Dead or Alive (video game)

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

Capitalizing on the success of Sega's Virtua Fighter fighting game series at the time, Dead or Alive takes influence from Virtua Fighter while adding unique gameplay elements of its own. The game also attracted attention for its presentation, which was more provocative than other mainstream 3D fighting games at the time.

Dead or Alive was a commercial success, helping Tecmo overcome their financial problems. The success of the game helped turn the series into a franchise, including several sequels and numerous spinoffs.

Gameplay
Unlike other fighting games of the time, in place of a "guard" button Dead or Alive uses a "hold" button, which causes the fighter to grab their opponent's limbs if they are attacking at the time. This countering system was the first in the fighting genre to utilize different commands that correspond to each type of attack. There are two kinds of holds, an Offensive Hold and a Defensive Hold; 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 outer edges of the fighting arena are set with explosives which deal a high amount of damage to any fighter who comes in contact with them. They can also send an affected character in the air so the opposing player can execute a juggling air combo. However, this can be avoided with a defensive roll.

Characters

 * Bayman, a Russian mercenary
 * Gen Fu, an old Chinese martial arts master
 * Jann Lee, a Chinese fighter modeled on Bruce Lee
 * Kasumi, a Japanese female ninja who is the series' main protagonist
 * Leifang, a young Chinese female martial artist
 * Raidou, an evil ninja exiled from Kasumi's clan
 * Ryu Hayabusa, a Japanese ninja hero originally from Ninja Gaiden
 * Tina Armstrong, an American female wrestler
 * Zack, a flamboyant African-American kickboxer

Added in the PlayStation and Arcade++ versions are Kasumi's half-sister Ayane and Tina's father Bass Armstrong.

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

Development and release
During the mid 1990s, Japanese gaming 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 game similar to Virtua Fighter. Itagaki was a fan of Virtua Fighter, but he wanted Dead or Alive to stand out among the competition. This included a stronger an emphasis on being provocative, as Itagaki believed entertainment needed both sexuality and violence to truly be entertainment. All the animations in the game were created using motion capture.

The original game, which runs on the Sega Model 2 arcade board, the same arcade board that Virtua Fighter 2 ran on, had polygonal modeled backgrounds. Dead or Alive was unveiled alongside Jaleco's Super GT 24h at the February 1996 AOU show as part of Sega's announcement that they were licensing their Model 2 hardware to third-party companies.

In comparison to other 3D fighters, such as Tekken (which gained a substantial market base in Japan and North America), DOA introduced a countering system unique to the genre and an added emphasis on speed, as well as a rich graphics engine that lacked many jaggies and incorporated very smooth surfaces.

A Nintendo 64 port was rumored, but did not come to fruition. It was later ported to the Sega Saturn exclusively for the Japanese market in 1997. Acclaim intended to bring the Saturn version to the UK, but plans were shelved for unknown reasons. When released for the Saturn, the game sacrificed quality in terms of the character models and used pre-rendered images for background stages. The Saturn conversion uses bitmaps and parallax scrolling in the same fashion as the Saturn version of Virtua Fighter 2.

In 1998, Tecmo released Dead or Alive for the PlayStation in all regions. This version included two new characters, a different graphics engine, a slightly revamped fighting engine, and new background music. Tecmo also released an upgrade titled Dead or Alive++ for the arcades in Japan which was based on the PlayStation version. 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
Upon the game's release in arcades, a Next Generation reviewer commented, "A fighting game that mimics Virtua Fighter 2 in its look and feel to a frightening degree ... Dead or Alive boasts smooth control, crisp polygonal graphics, and an attitude that may enable this game to stand on its own despite its familiar origins." He identified the variety of characters and the danger zones as the game's standout features, and said the tough AI forces players to learn more complex moves and strategies.

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. The Saturn version would go on to sell more than 161,000 copies in Japan.

The Saturn version was successful 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 Virtua Fighter games." Computer and Video Games stated it was "an essential buy for import Saturn gamers." GamesRadar included it in their list of best Sega Saturn games, stating that "the games high-speed, rock-paper-scissors style of play was a quick hit with arcade players." In 2011, Complex ranked it as the seventh best fighting game of all time.

Remake
In 2004, Tecmo released Dead or Alive Ultimate, a package that featured revamps of the first two DOA games, on the Xbox. The remake of the first game was based on the Sega Saturn version, as it was Itagaki's preferred version. It featured smoother graphics, sound updated from stereo to surround, and adds Xbox Live online gaming. Both Dead or Alive 1 Ultimate and Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate were among one of the first fighting games with online play.