Dead or Alive 2 / Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore - Dreamcast / Playstation 2 (2000)
The basic gameplay of the original is pretty much the same, although you can now move in full 3D. Using the directional pad lets you use regular 2D controls, while moving with the analog stick lets you circle the opponent, something that adds greatly to the strategy. Practically all of the cast from the original returns (except Bayman, at least for the first versions), with a few additions: Helena, the opera singer; Ein, the pretty boy; and Tengu, the main boss. The tag mode introduced in DoA++ got a major overhaul, now allowing instant switches and powerful team attacks, and should become very popular amongst fans of the series. So popular in fact that Team Ninja was seriously considering to make it the main play mode for further sequels. This is where the series really begin to hit its stride as a series deserving of respect.
The release history of Dead or Alive 2 borders on utterly ridiculousness. The original release came out in October 1999 in Japanese arcades, then it was ported in April of 2000 for the Dreamcast in America. While it was a superb game, it still lacked much in the way of endings or the extra costumes that made the original so enjoyable. It hit the PS2 in Japan later in the summer - and while it added some more backgrounds and costumes, the designers clearly weren't very comfortable with the new hardware. The graphics are extremely jaggy, and while the cutscenes run smoother, everything as a whole just looks much worse. The next Version was the European release for Dreamcast, that also had some interesting costumes, like a Shadowman outfit for Zack (it was published by Acclaim, who also made the Shadowman game), but still inferior in content to the PS2 version. Not long after this, it was finally released in Japan on the Dreamcast, with all the costumes added to the PS2 version, for some reason two new backgrounds different to the PS2 ones, but without the graphical detriments. The biggest improvement this time was the inclusion of two unlockable characters (Bayman from the first game, and the boss character Tengu). There was also a "Limited Edition" released simultanously, but the only difference was in the cover art. This version was the only upgrade (and the last DoA game at all) that made its way back into the arcades as Dead or Alive 2 Millenium.
In October of 2000, Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore was released in America. A few minor modes were added, including a battle recording mode and a UPS system that let you save player stats. Mostly though, it fixes some of the graphical problems of the original PS2 release, although some jaggies are still noticeable in high motion. It also includes even more costumes, more story scenes, more backgrounds, and some utterly hilarious English voice acting. Finally, in December 2000, Dead or Alive 2 Hardcore was released in Japan, with yet more extra costumes, story scenes and gallery pictures. This version should form the basis for the European PS2 release, which was just labeled "Dead or Alive 2", without the Hardcore suffix. And it's still not over. In 2004 - five years after the original release - Tecmo released Dead or Alive Ultimate - which is the definitive version of Dead or Alive 2, with better graphics (running on the technology from Xtreme Beach Volleyball), even more costumes and backgrounds and, most importantly, online play. More info on that is found below.
MP3s
Blazed Up Melponmene
I just wanna be Exciter
Classic. The Metallica-like folks who brought you this is a Japanese group known as "Bomb Factory", who are presently still around.
Below are some more costumes. Two costumes (for Ayane and Helena) were taken from Tecmo's Deception series, and Ryu gets
his Ninja Gaiden outfit in this one. Note that these are from the PS2 version, so some pictures were hard to get without
them coming out pixelly.
Dead or Alive Ultimate - Xbox / PC (2004)
There's no doubt, it's extraordinarily gorgeous - the characters all look better, and the backgrounds have been COMPLETELY redone, most of them expanded upon greatly. Among the cooler additions? Vats of Kasumi clones in the laboratory stage, wildlife inhabits the desert stage (including elephants, which you can knock your opponent into), and the opera stage slowly crumbles as the blazing fire tears it apart. The last boss has a particularly cool attack where he changes the seasons off the level, from a snow filled landscape to a sunny, grass filled mountain.
There's a new three minute CG rendered movie telling the story of Kasumi, Ayane and Hayate when they were kids (set to another Aerosmith song - unfortunately, "Exciter" is noticeably absent. The terrible English voiceovers from the PS2 version are also gone.) Gameplay-wise, though, it's pretty much just Dead or Alive 2 - Hitomi is now a playable character (although not in story mode) and there are a couple of new moves that allow you to slam your opponent into the ceiling or ride them down slopes, but all in all, nothing major - with one exception. Probably answering the criticisms about overpowered counters, they came up with a change to make them more difficult to execute. Too bad it doesn't make any sense. For countering a mid height kick now, you have to press forward and block, instead of back. The low and high kicks, though, as well as all the punches, still have to be countered the old way. This inconsistency really draws from the natural, intuitive execution in former games, and just doesn't feel quite right. Why couldn't they implement a more consistent rule, like "kicks forward, punches backward"?
