Axel Stone (アクセル) is one of the primary protagonists of the Streets of Rage series. Along with Blaze Fielding, he has appeared in every game of the series.
Biography[]
Appearance[]
Streets of Rage Profile
Axel is a blonde haired, blue eyed alpha masculine figure. He wears a white shirt and blue jeans pants throughout the series (with few exceptions). A blue headband keeps his long bangs out of his eyes, and red fingerless gloves bedeck his fists. His Streets of Rage 4 design adds a denim jacket and a cuffed formal shirt tied about his waist, and he also gains a full beard, reflecting his time in isolation.
In Streets of Rage 3, Axel's clothing changes to a yellow shirt with black pants, reminiscent of Adam Hunter. When this sprite is featured again in Streets of Rage 4, the clothing reverts to Axel's white and blue colors.
Story[]
Streets of Rage[]
Axel makes his debut in 1991's Streets of Rage as one of the three cops who quit the city's corrupt police force, in order to personally hunt down the syndicate leader themselves. Along with Adam Hunter and Blaze Fielding, he manages to defeat the syndicate leader (later named Mr. X) in his own headquarters.
Streets of Rage 2[]
One year later on the anniversary of Mr. X's defeat, Axel (who has left the city to run a martial arts dojo/become a bodyguard in the EU/Canada manual) discovers that Adam has been kidnapped by a returned Mr. X, as a lure to bring Axel and Blaze to him in retaliation for his prior defeat. Along with Blaze, He joins up with Max Thunder and Adam's kid brother "Skate" to defeat Mr. X once again and free Adam and the city.
Bare Knuckle III (Japan)[]
BKIII has Axel rejoining the police force after the events of Streets of Rage 2, and aiding Blaze and newcomer Zan in trying to uncover and prevent bombs hidden throughout the city from detonating, as well as fighting off a new group called Neo-Chaos.
Streets of Rage 3 (US)[]
In this Sega of America produced version (edited to lighten the game's tone), Axel is still running a dojo outside the city, and is called on by Blaze to assist her, Skate and newcomer and ex-syndicate member Dr. Zan in shutting down a seemingly resurrected Syndicate.
Streets of Rage 4[]
After the fall of Mr. X, Axel retired from the police force and left the city, deciding to live a simple life in isolation and spend his days training and studying. However, he immediately returns to the city when Blaze calls for his help to take down the new Syndicate.
Gameplay[]
Axel is commonly considered the easiest to use due to his simple multiple hit special attacks. By SOR3, he is still well-rounded, but also quite a powerhouse in many aspects.
Signature Move[]
Fighting Style[]
Axel seems to use a mixture of boxing, karate, kickboxing and street fighting moves to create his fighting style. Flames are used to give some of his moves a visual flair but are never used to actually burn or immolate his enemies until SOR4.
Character evolution[]
Axel in SOR1 (much like Blaze) is vastly different than the Axel character in SOR2/SOR3. SOR1 Axel lacks any special moves, like the Grand Upper, and most of his standard moves are different than in SOR2/SOR3 (Flying Knee instead of Jump Kick, Suplex instead of Body Slam, Roundhouse Kick instead of Double Kick, etc.)
His attire also changes throughout the series, going from a muscle shirt with blue/gold gauntlets, to a standard t-shirt with red gauntlets, to a sleeveless shirt, red gauntlet look. Despite the changes, Axel is always featured in a white shirt and sneakers with blue jeans and headband (except for SOR3, where he is depicted with a yellow shirt and black jeans, aka the Adam Hunter look).
In SOR4, Axel is the most visibly changed of his friends. His rural living has left him unkempt, with shaggy blonde hair held back with his headband, a full beard, and worn clothes--blue jeans too short for him and a denim vest hanging open over one of his white shirts, now stained to a light tan. He's also bulked up considerably in the 10 years since SOR3, and has become a stocky, more powerful figure, considerably broader than Adam, who used to have a similar lean build.
Axel's general look closely resembles Capcom's Final Fight character, Cody Travers.
Game Appearances[]
Axel in Streets of Rage
Axel in Bare Knuckle III
Other Appearances[]
SEGA Heroes[]
Axel Stone appears as a playable character in SEGA Heroes. He is a Blue hero and utilizes a few moves from his own games, such as punches.
Moves and ability[]
- Normal attack: Axel rushes forward and attacks with a punch.
- MAX Skill - Uppercut: Axel Stone devastates his opponent with an uppercut, knocking them out cold.
- Star Skill - Home Run: Axel Stone grabs a bat and smashes his enemy out of the park.
- Passive - Brawler: Axel Stone is a tough brawler, ready for any fight!
Trivia[]
- During the development of Streets of Rage, this character's original name was Hawk.
- In Fighting Force for the PSX/N64 (originally designed to be SOR4[1]), the protagonist Hawk, shares the same name as Axel's prototype name.
- Axel's shoe coloration, white with a red stripe, bears resemblance to that of fellow SEGA character Sonic the Hedgehog.
- Axel is shown sparring with Adam during the ending of SOR3/BKIII, suggesting they may be sparring partners.
- In Streets of Rage Mobile, which features Axel's SOR2 sprites, his legs were fixed to make him appear taller than the original.
- In the Bare Knuckle II beta, Axel's specials are quite different. His idle jump kick attack is only the knee attack, much like his jump kick from SOR1, there is no second kick attack afterward. His Grand Upper was an uppercut, similar to a Tiger Uppercut from Street Fighter, and his Dragon Wing was replaced with a Hurricane Kick, similar to Ryu or Ken's.
- His Grand Upper attack is called Bare Knuckle in the EU/US version of SOR3, the name of the game's Japanese title.
Sprites[]
Gallery[]
References[]
| Streets of Rage | ||
|---|---|---|
| Games | Streets of Rage • Streets of Rage 2 • Streets of Rage 3 • Streets of Rage 4 | |
| Characters | Axel Stone • Adam Hunter • Blaze Fielding • Max Thunder • Eddie "Skate" Hunter • Floyd Iraia • Cherry Hunter • Roo • Mr. X | |
| Universe | Wood Oak City • Syndicate • Rakushin | |
| Related | Music • Fighting Force • Die Hard Arcade • Beats of Rage • Project X Zone 2 • Sonic the Comic | |
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This article uses content from the Streets of Rage wiki.
The original article can be found here and the original contributors here.
The content is licensed under the CC-BY-SA license. |