Dead or Alive a Casual Retrospective: Part 3

In 2001 Microsoft would throw their hat into the videogame arena with the original Xbox. After Microsoft found success with PC gaming, they wanted to expand their interests into the home console space. It was a big deal at the time. Sega had just left the console war and here was Microsoft ready to take its position in the market.

And much like Sega it wound up in third place. I know that may seem like a weird thing to say considering it sold more than the GameCube, but the GameCube was more profitable than the Xbox due to its higher production cost. So, you could argue that it did worse than Nintendo’s offering even if it sold more units. And is it even worth comparing it to the PlayStation 2? Nothing could compete with that; it was the Juggernaut of gaming consoles.

Microsoft’s first outing wasn’t the major blow out they were hoping for, but it still did decently well. It sold very well in North America and the Xbox brand is a name that continues to this day. Boy I hope this doesn’t become dated at some point.

I never owned an Xbox growing up. I had a GameCube and later a PlayStation 2, but I did have a cousin who owned one and I remember playing it a few times at his house. Mostly though I remember watching him play Halo 2 on it, because once that came out nothing else mattered.

My fascination with Xbox ended there. But I do remember some of those launch titles my cousin had. I love looking back at the original Xbox when it launched because it’s like looking at a completely different system. What I mean is, the Xbox we know today wasn’t the console that released in 2001. The original Xbox was a weird little system made by a company with a lot to prove.

The early days of the Xbox are sort of like the Mega Drive before Sonic; it’s a completely different kind of experience. These days Xbox is mostly associated with shooters and Forza, but back then they had a wide range of titles from across different genres. You had flight combat in Crimson Skies, strange on foot racing games like Mad dash Racing, party games like Fusion Frenzy, even mascot platformers like Blinx the Time Sweeper and Voodoo Vince.

Xbox had a lot of different games back then. And to keep with the Sega comparison, Sega itself a lot of exclusives for the console in the early days. In fact, Sega’s support of Xbox was strong that many fans consider to be the Dreamcast 2. It felt like the follow up to that system that Sega never made.

Because Microsoft was new at this, it was still trying to hammer out an identity for itself to set it apart from its eastern competition. They were reliant on a lot of established studios in order to get their foot in the door. And one of the companies that helped with that was Tecmo with Dead or Alive 3.

After the success of Dead or Alive 2, Microsoft went to Tecmo to strike a deal. Since Microsoft was an American company, they knew they would have issues trying to sell the Xbox in Japan. Especially since its two main competitors were Japanese, and the people of Nippon always support the home team. It’s one of the reasons they partnered with Sega so much.

Itagaki himself jumped at the opportunity. He had always had a philosophy of always targeting the most powerful system on the market, which at the time was the Xbox. So, it all worked out. Microsoft got a new exclusive and Itagaki got to work on the most powerful bit of kit available. Everyone won, sort of. The whole break into the Japanese market didn’t exactly pan out but that’s a story for another time.

Dead or Alive 3 would release in November 2001 as a launch title for the Xbox. It received critical acclaim particularly for its visuals. With many commenting that it was the best-looking fighting game of its day and how it was the best visual showcase of the power of the Xbox.

It would also be a financial success, selling 4 million copies in its lifetime and going on to be the highest selling game in the franchise. While Dead or Alive 2 may have helped to define what this series is, I would argue that it was Dead or Alive 3 is what truly put it on the map. This was the game where most people were first introduced to the series. I know I was thanks to my cousin owning a copy.

Being a launch title certainly helped, but it was also the lack of strong competition. Think about it. Dead or Alive 1 and 2 were critically praised but they were also released on PlayStation and Dreamcast. Consoles that had a lot of great 3D fighting games that overshadowed them, some of which were genre defining. PlayStation had Tekken 3, Dreamcast had Soulcalibur, and PlayStation 2 had Tekken 5 and Soulcalibur 2. Have I mentioned Itagaki had a list of worst games where he just shat on Tekken. Wonder why that was?

But on Xbox it had no competition. The Xbox didn’t have many other exclusive 3D fighters, and what it did have were dogshit like Kabuki Warriors and Tao Feng Fist of the Lotus. For the first time Dead or Alive was in an ecosystem where it could thrive on its own. It was the only game Xbox fans could go to for a reliably good 3D fighting game. Except Mortal Kombat but that came later

Dead or Alive 3 was arguably the game that made Dead or Alive. I say arguably because Dead or Alive 2 also exists. I see people go back and forth on those two games. Dead or Alive 2 Hardcore is higher reviewed, but there are people that swear by Dead or Alive 3.

And if you think about it, most people agree that Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate is the best version of that game. Ultimate was made because 3 introduced a bunch of fans to the franchise and they made the Ultimate combo pack to allow those new fans to play the older games in the series. So, if 3 isn’t the best, it did at least aid in the creation of the best. Either way it’s a big deal for this franchise.

Now in terms of versions, this one is thankfully not as complex. There was the original release for the North American in November 2001 and the European and Japanese versions that came out a few months later. Japan got it in February 2002, and Europe in March the same year. Those versions contained new costumes, because of course they did, as well as new moves and balance updates.

So once again Tecmo released a game early to get a launch date and released a finished version in other territories months later. Well at least they didn’t release it in a broken state this time. North America did eventually get the added costumes via a booster pack from the Official Xbox Magazine, though it didn’t feature any of the gameplay tweaks. Dead or Alive Ultimate also contained the booster pack as well though you had to unlock every costume to get it.

The best version is the European one, hey a win for us, which is the version I’ll be reviewing. The backwards compatible version on Xbox Store will download the version depending on which region you’re in. If you’re in America and you want the more complete European version you can do so by changing the language settings.

Which leads me to the game itself, and to a major problem with reviewing it. I don’t have much to talk about. Not that there isn’t anything to say. Dead or Alive 3 is a great game, it’s one of the better fighting games of its generation. The problem is that a lot of what makes it so good was also in Dead or Alive 2.

Dead or Alive 3 is an iterative sequel. It’s not about reinventing the wheel and more on building what came before, less focused on innovation and more focused of refinement. There is nothing wrong with this approach, but it does make it less interesting to talk about since everything that needed to be said about it, I already did in the last part.

