Dead or Alive (video game)

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Dead or Alive
DOA flyer.jpg
European arcade flyer
Developer(s) Team Ninja
Publisher(s) Tecmo
Distributor(s) Acclaim Entertainment (European Arcade version)
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (European PSX version)
Director(s) Tomonobu Itagaki
Katsunori Ehara
Takeshi Kawaguchi
Producer(s) Tomonobu Itagaki
Yujin Rikimaru
Yutaka Koga
Designer(s) Motohiro Shiga
Artist(s) Hideyuki Kato
Shinichiro Komori
Yasushi Nakakura
Writer(s) "ASAMIN"
Composer(s) Makoto Hosoi
Series Dead or Alive
Platforms Arcade, Sega Saturn, PlayStation
Release date(s) Arcade
November 26, 1996[1]
Sega Saturn PlayStation
Genre(s) Fighting game
Mode(s) Up to 2 players simultaneously
Cabinet Upright
Arcade system Sega Model 2
Display Raster, 496 x 384 pixels (Horizontal), 8192 colors

Dead or Alive (Japanese: デッドオアアライブ Hepburn: Deddo Oa Araibu?) is a fighting game by Tecmo and the first entry in its subsidiary Team Ninja's long-running Dead or Alive series. It was released first in arcades in 1996, followed by home ports for the Sega Saturn in Japan in 1997, and later for the Sony PlayStation in all regions in 1998.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Dead or Alive was unique at the time of its debut because it featured different choices in gameplay than other 3D fighting games.

Its most defining features were its speed and countering system. Dead or Alive put an emphasis on speed, and relied more on simplistic commands and reaction time. Furthermore, its countering system was the first in the fighting genre to utilize different commands that corresponded to each type of attack. There are two kinds of holds, an Offensive Hold (OH) and a Defensive Hold (DH). The latter are executed by holding back or forward on the directional pad along with the guard input to either force away or counter-damage an opponent.

The game also introduced an environmental system of the "Danger Zones" that surround the outer edges of the fighting arena (depending on the options, it can also completely consume it) and can send a character in the air so the opposing player can execute a juggling air combo. However, this can be avoided with a Ukemi (defensive roll).

Much like other arcade fighting games of the time, such as Virtua Fighter 2 (which DOA was based off), Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Mortal Kombat II, and Tekken and its sequel, Dead or Alive was known for having a very high level of artificial difficulty, in which the game's artificial intelligence would cheat by reading the player's controller inputs and counterattacking prematurely. This is also very evident in later games in the series, most notably its sequel and particularly Dead or Alive 4. Several of Team Ninja's other games also suffer from the same problem, such as Ninja Gaiden II (which itself was rushed to market) and (albeit to a lesser extent) the spin-off game Dead or Alive Xtreme 2.

Plot

A runaway kunoichi known as Kasumi enters the Dead or Alive tournament to seek revenge against Raidou. who was responsible for crippling her brother Hayate. However, Kasumi's decision to leave the village violates the strict laws of the ninja society, and as a result she becomes a hunted fugitive.

Characters

Debuting in the Arcade Version:

Debuting in the PlayStation Version:

Development

During the mid 90's, Japanese video game company Tecmo was in financial trouble. Seeing how popular Sega's Virtua Fighter series was in Japan at the time, the management asked Tomonobu Itagaki to create a similar game to Virtua Fighter.[2]

Itagaki was a fan of Virtua Fighter, but he wanted Dead or Alive to stand out among the competition. This included a stronger a emphasis on being provocative, as Itagaki believed entertainment needed both sexuality and violence to truly be entertainment.[3] All the animations in the game were created using motion capture.[4]

The original game, which ran on the Sega Model 2 arcade board, the same arcade board that Virtua Fighter 2 ran on, had polygonal modeled backgrounds. The Sega Saturn conversion uses bitmaps and parallax scrolling in the same fashion as the Saturn version of Virtua Fighter 2.

Release

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"The quality of the Saturn game was the best."

—Series Director Tomonobu Itagaki[5]

The original version of Dead or Alive was released in arcades in 1996. The game utilized Sega's Model 2 arcade board,[6] and was also the first time Sega licensed their hardware to a third-party company; in this case, Tecmo.

A Nintendo 64 port was rumored, but did not come to fruition.[7] It was later ported to the Sega Saturn and exclusively released in Japan on October 9, 1997. Acclaim Entertainment, the game's European distributor, attempted to release the Saturn version in the UK, but plans were shelved for unknown reasons. The Saturn version would eventually be released in the United States and Europe for the Xbox on October 26, 2004, and February 18, 2005, as part of Dead or Alive Ultimate.

