Frank West is a freelance photojournalist and the protagonist of the 2006 Capcom-developed survival-horror game Dead Rising and the wii remake "Chop 'till you Drop".
Appearance
Frank West is a very average-looking man, seeming to be in his late twenties/early thirties. His hair is dark and cut short, and he wears a white button-up collared shirt, under a black leather jacket. He wears green slacks and brown dress shoes to round out the outfit. He is never seen without his camera.
Despite usually wearing the above outfit, he can wear a variety of things in Dead Rising, including a full Mega Man X outfit and a Servbot head.
Personality
Frank has a nose for good stories and a lot of curiosity, which both serve him well in his career as a reporter. Once he starts investigating something, he never stops, not even in the face of unspeakable terrors, like zombies. Frank shows a fortitude and resourcefulness during crisis situations not found in the average person, which may be due to his experience in wars.
Oveview
Frank West is an oddball character. At first you may think he is way too slow to be viable, but the truth is that Frank has quite a lot of good tools that need to be applied specifically in order to win.
As a comparison to characters from other universes, C. Viper from Street Fighter 4 is a good choice.
You have to have quick thinking and quick hands to win with Frank. But the rewards are worth it; Frank is a merge between a juggling/keepaway character that has a lot of control over zoning and spacing. He's covered wars, you know.
•Strengths •
+ Very versatile "projectiles".
+ Can control almost all space with special moves.
+ Has a good punish for almost any situation.
+ Has a laser Hyper, despite being a close range grappler/juggler.
+ Can rack up some big damage once the juggles start.
+ Great anti-air game.
+ A really good escape and approach moveset.
+ Assist covers the entire screen in front of Frank.
+ A quick command grab.
+ Above average stamina.
•Weaknesses •
- Frank's ground combos are short, so it is hard to hit confirm opponents.
- Special moves have slow startup.
- Very execution-heavy character.
- Weak to rushdown fighters.
- No overhead normal attacks.
- Needs meter to deal damage outside of his very advanced combos.
- Poor footspeed.
Standard Moves
•Golf Club •
This move covers a lot of area, does a lot of stun, and functions as an anti-air. An altogether great move. You can also land the Hard version of Grand Slam from the Golf Club attack, which is a free wallbounce. It's really hard to combo into this move, but it is possible.
•Sucker Punch •
One of the best anti-air normals in the game, you're going to be relying on this move a lot to win with Frank. If you've played a lot of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, a favorite move of a lot of players is to constantly jump and air dash to attack the opponent. This move was designed to stop those players. The hitbox on it is great and it will beat out a lot of aerial moves. Some moves with disjointed hitboxes such as Zero's, Yatterman-2's or Tekkaman's will beat it though, so know your matchup.
(In the air) •Knee Slam • Straight from the Dead Rising games, this command normal is the link between the advanced and the intermediate Frank West players. If you can land this move in an air combo, and then lift the opponent off the ground with a Hard Zombie Spree afterwards, you have unlocked Frank's super-damaging combos. To successfully land this move in an air combo correctly, you must perform it immediately after jumping a second time in the air during an aerial combo.
Since this move is fast and knocks down, you can use it as a surprise aerial attack. Just make sure you cancel it into something safe after wards if it is blocked.
•Desperado Slide •
A slide with good range but horrible recovery. It's easy to combo into this, though. If it lands, use Grand Slam to add more damage and start a juggle. If it doesn't land, use the Hard Roll or Light Grand Slam.
•Launcher •
Frank has one of the best launchers in the game. It moves him extremely far forward and is unlikely to whiff. Add it up with the fact that a lot of Frank's moves tend to juggle the opponent close to Frank, and this move becomes really great, especially with the prelude of Baroque Cancels.
Special Moves
•Roundhouse Kick •
Medium
2.4 BHard
2.4 B
Frank lunges forward and attacks with his foot. This move has very few uses. It comes out very fast, but it takes a long time to charge.
The Light version is a fake attack. You can cancel normals into it to make them safe. The Medium version goes straight and knocks down, but can be blocked low or high. The Hard version also knocks down but has to be blocked low.
If you use the Medium version in combos, it is possible to relaunch the opponent from the knockdown using Casshan or Roll as an assist and a Zombie Spree attack.
Grab 2.4 BFall 3.2 B •Zombie Attack • Summons a slow zombie onto the screen. Depending on the button you press, the zombie appears from a different location.
The zombies can grab either Frank or the opponent, and it takes a while for the character who is caught to push them off. Pressing the following buttons will summon a zombie...
Light: Behind Frank. Not too many uses for this because it takes a while for the zombie to walk out to a point where you have enough space to get behind it. Still, if you do get behind it, follow it and use it as a shield/projectile.
Medium: Behind the opponent. The most popular zombie as it will attack an opponent immediately when they are fullscreen from you. You can also summon it while the opponent is in the air so that they are forced to block when they land.
Hard: From the air, into the middle of the arena. It can hit characters on the way down, but it takes a long time to stand up and move. It will also walk towards Frank by default.
Don't underestimate these zombies. While Frank does give an indication to your opponent with his camera that he has summoned one, they are still good for controlling space.
Also, you can hit zombies with your Golf Club and Grand Slam. You can also throw the zombies with Great Swing, too.
A zombie hit with a Golf Club will "bounce" towards the opponent, and if it hits, it does a LOT of stun. A zombie hit with Grand Slam will go flying across the screen at high speed and put the opponent into a spinning knockdown if it lands.
A zombie thrown with Great Swing is sort of a joke move, because the startup is ridiculous and it doesn't do much stun or damage.
