Frank West

"It's Frank... Frank West. Now remember that name 'cause the whole world's gonna know it in three days."

- Frank West The protagonist of Dead Rising and the non-canon games Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop and Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, Frank West is a freelance photographer and photojournalist. Frank has covered numerous wars in the past, explaining his vague familiarity with firearms. He originally came to Willamette for the "scoop of a lifetime", thinking that the Willamette incident was a mere riot. Not your typical journalist, Frank is quite capable of handling himself in combat and is very keen to help other survivors to safety. During his time at Willamette, he earned the trust and friendship of Brad Garrison, Jessica McCarney, Otis Washington, and Isabela Keyes. Five years later, after his infiltration into the Phenotrans Facility he gained the friendship of Chuck Greene.

72 Hour Mode
When Frank is on the helicopter, what he witnesses is not normal. Frank first sees a man fighting for his life on top of a car, only to be pulled down and killed by rioters. Later a gas station explodes. He then sees a woman shooting these rioters on a building roof top, she signals for help but is tackled off the building and splattered on the ground.

Once he is inside the mall, he goes into the Entrance Plaza and finds many survivors. One of which says that the rioters aren't people, but zombies. While in the Entrance Plaza, he also sees a Hispanic woman, who leaves when she and Frank meet eyes. The mall is eventually breached when Lindsay Harris opens the doors to get to her dog, Madonna. Many of the survivors die, but Frank manages to escape upstairs into the security room.

In there he meets Jessica McCarney, Brad Garrison, and Otis Washington. Brad leaves for supplies, and Frank follows him for a scoop. When Frank is in pursuit, he accidentally injures Jessie, thinking she was a zombie. Jessie tells him that Brad needs help, and Frank agrees to it. Jessie gives him a handgun, to help Brad in her stead. When asked if he knows how to use it, Frank replies: "Kinda. I've covered wars you know."

When Frank finds Brad, he is ambushed by Carlito Keyes, who manages to escape after the fight. Frank convinces Brad to let him cover the story when he shows a picture of the man he is looking for, Dr. Barnaby, who refuses to leave the area he is barricaded in until it is safe for him to leave. Later, Brad and Frank find that Barnaby has been captured by Carlito, who had ambushed them earlier.

After a second confrontation with Carlito Keyes, Brad is injured and Carlito escapes yet again. Frank and Brad manage to bring Barnaby back, but Brad passes out from his injuries. Jessie then asks Frank to acquire a first aid kit for Brad from the pharmacy in the supermarket. When Frank is searching for the medical kit, he is attacked by the insane manager, Steven Chapman. Frank manages to defeat Chapman and also manages to save a woman from captivity. It is hinted she was looking for medicine as well. Frank notices that she is the same woman he met in the Entrance Plaza. When offering his help, she quickly gets angered, leaving Frank with mysterious words before running off.

Later, Dr. Barnaby awakens, but refuses to talk with Frank around, stereotyping him as "paparazzi". Frank then spots the woman he had confronted in the supermarket on the monitor. Frank eventually finds her and is attacked by her. Once Frank defeats her, she claims the zombie parasite came from Santa Cabeza. She also reveals Carlito is her brother, and that her name is Isabela Keyes. She claims she will bring Carlito for questioning and designates a rendezvous point. As Frank is waiting at the rendezvous point for Carlito, Isabela bursts through the door with a zombie attacking her. After it is killed, it appears that she has been bitten, but she states that it is a gunshot wound from Carlito.

Isabela is taken back to the security room for questioning. When Brad is interrogating her, she tells him if he wants answers to ask the person who was the head of the Santa Cabeza Research Facility; Dr. Barnaby. Just after she reveals this, Jessica is attacked by Barnaby, after he is knocked off of her, Isabela announces that he is turning into a zombie. Barnaby reveals that the zombies were accidentally created in an attempt at mass producing cattle. Barnaby then finally transforms into one of the undead, and is killed by Brad.

