Dead or Alive
Developer(s)	Team Ninja
Publisher(s)	Tecmo
Designer(s)	Tomonobu Itagaki
Release date(s)	Arcade 1996 Saturn October 9, 1997 Playstation March 12, 1998 March 31, 1998 July, 1998
Genre(s)	Versus fighting
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players simultaneously
Platform(s)	Arcade game
Input	8-way Joystick, 4 Buttons
Arcade cabinet	Upright
Arcade system(s)	Sega Model 2

Dead or Alive is a fighting game in the Dead or Alive series. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (620x877, 104 KB) Summary Dead or Alive promotional arcade flyer. ... A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates computer or video games. ... Team Ninja is a video game developer and has been credited on the following games: Dead or Alive 2 Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore Dead or Alive 3 Dead or Alive Ultimate Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball Ninja Gaiden Ninja Gaiden Ninja Gaiden Black Ninja Gaiden Hurricane Pack: Volume... Video game publishers are companies that publish video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer. ... Tecmo, Ltd. ... A game designer is a person who designs games. ... Tomonobu Itagaki is a Japanese video game designer who heads Team Ninja, one of Tecmos development teams. ... See also: 1995 in video gaming, other events of 1996, 1997 in video gaming, history of video games Events DigiPen Institute of Technology receives accreditation, first school in the world to offer college degrees in video game development. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Japan_(bordered). ... October 9 is the 282nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (283rd in leap years). ... See also: 1996 in video gaming, other events of 1997, 1998 in video gaming, history of video games Events 3rd annual E³ (Electronic Entertainment Expo) October 4 - Gunpei Yokoi (1941-1997) dies after a double car accident. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Japan_(bordered). ... March 12 is the 71st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (72nd in leap years). ... 1998 1998 in games 1997 in video gaming 1999 in video gaming Notable events of 1998 in computer and video games. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_States. ... March 31 is the 90th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (91st in Leap years), with 275 days remaining. ... 1998 1998 in games 1997 in video gaming 1999 in video gaming Notable events of 1998 in computer and video games. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Look up July in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 1998 1998 in games 1997 in video gaming 1999 in video gaming Notable events of 1998 in computer and video games. ... This is a listing of computer and video game genres with brief descriptions and examples from each genre. ... Screenshot of Street Fighter II (1991, Capcom). ... Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ... For other uses, see Joystick (disambiguation). ... A button (control) is a simple physical mechanism for controlling some aspect of a machine. ... This arcade cabinet, containing Centipede, is an upright. ... An arcade system board is a standardized printed circuit board or group of printed circuit boards that are used as the basis for multiple arcade games with very similar hardware requirements. ... The Sega Model 2 is an arcade system board released by Sega in 1993. ... Screenshot of Street Fighter II (1991, Capcom). ... Dead or Alive (DOA) is a video game series produced by Tecmo that is comprised primarily of fighting games. ...

Overview

Tomonobu Itagaki has stated that he was dissatisfied with the way modern fighting games were presented, he missed the old arcade style of play and had another vision for the fighting game genre. Having worked for Tecmo for a long time, Itagaki was eventually given the opportunity to develop a fighting game. The game, the first Dead or Alive, was released in 1996 as an arcade game for the Japanese market. It had been a success in Japan, but not in the West. This was possibly because of the competing game Tekken, which was already a popular fighting game series for the PlayStation. Tomonobu Itagaki is a Japanese video game designer who heads Team Ninja, one of Tecmos development teams. ... Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ... See also: 1995 in video gaming, other events of 1996, 1997 in video gaming, history of video games Events DigiPen Institute of Technology receives accreditation, first school in the world to offer college degrees in video game development. ... Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ... Tekken (鉄拳, lit. ... For other versions of PlayStation, please see PlayStation (disambiguation) The PlayStation ((Japanese: プレイステーション) is a video game console of the 32/64-bit era, first produced by Sony Computer Entertainment in the mid-1990s. ...

Gameplay

Dead or Alive was unique in its debut that featured fairly different choices in gameplay than other 3D fighting games. It's most defining features were its speed and countering system. Unlike Tekken, Dead or Alive put an emphasis on speed, and relied more on simplistic commands and reaction time rather than long strings of combos. 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), furthermore, these commands 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. Finally, the game used an environmental addition called the danger zone, which surrounded the outer edges of the fighting arena (depending on the options, it could also completely consume it), and when a character came in contact with it, sent them in the air so the opposing player can execute a juggling air combo. However, this can be avoided with a Ukemi (defensive roll). The rewrite of this article is being devised at Talk:3D computer graphics/Temp. ...

