• News
• Street Fighter 4
• SSF2T HD Remix
• SF3 Third Strike
• Tatsunoko vs. Capcom
• Marvel vs. Capcom 2
• Forums
• Artwork

Alex: Street Fighter 3 Third Strike Strategy Guide and Moves

Last updated on May 17, 2009

24 Comments

Character Overview

Alex is a bit of a mixed bag character. He's extremely powerful, plus he's quick and tough, but he doesn't have a lot of combos or enough reliable ways to mix up his offensive game.

While his EX moves are good and his Powerbomb (command grab) is nice, he's got a few weaknesses some players aren't willing to try overcoming, so you don't see him a lot in most high level situations.

Still, he can be a good fighter in the right hands, and once he gets going he can outright demolish someone in seconds. So if you really know the game well, you can pull off some real good stuff with him.

Alex is at his best when he's close up, and he has several tools to help him get inside. His Dash is very quick and his Slash Elbow can cover a lot of ground very quickly. Plus some of his jump ins and pokes have quite a bit of range.

While getting inside isn't too big of an issue, staying inside can be. So you'll have to get good at working your way back in over and over again.

Super Art II, Alex's Boomerang Raid, tends to be the Super of choice with the majority of Alex players. It gives you the most EX meter to play with, which is very important with this fighter, and it's also the only one you can combo with.

• Strengths •
+ Arguably the most powerful character in the game.
+ Some very good EX moves.
+ Deceptively fast for a big guy.
+ Above average Stamina and Stun ratings, meaning he can take a decent beating before being knocked out.
+ If your opponent isn't familiar with Alex's tricks, he can outright destroy people quickly.
+ Pretty good reach on some of his normal attacks.

• Weaknesses •
- Doesn't have a lot of viable combos.
- His offensive mix up game against high level players isn't good.
- His Super Arts aren't very good compared to the top characters.
- Some of Alex's Special Moves just aren't useful enough.

Setting up your Powerbomb

There's a lot of ways to set up Alex's Powerbomb. Here's a few.

After a 'Meaty' Crouching Light or Medium Kick: While the Crouching Kick can be parry-bait, coupled with Alex's other mix up tactics you should be able to keep this from happening too often. Throw out your Crouching Kick as your opponent is standing and grab them with your Powerbomb as they're recovering. Simple, but fairly effective.

After a dash: If you've made your opponent afraid to throw out random pokes and they're on the defensive, dash in close and grab them. While you can't consistently rely on this tactic, because any decent player can counter it, even top end players will fall for the occasional dash and grab with the Powerbomb.

After an 'empty' jump in attack: When the other fighter sees you jumping in, they will likely be expecting you to attack. Don't press a button while you're in the air and time your Powerbomb to come out the moment you land.

Special Moves

A (2) next to an arrow means to hold the joystick in that direction for 2 seconds to 'charge' the move.

With moves that charge by holding back or down, you can use the diagonal positions to charge up as well. For example, if you're holding back, you can jump backwards or block low and still maintain your charge.

• Flash Chop •
An alright move. The Light Punch version is the only one that works in combos, but it does the least damage. Outside of combos, the Light Chop doesn't have much use.

The Medium and Hard Punch versions do more damage and stun your opponent for a longer period of time, allowing you to get additional hits in, but they take forever to get to a point where they can hit the other fighter. The harder Flash Chops should only be used to start combos or to throw off the other player's block or parry timing.

• Slash Elbow •
A good tool for getting inside and getting the occasional hit in there. It has a fast recovery time as long as you do it from the right range and hit at the right time, but it can be punished if you're not careful.

The Light Kick version is the safest, and likely what you'll want to use most often, but it does the least damage. The Medium and Hard attacks do more damage and travel a longer distance, but are also easier to counter if blocked.

This isn't a move you'll want to spam all match, but it will be something you'll use regularly to help work your way inside.

• Powerbomb (Command Grab) •
His Powerbomb is easy to do, and fairly damaging, plus he has a lot of ways to set it up. While the range isn't terrific, it's enough that if you get your timing and spacing down, you should be able to threaten the other fighter with this move through the match.

The Light Punch version has the most range, but does the least damage. Hard Punch has the most damage, but least range, while Medium is a mix of the two.

In most instances you'll want to stick with the Light Punch version. While the extra damage with the heavier attacks is nice, the range is usually more important during the heat of battle, especially if you're trying to set this up after an empty jump or a 'Meaty' move.

• Stomp (Two Boots) •
A high risk, but solid reward attack. Like his other moves, the Light version does the least damage, and Hard the most, but the different button strengths also control the range this attack travels.

This is very important because you can set up situations where your opponent doesn't know which way to block (a cross) and this attack cannot be blocked low. Alex's Stomp can also punish some moves that may otherwise be out of range for him.

Many top players know how to parry and punish the crap out of the Stomp, so you'll want to use it seldomly against experts, but even then it can still occasionally fool the best of Third Strike competitors, so don't forget about it entirely.