Isabela explains that Carlito was planning on blowing up the mall, which would release the zombie plague beyond Willamette. Now against her brother's cause, Isabela devises a plan to disarm the explosives. Once they succeed in preventing the mall's destruction, Carlito escapes by shoving Brad into a room full of zombies. Frank finds Brad, who is now turning into a zombie. Brad asks Frank not to tell Jessie that he is infected, nor that he is about to die; Frank then takes Brad's pistol and kills him out of mercy. Once back, Isabela and Frank go to Carlito's hideout to see if he is planning anything else, but Isabela cannot crack his password.

Carlito is then captured and held hostage by Larry Chiang, an insane butcher, from whom Frank saves him. Before dying from his wounds, Carlito gives Frank his locket to give to Isabela. Frank returns to Isabela and gives her the locket, which then reminds her of an old saying of Carlito's, "pachamama", which turns out to be the password to his computer. After the landlines are open, Jessie is able to contact the government. Afterwards, Jessie calls Frank and sadly informs Frank the military will come at midnight to kill everything and everyone, so the incident will be forgotten.

Jessica undergoes the zombification process (possibly from Dr. Barnaby) and kills two military officers interrogating her. The survivors saved by Frank escape via helicopter piloted by Otis, but Frank, Isabela, and zombified Jessie are left behind. Jessie, now a full zombie, attacks Frank and he is forced to kill her. If the player unlocks "Ending A", the helicopter pilot, Ed DeLuca (whom Frank requested to return in order to provide Frank with an escape route) is attacked by an unseen zombie, spins out of control and crashes into the clock tower in the center of the park. Frank looks into the cockpit with his camera zoom, sees Ed being attacked, and falls on his knees with zombies closing in, awaiting his inevitable death.

Overtime Mode
Isabela abruptly appears to save Frank, although she diagnoses with a bleak condition; Frank is infected with the parasite, and will turn into a zombie unless he procures the items requested by Isabela. Once Frank has acquired the necessary items, Isabela creates a temporary potion to delay the effects of zombification. The excess inoculation is used by Isabela to fashion a zombie repellent potion. She also reveals something horrible she found on Carlito’s computer: Carlito has used the same potion to temporarily preserve infected orphans spread across the country, basically making them zombie time bombs.

Now devoid of any logical reason to remain in the mall, they finally seek an alternative means of escape. Frank discovers that there is a gaping hole in the clock tower, as a result of Ed DeLuca's crash. Frank and Isabela decide to descend into the tunnels that were opened up by the helicopter crashing. They reach a rusted gate, where the military has established a defensive perimeter.

Frank activates a lever, raising the gate and distracting the military long enough for them to enter, where they promptly face the commander of the military clean-up operation, the bald-headed, robust Brock Mason.

Brock makes his way towards Isabela and Frank inside of a large Army Tank; Frank commandeers the Humvee while Isabela manipulates the machine gun mounted on the back. Brock eventually knocks over the Humvee and stops the Tank to fight Frank in fair battle, rather than blow him to bits. Frank engages Brock in hand-to-hand combat, as the zombies begin to crowd around them. As Isabela regains consciousness, she evades the zombies and makes her stand on top of the crashed Humvee.

Frank eventually knocks the Military Commander into the massive zombie crowd, and Brock is eaten alive while faintly smiling. Surrounded by the masses of the undead, Frank gets on his knees and yells as the game ends. In the credits it states that Frank and Isabela were able to escape and survive (likely using the tank that Brock arrived in). After escaping the zombie infested town, they were able to spread the story of what really happened at Willamette and acknowledge those who died at Santa Cabeza.

Dead Rising 2
Stacey Forsythe mentions how Frank helped Isabela make the first inhibitor for the zombie infection.

Dead Rising 2: Case West
Frank ends up saving Chuck Greene from a zombified Tyrone King. Though initially hesitant to work with Chuck after hearing the news reports, he eventually brings Chuck with him to a Phenotrans facility after hearing a tip from a source that works there.

