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Dead or Alive 3)
Dead Or Alive is a videogame series from Tecmo. The story and characters are the creation of Tomonobu Itagaki and developed by a team of programmers from Tecmo called Team Ninja.
History
Itagaki was dissatisfied with the way modern games were played. He missed the old arcade style of play and had another vision for the fighting genre. He worked at game company Tecmo for a long time and was given the opportunity to make a fighting game to be called Dead or Alive. In 1996 the first "Dead or Alive game" was released as an arcade-only game in Japan.
In 1997 Dead or Alive was ported to the Sega Saturn and released in the United States and Europe. It had been a success in Japan, but not in the West, perhaps because of Tekken, which was already a popular fighting series for the Playstation.
Then, in 1998 the Playstation version of Dead or Alive was released. It had a lot of new graphics and much was changed as the game continued to develop. Sales were brisk.
Dead or Alive 2
Two Years later in March of 2000 Dead or Alive 2 was released for the Dreamcast and Playstation 2. The graphics and gameplay where enhanced and built with a better game engine. The game and the famous stages were less angular and more detailed for the 3D environment. The story was a true narrative sequel to the first game.
Much attention was paid to the detail Tecmo put into the animated breasts of the female characters, a feature credited to Itagaki himself. This feature helped the game become very popular, especially in Japan.
Tecmo continued enhancements to the game because Itagaki and Team Ninja where still dissatisfied with it and continued working on the vision that they had for the ultimate game. A few month later in December they released DOA2 HARD ･ CORE ' (PS2). This was the game Itagaki until that time had in mind. It featured many changes compared to its predecessor.
- Characters, pictures and moves where somewhat changed and made more realistic
- The throws into walls, and falling from cliffs effects where modified and extended. Some were removed
- More costumes were added
- Survival mode now was only in the Danger zone and not in other levels
- Faster Gameplay
- A special "Items Collection" added for hardcore gamers as well as some CG pictures.
- Updated Records file with character percentage and tag battle percentage.
- Extra, undocumented special moves
It was a great success, but this time, also in North America and Western Europe. Dead or Alive became the Tecmo flagship title.
In 2001, Dead or Alive became DOA and was matched with Tekken Tag Tournament and was widely played in Japan. Tecmo meanwhile, was busy creating another sequel to Dead Or Alive 2. At that time Microsoft approached them with a deal to create the next title for their recently developed Xbox. The Xbox videogame console was still in development and Microsoft needed exclusive games for it. One of the main focuses was on the fighting genre just as the Tekken series was for the Sony Playstation. The deal was successful and Tecmo decided to make the next game called Dead or Alive 3 exclusively for the Xbox to the frustration of Sony who also sought a deal and knew the Dead Or Alive series had great potential.
Dead Or Alive 3
The deal Microsoft made with Tecmo was to create only games for the Xbox game console. This was, and still is, widely criticised by DOA fans. The latest version of the game at that time Dead Or Alive 2 Hardcore was for the Playstation 2 so most DOA fans had this console. The main criticism was that Tecmo had been bribed by Microsoft and some concluded that Tecmo felt profit was more important than the game itself. This resulted in many DOA fans refusing to buy an Xbox from Microsoft.
In 2002 the release of Dead or Alive 3 was announced in Japan and later in the US and Europe. It was a great success. The game had graphics which had never been seen before in a fighting game. Also, the famous "Tecmo gameplay" with the use of the simple "Kick" "Punch" & "Hold" buttons made it easy to learn. The story however had nothing to do with DOA2 whatsoever but some new elements, mainly focussed on the DOATEC corporation itself, were added evolving the story somewhat. Many were also surprised by the performance of the Xbox console. Another reason for the success was that it was one of the few great titles available for the Xbox at that time in contrast to the consoles of Sony and Nintendo which already had a huge collection of games.
Recent development
In 2003, Team Ninja developed Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, also known as DOAX, and are now creating Dead or Alive Ultimate (DOAU) also known as Dead or Alive Online. It is a remake of DOA1 and DOA2 for the Xbox. It will be made using an improved game and graphics engine. For a fee, there will also be an opportunity to play online via Xbox Live making it the first online console 3D fighting game. The online option is an extra and not required for offline play.