I could go over it again, but fuck if I’m doing that. Did you see how long the last review was? I’m not writing that long again unless I have absolutely need to. I suppose the best way to go about doing this to just go about this like the last two reviews and try to highlight what Dead or Alive 3 does differently.

Let’s start with the presentation since that’s where we started last time. On the surface it doesn’t look all that different from Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate. Which it shouldn’t since it was built on the same engine. But when you compare 3 to the original version of 2 it’s a big graphical leap.

This game was a true showpiece of what the Xbox was capable of. Even today it still looks great. The environments are gorgeous with a lot of detail and special effects. The lighting in certain stages looks very nice and gives the game a good amount of mood and ambience. I praised the stages in 2 Ultimate for feeling like a real place, and 3 continues that trend in style.

Now in some ways 2 Ultimate did look better. It did come out four years later after all. But in other ways I think 3 does overall look the best. It’s mostly in subtle ways. The animations look a little cleaner, especially in the facial animations which seem a little bit more expressive. This is most evident in the story mode cutscenes which have not only have much better animation but also improved cinematography and shot compositions.

I’ll talk more about the Story Mode itself in a bit, but for now all I’ll say is that the visual storytelling in it is far better. And I’m not just talking about the in game cutscenes either. Story Mode in Dead or Alive 3 also has full CG endings for the characters, and they look fantastic for the time.

While I don’t think they’re as good as Tekken 5’s endings, though that did come out later so it is a bit of an unfair comparison, I do think they’re some of the better CG endings from a fighting game of the period. You even have the option to have them in wide screen along with the rest of the game. Believe it or not, being widescreen was a rarity back then. Games that had this feature were ahead of their time.

I won’t show you the endings yet since I want to save talking about the contents of said endings later, but I’ll show you another CG cutscene, the intro.

This is a good Intro. Beside the CG holding up decently well, it also does a good job of showing off all the new characters. I do feel like it could use more of the old cast, and there isn’t too much actual fighting, but it isn’t a bad intro. It has a good flow to it and gets you excited to play the game. It also has great music too, which for a fighting game intro is vital. The best ones usually have a banging soundtrack.

Speaking of a banging soundtrack is exactly what Dead or Alive 3 has. This is a damn good OST. It keeps the same rock/techno sound of the previous games, but I think I like the tracks here a little bit more. They just have a certain sound to it that I really like. There’s also some use of licensed music in the game’s second intro.

I’m noticing a patten with these licensed tracks. Namely that it’s mostly Aerosmith. Even the credits have an Aerosmith song. Not that I’m complaining mind you. Aerosmith are awesome and it’s obvious Itagaki is a man of taste. I wonder if DOA 4 will have any Aerosmith songs, and if do which one. Walk this Way? I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing? Janey Got a Gun? I don’t know it could be anything.

Fun fact, when the game was first released in North America it didn’t have a CG intro. This in game intro was the only one it had much like Dead or Alive 2. I’m glad we got the CG intro but the in game one isn’t bad either so I wouldn’t be that disappointed if we never got one.

Playing Dead or Alive 3 did make me realise something. While it’s easy to praise the presentation of a game by simply saying the graphics are detailed, the animation is smooth, that it has a great art style, or that the music was solid, what really turns a good presentation into a great one is often hard to describe.

It’s more the vibe, the feel of the game that sticks with you the most. Those elements are much harder to put into words. Dead or Alive 3 felt like a game steeped in that early 2000’s video game aesthetic that I grew up with. It reminded me a lot of the games I used to play back then, and I can’t really describe why. It just had a feel to it that you’ll notice if you grew up in that era.

This is not an easy thing to get across to people who didn’t grow up in that time. Let alone in word form. It’s just a thing you to feel out for yourself. The closest I can get is to say the general tone of the music did give me heavy Dreamcast vibes. It has a similar sound to a lot of Dreamcast titles. See, there’s a reason the Xbox is called the Dreamcast 2.

So, presentation wise, it’s a banger. But what about the content. What is there to do in the game. Well, it’s got the exact same modes as last time. Story Mode, Time Attack, Vs, Sparring, Survival, Team Attack, Tag Battle which is also available in other modes, and Watch mode.

The only new mode is Theatre, which is only there so you can watch the endings. The other modes are the same as they were in the last game with slight differences. Survival still has you collect items mid fight but there’s no collection mode so they’re purely for bonuses. You also have a much larger arena so getting the wall bonuses is a bit harder.

That’s really the only mode that feels different though. Every other mode is as expected. There isn’t much to talk about that I haven’t already. It’s still packed with plenty of content. The different modes are still fun to mess around with for a few rounds, and there are still unlockable outfits to gain by doing so.

There aren’t as many as there was in Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate. Characters can only have up to five costumes as opposed to the twenty you could get in Ultimate. I’m not that surprised at this. I mean Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate was the sixth version and they added a fuck load of costumes across the different iterations. I’m also glad there’s not as much to unlock. Unlocking everything last time was a tedious grind.

Plus, the method of unlocking stuff here is much more manageable. Unlike in the last time where unlocking costumes was a matter of either beating Time Attack dozens of times or getting every Survival item, here the costumes are tied to specific challenges. Like beating Time Attack under a certain time or get a special item in Survival. It still involves playing those modes several times, but now it feels more like a test of skill and not patience.

You can also unlock multiple costumes at once so it’s much less time consuming. So, while there is less to unlock, the method you need to unlock them is far better. Especially since if you play on backwards compatibility you don’t have to unlock them at all.

Remember that booster pack I mentioned earlier? The one that was meant to add the additional content in the North American version lacked. Well, it also had the added benefit of unlocking most of the outfits in the game, and I think the backwards compatible version on Xbox Series consoles is based on the version that included the booster pack.

That booster pack was also part of Dead or Alive Ultimate though. So maybe since I beat that first and unlocked all the outfits it counted as having used the booster pack? I don’t know, but if you decide to download it via the Xbox store you won’t need to unlock anything in the game outside one or two outfits.

