Dead or Alive 6

The most underrated 3D fighter you've never played!

Myles

August.12.2021

The Dead or Alive (DoA) series for me has always been one of the most misunderstood games in the fighter genre and quite honestly I understand a little of why that is. DoA6 itself has been hidden behind absurdly priced season passes, comparatively expensive cosmetics, poor netcode outside of Japan, a dwindling player base, lack of developer support (where it mattered), endless reskins of old content and a lot of marketed fan service. In my opinion it's also been hampered by a plethora of spin offs and crossovers (in classic Koei Tecmo style), but behind the veil of beautiful character models and even sexier spin offs (because DoA Xtreme Volleyball is a thing) lies a fighter that'll leave you scratching your head in wonder! Ask anyone in the Fighting Game Community (FGC) and they'll probably have something to say about DoA, "Season pass OMEGALUL..." being a fine example of the general negativity towards the franchise and quite honestly I find it a real shame how much this game bears the load of being seen solely for its cosmetic value rather than its gameplay.

So to address the elephant in the room so to speak, on the outside this game definitely is the Barbie of fighters. The 'attention seeker' you saw walking down the street and immediately judged. I'd hazard a guess that you wouldn't believe the depth this Barbie's character holds and how much personality is actually hidden beneath the surface which begs the question, "how exactly did we get here?".

DoA itself began life in 1996, when a flopping Tecmo needed a boost in game sales and looked to newly hired producer and director Tomonobu Itagaki. Fun fact for you, Itagaki settled on the name Dead or Alive in a wager he made to the company president of Tecmo at the time to demonstrate the game's potential future, failure or success. With his wager made, Itagaki then created a new division in the company (Team Ninja) and set about the task of creating a fighter that would garner a lasting fan base. Itagaki took his inspiration from other fighters of the time, Fatal Fury, Virtua Fighter and Mortal Kombat, and set about making Dead or Alive into a franchise that would tie together all the parts of those games that made them great and immortalise DoA in fighter history. He wanted DoA to be remembered for its graphics, flashy character designs, aggresive playstyle and sex appeal. Fast forward to March 2019 and now with the 6th main DoA series game releasing, even though Itagaki is no longer with the company, he certainly accomplished his goal. Let's not dwindle on the past though and look at DoA6 as it stands now (2021).

A full three years after its release, Dead or Alive is still the same game fundamentally that Itagaki envisioned the series being back in 1996 and has brought together a cast of original characters quite diverse in their own playstyles. DoA is filled with multileveled stages, aggresive combat, arena danger zones, fluid movement and huge sex appeal. The game has come a very long way from its roots, and although some of those aren't the best paths it could have taken, it still polishes out to be a good fighter with so much potential to achieve greatness.

Unfortunately Koei Tecmo and/or Team Ninja didn't seem to do much to really boost DoA's popularity before development support ceased. That's not to say that Koei Tecmo/Team Ninja did nothing, because major things were done to balance and change DoA6 from its original launch state, but it was clear that these changes weren't in its best interest. The last official patch was back in April 2020 but by this point it felt like more and more resources were being thrown into rebooting DLC costumes, crossover characters and spin offs rather than fixing some core issues with the game. Honestly 6 felt more like a reworked and stripped down DoA5LR than a fresh attempt at the series, The player base seemed to cry out to the developers for more support with the game's lack of viable stages for competitive play, character balancing issues, more uniquely original characters and exclusion of its loved game mode Tag Battle that has been present in every other DoA game. Personally this was the single best mode in the franchise and definitely drew me into the series when I played DoA2 back in the PS2 era (because couch co-op was a thing...). Yes, I'm old!

Tag Battle was fun and fluid with some unique tag combo throws that just felt so satisfying! Commanding Lei Fang to flip someone into the air to watch Jann Lee deliver a brutal flying kick, sending my opponent flying across the screen will forever be imprinted into my mind. Why leave out one of the defining modes of the franchise? I mean, online Tag Battle was in DoA5LR! By now you may be wondering, "Wasn't this supposed to be the most underrated fighter of all time?! What actually makes Dead or Alive an underrated game?". Let's take some time to focus on the positives.

For me the real test of a good 3D fighter not only lies in the fundamentals of how the fighters interact within the space and combat systems of the game, but also in how the stages are presented and the means in which they can be levied to your advantage. For DoA this is one of its finer points. Danger zones are present all around the arenas as well as drop off points that'll blast you to other areas you never knew existed. You may find yourself tumbling down an embankment at a local shrine, being lifted to a higher place by a Pterodactyl in Lost Paradise (yes, your eyes did not deceive you) or being flung back onto Zack's Island by a dolphin with all the grace of Cloud trying to get into Junon in FF7. If you love firecrackers then the Chinese Festival stage is waiting for you to launch your opposition into the air for an extra juggle, or you could send someone tumbling down the scaffolding.

As you can tell by now there's a plethora of unique things you can do, it's not as simple as a wall splat combo and that's what makes it glorious! "But what about those lack of competitive stages you mentioned?!" Well... does it matter??? I mean honestly, how many of you are looking for a new fighter to grind to become the number one player at or go to competition with? This really only applies to the creme de la creme of players, those I wish I had the dedication and aspiration to become. Me however, the sweaty casual that I am think the stages are great and full of areas to explore, walls to smash, exploding floors, dinosaurs and much much more. Terrain is such an important factor in DoA and I'm really impressed with how much you have to pay attention to it. Not only are you worrying about floor bounce, wall splats and explosions, but you also have to consider the inclines and declines of each stage with your combo juggling. It'll catch you by surprise if you're not paying attention to the ley of the land and may cause you to drop a crucial combo extension.

