Wikia

Frank West

Frank West
Name	Frank West
Gender	Male
Weapon/Power	Various Martial Arts and photography skills. Can use firearms and anything he can get his hands on as weapons.
Affiliation	Hero
Vitality	1,050,000
First Appearance	Dead Rising (Aug,2006)
Game	Dead Rising series
Voiced By	T.J. Rotolo (English) Rikiya Koyama (Japanese)
Company	Capcom

"What do you mean I don't belong here? I've covered wars, y'know."
—Frank's victory quote

Frank West is a main character from Capcom's Dead Rising series. He is a veteran of previous Capcom vs. games, but he makes his first appearance in the Marvel vs. series in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

Backstory

An overzealous photojournalist looking for the scoop of a lifetime, Frank West went to Willamette, Colorado to report on rumored riots at the Parkview Mall. The rioters were revealed to be zombies, forcing Frank to take refuge in the mall. Deciding to help during this outbreak, Frank rescued survivors, battled psychopaths, and attempted to discover the reason this was happening. He learned that a man named Carlito Keyes had done it, angry about a mysterious zombie outbreak in his home country that the United States government ignored and covered up from the rest of the world. With Carlito's sister Isabela as his ally, Frank survived until the military arrived to kill all survivors, and even then, managed to escape and spread the story. However, he had been bitten by a zombie, causing him to become dependant on a 24-hour drug called Zombrex (which he and Isabela invented) that would fight zombification.

Five years later, Frank West went to Fortune City as it was in the midst of a zombie outbreak. After rescuing Chuck Greene, a man who became a hero during a zombie outbreak much like Frank himself had, from a zombie, the two exchanged information they had. Phenotrans, the company that makes Zombrex, had been starting zombie outbreaks to obtain more samples for the drug. The two teamed up to infiltrate and investigate the Phenotrans facility. They learned that there was a cure for zombie infection that was being kept from the public, but were unable to get it. Frank and Chuck swore they would find the cure and stop all the suffering.

Appearance

The version of Frank present in this game resembles his appearance in the first Dead Rising, rather than the older Frank in Case West and Off the Record in Dead Rising 2. Instead of a young, beautiful protagonist present in many Japanese games, Frank was designed to look like an everyman.

Frank wears a suit jacket, a white buttoned shirt, green slacks, and brown shoes. His camera is hung around his neck.

For his DLC costume, Frank wears a version of Mega Man's armor as it is seen in the original Dead Rising. Unlike the original costume, he does not have a Mega Buster to wear on his right arm as he needs both hands to hold his camera.

Powers and Abilities

Although Frank himself does not possess any superhuman abilities, he is not powerless. Frank is very skilled, with abilities like:

Can adapt many random items into weapons
Skilled photographer
Combat experience and proficiency with firearms due to covering wars
Various martial arts and wrestling skills learned while traveling through quarantine zones
Taught by Chuck Greene to think creatively and combine items into combo weapons
Extreme determination
Scavenging for food

Personality

Frank enjoys attention, since his main motivation in the first game is to break the big story and become famous. However, he soon becomes more concerned with the people who survived the outbreak and require help. He is not a very serious person, as he has fun killing zombies in creative ways, but he still finds justice important, such as when he battles psycopaths who endanger innocent people, and when he tries to bring down Phenotrans. However, he can be a bit jealous, with the announcement video for the "What If?" story Dead Rising 2: Off the Record portaying him as a bit jealous that Chuck was the one to find out the story behind the Fortune City outbreak. In short, Frank's personality traits are very realistic, being complex enough to possess both positive and negative personality traits like a normal person would.

Gameplay

"Fan-tastic!"
—Frank taking a photograph.

Frank's gameplay is radically changed from his TvC counterpart, though some moves still exist from there. He seems similar to Jill in due to the fact that both of them have been changed in UMVC3 from zombie zoners to melee types, only Frank retains the zombies compared to Jill who has changed completely. Frank has changed from an oddball zoning type defensive character to the heavy hitting melee character, with said changes making Frank very aggressive and having more tools on hand to safely rushdown than in TvC. He has fast ground mobility, he can pull a variety of combos in close range, while using his Zombie-related moves as a distraction, and possesses above average health, but he lacks air mobility and effect full screen projectiles. Your main priortiy with Frank is to level him up using his Snapshot attack, which earns his Prestige Points (or PP) based on the number of hits in a combo. After an Air Combo, Frank can use Snapshot to OTG the opponent, leaving them vulnerable to either an Assist or his Survival Techniques Hyper. However, certain Assists such as Dante's Jam Session will leave them in enough hitstun for Frank to get another Snapshot in, allow him to level up twice in one combo when performed in Level 1.

Though at a cost, most of Frank's old moves which were great in terms of power and performance (such as his Real Mega Buster) have been removed, as well as his "Servbot Head" Hyper now being a Level 1, Frank now needs to utilize a new style almost all together to deal with his foes.