I’m torn on this. On the one hand it sucks there’s not much to do. Playing Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate made me appreciate unlockables in fighting games and now I can’t unlock anything in this. But on the other hand, it does mean I get to look at the outfits faster and unlocking everything last time took forever. I appreciate the break here.

But since we’re on the topic of the costumes, why don’t we talk about the fan service. I know you’re sick of hearing about this, but I need to talk about this stuff because it’s Dead or Alive and it’s an important part of the series identity. It’s like reviewing a Neal Breen movie and not talking about how batshit insane it is. It’s unavoidable.

Now, I mentioned in the last part that I had written a lengthy diatribe on the fan service in Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate but I opted to cut it out because the review was so long. The idea I had was to put what I had written there into this review since I thought there might be some overlap between the games.

Turns out I was wrong. There isn’t much overlap between the two as 3 is much more toned down compared to 2 Ultimate. Which makes sense considering how many outfits that game had. So that lengthy diatribe doesn’t really fit here.

But I can still talk about one aspect and that is how the series handles its female character designs. While Dead or Alive is known for sexualising its female characters, but I feel it does so not by making the outfits overly sexy but by making them stylish. Not that they aren’t sexy but it’s not a case of just putting them in skimpy outfits and calling it a day. Mostly.

There is an erstwhile attempt to give the girls a sense of style. Let me put it to you like this, there’s two different extremes when it comes to attractive character designs. On one side you have things like elegant cocktail dresses, stylish coats or cool leather jackets, you know high class stuff. And the other side you have things like bikini tops, thongs and short shorts so short they make you question how short, short shorts can be.

Basically, on one side is sexy, and the other is skanky. High class women on one end, porn stars on the other. Dead or Alive is somewhere in the middle; that perfect sweet spot between the two, though it leans more towards the former. Its designs are meant to invoke style and coolness rather than skimpy eroticism.

That last word might be taking it too far, but you get the idea. I don’t think the series overly sexualises its female cast. Instead, it just wants to make them look good by giving them a lot of style, or drip as the kids call it these days. Or is that rizz? I don’t know I’m old, I don’t know young people lingo.

Yes the boobs bounce like a dead-beat dad on alimony day, and yes there is still plenty of cleavage and side boob, even some under boob to ogle at but these are never that explicit. Honestly that stuff is tame compared to a lot of other examples out there. The designs here are nowhere near as sexualised as some other fighting games are. It’s not like the characters have dominatrix outfits or anything. No really, have you noticed there are a lot of dominatrix style characters in fighting games? It makes me question what these developers are into.

All that being said, there are still outfits that are on the spicy side. I don’t want to say that there aren’t, my point is that there aren’t as many of them as you may think given the series reputation. The only risqué outfits in the game are Helena’s middle eastern inspired outfit, think a Jasmine look and you’ll have the general idea of it, and Tina’s cowgirl thong costume.

But those two are really about it as far as it goes when it comes to blatant fan service. There’s also Leifang’s black cocktail dress but that’s not too bad. Two skimpy outfits out of fifty-one is honestly not that bad.

I mean there are also the schoolgirl outfits, but that’s just Japan being Japan again. I’m more weirded out by that than anything else. I don’t find why they’re sexy, but some people might. And those people should probably not say that they do lest they get a visit from the authorities.

So, the outfits aren’t that bad. However, there is an aspect of the fan service that I do think hurts the game and the series as a whole. Something I noticed in part 2 but feels harder to ignore now that we’re three games in. That being the girls all have the same body type.

Itagaki clearly has a type because he designs all his woman the same, namely busty with a nice ass. Don’t get me wrong, I love boobs and butts as much as anyone else, but when you make every woman like that, it gets boring. And when you’re bored of boobs you know you’re in trouble.

The girls may have different outfits to set them apart, but part of character design is the body type. One of the main things you pick early in a character creator is the body type. You’ve got fit character, fat characters, tall, short, busty, flat, abominations of God, what the hell am I looking at, do arms even go there, you know basic everyday stuff.

There’s more than one type of body out there is what I’m saying. I would argue That it’s body types that differentiate characters the most because it’s the most immediately obvious difference. You look at Chun-li, Marissa and Lily in Street fighter 6 and you can see they are not the same kind of character.

It also just makes the world the games take place in feel more believable. We do not live in a perfect world, not every woman can go around packing knockers that could knock out Muhammed Ali. Women have a wide range of body types and it’s important to reflect that. Not for representation reasons, though that is a valid one to have, but also because it leads to more visual variety. Let me give you an example and talk about my favourite fighting game series, Soulcalibur.

Soulcalibur is known for having very busty characters. I remember when 4 came out and Ivy’s rack became a meme for how ludicrous it was. But while it has characters like Ivy, Taki, Sophitia, and Setsuka who are very endowed, it also plenty of female characters who aren’t. Xiangua, Seong Mi-na, Amy and Talim aren’t busty at all and yet they’re some of the series most popular and recognisable characters. Especially Talim, people adore her.

Each of the girls in Soulcalibur are all very memorable, and part of that is how they all stand out visually. Not just their costumes and designs but simply by they’re all built differently. If every girl was as big as Ivy, they wouldn’t be nearly as memorable. Plus having different body types means you can variety of age representation as well. Talim and Amy are pre-teens while Sophitia and Ivy are in their mid-twenties for example.

Granted, if you have younger girls you couldn’t sexualise them without getting into trouble, but why would you need or want to do that anyway. As I said in part 1 not every character needs to be sexy. It’s ok to have characters that don’t add to the fan service.

See, I think there’s two philosophies when it comes to good looking character designs. I haven’t thought of a perfect name for them, so we’ll just call them appealing character designs and attractive character designs. Yes, there is a difference between the two. The former is a design that is simply meant to be appealing to look at, while the latter is a design that it meant to be sexually attractive to the audience.

Sticking with Soulcalibur with the examples, here is Amy from Soulcalibur 6, the latest game in the series.

Now, Amy is an appealing character. She has a cute design. She is an appealing character to look at. But is she attractive? Hell no, and the game doesn’t try to make her that way either. I mean you could find her attractive, if you were a degenerate, but most people won’t. They’d just see her as the adorable girl that she is.