DoA's combat system can be just as unpredictable and dangerous as the stages are. The classic triangle system of combat is the core mechanic at play. Strikes beat throws that beat counters that beat strikes and round we go, but here's where it gets a little interesting. The counter and parry system is unlike anything I've seen in any other fighter out there, and one of the nuances of this system is the four- or three-way hold for highs, mids and lows. There's no simple parry mechanic here (although some characters have built in parry moves). Get it wrong and you're in for a very rough time. There are different inputs for both punches and kicks as well as advanced counters for variety and reason. It's a complex part of the system to say the least and you'll really need to know your matchups to get it right. Countering really is another one of those double edged swords. If you're countering too much then prepare to be thrown around for extra damage or simply just locked into an endless cycle of punishable frames. Get this right however and you will be rewarded with a window to exact some swift revenge or just a chance to create some distance and collect your thoughts. So what have we got so far? A triangle system, counters, parries and danger zones, so what else is there to consider?

No, I'm not talking about the launch of the game *insert Muttley snickering*. I'm referring to yet another mechanic that seems like there's more to it than meets the eye. We've got a few different kinds of stuns to discuss here, but first why on top of all of this stuff to learn does DoA need stuns? I'm only speculating here, but imagine your opponent endlessly countering anything thrown at them. I'm sure that'd be enough to make you rage with intent to kill! So how is DoA stunning aside from the flashy visuals and pretty character models? Sitting or standing doesn't matter, you've got the moves for a standard, critical, and fatal stun in your preferred combatants arsenal. The standard stun is nothing more than a glorified poke doing nothing really to advance your ability to inflict maximum pain. Critical stuns and fatal stuns are where it gets interesting though as frame advantages kick in for you to unleash a combo (make sure it's something not counterable) to devastate your opposition. Your key to victory will run parallel with your ability to inflict many of these types of stuns and your ability to weave them into bone crunching, soul stealing and life melting pain fests of fury. Critical stuns give you the edge, but fatal stuns will drop your opposition entirely into a crumpled heap on the floor if you do nothing else to follow it up. Sit down stuns work in much the same way as standing ones, either staggering you in a crouch position or face planting you into the floor.

I think this is the last thing I need to point out with DoA6 and it's weight classes, aka CHARACTER WEIGHT MATTERS! On the character selection screen you'll see a weight score and it'll ultimately break down into three categories: light, medium and heavyweight. I think you can guess where I'm going with this. Lightweight characters bounce higher and give you a lot of extra juggling options and extensions, but with that trade off obviously comes the speed of moves these characters have. Heavyweight characters on the other hand fall to the ground and bounce less meaning you'll have to adjust your combos based on the match up at hand, but the trade off is slow hit speed.

I hope by now you're seeing a bit more of the depth of the Dead or Alive system and thank you for sticking with me this far! So let's finish strong and answer the final question, "Where do you go to learn all of this?". I'm glad you asked!

Help is at hand as one of DoAs most notable positives comes from how much information it feeds you in the game's training section. The world is your oyster here as you'll be handed command and combo trainings and a very easy-to-use UI in free training. The tutorial in the game is set up wonderfully, pulling you through the different moves and tools you'll need to gain an understanding of the game's systems. This breakdown will also include a few matches against the CPU at varying difficulties before its conclusion. DoA gives you all the basic and advanced tools you'll need to 'git gud', but that's down to your dedication as a player because we all know that you can lead a horse to water, but I'll be damned if I drink... or something like that. You get the point though, right? Honestly speaking, I've not seen a fighter in its 6th incarnation to hold such an in-depth tutorial and training section. You'll also be privy to the game's frame data and it's a wonderful tool if you're going to learn how frame data works. With all that said, let's wrap this up nicely!

Yes! There is a free version of the game on XBOX, PC and PS4 labeled 'Core Fighters' and it may surprise you as to how much you actually do get for free. It's honestly probably easier to say what you don't get so I'll list them:
1. Story Mode
2. The full cast

That's it, you get everything else! You'll have four characters to play with, each with a different playstyle. DoA6 comes with an A La Carte shop menu where you can buy different characters, costumes and the crossover stuff etc. Honestly speaking though the game is usually on sale (especially PS4) and you'll get all but the crossover characters and dlc costumes (about five characters). You could even go pick it up pre-owned for less than $20 or wait for the 70% off sale price that it usually runs. Of course the A La Carte shop is there for you should you choose, and I hate to say this, but it's extremely overpriced and really does detract so much from attracting players. I do hope that before Koei Tecmo puts a final nail in the DoA coffin they'll revamp the microtransaction shop. It's honestly atrocious to me and one of the big reasons why many of the people I've suggested the game to won't even download the FREE version. I'll let you guess what the second one is...

I love the main DoA series. They've been amazing to play and very challenging and fun to me. I'll always remember the friends I've played with along the way and the people I've met. I've had the pleasure of having some great rival matches with a good friend for a few years and the community of players has always been very good. I've not experienced much of the toxic trolls within the DoA community and the players at the top end of the game are always willing to play with the newbies. I hope for a DoA6 Ultimate or even a 7 to really bump this game back into the spotlight as I really want to see this game competitive again. It deserves so much more love than it gets in my opinion and I hope they leave the fan service marketing for the sexy spin offs and start purifying the game a little more for western audiences. Please Koei Tecmo... please!