Versions

There are three different versions of the original Dead or Alive.

• The original version of Dead or Alive was released in arcades in 1996, utilizing Sega's Model 2 arcade board (it was also the first time Sega licensed their hardware to a third-party company; in this case, Tecmo). It was later ported to the Sega Saturn in Japan on October 9, 1997. The game was never released for the North American Saturn. It was released in the United States for the Xbox on October 26, 2004, as part of Dead or Alive Ultimate (see below).

• On March 12, 1998 in Japan, Tecmo released Dead or Alive for the PlayStation. This version included numerous improvements over the arcade and Saturn versions, which included 2 new characters, new and improved graphics, a revamped fighting engine and new BGM music. The PlayStation version was released in North America on March 31, 1998, and later in Europe on July 1998.

• In 2004, Tecmo released a revamped version of the Saturn version made to run on the Xbox along with an updated version of Dead or Alive 2, both in the same package. It was basically the original game emulated on the Xbox, making graphics more colorful and smoother, sound from stereo to surround, and adding one key element that boosts the game replay value in a huge amount, Xbox Live Online Gaming. This game along with Dead or Alive 2, Ultimate became the second fighting game with online play.

It is important to note, that original game, which ran on the Model 2 arcade board, had fully 3D modelled backgrounds. The Sega Saturn conversion used bitmap tricks and overlaping layers in the same fashion, as the console version of Virtua Fighter 2 did. The original arcade used pure 3D on all the arenas. Much like in Virtua Fighter 2 case, it was impossible to achieve this kind of graphics on Saturn hardware and both games were scaled down. The Xbox version was an emulated equivalent of what Sega Saturn owners experienced. See also: 1995 in video gaming, other events of 1996, 1997 in video gaming, history of video games Events DigiPen Institute of Technology receives accreditation, first school in the world to offer college degrees in video game development. ... Sega Corporation ) is an international video game software and hardware developing company, and a former home computer and console manufacturer. ... The Sega Model 2 is an arcade system board released by Sega in 1993. ... In the video game industry, a third-party developer is a developer that is not only a separate entity from a console manufacturer, but also not affiliated or held by any contractual agreement to make exclusive games for any specific console. ... The Sega Saturn (Japanese: セガサターン, Sega Saturn) is a 32-bit video game console, first released on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 1995 in North America and July 8, 1995 in Europe. ... October 9 is the 282nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (283rd in leap years). ... See also: 1996 in video gaming, other events of 1997, 1998 in video gaming, history of video games Events 3rd annual E³ (Electronic Entertainment Expo) October 4 - Gunpei Yokoi (1941-1997) dies after a double car accident. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... The Microsoft Xbox is a sixth generation era video game console first released on November 15, 2001 in North America, then released on February 22, 2002 in Japan, and on March 14, 2002 in Europe. ... 2004 2004 in games 2003 in video gaming 2005 in video gaming Notable events of 2004 in video gaming. ... Dead or Alive Ultimate is a multiplayer fighting game for the Xbox. ... March 12 is the 71st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (72nd in leap years). ... 1998 1998 in games 1997 in video gaming 1999 in video gaming Notable events of 1998 in computer and video games. ... Computer graphics (CG) is the field of visual computing, where one utilizes computers both to generate visual images synthetically and to integrate or alter visual and spatial information sampled from the real world. ... March 31 is the 90th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (91st in Leap years), with 275 days remaining. ... 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Virtua Fighter 2 is the second game in the popular Virtua Fighter fighting game series by Sega. ...

Trivia

• The name Dead or Alive stems from the fact that the game was seen as a "sink or swim" title for Itagaki as his beginning project for Tecmo, as the company was badly in need of a hit game at the time.

Character roster

• Ayane (introduced on PlayStation version)
• Bass Armstrong (introduced on PlayStation version)
• Bayman
• Gen Fu
• Jann Lee
• Lei Fang
• Kasumi
• Ryu Hayabusa
• Tina Armstrong
• Zack
• Raidou (boss character, unlockable)