Axel Stone

Axel Stone (アクセル) is one of the main protagonists of the Streets of Rage series. Along with Protagonists Blaze Fielding, he has appeared in every game of the series.

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.

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.

NOTE: This is the original story by Sega of Japan, changed when released in the US/Europe to lighten the tone of the game.

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.

Personality

Streets of Rage Profile

Axel is shown as the leader of the group, due to his prominence, all-around skills, and "classic beat-em-up look". In SOR3, he plays the role of a slow-but-powerful character, succeeding Max from SOR2 as well as Adam from SOR1.

Signature Moves

Grand Upper: Axel pulls off a (strong) sliding uppercut into the enemy.
Dragon Smash: Axel pulls off a quick barrage of punches followed by an uppercut.
Dragon Wing: Axel swings his fist in a circular motion, knocking down surrounding enemies.
Grand Hook: One of Axel's upgraded moves, is essentially a Grand Upper into a 360 degree Dragon Wing. Can be finished off with an uppercut.

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 flare, but are never used to actually burn/immolate his enemies.

Character evolution

Axel in Streets of Rage (much like Blaze) is vastly different than the Axel character in Streets of Rage 2/3. SOR1 Axel lacks any special moves, like the Grand Upper, and most of his standard moves are different than in 2/3 (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 tshirt 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).

Axel's general look closely resembles Capcom's Final Fight character Cody Travers.

Game Appearances

Pic axelbkiii — Axel in Bare Knuckle III

Other Appearances

Project X Zone 2

Trivia

During the development of Streets of Rage, his original name was Hawk
Contrary to many beliefs, Axel says "Grand Upper!" when you execute his >,>,B move in both Streets of Rage 2 and Bare Knuckle III
In Streets of Rage 3, perhaps as a homage/in-joke, this was changed to "Bare Knuckle!"
Axel and Zan are the only character named ingame by Mr. X
His yellow/black look in Streets of Rage 3 (changed for "gender neutrality") is most likely a homage to Adam Hunter's attire.
Is shown sparring with Adam during the ending of SOR3/BKIII
In the BKII beta, Axel's specials are quite different. 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.
Depending on the game, Axel's shoe tongue is either outside the pant, or inside (SOR2)
Shiva seems to have a personal vendetta towards Axel (shown in White House/City Hall ending)
In Project X Zone 2, Axel appears as a playable solo unit and attacks with many brawling skills, including his Dragon Smash and Dragon Wing.