Ivy Valentine though?

That is an attractive design. You can’t look at her as a straight man and tell me she isn’t easy on the eyes. Not only is her design provocative, but her moves have a very domineering energy to them, and I meant that exactly in the way that you think. Ivy is a designed to be sexually attractive, it’s baked into her design and character.

There’s been a lot of discussion around sexual character designs recently. Mainly thanks to Marvel Rivals and Emma Frost with her absolute bakery of a back side. But while Emma and other characters like Sue Storm are packing more cake than a wedding reception, Marvel Rivals also has characters like Luna Snow and Squirrel Girl who are appealing to the eye but are not as overly sexual.

I don’t want to have games where all the characters have porn star bodies, nor do I want what some people on Twitter want and make all the characters homely looking either. I want a balance. I want the characters to look nice, but that doesn’t mean I want them all to be sexy. The two are not mutually exclusive terms.

Dead or Alive, unfortunately doesn’t have that balance. It gives the girls the same type of busty body type. And there’s nothing wrong with that. if you want to make all the characters busty then do it. It’s their creation and they can do what they want. But without the variety of different body types and design philosophies you run the risk of making the roster far less memorable in the long term.

And before anyone brings it up, yes, I am aware there are slight differences to the girls’ bodies. But that’s the thing, they’re slight. You won’t really notice them unless you have a side-by-side comparison.

Ok that was longer than I was expecting, but hopefully you got my point. Look, the fan service isn’t that bad, but the series already had the reputation of being the horny fighting game and giving all the girls the same body did not help with that.

But I think that’s enough of that for now. Let’s get back to talking about the game already. So, the game doesn’t have as much to unlock as Dead or Alive 2. But that’s ok. So long as the game gives you plenty to do it shouldn’t matter if there isn’t much to unlock. And it does thanks to the Story Mode.

Since it now has unlockable endings, Story Mode does provide a better incentive for playing it. The mode itself is also a lot more entertaining. I already mentioned that the cutscenes have better cinematography, but they’re also longer and have much more in the way of character interactions.

Unlike last time where it felt like there was a lot of contexts missing, here I was able to follow along just fine. Some things are saved for the manual like the actual set-up, but most of what you need to follow the plot is in the game. It makes for a much more entertaining mode.

Dead or Alive 3 isn’t lacking in replay value. You’ll still spend a few hours playing through Story Mode, and the other modes are enjoyable for a couple of rounds though they don’t have as much lasting appeal.

Playing it nowadays it does fall short a little and playing it via backwards compatibility does remove a lot of the replay value. I can’t hold that against the game since it’s not like the designers could predict it would be re-released years later with everything unlocked. Even the booster pack wasn’t planned, they had to make it to patch in the stuff the American version lacked.

It's unfair to judge the game for everything being unlocked because it wasn’t initially designed like that. It had unlockables and a good method for how to get them. Granted it had far less than its predecessor, but it still had things you could unlock.

I wish I had a copy of the original Dead or Alive 2 to compare since Ultimate is a very unfair comparison. That version came out four years later and was the sixth update to the game. Of course it would have more content.

But what Dead or Alive 3 does offer is only just ok. It’ not awful, it’s certainly a lot better than most of its contemporaries, but it isn’t great either. It is lacking in longevity. I can imagine at the time it was satisfactory though, so I can’t be too hard on it.

Now for the actual gameplay, which is not all that different from the last game. It has the hold system, the critical hit combo’s, the same kind of interactable stages, the same basic control set-up and game feel. There’s nothing new here.

Instead, it simply takes what was there and refines it. The movement was made much smoother from the original version of 2, and unlike Ultimate it’s actually possible to sidestep moves with proper timing. Hold timing was increased to make them easier to perform and, unlike last time, I did figure out how to counter opponent’s mid combo. So, it was indeed a skill issue.

I also read that there was less emphasis on juggle combos, but I didn’t notice much of a difference. Maybe in high level play it’s more obvious but on a casual level it’s barely noticeable. Actually, from what I can gather, of the early Dead or Alive games, 3 is considered the best competitively. It’s generally considered to be the most balanced of those games.

So that is something, but as far as moving the series forward it didn’t do that much. That said, Dead or Alive 2 was fun and a more refined version of that is just as enjoyable. It’s still a good fighting game, it’s just not as ground breaking as its predecessor.

A lot of what I enjoyed from 2 is still here. The gameplay is still fast paced and exciting, the Triangle System still adds a lot of depth to the game while still being simple enough to pick up for casuals, the critical hit system offers a ton of fun combo potential, and the game feel is still immensely satisfying.

Of course, the big element I enjoyed from 2 was the stage design, and Dead or Alive 3 keeps going strong on that front. While it feels like there’s fewer interactable stages, it makes up for that in two ways. One is that the interactable stages have much better transitions. Not only do they look cooler, but they can kill if you land one. Now they actually make sense.

And these stages are massive too. The stages from 2 were pretty big but they don’t compare to these ones. There are some stages so big they not only have multiple transition points that lead to different sections, they have branches of transitions that lead into other transitions. It’s amazing how much there is to these stages.

It does feel like there’s fewer interactable elements. I can’t quantify that, but it feels like there’s less things to knock people through, but Dead or Alive 3 was the first game to introduce slopes and ice. So even if there is less interaction, I think the new elements help to even things out.

These stages are the closest I’ve seen to a fighting game stage feeling like a real place. They’re arguably better than the ones from 2. It’s honestly down to preference since I can’t say one is objectively better than the other. I think I prefer 3’s because I like their larger size, but you can’t go wrong with either.

But what else can I add to this. I suppose I could talk about some of the minor control differences. But first allow me to correct myself. I said in the last review that there was no analogue control. I said this because the analogue option in the menu screwed up the control and I assumed that without that it didn’t work.

Turns out that’s not true. It was working, but that option is busted in the backwards compatibility version. The original Xbox controllers had pressure sensitive buttons which the analogue option activated. Since the new Xbox controllers don’t have those, turning the option on makes every attack a power move.

