Alex’s adoptive father, as this is apparently only outright stated in ancillary Street Fighter media, such as the UDON Comics. However, as Event Hubs notes in their article, Alex refers to Tom as his father in Street Fighter 6’s World Tour mode.
Also, even if Tom wasn’t Alex’s adoptive father, Alex and Patricia are still literally cousins, so there’s no way to logic your way out of Capcom’s bizarre decision. Hopefully, this isn’t a teaser of what’s to come in Resident Evil Requiem’s future, otherwise Leon’s mysterious wife really will end up being Sherry.