Ultimately, Frank discovers that Isabela is his source, forced to work for Phenotrans after the events in Willamette. The Phenotrans director reveals that a cure for the zombie parasite has already been created, but isn't being produced because it would mean less money for the company. Isabela is knocked unconscious and taken away as the facility self-destructs.

Frank and Chuck manage to escape just in time with some evidence that points to Phenotrans, but Chuck isn't very optimistic. Frank's watch beeps, meaning that he needs to take Zombrex. Panicking due to having discarded it, Chuck passes the Zombrex to him, having retrieved it earlier, telling him that the world needs Frank West; they then look over the destroyed facility from afar.

Dead Rising 2: Off the Record
In this "What if" scenerio of the Fortune City incident Frank returned as the main protagonist and carried a role not too much different from the original Dead Rising. Frank narrates through the opening telling us of his raise to fame to his downfall, and his hope to get "back in the game." He accepts an offer from Tyrone King to appear in Terror is Reality. After accepting the challenge he traveled to Fortune City and participated in the competition only to be given a very negative opinion by TK. Frank packs up to get ready to leave, only to find TK making shady dealings with Brandon Whittaker, a member of the zombie protest group, CURE. As Frank takes photos of the transaction of money and C4 he is soon discovered by some of TK's henchmen. Frank succeeds in dispatching the three of them and escapes. Soon, the entire Fortune City Arena is infested with zombies. He makes a run for it to find the Fortune City Emergency Shelter. In the shelter, he is introduced to Raymond Sullivan. Sullivan questions of Frank's condition and he claims to have Zombrex. This however, is a lie and soon Frank would himself in some trouble. Stacey Forsythe soon tells him that he can find Zombrex in the Pharmacy of the Royal Flush Plaza. Stacey gives Frank a wireless headpiece and asks for him to bring any survivors he can find back to the Safe House.

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Character design
According to designer Keiji Inafune, he wanted Frank West to be an average person instead of the usual Japanese characters which are young and beautiful. He wears a black jacket with a white button-up shirt, green pants and brown shoes. His appearance can also be changed by visiting various stores around the mall, ranging from suits, dresses, hats, sunglasses, masks and more.

Dead Rising

 * Canon
 * (1 game, 1 downloadable game)
 * Dead Rising (First appearance) (Protagonist)
 * Dead Rising 2 (Mentioned only)
 * Dead Rising 2: Case West (Deuteragonist)
 * Non-Canon
 * (2 games)
 * Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop (Wii game) (Protagonist)
 * Dead Rising 2: Off The Record ("What If" Scenario) (Protagonist)

Other Appearances
Frank has made a few appearances in other games since his debut in Dead Rising:

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
Frank West appears as a playable character in Lost Planet: Extreme Condition for the Xbox 360 and PC, through downloadable content.

Lost Planet 2
A skin of Frank West is available for use in Lost Planet 2.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars
Frank West is a playable character in Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars. He can call zombies into the fight and his stage is based off of the Entrance Plaza. His voice actor isn't T.J. Rotolo. Instead, Frank is voiced by Peter Von Gomm, who also voiced X in Mega Man X7 and Kyo Kusanagi in The King of Fighters XII.

Left 4 Dead 2: The Passing
While Frank West does not appear in the Left 4 Dead 2 DLC, he is referenced through a note in The Passing. In a room located in a bar, he has a note sprawled across the wall, for Otis Washington,that say"s "Otis,out of film,zombies are too fast,not gonna make it.Frank West"This may be referencing a note found near the end of Dead Rising.

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Frank West has been revealed as a playable character in the upcoming Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3. Like in his appearence in Tatsunuko vs Capcom he uses zombies for combat as well as his camera and several makeshift weapons from the games such as chainsaws, fire axes and the Paddlesaw. He also has a level up system in battle, which gives access to different moves and a red health refill. His reveal trailer was released together with Rocket Raccoon.