The backwards compatibility versions fix this by making the analogue stick function all the time. You don’t need to turn it on to use them in gameplay. So there is analogue control in the game, it’s just that option is pointless now. The only downside is the menu’s only work with the D-Pad but that isn’t hard to adjust to.

As for the actual controls, the only major difference is middle Holds have been standardised. You now only have to use back to counter kicks and punches. At first I thought this was a change to the system from 2, but apparently 4 uses the system from 2 Ultimate instead. So I guess 2 Ultimate did indeed change somethings from the original.

I actually prefer the system in 3. It’s much easier to get to grips with, but that maybe the problem. It’s too easy to counter moves which can reduce the game to a counter fest. The next game would try to rectify this, but I’m glad 3 simplified things since it gave me a better understanding of the systems nuances.

The only other thing to mention is Tag Throws have been simplified to just being regular throw commands. Actually, let me talk about Tag Mode a bit more. I still love that this is a bonus, but there’s a lot more to it than I gave it credit for. There’s actually a lot of tag-based combos you can do from a launch, and since characters heal when tagged out there is a layer of strategy in when best to swap.

It’s still simpler than something like Tekken Tag Tournament, which is specifically designed around tag combat, but for a bonus tag mode it does have some sauce. Hell since certain teams don’t have tag throws, it makes team composition a much more important factor to consider.

And… is that it? Is that really all there is to talk about. I mean it wasn’t nothing, but it wasn’t much. We’ve run into an unfortunate problem that a series runs into; at some point they stop innovating and just keep refining the formula. Sports games syndrome I call it. Now I’m not sure if the next game fixes this, but if we’re reaching this point three games in that is not a good sign.

It's weird because time has been both kind and harsh to this game. Kind in the sense that it holds up extremely well graphically and in terms of gameplay, and harshly because when viewed in the context of the rest of the series, it doesn’t stand out nearly as much. While 3 may have introduced many fans to the series, it arguably left less impact than the games that preceded and succeeded it.

And that’s a shame because in terms of playing it, Dead or alive 3 is the best in the series so far. The gameplay is much smoother, the character move sets expanded and much more refined, even the AI is better. It’s still a bitch at times, but it feels fairer and much better designed.

I like Dead or alive 3 a lot, it just doesn’t add much to the series. As an iterative sequel it’s great, it does what it sets out to do, but the problem with iterative sequels is they aren’t all that memorable. It’s the innovative ones that everyone talks about.

Everyone talks about Mega Man 1-3 but 4-6 don’t get talked about as much. Even though they’re arguably much better games. Why? Because they weren’t as innovative. Dead or Alive 3 is in a similar position. It’s a great game but it doesn’t get talked about nearly as much as the others. Despite fans considering one of the better games in the series.

The only thing left to cover is the story and the roster. Every character from Dead or Alive 2 returns, except for Tengu, and there are three new characters making for seventeen characters total. Not a bad size for the time.

Now I’m not going to go too deep with the roster. I’m not going to go over character playstyles for the returning characters since I already went over that last time and not much has changed for them here. They have new moves, but that doesn’t change the basics. I’ll still cover the new characters like that, but for the returning characters I’ll just cover their story and their endings.

The story here is straight forwards. After Tengu was defeated, DOATEC decided to start a new experiment because I guess the whole cloning Kasumi thing didn’t work out. though considering what happens next time I think they just wanted to shake things up.

So they create Project Omega. An attempt to create the ultimate fighter, because in fighting games making a dude that punches harder is a better world domination tool than a gun. They do this by kidnapping a man named Genra and turning him into a monstrous super soldier named Omega, because that’s what the project is called. That’s just good marketing right there.

Now, who is Genra? He’s another member of the Mugen Tenshin. In fact, he’s the leader of the Hajinmon sect and Ayane’s foster father. Ok, how in the hell are DOATEC kidnapping these ninjas. Because this has happened twice now. How have this hidden ninja village not done a better job of remaining hidden. I mean for god’s sake they kidnapped the future leader last time, could you not up security after that. And why bother with a ninja anyway when the last two times that tried using them it failed. Does Donovan just have a ninja fetish or something.

At this point it’s safe to say the plot is stupid, but it’s fighting game stupid. Fighting games aren’t exactly known for their narratives anyway. They’re just there to provide context as to why the cast is beating the shit out of each other. When you look at the stories themselves in more detail, they fall apart fast than a Jenga tower in an earthquake. But at the same time, they are dumb fun. It’s like a martial arts movie. You aren’t there for the plot you’re there to see cool people kicking ass.

At least the story is a bit more coherent now. The boss is at least connected to the main plot and involves the main villain faction. It isn’t some ancient deity that comes out of nowhere. Plus, when it comes to fighting games, it’s in the individual characters stories where things get interesting.

That is where all the good stuff is, so why don’t we start going over it. let’s do Kasumi first, she is the poster girl after all. Her story is a continuation of last time. She’s still on the run from her clan, but she misses her brother, so she enters the tournament to find him.

She does meet him, but he’s duty bound to his clan to finish her off. As her brother though he can’t bring himself to do it, so he pretends to have never met her to spare her life. In her ending she takes a rest under a tree remembering being hunted. But another vision of her reluctant brother could mean there’s some hope for her.

Hayabusa enters the tournament to help the Mugen ninja’s defeat Genra. In his ending he enjoys some fishing before getting a letter via arrow. No idea what it said, was it a thank you or a new mission? I don’t know, Ryu is just here to look cool and do ninja things. He’s really not important to the story. Don’t worry Ryu, the reboot of Ninja Gaiden is just round the corner.

Let’s keep with the ninjas for now and cover Hayate. Now Hayate is technically a new character. I say technically because he was in the last game as Ein, but he’s given a different move set here. So, character wise he’s returning, but gameplay wise he’s brand new.

Hayate has now recovered from his amnesia and returned to the Mugen Tenshin to continue as it’s leader. With Genra having been a member of the clan, he feels like it’s his duty to finish him off. In his ending he succeeds at killing Omega and returns to lead his clan on a new mission. Really his ending has nothing to do with anything, it’s just an excuse to see cool ninja shit.