Despite the close rendition of DoA2's gameplay, there are, however, several new unlockables - there are well over a hundred costumes, including twenty for popular characters like Kasumi and Lei Fang. They're much easier to obtain than in DOA2: Hardcore. Team Ninja did go a little overboard in the fan service department, with over fifteen different pairs of panties for Kasumi. You can also unlock the bonus costumes for Dead or Alive 3 and view the G4TV icons episode, once you unlock everything.
The biggest draw, though, is the online play. There's a huge variance in lag - some matches, even highly rated ones, will run terribly, while others run almost as silk smooth as the offline game. The only bizarre part is the way the matches are set up - most of the time, you can't fight against a single individual. Instead, you join a room of between three and eight players. Whoever wins, keeps playing, while the loser steps down the next challenger. It fosters an arcade like atmosphere, but often you spend more time watching than playing. Also, this "whoever wins, stays" method pretty much guarantees you're going to be fighting against a really good player, which is especially frustrating if you don't sit at home and practice Dead or Alive all day. If you can find people you know to play against online, the experience will be much better, but trying to quick search will probably result in frustration.
Dead or Alive Ultimate
Dead or Alive Ultimate
Dead or Alive Ultimate
Intro:
Costumes:
Screenshot Comparisons
American Dreamcast Cover
Japanese Dreamcast Cover
Japanese PS2 Cover
As cool as the original Dead or Alive was, it was still little more than just a retolling of the standard 3D fighter Sega had pretty much created. Given the powerful Naomi hardware, Dead or Alive 2 really pushed the boundaries of what these games would eventually become. The character models have obviously been redone to look massively better, not only technically but on an artistic level as well. All of the graphics look amazingly better than the CG intro from the original Dead or Alive - better than the CG intros in pretty much every PSOne game, for that matter. But that wasn't even the real star. The BIG THING about Dead or Alive 2 were the multi-tiered fighting arenas. Samurai Shodown 64 was technically the first game to do it, but Dead or Alive 2 really popularized it and made it feel especially badassed. These weren't enclosed cages or plateaus or even rings - you fight on a skyscraper, in the Japanese wilderness, in the bell tower of a chapel. They're littered with columns, changes in elevation, all of kinds of additions that made the game feel so much more alive. And the intensity of the game triples when you first knock an opponent off of a cliff or out of a window, where you leap down after them and begin fighting on a ledge below. The rather bizarre structure of the single player mode means that you'll rarely get to see these arenas fuller - each match lasts only one round, and they're usually over in a matter of seconds.
The Shooted
Exciter
Dead or Alive 2 (Dreamcast)
Dead or Alive 2 (PS2)
Dead or Alive 2 (PS2)
Dead or Alive 2 (Dreamcast)
Dead or Alive 2 (Dreamcast)
Dreamcast
The Dreamcast version of the game had a hidden cinema in the intro - if you put in a code, you could unlock a scene where you'd see a naked Kasumi getting cloned. Naturally, most of it was hidden to prevent any adult content rating, but with a Game Shark, you can use this model in the actual game. This kinda screws up the game, but it's funny to see that they actually modeled nipples on her.
PS2
The opening song Exciter is rather well known for its incredibly incomprehensible English. Anime Lyrics has done a fine job of attempting
to transliterate them, which given the mumbling, is easier said than done. Here's some lines:
A herd of Domestic dog, Cheap trick
Hide your drastic desire
I still stay there with a finger in my mouth
Ayane 1
Ayane 2
Ayane 3
Helena 1
Helena 2
Kasumi 1
Kasumi 2
Kasumi 3
Kasumi 4
Kasumi 5
Tina 1
Tina 2
Tina 3
Tina 4
Tina 5
Lei Fang
Ryu 1
Ayane 1
Ayane 2
Kasumi
Kasumi
Tina
Tina
Tina
Helena
American Xbox Cover
Dead or Alive Ultimate
Dead or Alive Ultimate
Released for the Xbox, Dead or Alive Ultimate contains the first and second games of the series, shipped in a cardboard foldout box that contains the two DVD cases (at least in the US, the European version is just one standard Amaray case for 2 discs). The first Dead or Alive is a straight port of the Saturn version, with higher res graphics. The second is a vastly improved version of Dead or Alive 2, using the DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball Engine. There also appears to be a Chinese version of this called Dead or Alive 2 Online for the PC.
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