On March 12, 1998, Tecmo released Dead or Alive for the Sony PlayStation in Japan. This version included two new characters, a different graphics engine, a slightly revamped fighting engine and new background music. The PlayStation version was released in North America on March 31, 1998, and later in Europe in July 1998. Tecmo also released Dead or Alive++ for the arcades in Japan. This version was based on the PlayStation version with an even slight updated gameplay that later expanded for the sequel, Dead or Alive 2.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator Score
GameRankings 83.92% (Saturn)[8]
84% (PS1)[9]
Metacritic 84/100 (PS1)[10]
MobyRank 88% (Saturn)[11]
81% (PS1)[12]
Review scores
Publication Score
AllGame 4.5/5 stars (Arcade)[13]
4.5/5 stars (Saturn)[14]
4/5 stars (PS1)[15]
CVG 5/5 stars (Saturn)[16]
4/5 stars (PS1)[17]
EGM 30.5/40 (PS1)[18]
Famitsu 31/40 (PS1)[19]
GameFan 280/300 (Saturn)[20]
Game Informer 7.75/10 (PS1)[23]
GamePro 19/20 (Saturn)[21]
17/20 (PS1)[22]
GameSpot 6.8/10 (Saturn)[25]
7.3/10 (PS1)[26]
IGN 8.5/10 (PS1)[24]
Consoles + 95% (Saturn)[27]
Sega Saturn Magazine 92% (Saturn)[28]

Dead or Alive was a commercial success, helping Tecmo pull in a profit of 9.2 million dollars in 1996 and saving the company from bankruptcy. [29] The Saturn version would go on to sell 161,658 copies.[30]

The game was also a success critically as well. Sega Saturn Magazine described it as "an incredible beat 'em up both technically and visually, even getting close to beating Sega's own-brand VF games."[31] In 2011, Complex ranked it as the seventh best fighting game of all time.[32]

Remake

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Main article: Dead or Alive Ultimate

In 2004, Tecmo released Dead or Alive Ultimate, a revamped version of the Sega Saturn version on the Xbox along with an updated version of Dead or Alive 2 in the same package. It was basically the original game ported to the Xbox, making graphics smoother, sound from stereo to surround, and adding Xbox Live online gaming. This game, along with Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate, became one of the first fighting games with online play.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.famitsu.com/cominy/?m=pc&a=page_h_title&title_id=26409
  2. ↑ http://archive.videogamesdaily.com/features/itagaki_interview_feb05_p1.asp
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ http://archive.videogamesdaily.com/features/itagaki_interview_feb05_p1.asp
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ http://www.ign.com/articles/1997/08/07/tecmos-fighter-dead-or-alive-on-n64
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ http://www.mobygames.com/game/sega-saturn/dead-or-alive/mobyrank
  12. ↑ http://www.mobygames.com/game/playstation/dead-or-alive/mobyrank
  13. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20141211055506/www.allgame.com/game.php?id=9888&tab=review
  14. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20141210142348/www.allgame.com/game.php?id=1837&tab=review
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ https://archive.org/stream/Computer_and_Video_Games_Issue_193_1997-12_EMAP_Images_GB#page/n89/mode/2up
  17. ↑ https://archive.org/stream/Computer_and_Video_Games_Issue_200_1998-07_EMAP_Images_GB#page/n65/mode/2up
  18. ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, 1999 Video Game Buyer's Guide, page 122
  19. ↑ http://www.famitsu.com/cominy/?m=pc&a=page_h_title&title_id=11538
  20. ↑ GameFan, volume 5, issue 12 (December 1997), pages 24 & 112-113
  21. ↑ GamePro, issue 114 (March 1998), page 100
  22. ↑ GamePro, issue 116 (May 1998), page 82
  23. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/19990915165434/www.gameinformer.com/cgi-bin/review.cgi?sys=psx&path=may98&doc=doa
  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. ↑ Consoles +, issue 71, pages 180-181
  28. ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, issue 30, page 67
  29. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF6dg4DhXf4
  30. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20081230005343/http://www.japan-gamecharts.com/sat.php
  31. ↑ http://segaretro.org/index.php?title=File:SSM_UK_30.pdf&page=67
  32. ↑ Peter Rubin, The 50 Best Fighting Games of All Time, Complex.com, March 15, 2011

External links

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