In terms of gameplay, Hayate feels like a hybrid of Kasumi and Ein. He’s a well-balanced character with long easy to learn combo strings. He’s generally considered one of the easier ninjas to play as and I’d say that’s fair. Except he also has a stupidly hard command grab that I could not for the life of me pull off. It’s not even really practical like the Izuna drop either, it’s just there for bragging rights.

Hayate is a fun character, but there is an issue with him. Namely that he’s the fourth ninja character in this game. Don’t get me wrong all the ninja’s do have different playstyles, but having four ninja style characters is a bit much. I’m beginning to think Team Ninja was just named because Itagaki loved Ninja’s. Then again, I suppose if Street Fighter can have ten Shoto characters I suppose I can let Dead or Alive slide on this.

We might as well get the last ninja out of the way. Ayane is entering the tournament alongside Hayate to hunt down Genra. Since Genra was the one who raised her, she feels it should be her that ends his life. Naturally this brings her into conflict with Hayate who feels like it’s his duty to do it, so they fight it out to see who does. Couldn’t they just double team him?

In her ending she holds a funeral for her father by burning his body and sheds a tear for his death. This is the only ending to actually show Genra’s defeat, which should clue you in that this is considered the canon end of the game. All the other endings are considered canon to an extent, but Ayane is the confirmed victor of the third tournament and the one who defeated Genra.

That’s it for the ninjas. They serve as the main characters, but they also aren’t the only characters important to the plot. There’s also Helena and what is going on with DOATEC. Sometime during the second tournament, Helena was captured by Donovan. She’s told that she can earn her freedom but only if she’s able to win the third tournament.

But as you can probably predict, Donovan plans on betraying her and having her killed anyway. I don’t know why though, she has nothing to do with DOATEC and says in the story that she doesn’t care. So why is with Donovan bothering with her?

Why do villains always do this? They always rope the hero into things despite there being nothing beneficial in doing so. If Helena wanted the company, then yes, eliminate her, but she doesn’t. She was content being an opera singer with her mother. Then you went and tried to snipe her and now she’s all up in your grill. Now we know why good always triumphs, because evil is dumb.

Anyway, the person sent to kill Helena is a woman named Christie. She’s sent in posing as Helena’s servant but is actually a British assassin who works under Donovan. Christie is a great addition to the cast. Not only does she serve the cold calculating assassin archetype well, but she also finally serves as an in-game representation of DOATEC in the story. It’s nice to have a playable villain who isn’t a boss.

What’s interesting is that Helena and Christie’s endings feel like mirrors of each other. In Helena’s ending she escapes and goes on a nice sailing holiday with her dog, and Christie returns home to relax until she gets a new mission. Both feature the two relaxing, they both involve animals, Helena has her dog and some dolphins while Christie has a pet panther because that’s just how extra she is, but Helena’s ending is bright and cheerful while Christie’s is dark and mysterious. They’re set up as major rivals and that will only deepen in the next game.

Also, they’re the most fan servicey. That’s another connection the two endings have. Helena is in a bikini and Christie is in her underwear and has a shower scene. I’d be shocked if this series didn’t have one of those honestly. Fun fact, if you play the aquarium stage you can sometimes spot Helena scuba diving in the background with the same bikini from her ending. It’s a cute easter egg.

As for Christie’s gameplay, she’s fun as hell. She’s a fast character that has a lot of pokes that can cause critical hits that open up for combos, and she has a lot of long strings to capitalise on that. She’s one of the more aggressive characters so she fits my playstyle a lot. She’s one of my favourites so far.

That’s it as far as the story relevant characters go. Now for the characters that aren’t that important to the plot. Thankfully most of these guys haven’t changed all that much.

Like Tina who is entering the tournament to get recognised. This time she wants to become a Hollywood movie star. Again, I question why she needs a tournament for this. In her ending she becomes the star of a major action movie so maybe she wanted to show she could do her own stunts. Surviving those stage transitions would showcase that.

Then there’s Bass who is entering into the tournament to get Tina to return to wrestling. Because like any good dad he wants his child to follow their dreams so long as there are the dreams they pick out for them.

Bass also got redesigned to be more like a biker and he now bears an uncanny resemblance to NWA era Hulk Hogan. His ending reflects this as he’s riding his bike, but it winds up breaking down so he suplexes the damn thing. And I thought Basil Fawlty had vehicular rage.

I said I wasn’t going to go into gameplay much for returning characters, but I will say that Tina and Bass were massively improved here. They have way more throws for different situations. They can even grab people in the air which helps with their juggle potential. I already liked Tina in the last game, but I like her a lot more now, and Bass is… well he feels a lot more powerful at least.

Leifang is another character whose goal hasn’t changed. She’s still in this to beat Jann Lee and that’s about it. Her ending is cool though, she beats up a bunch of gangsters trying to kidnap a kid. It’s like a scene from a martial arts movie, or a Yakuza game. Leifang also got some slight gameplay tweaks in that she now has more Holds. So, she’s a bit more counter focused which does help her playstyle standout.

Might as well do Jann Lee next and he’s… just here to fight people. There really isn’t much to Jann Lee in this game; he doesn’t even fight Leifang despite the two being rivals. Although his ending is very similar to hers. He returns to being a bouncer and beats up some goons causing a ruckus. Funny enough, they’re the same gangsters from Leifangs ending. These guys are either really dumb or really unlucky.

Then there’s Zack and he’s after the prize money again so he can head to Vegas to earn even more money. It’s all about the Benjamins with Zack. He does go to Vegas in his ending where it’s implied he loses it all. Except he doesn’t. He does canonically win big at Vegas and uses the money to buy his own island which is the setting for the Dead or Alive Extreme games. So good for Zack, I guess. Shame the island sunk and he got abducted by aliens. You read me.

Speaking of money, Gen Fu is after the money to pay for the final operation his granddaughter Mei Lin needs. In his ending he’s seen training in his dojo before being visited by her, now back on her feet and healthy again. This is another canon ending and would mark the last time Gen Fu would have any major appearances. He still shows up, but the next game would introduce a new character that would serve as a replacement for him.