Characters
- Ayane (DOA1, DOA2, DOA3, and DOAX) A kunoichi with murderous motives. She takes part in DOA to take on Kasumi and find her love Hayate.
- Bass Armstrong (DOA1, DOA2, DOA3) A professional wrestler who wants to stop his daughter Tina from winning the DOA Tournaments.
- Bayman (DOA1, DOA2, DOA3) An extra character in DOA2 and full character in DOA 3. He is a former commando and joins the DOA 3 tournament to retaliate against Donovan for the attempt on his life by a sniper.
- Brad Wong (DOA3) A man who joins DOA in search of a riddle from his old master Chen, who told him to "bring the legendary drink called Genra". After three years of wandering on his journey he finds himself in a fighting tournament.
- Christie (DOA3, and DOAX) A British assassin who wants to take Helena on and keep an eye on her.
- Gen Fu (DOA1, DOA2, DOA3) An old martial arts master, he fights in DOA to obtain money to cure his sick granddaughter, Mei Lin. After DOA 2 however another sum of money was needed and so he joins again in DOA3.
- Hayate/EIN (DOA1, DOA2, DOA3) Kasumi's and Ayane's brother. He was captured in DOA1, after which his memory was temporarily lost. This was done with the magic and hypnotism of the Tengu during his time in the German forests. He joined DOA2 in order to find out more about himself. In DOA3 his memory is restored and he is the leader of the Mugen Tenshin Style.
- Helena (DOA2, DOA3, and DOAX) A French young woman. She is the daughter of Fame Douglas, former leader of DOATEC. She joins DOA2 in search of the murderer of her mother and joins DOA3 in order to find the truth about the conspiracies within DOATEC.
- Hitomi (DOA 3 and DOAX)A young girl who wants to show her fighting skills at the tournament. Despite her Japanese name, she is German.
- Jen Lee (DOA1, DOA2, DOA3) A young martial arts expert who joins the Tournaments to show his superior Jeet Kune Do fighting abilities, and in the meantime, defeat evil scum in the form of Tengu and Genra.
- Kasumi (DOA1, DOA2, DOA3 and DOAX) A runaway shinobi (ninja) in search of her lost brother Hayate.
- Lei Fang (DOA1, DOA2, DOA3, and DOAX) A Chinese young woman who joins the tournament to test her skills against Jan Lee.
- Leon (DOA1, DOA2, DOA3) Made a promise in the desert to his dead wife. She said that he was the strongest person in the world, so he joins the DOA Tournaments to fulfill her expectation.
- Tengu (DOA2) is a mythological creature from Japanese folklore. In DOA2 he wants chaos to reign over the world but is stopped. He can be played as an extra character and has some some new moves and a new outfit.
- Tina Armstrong (DOA1, DOA2, DOA3, and DOAX) The daughter of Bass Armstrong, she wants to win the Tournament to become a famous model.
- Ryu Hayabusa (DOA1, DOA2, DOA3) A ninjutsu expert and good friend of Hayate. Originally from the Ninja Gaiden series, in DOA2 he comes across his lost friend and kills the Evil Tengu. He also joins DOA3 to again fight evil, this time in the form of Genra, another evil being created by DOATEC.
- Zack (DOA1, DOA2, DOA3, DOAX) An American fighter who joins the DOA Tournament for no other reason than to win big, big cash.
Criticism of Tecmo
Many fans have been annoyed with Tecmo's treatment of the series and are not happy with the amount of hype surrounding it.
Some feel Tecmo view it as a big moneymaker wanting to milk the franchise for all its worth. This has been confirmed by Tecmo itself. Concerning "Dead or Alive Ultimate", DOA fans already have both original games so there is no point in remaking these games. If they wanted to make an online fighting game only, they could have made it a new game and story. Tecmo claimed this was to familiarise Xbox DOA3 players with the older DOA versions but current DOA fans see it as an attempt to get more fans and cash. In their eyes their old versions of their first DOA games became worthless. For a DOA collector it is now almost impossible to collect all the DOA paraphernalia. Although the graphics and gameplay are greatly improved, for a DOA fan that has bought the very first version of the game and seen the company and all the merchandise around it grow, the question is "in which direction will Tecmo go and what will come next?"
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