Dead or Alive Xtreme (series)

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Dead or Alive Xtreme franchise
Doalogo.jpg
Logo for Dead or Alive Xtreme 2
Genres Sports, casino
Developers Team Ninja
Publishers Tecmo
Creators Tomonobu Itagaki
Platforms Xbox, Xbox 360, iOS, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch
First release Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball
January 22, 2003
Latest release Dead or Alive Xtreme 3: Scarlet
March 20, 2019

Dead or Alive Xtreme (Japanese: デッドオアアライブエクストリーム Hepburn: Deddo Oa Araibu Ekusutorīmu?) is a spin-off series in the Dead or Alive fighting game franchise, which itself is a sub-series in the Ninja Gaiden universe. The series is published by Tecmo (now Koei Tecmo) and developed by its subsidiary Team Ninja. The first two games in the series were directed by Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki, who has since left the company and is no longer working on the series.

The first game in the series, Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, was released in 2003 exclusively for the Xbox. The game was created by Itagaki as a fan service beach volleyball game for fans of the series' highly sexualized female characters, who were known for the detailed animation of their breasts, and also featured a licensed soundtrack mainly consisting of European and American pop music.

In 2006, a sequel, Dead or Alive Xtreme 2, was exclusively released for the Xbox 360. After Itagaki's departure in 2008, the series went on hiatus for several years as Team Ninja went through a restructuring period under new leader Yosuke Hayashi, while Tecmo was acquired by rival video game developer Koei, even though Xtreme 2 was remade for the PlayStation Portable and released as Dead or Alive Paradise in 2010, albeit with some content removed.

After several years, the third game in the series, Dead or Alive Xtreme 3, was exclusively released in Asian territories in 2016 for Sony's PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita video game consoles, and was later ported to the Nintendo Switch in 2019.[1]

Games

Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

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Main article: Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball was released in 2003 for the Xbox, shortly after Dead or Alive 3. The plot is set immediately after the tournament in DOA 3 ended. Gameplay revolves around the women of the DOA series playing various mini-games in the many locations of Zack Island, a reclusive private resort on an island owned by Zack (who is the only male character from the series to appear anywhere in the game). This installment features no fighting engine, instead being much like a simulation game that encourages the player to establish relationships with the AI of characters, and eventually make a two-person team to compete in volleyball competitions. "Zack dollars" earned from completing mini-games and gambling in the island's casino allow the player to purchase hundreds of different swimsuits to wear in the game, many of which are very revealing and make the women appear almost nude in some instances (which led to the first Mature rating in the series' history). According to Itagaki, who revealed the basis for the game in an interview with video game cable channel G4, the idea for the game took shape after fans' expressed a desire for a beach ball mini-game in Dead or Alive 2.

Dead or Alive Xtreme 2

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Main article: Dead or Alive Xtreme 2

A sequel for this game followed on the Xbox 360 in 2006, with the title shortened slightly to Dead or Alive Xtreme 2, suggesting – and accurately so – that volleyball was no longer at the center of the experience. Unlike its predecessor, where only Zack and his girlfriend Niki had an English voice option and in CGI FMV cutscenes only, all of the game's playable female characters have American English-dubbed voice-overs as an option in addition to the normal Japanese voice-overs, making it the first game in the series to feature such since Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore in 2000.

Dead or Alive Paradise

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Main article: Dead or Alive Paradise

Dead or Alive Paradise, a remake of Xtreme 2 with some changes (primarily a greater emphasis on the photography portion of the game), was released for Sony's PlayStation Portable handheld platform in the Spring of 2010. It was the first Dead or Alive title to be released on a handheld system, as well as the first release from the series since the departure of series creator Itagaki from Team Ninja. Regarding Dead or Alive Xtreme 3, when questioned about it, Yosuke Hayashi mentioned that there aren't any current plans on making Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 due to poor sales of Xtreme 2, although he has heavily implied that he will consider it if people stated their support for it on Team Ninja's official Twitter account.[2] In addition, on May 1, 2014, Toei had managed to officially register the trademark for Dead or Alive Xtreme 3.[3]

The Girls of Dead or Alive: Blackjack

The Girls of Dead or Alive: Blackjack is a 2009 casino video game and the only game in the Dead or Alive series to be released for the iOS. This game features Kasumi as the main character of this game.[4] Like the DOA Xtreme series, players must win the blackjack without going over 21. With going over 21, the game is over. The game's sales were suspended on the App Store on February 22, 2010.[5]

Dead or Alive Xtreme 3

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Main article: Dead or Alive Xtreme 3

Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 was announced in 2015, and was released the following year in Japan and Asian countries for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita.[6] There are two versions: "Fortune" for the PS4, and "Venus" for the Vita.[7] A third version, "Scarlet", was released in 2019 for the PS4 and the Nintendo Switch, featuring two additional characters (including Leifang who was initially excluded from Xtreme 3, but can also be bought as downloadable content for the original "Fortune" release). Xtreme 3 features a different character roster compared to the first two games, as Tina Armstrong, Lisa Hamilton and Christie are not included in the game, instead replaced by Marie Rose, Honoka and Nyotengu, three new characters who debuted in re-releases of Dead or Alive 5. Momiji from Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword also appears in Xtreme 3, while Misaki, a new character from Venus Vacation, is available in "Scarlet" and is a DLC character in "Fortune". Unlike the first two DOAX games, DOAX3 does not feature a licensed soundtrack.

Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation

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Main article: Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation

Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation was announced in 2016 as the first game in the series available for the Microsoft Windows operating system. It was released on November 17, 2017 through Steam. Much like Xtreme 3, Venus Vacation has not officially been made available outside of Japan and its surrounding countries.

Characters

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Main article: List of Dead or Alive characters

All games

Xtreme/Xtreme 2/Paradise only

Introduced in Xtreme 2

Introduced in Xtreme 3 and Venus Vacation

Non-playable characters

  • Zack (voiced in English by Dennis Rodman in DOAX and Khary Payton in DOAX2; voiced by Bin Shimada in Japanese)
  • Niki (Zack's girlfriend; appears in DOAX, DOAX2 and Paradise only. Voiced in English by Rebecca Riedy in DOAXBV and Kari Wahlgren in DOAX2; voiced by Yuka Koyama in Japanese)

Guest characters

Controversy

The Dead or Alive Xtreme series has experienced controversy, mainly from feminists and social justice warriors over its depiction of scantily-clad female characters with bouncing breasts.

In the April 2003 edition (issue #165) of the videogame publication Electronic Gaming Monthly, the magazine revealed a "nude code" for the first Xtreme game, as an April Fools' Day joke. The magazine promised readers they could play the game with the girls topless, in an unlockable nude mode. Upon discovering the nude code was a hoax, many readers sent angry letters to the magazine, despite the fact that such jokes and hoaxes were an annual tradition for EGM. Shortly after the game's launch, a community of hobbyist hackers reverse engineered Dead or Alive Extreme Volleyball texture system, allowing users to modify textures of the player character models. This quickly led to users replacing the already revealing swimsuits with high detailed nude textures include genitalia and pubic hair for all in game characters. This resulted in fully nude anatomically correct female characters that would lounge about and play volleyball with full breast and buttocks physics intact. In January 2005 ninjahacker.net was taken to court by Tecmo for breaching the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by reverse engineering aspects of the game, as well as Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive 2. The company was seeking between $1,000 and $10,000 for every skin swapped over the community website.[9]

In 2012, MMGN included Xtreme 2 on the list of the five "most sexist games of this generation"[10] and ScrewAttack included it on their 2012 list of top ten "games that make you want to bone".[11]

Despite the first two games in the series achieving most of their success in North America, primarily due to their Xbox and/or Xbox 360 exclusivity, Xtreme 3 was released exclusively to Asian markets,[12][13] but following protests from fans, Hayashi said a version of the game "adjusted for North America" might come to the West if the demand is high enough.[14][15][16][17] However, on November 24, 2015, Team Ninja posted on the franchise's Facebook page stating that they would not release the game in Western territories.[18] The Asian version includes an English language option and is region-free on both systems.[19]

Following the announcement not to release the game outside Asia, a public debate arose whether this was due to avoid criticism of the sexualized portrayal of women in the games, or the comparatively low US and European sales of the previous game in the Dead or Alive Xtreme series.[20][21][22] Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Interactive Entertainment's Worldwide Studios, said in a statement; "It's due to cultural differences. The West has its own thinking about how to depict women in games media which is different from Japan […] Speaking personally, if it is a representation acceptable to the general people in Japan, I wouldn't be concerned about it in Japan. It's a difficult problem".[23] In response to the decision not to distribute, the developer behind the adult puzzle game and dating sim HuniePop offered Koei Tecmo a million dollars for distribution rights in North America.[24]

Reception

Aggregate review scores
As of November 27, 2019.
Game GameRankings Metacritic
Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball 74.24%[25] 73/100[26]
Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 54.35%[27] 53/100[28]
Dead or Alive Paradise 38/100[29]

The Dead or Alive Xtreme sub-series has generally received mixed reviews from critics. The first game was the most well-received, with a 74.24% score from GameRankings and a 73/100 from Metacritic. However, Xtreme 2 received significantly worse reviews, with a 54.35% from GameRankings and a 53/100 from Metacritic. Paradise, the PSP remake of Xtreme 2, received mostly negative reviews.

See also

References

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  4. ↑ Tecmo Deals iPhone DoA Kasumi Blackjack. Kotaku, June 12, 2009
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  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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