Speaking of being replaced, Bayman. Yep, he’s back again but where the hell was he? Well after killing Fame Douglas in the first game, Donovan decided he was no longer necessary and decided to get rid of him to cover his tracks. After being in hiding for a time, Bayman decides to enter the third tournament to get his revenge.

While we don’t see him get it, his ending does show him gearing up for a mission which does imply he hasn’t gotten it yet. We also see some of his backstory. How his parents were killed during a military strike on a city and how that may have led him to becoming a trained assassin. So basically Batman’s origin but army themed.

Bayman was missing in Dead or Alive 2 originally since he was replaced by Leon. They brought him back in the ports, but he wasn’t all that different from his replacement. So Dead or Alive 3 does try to differentiate the two. Bayman is given more holds and plays a lot more defensively while Leon is a lot more aggressive.

I like Bayman, but getting good with him requires mastering Holds. He’s actually not a bad character to pick if you want to learn them, though Leifang also does this and is a bit easier to play. Still, I like Bayman, and his defensive playstyle makes him a bit more distinct as a grappler in the series.

Leon also returns and he’s still trying to prove himself the strongest, so his lost loves words ring true. Although for some reason her name is translated as Rolande in this game when it’s supposed to be Lauren. I don’t know if that’s a retcon or a mistranslation but given the time this came out I’m guessing the latter. Fighting games did not have the best translation jobs back then.

In his ending, Leon returns to the desert he buried Lauren and meets her spirit. She gives him a flower and fades away, allowing Leon to move on. This would be a finale to Leons story. He would return in future games but only as an extra character, never part of the main roster. I guess since Bayman was brought back he didn’t serve a purpose and honestly Bayman is the more interesting of the two. It’s a shame Leon got left behind but that’s fighting games for you.

We only have two characters left and they’re both brand new. The first is Brad Wong and this dude is fun. He’s a drunken boxer with a strong emphasis on the drunk. The dude is basically a drunken martial arts hobo who is looking for a legendary wine called Genra after his master sends him out looking for it. And no that isn’t connected to the Genra the final boss, it’s an entirely separate thing that by some coincidence shares the same name.

When I say he’s a drunken martial arts hobo I meant it. He’s constantly boozing it up and it’s implied in his ending that his master sent him on his journey to kick his drinking habit. After he defeats Genra he meditates for a bit in the mountains and then throws his gourd into the distance, having finally kicked the habit and no longer needing the drink to get by. Spoiler alert, he’s a drunk in the next game too, so either he wasn’t able to stay away or he’s just planning on cutting down. Every bit at a time man, you’ll get there.

Brad’s gameplay is nuts. He has the largest move set in the game, and his entire gameplan revolves around going into various stances. If you thought Helena and Ayane were tricky to learn, you haven’t seen anything yet. Brad has stances that have multiple variations, he’s got moves that can lead him from one stance to another, he’s got so much in his kit that it’s hard to predict what he’s going to do next.

But that’s the idea. Brad is a trickster character, his entire gameplan is keeping the opponent guessing and then using his speed to capitalize on their mistakes. He’s actually a really fun character to button mash with because so many of his chains link into his stances with their own chains.

But if you want to get good with him, you’re going to have to learn how to link into stances more optimally and get those critical hits in to extend combos. It is going to take a lot of lab work to get to grips with, but damn is he fun.

And last, but most definitely not least is Hitomi. Aka the character they retroactively added into Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate that I didn’t mention because this is when she was properly introduced.

She’s a half Japanese half German girl whose father runs a karate dojo. Remember how Hayate was taken in by a Karate Dojo when he got amnesia? Yup, it was the same one Hitomi was from. In fact, it was Hitomi who found him and brought him in. It’s also implied she also fell in love with him and she enters the tournament to try to find him.

But that’s not the only reason she’s entering the tournament. She also wants to prove she’s a capable fighter in her own right and show her dad that she’s all grown up. She does meet “Ein” in the tournament but she’s unable to get him to come back since, well he has a home already. They do have a nice match though and leave on good terms though. In her ending Hitomi returns home to her dojo, reflects on how far she’s come, and after an approving nod from her old man she heads off ready to live her life as an independent woman. See Bass, that’s how you parent.

Hitomi’s gameplay is, well it’s basically just Ein. She’s from the same dojo that Hayate learned karate from, so it makes sense she’d fight the same. She was made largely so they could keep Eins move set, and like Ein she’s a very easy to learn character with simple but effective combo’s and heavy hitting moves that send opponents flying. She’s the very best character for beginners.

Hitomi is easily the breakout star of Dead or alive 3. Her easy to pick up and play game style is part of that, but it’s also because she’s a very relatable character. Look at all the other female characters in the game. you’ve got ninja’s, a wrestler turned actress, a martial arts prodigy, a deadly assassin, an opera singer, awesome characters to be sure but still fantastical.

But Hitomi is very down to earth. Even her designs feel much more grounded compared to a lot of other characters. She’s not some martial arts savant; she’s just a determined young woman who works hard to make herself stronger.

That’s something that a lot of people, men and women, can relate to. And considering the majority of people who played Dead or Alive 3 would have been teenagers/young adults it’s not hard to see why a lot of people gravitated towards a character whose story is coming of age.

Hitomi would become one of the most popular characters in the franchise. I love her personally. I love how grounded and down to earth she is, and her playstyle is easy to learn and a lot of fun. She’s the best of the four newcomers, which is saying a lot because I think all the new characters here are awesome. They all have unique playstyles and fun personalities that help round out the cast.

But there is one new character that I don’t like at all and it’s the final boss. Omega is awful. Like one of the worst fighting game bosses I’ve played. Not because he’s hard because he really isn’t. He does so little damage and takes so much in return that it doesn’t take much to take him down.

The only times I lost to this guy was when I was a grappler since he can’t be grabbed, but everyone else I had little issue with. My issue isn’t that he’s difficult, it’s that he is annoying. Very, very annoying. H has a ton of projectiles, one of which is unblockable, he blocks everything, and he has a shockwave move he lets out whenever he gets knocked down that will hit you if you’re not blocking. He punishes you for knocking him down. I’m sorry am I in bizarro world all of a sudden.