• Spiral D.D.T. •
This is rarely useful. Only works if your opponent is standing up, and it cannot be blocked since it's technically a grab, but it's kind of slow and if your opponent ducks you'll miss.

Throw this out there when you're POSITIVE the other player will parry or block high, besides that, forget about using it.

• Air Knee Smash (Jumping Grab) •
Like Rose's Soul Throw from other Street Fighter games, except not as good. You probably won't find many uses for this except to juggle the other fighter after hitting them once with a Crouching Hard Punch (Shoulder Launcher).

EX Moves

• EX-Flash Chop •
Hits more times and does more damage than the regular version, plus it knocks down. Use this in combos, or when you think your opponent may try to parry your regular Flash Chop or to score some chip (block) damage.

• EX-Slash Elbow •
This hits twice, is considerably faster than the normal version and is usually safe from counter attacks if blocked. Works well to throw off the timing of people who parry your normal Slash Elbow and will punish some moves a little easier because of how quickly it comes out of the gate.

One of your better moves.

• EX-Stomp (Two Boots) •
This 'tracks' based on whatever position your opponent is in and it comes out faster than the regular version, so it's an effective reversal attack.

It does the same damage as the Hard Kick version, and ends up being pretty handy in many matches.

• EX-Air Knee Smash (Jumping Grab) •
This can hit standing opponents who aren't blocking, as well as grab people out of the air. The EX version adds some invulnerable frames and does more damage than the Hard Kick Knee Smash, but considering what you could be spending your EX meter on instead... you're probably best off rarely using this attack except to juggle your opponent after an anti air Standing Medium Punch or one-hit Crouching Hard Punch (Shoulder Launcher).

Super Arts

• SA1: Hyper Bomb (Super Grab, 360) • 1 stock, 3.2 EX moves
An alright Super, but if your opponent suspects you're going to use this they can simply jump away because this move has 3 frames of start up animation before it will actually grab your opponent.

• SA2: Boomerang Raid • 2 stocks, 4.8 EX moves
The Super of choice for most Alex players. Mostly because of how many EX moves it gives you to play with, and that you can use it in combos, unlike his other to Super Arts.

• SA3: Stun Gun Headbutt • 1 stock, 2 EX moves
This cannot be blocked and will always stun your opponent if you land it, plus Alex has a number of decent ways to set up this move.

But the big problem is the other player can consistently escape from this by simply jumping away if they suspect it's coming, and as such against top level talent, it's really hard to land this. Also it gives you the least amount of EX meter to play with.

Combos

• Jumping Hard Punch, Standing Medium Kick, Cancel into Light Punch or EX Flash Chop •
Your Bread and Butter combo with Alex. Use the EX version to score additional damage when you're certain you're going to land it. In situations where your opponent is going to parry, sometimes throwing a Medium or Hard Punch Flash Chop at the end will cause them to miss their parry attempt and set you up for a good combo.

• Crouching Hard Punch, juggle with Air Knee Smash •
For the Air Smash to land, Alex's Crouching Hard Punch most only hit one time.

• Anti air with Standing Medium Punch, juggle with EX-Air Knee Smash •
Hit your opponent as they're coming down from jumping and immediately juggle them with your EX-Air Knee Smash.

• Hard Punch Flash Chop, Hard Punch Powerbomb •
Good punishing tool if you do not have enough Super meter for an EX-Attack or Super Art.

• Hard Punch Flash Chop, Standing Medium Kick, Cancel into EX-Flash Chop or Boomerang Raid (SA2) •
Great damage on this combo.

• Crouching Light Punch 2x, Cancel into Boomerang Raid (SA2) •
You can hit-confirm with Alex's two Crouching Light Punches and go into his Boomerang Raid.

Normal Moves

Not a complete list of Alex's normal moves, just some noteworthy ones.

• Crouching Medium Punch •
Solid range, speed and damage on this. One of Alex's best pokes.

• Standing Hard Punch (Overhead Attack) •
Good damage, must be blocked high. One of the few viable ways Alex has to mix up his offensive game, so it's fairly useful, just don't throw it out there too often because it's not hard to parry if they know it's coming.

• Back + Hard Punch (Grab and Head Bash) •
This works great if you're sure the other fighter is going to attempt a high parry. It has a big active window where it can grab the other player, and when it lands it does good damage and A LOT of stun.

When some players are on the ropes, they tend to go for more parries, and this move can put that thought out of their mind very quickly.

And while this is technically a grab, it can be blocked, and blocking low will cause this move to whiff, leaving you open to be punished.

• Standing Medium Kick •
Great range and alright damage on this. From mid-range, one of Alex's best pokes.

• Down + Hard Kick (Sweep) •
Long range sweep move, decent speed and solid damage as well.

Color guide

Colors requiring more than one button can be unlocked by beating the game with this character.

Contributions to this guide by X.