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Trivia

 * Frank isn't always voiced by his normal actor, TJ Rotolo. When Frank says "Fantastic!" after taking a perfect photograph, he is voiced by Marty Belafsky. Furthermore, in the very first trailer, depicting the game in its beta stage (different logo etc), Frank had a completely different voice actor. The beta trailer can be seen here.
 * Frank always holds his camera in his left hand whenever possible.
 * One of Frank's lines: "I've covered wars you know", became what seems to be a mini-meme. In Dead Rising 2, there is an Achievement/Trophy called "He hasn't covered wars..." obviously referencing this line. At another point, Chuck asks Rebecca, "have you covered wars or something?" during a cutscene. In "Case West", Frank's Notebook profile is simply the infamous line. Additionally, Chuck quips, "You're pretty high-strung for a guy who's covered wars." Also in Lost Planet 2, when you unlock Frank's skin, you get the title "I've covered wars". In Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, when you get the Full Camera Achievement/Trophy, under it, it will say the line, only differing by saying "You can cover wars, you know."
 * ScrewAttack.com rated Frank the 3rd "Manliest Man in Gaming".
 * Frank has two round marks on his left shoulder, similar to the scars caused by Soviet vaccinations.
 * Frank wears a Mega Man brand watch.
 * Although Frank doesn't appear in Dead Rising 2, he is mentioned numerous times.
 * In Dead Rising 2: Case West, it appears Frank is wearing Carlito's locket. It also appears he wears sunglasses similair to the one that "The Bride" wears in the Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill Vol.2 and the one Chris Redfield wears in Resident Evil 5 from a costume pack DLC (his Warrior costume).
 * Frank's watch is battery powered and runs out of batteries in the clock tunnel sequence in Overtime Mode. Checking your watch will bring up the message "Look's like the battery died...".
 * Frank has no walking animation when holding any firearm in Dead Rising. If you press the analog stick halfway to walk while holding a firearm he will only run. This can make precise movements difficult when holding guns.
 * Frank's original attire from Dead Rising is available in Dead Rising 2: Case West for use by both him and Chuck. It is located in the locker area of the room in which Frank talks to his source next to the door.
 * Frank was set to appear in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, however he was cut for extra work. Frank will however appear in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
 * Frank's camera had to have its batteries recharged every 30 pictures in Dead Rising but in DR2 CW and DR2 OTR his camera is digital and no longer needs recharging.
 * In the new Dead Rising 2 OTR trailer Frank says "I freaking hate clowns!" This is could possibly be a referenece to Adam the clown from the first game.
 * It is possible that an insperation for Frank's character is Jim Rockford of the 1970's TV show, "The Rockford Files". Both characters are usually shown to wear brown jackets and white shirts underneath, and Frank and Rockford's personalities are remarkably similar. Frank also bears a passing resemblance to the actor James Garner, who played Rockford.
 * Frank's actor TJ Rotolo can be seen on the hit television show "Deadliest Warrior" in the episode "Roman Centurion vs Rajput warrior".
 * The fact that most of Frank skill moves are wrestling moves and the fact that he wears a wrestling singlet and wrestles zombies on Terror is Reality on Off the Record may say that Frank used to be a Professional Wrestler at one point before he became a Journalist, or at least has an interest in wrestling.
 * In Off The Record, Frank seems to have become overweight. This might be because when his career started going downhill, he seemed to let himself go. This can be seen when Frank wears most clothes that aren't his Default Outfit.
 * Frank's theme for Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 is a remix of Adam's theme from Dead Rising.
 * In Case Wast, AI-Controled Frank seems to be immune to damage.
 * In Case West, AI-Controled Frank can be given weapons, like most other survivors. However, unlike the weapons given to other survivors, the weapons given to Frank break/run out of ammunition. Also unlike other surviovrs Frank can be given combo weapons
 * In Case West, if the Guest player has two or more weapons, and lost the connection, but then regained the connection, they would only have the weapon that Frank was weilding last.