Special Attacks

Snapshot: Frank takes a picture of the opponent, causing a small hitstun. Taking enough pictures will cause Frank to level up from Prestige Points (like in the original Dead Rising) and get stronger attacks. However if used at the end of a combo every hit from the combo translates into one prestige point, leveling Frank up faster and easier. The maximum level is 5, and once Frank reaches this level, all of his medium normals utilize the paddlesaw, a plastic canoe paddle with chainsaws taped to both ends. Every Level up also recovers some of Frank's red (recoverable) health. This level system also affects Frank's Survival Techniques hyper combo. The higher the level, the higher the damage, range and invulnerability. The snapshot hits OTG and be Special/Hyper cancelled. In Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, this was his main assist, with strong offense breaking and combo extension capabilties.
- Level 1: Frank starts out with a baseball bat (for his special attacks), a golf club, a fireaxe (special attacks), a pie (forward-H) and a plunger (which is sometimes used for his normal attacks).
- Level 2: Frank gains access to the Roundhouse Kick and the Rolling Dodge. Requires 5 Prestige Points.
- Level 3: The baseball bat is upgraded to a spiked bat, the plunger is upgraded to a broom, the pie to a jug of orange juice, the golf club with an axe, and the fireaxe into a sledgehammer. Requires 20 Prestige Points.
- Level 4: The broom is replaced by the paddlesaw (Paddles + Chainsaw), the Fireaxe is replaced with the "Defiler" combo weapon (Fireaxe + Sledgehammer), the orange juice is replaced with a bottle of wine, and the sledgehammer is replaced with a chainsaw. Requires 50 Prestige Points.
- Level 5: Increase in damage output. Frank gains a blue aura similar to X-Factor. Requires 100 Prestige Points.
Bottoms Up!: Frank takes a swig of an alcoholic drink. This doubles the amount of Prestige Points gained. However, using this move will cause Frank to throw up later on, which leaves him open to attacks.
Hammer Throw: A zombie attempts to attack Frank, but Frank pushes them off and shoves them forward. Light and Medium versions cause hits, while the Heavy version will cause the zombie to grab and gnaw at the opponent, leaving them vulnerable for a short period of time.
Giant Swing: A variation of his Great Swing throw from TvC (where Frank could use his command throw move on an onscreen zombie), a zombie attempts to attack Frank, but Frank grabs the zombie by its legs and swings it, spinning around against the opponent before throwing it.
Object Throw: Frank will chuck a certain food item depending on his Photography Level.
Tools of Survival: Frank will utilize one of his many weapons.
- Light: Frank pulls out a plunger, broom, or paddlesaw for some rapid-fire jabs. Can be done in midair.
- Medium: Frank pulls out and swings a baseball bat, a spiked bat, or a chainsaw which causes a wallbounce.
- Heavy: Frank pulls out a fireaxe, a sledgehammer, or the Defiler and swings it downwards, causing a ground bounce and hits OTG. This can also be used as an Air Combo/Aerial Rave finisher.
Barrel Roll: (Only available after Level 2) Frank performs a quick diving roll that tracks towards the opponent. While rolling, Frank West is invulnerable to all but grabs. He can perform this move once he's level 2 or higher. In TvC, this is a rather underused move. Unlike in Dead Rising and like in TvC, Frank recovers fast from this move. Can also roll backward.
Roundhouse Kick: (Only available after Photography Level 2) Frank performs a roundhouse kick. In TvC, both Medium and Heavy versions aimed forward with the Light version being a fake(the motions resemble a traditional Tae Kwon Do roundhouse kick). In UMVC3 the motion is instead a backspin roundhouse kick. Light version is a fake-out like before, with the Medium version causing hard knockdown, Heavy Version is a low sweep that will hit OTG.
Knee Drop: A midair command normal where Frank drops straight down in a damaging speed on his knee. Taken straight from Dead Rising.

Assist Attacks

	Name	Type	Angle	Cross-Over
α	Shopping Cart	Direct	Front	Blue Light Special
β	Tools of Survival	Direct	Front	Blue Light Special
γ	Pick Me Up	Extra	Instant	Blue Light Special

Hyper Combos

Blue Light Special (Level 1): Frank summons a shopping cart with four chainsaws taped to it, containing a dead zombie, along with a number of other items and weapons, including the Servbot mask. Frank then charges forward with the cart. The cart is based on Steven Chapman's cart from Dead Rising, with a few differences (i.e. chainsaws instead of just pitchforks).
Survival Techniques (Level 1): Frank charges forward with a throwing object. When this connects, he attacks the opponent with a flurry of attacks of several weapons (which decompose during the assault), ending in a powerful bat motion swing. Weapons used depend of the level of Photography. It has start-up invincibility at Photography Level 3 and Full invincibility at any higher.
Funny Face Crusher (Level 1): (Only available after Photography Level 3) An anti-air grab attack. Frank puts a Servbot mask onto the opponent's head so they can't see. He grabs them by the legs, spins them around and throws them. As the dizzied opponent gets up, he runs over and slams their face into the ground.