Against characters with projectiles, your zombies will probably get KOed a lot. Zombies can also be killed with normal moves, but forcing your opponent to deal with the zombie instead of Frank is a great distraction and gives Frank an opening. Keep in mind that the zombie won't come out until Frank says "Oh my God!", so don't get hit before then.
Light 2.4 BMedium 2.4 BHard 2.4 B
•Zombie Spree •
Frank's projectile. Light version comes out the fastest, but travels the slowest, and Hard is vice-versa. All versions lift the opponent off the ground after a knockdown, but the Hard version does a wallbounce.
This move is incredibly important for extending combos and getting big damage with Frank. It's a rare type of move as there are very few moves in total (including Hypers) that lift the opponent off the ground after a knockdown.
This attack comes out a little slower than most projectiles, but once you get a bunch of shopping carts flying across the screen Frank will be tough to approach. Don't just abuse the Hard version, because the Light version tends to stun the opponent close to you where you can begin using close-range juggles to attack. This is important in relaunch combos as well, because you can't wallbounce an opponent twice in the same combo.
Frank recovers way before the cart has started to traverse the screen, so you can use the carts as a both a pressure and keep away tool.
Light 2.4 BMedium 3.2 BHard 4.0 B (Can also be done in the air) •Grand Slam • Frank winds up and takes a swing with his baseball bat, this is one of his best utility moves. You use this move to end air combos and to make many of his normal attacks safe.
This move can reflect projectiles, so use it to prevent fireballs from dominating your ground game. It also has really good range, about half-screen distance. Since it lifts the opponent off the ground and puts them in a juggle state, you can land Zombie Charge in the corner.
The Light version starts up the fastest and has the quickest recovery time, which makes it the easiest and safest to combo into. Medium does more damage but is a little trickier to combo into. The Hard version starts up the slowest and is a lot harder to combo into but it does a wallbounce letting you set up more combos.
Light 4.8 BMedium 6.1 BHard 7.6 B
•Great Swing (Command Grab) •
Frank's command grab. This throws your opponent a good distance away, letting you set up Frank's keepaway game. This grab has good range and you can land a Knee Slam after it if you are in the corner. The Light version has the most range, but the least damage.
This does good damage, and it's a good counter to people playing defensively. You can also combo into it, just in case. It also works on the Giants.
•Roll •
A move that a lot of players mysteriously under utilize, Frank's roll is one of the best "teleport" moves in the game. You can cancel all of your normals into these rolls. Depending on the button pressed, Frank travels in a slightly different way, but you still get an obscene amount of range out of all your rolls.
Light: Rolls you right up in front of your opponent. Suicidal if they are ready for it, but if you cover yourself with an assist or projectile of some kind it is safe and lets Frank shift from keepaway mode to attack mode.
Medium: Rolls you behind your opponent. Same scenario as Light version, also this has slightly more recovery so it's not abusable. It's still good though.
Hard: Essentially one of the best escape moves in the game as it moves you almost full-screen backwards. They blocked your slide or your launcher? No problem, just roll your way out of there. You can still be punished with particular long distance moves, but that's mostly matchup related.
You can use this move to roll around zombies or to follow up your zombie attacks.
Hyper Combos
9.8 B (In the air)
•The Real Mega Buster (Level 1) • Your Mega Man attack, it fires off a huge Mega Buster shot. You are going to be depending on this move a lot if you aren't gifted at executing Frank's difficult combos. It's one of the quickest ways for Frank to deal necessary damage to win in games. The startup is just as fast as a regular laser Hyper.
Your goal should be to build up meter with your large library of special moves and then don your Mega Man costume repeatedly.
10.2 B
•Dead Rising (Level 1, Command Grab) •
A slow command grab, but inescapable after Frank says, "It's time to rock!" After wards he hits a home run, your opponent will slam into the ground behind you where you have some options for damage.
There are lots of scenarios you can use to land this move, and the rewards are very well worth it. After Frank launches the opponent into the air with his baseball bat, you're going to want to use the Hard version of the Roll and then immediately summon the Hard Zombie Spree cart attack.
This will lift your opponent off the ground and wallbounce them where you can follow up with a combo, making this Level 1 Hyper a very damaging one.
Normal 20.6 BGiants 19.4 B
•Zombie Charge or Big Bad Explosion (Level 3) •
Frank jumps forward and tries to put a Servbot head on his enemy, if he's successful he launches into a very damaging set of moves. This Hyper is not a grab, despite the animation; it's a jumping attack that can be blocked high or low.
There are a multitude of ways for Frank to land this move since nearly all his moves do a lot of stun and juggle the opponent into the air. The easiest way to land this is from a slide or a Golf Club swing.
Frank is a tough character to play, and you'll more than likely be on defense rather than offense. Therefore, it's up to you whether or not you want to use three meters to hit an opponent hard.
The second version of your Level 3 Hyper, Big Bad Explosion, only comes out when you are facing a Giant. It summons a falling zombie from the top of the screen that has to be blocked high. If the Giant cannot Baroque and he does a laggy move, go ahead and hit them with this.
It comes out at an okay speed, so you should memorize which Giant attacks are punishable with this move. It's also possible to combo into this move since your summoned zombies can grab the Giants.
It's also the only time Frank uses a gun in his attacks. It's a shame he doesn't pull out the shotgun during a fight with regular characters.
Assists
Camera Flash Stun: Frank's Partner Assist makes him whip out a camera and take a picture. The stun from this move is short but as a tradeoff it hits everywhere in front of Frank. It's great for shooting down opponents in the air or those trying to run away.
Quotes
Sources |