Omega is not hard, but he’s still cheap. The worst part about the fight though isn’t Omega himself, it’s actually the camera. It’s situated behind your character like a Budokai Tenkaichi game which throws off your movements and makes it hard to see what’s going on. Especially since there’s a fire raging during the fight so that effect is getting in the way, and there’s a fucking blur effect obscuring your vision. Cool effects guy, but I can see the fucking fight please.

This is not a fun boss. It was clearly designed as a visual spectacle and nothing else. I guess it was cool back in the day, but I can’t say it holds up. This series is now 3-0 for bosses. At this point I’m dreading what the next one will be. He says knowingly.

Omega is not playable. Making this the first game in the series without a secret unlockable boss character. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a secret character to unlock. If you beat Story Mode with every character, then finish a round of survival mode with Hayate and put “EIN” in on the high score screen, you unlock Ein as a playable character.

He plays exactly like he did in Dead or Alive 2, so if you liked him there, you’ll like him here. Though they gave him a long black leather jacket and shades that is nearly identical to what Itagaki was wearing at the time. Ok it’s not on the level of putting yourself in the game, but it is dancing dangerously close to it.

And since we’ve covered all the characters I might as well show the endings, so without further ado.

But that’s it, that’s Dead or Alive 3. This game is a weird one too look back on. Not because it’s bad or that it doesn’t hold up, nor is it because it’s some weird experimental entry that didn’t work. It’s none of those things. It’s a great fighting game that holds up well and it improved on the series in a lot of ways.

No, it’s weird because Dead or Alive 3 doesn’t do much to really stand out. Full disclosure, I knew a little bit about each game going into the retrospective. I knew that 1 was the one that started it all, that 2 was the game that defined it, that 4 brought it to HD consoles and innovated how online play worked, how 5 had a huge roster and the most refined gameplay, and 6… oh 6, I am not looking forward to you.

Basically, every game in the series has something that makes it stand out, except for 3. It’s the only game in the series that doesn’t have much of an identity of its own. All it really is, is a refined version of 2. It doesn’t innovate the series in a big way or offer much that the other games don’t. Yes, the movement system is great, and the new characters are fun, but all of them are in 4. Which is an even further refined version of 3 with more content.

That is the unfortunate position Dead or Alive 3 is in. It’s sandwiched between two games that are arguably more important than it. The innovative second entry, and the far more refined and content rich fourth. This makes Dead or Alive 3 feel like a stop gap game when looked back in retrospect. Like it’s just there to bide time until the next game.

Let me be crystal clear, that is not what Dead or Alive 3 was. It was never meant to be a stop gap entry in the series. It was meant to move the series forward and it did so in key areas especially regarding its presentation. But when you look back on the series in hindsight, why would I play this over the other games? What does it have that the others lack?

I don’t know, and that’s the problem. Maybe the later games are worse in some areas, but from a purely surface level perception Dead or Alive 3 doesn’t have much to entice that the other games don’t already have in spades.

That being said, I do think Dead or Alive 3 has a certain role to play in the series. This is the most beginner friendly game in the series. It is by far the easiest one to learn, at least as far as the early games are concerned. I know we have 4 next but trust me, that is far from beginner friendly. I know that much about it.

The AI is not too demanding, the Story Mode doesn’t take too long, and while it has fewer unlockables, the way you get them does serve to test your skills at the game. Unless you play it on Series X/S but even then, having all the costumes be unlocked from the start makes it easier to get into the VS mode.

If you were looking for a spot to get into the series, and you wanted to see what the early titles were like, Dead or Alive 3 is the best place to start. For a lot of people, it was. As I said at the beginning, Dead or Alive 3 being an Xbox launch title meant it was front and centre to a lot of the Xbox’s player base, and with how few exclusive fighters Xbox has, let alone good ones, it did stand out as a great 3D fighter on the console.

It’s within that context that Dead or Alive 3 does standout. This is why when you look back on older games you can lose what made the game so special, because often what makes them special isn’t the game itself but the context of its release. It’s why a game like Ocarina of Time can go from being heralded as the greatest game of all time in one generation, to be seen as overrated in the next.

Dead or Alive 3, on its own, isn’t special. It’s a fine game but nothing extraordinary. It’s only when look at when it came out, how it was one of the first Xbox games and how it defined the systems early days that you understand why it was received so warmly at the time.

In fact, with the fourth entry being an Xbox 360 exclusive as well, Dead or Alive was seen for a time as an Xbox exclusive series. Just like how Tekken was associated with PlayStation for a time, so to was Dead or Alive for the Xbox. Tecmo were a major supporter of the Xbox brand early on with Dead or Alive and the Ninja Gaiden reboot being major successes on the platform.

Dead or Alive 3 was such a hit in fact that they would release a special edition version of the Xbox based on Kasumi in Japan. It came in Kaumi’s trademark blue colour scheme, had a copy of Dead or Alive Ultimate as a pack in game, and also came with a Kasumi body pillow. Because it would be weird if the series didn’t have one of those wouldn’t it.

In the short term this paid off. Dead or Alive 3 sold very well and even helped the Xbox in Japan where it struggled to make any headway. In the long term though it proved a minor victory. A Japanese centric fighter on a console predominately marketed to the west, yeah it doesn’t sound like a good fit. And considering the Xbox player base would evolve to largely centre around shooter and western RPGs, well is it any wonder why a lot of major Japanese companies stopped supporting it.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Dead or Alive is a series that does have a special place in a lot of Xbox fans hearts, and a lot of that is due to 3. This game is an important part of the series that deserves its dues, it just doesn’t offer much in retrospect when compared to other games in the series.

But with Dead or Alive finding a new home on the Xbox, and Team Ninja finding further success with its spin-off Dead or Alive Extreme, it was obvious a fourth entry was on the cards. But fans would have to wait four years and an entire console generation to see it. Was it worth the wait? Well tune in for part 4 and find out.

Final editing note, the endings video was compiled by Life on YouTube. He's done a bunch of these compilations so if you want to check out his stuff here's a link to his channel: Mortal Kombat 1 - Armageddon - All Characters Across Timelines (Characters Mash-Up/Hybrid)