X-Factor

X-Factor Boosts	Damage	Speed
Level 1	135%	105%
Level 2	160%	110%
Level 3	185%	115%

Theme Song

Frank West's theme is a remix of Adam MacIntyre's boss theme, "Adam (Crazy Clown)" from Dead Rising.

Trailer

Special Quotes

Ending

Frank's ending has him looking into the Marvel Zombies universe with Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four. He then briefs Frank on the chaos going on in that world and requests his help in hopefully subduing it. Although Frank isn't too keen on fighting zombie superheroes, he willingly accepts the offer as he sees it as a huge scoop.

Trivia

Frank West can take photographs in order to level up, much like in his home series. He can also use some of the combo weapons from Dead Rising 2, including the Paddlesaw.
His character theme is a remix of Adam MacIntyre's theme from the original Dead Rising. He also pulls out the modified shopping cart used by Stephen (albeit modified with the paddlesaw). His appearance is his younger Dead Rising self, compared to his glasses-wearing, overweight version used in Dead Rising 2: Off The Record.
Frank's color alts include one based on Chuck Greene and one of his alternates from Tatsunoko Vs Capcom. His DLC costume is the Mega Man X armor from Dead Rising.
Frank West was originally meant to appear in the original Marvel vs. Capcom 3 as a playable character. However, Frank was cut from the game for causing unspecified lag issues.
- Frank was confirmed to be the pilot in the helicopter Chun-Li was riding into the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier in the second promotion cutscene of the original Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
Frank previously appeared as a playable character in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars. His gameplay has been drastically changed since his TvC appearances, from there he was an oddball character with good combos and strong zoning tactics, along with his crouching B/M being a strong anti air.
Frank West and Rocket Raccoon were revealed on October 31, 2011 as the last two characters revealed.
Frank is the only character with different opening animations, one as he takes a picture and another of him kicking a zombie off of him. He also had two different opening animations in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom as well.
Frank is the only Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom newcomer from the Capcom side in the game to have three Level 1 Hyper Combos.
In one of the preview gameplay videos for Frank West and Rocket Raccoon, Frank West is paired with Hsien-ko and Chris. This is a reference to the Dead Rising series as Hsien-Ko/Lei Lei is a jiangshi (a zombie in Chinese folklore) and Chris is in his Chuck Greene alternate costume (as well as being another zombie fighting protagonist).
There are a few minor plot continuity issues with the gameplay style. Since this is based on Frank when he was in the first game, he wouldn't have been able to use the Paddlesaw or any other combo weapons due to how they were not in the first game, and all the games he used combo weapons had Chuck Greene in them. There is also the discrepancy of where Frank gets the items he uses, because he throws the weapons away after he has used them, and they don't appear on his body, except for when he uses his Survival Techniques Hyper Combo.
Frank is voiced by Rikiya Koyama (who also voiced Wolverine in the Marvel Anime series) in Japanese. This marks the first time Frank has a Japanese voice.
Frank's Funny Face Crusher is similar to his Zombie Charge Level 3 from Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, as they both involve Servbot masks and have Frank smash the opponent's head into the ground. Funny Face Crusher also seems to serve as a Level 3 in a way like Zombie Charge, for it is the only Level 1 Hyper to need special conditions to utilize first(by leveling up Frank three times).
- The finisher of his Survival Techniques Hyper Combo resembles his Dead Rising Hyper Combo from Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.
- Also, both him and Viewtiful Joe are the only (U)MVC3 characters from Tatsunoko vs. Capcom to not have a Level 3 hyper from that game or for MVC3. Zero is the only one to do so, but has a new one instead in its place.
In his official description, under abilities, Capcom humorously use the infamous "I've covered wars y'know" line. There are other numerous references to this line, such as one of his titles being "Covered Wars, Y'Know."
One discrepancy with Frank's Mega Man DLC costume is that the right arm was originally bare with the black sleeve of the undershirt exposed. To cover it up, Frank originally wore the Real Mega Buster. With this version, both of Frank's human hands are exposed in order to help him hold his camera while the armor piece from the other arm covering up the black shirt.
Contrary to his moveset, Frank did not originally use a plunger or fireaxe as a weapon in Dead Rising. Though he has used the latter in Off the Record.
Frank West, Phoenix Wright, and Chris Redfield are the only characters that only use attacks that should not logically cause much damage to opponents like Hulk, or Sentinel.
Capcom ironically has three zombie hunting characters (Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine and Frank West) and two zombie characters (Hsien-Ko and Nemesis). Though the number can jump to three depending on whether or not they consider Albert Wesker a zombie after the first Resident Evil.
Frank West and Phoenix Wright are the only characters in UMVC3 that utilize ordinary objects as weapons (Frank West with things like a plunger and gallon of orange juice, Phoenix Wright with evidence like the Servbot doll, or the potted plant).
Frank West and Phoenix Wright both use a plunger as a weapon (Frank uses it as a melee weapon, while Phoenix throws it).
Some of Frank's costumes resembles other game characters. For example: the white suit and the red shirt resembles Tony Montana from Scarface. Also the yellow suit resembles Chuck Greene, the protagonist from Dead Rising 2.

Wikia

Frank West

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