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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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