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Dead or Alive 6 First Hands-On: Can Team Ninja Balance Familiar and Fresh?
DOA is growing up.
When Dead or Alive 6’s producer/director Yohei Shimbori handed us the controller, the first thing we did was mash the punch button. The series’ heroine Kasumi performed a series of familiar open-handed strikes. Our opponent, Zack, tried to punch her in the face, but we were able to successfully time a hold counter attack, and Kasumi twisted Zack’s incoming hand, dropping him to the ground. As soon as he was back on his feet, we executed a throw. Kasumi jumped on top of Zack and mercilessly stamped on his head multiple times. Barely 10 seconds had passed, but it was enough to confirm one thing: This was still the good old Dead or Alive that gamers have come to love since the series’ first entry way back in 1996.
“It can feel disappointing if a game you used to enjoy no longer feels familiar, so we didn’t want to change the core mechanics,” Shimbori told IGN.
ABOVE: Watch the reveal trailer for Dead or Alive 6.
So yes, that means that Zack’s low kicks are as fast as ever, and that Hayabusa’s flying kicks remain a feast to the eye.
However, when we started using the new Special button (R1 on a PS4 controller, RB on an Xbox One controller), which Shimbori calls the “rescue button for beginners”, Dead or Alive 6 started to feel like a different beast.
“In Japan, there is a game for kids where you make two sumo wrestlers out of folded paper or cardboard, place them on a platform, and two players tap the platform repeatedly with only one finger until one of the sumo figures collapses in defeat,” Shimbori explained. “Today, games developed for smartphone devices are often played with similar simplicity. That made me want to create a fighting game playable with only one finger, and this idea became the foundation of the new Special button.”
ABOVE: Watch the first-ever gameplay footage of Dead or Alive 6.
Simply mashing the Special button allows players to execute a Fatal Rush, which is a powerful combo attack. A series of up to four neatly animated punches and kicks make even a first-time player look like an expert. The Break Gauge – the first super meter ever for the series – gets charged with every attack landed or taken, and by blocking. Once it is full, players can perform either the Break Blow, which is a flashy and highly destructive special attack, or the Break Hold, a useful counter attack that deals low damage but works against high, low and mid attacks. Both are executed with the Special button; for Break Blow you simultaneously press forward, and backward if you want to perform the Break Hold. That’s really all there is to it!
Of course, if you are too far away, special attacks won’t reach your opponent, and if you repeatedly perform the Fatal Rush without thinking, your opponent might dodge and attack you from the back, so it’s not an instant-win button. Still, these new mechanics definitely make Dead or Alive 6 more accessible, as you can learn the right distance and timing for attacks without having to master difficult commands.
But aren’t these mechanics a bit too streamlined to be interesting for the more seasoned player? Luckily, Dead or Alive 6’s core gameplay remains intact, which involves punching and kicking, throwing, and of course counter holds. The new Special button should only add an additional layer of strategic fighting, especially when you bear in mind that all these new easy-to-master combos and special attacks can be countered. They may be powerful enough to become a game-changer for newcomers, but far too risky to execute without consideration.
The special attack meter is new to the series, but perfectly matches the over-the-top setting. Ever since the original Virtua Fighter marked the beginning of 3D fighting games in 1993, titles in the genre have generally come without super meters or special attacks. This is understandable for a game like Virtua Fighter, as it aims for realistic fighting, but Dead or Alive is a series about super-strong ninjas who throw each other off cliffs and skyscrapers, and keep fighting like it’s no big deal. Super meters and larger-than-life special attacks feel right at home here.
“Before, super meters were considered as inappropriate for 3D fighting games. A 3D fighting game would have been frowned upon if it had the audacity to use a super meter,” Team Ninja’s Yosuke Hayashi (who was the producer for previous iterations) told IGN.
“But times have changed, so when Shimbori came to me with the idea to implement meters, I thought the idea would work in a modern game. We had so many heated discussions about this during development of DOA5, but today the landscape is different. In the end, I’m glad we have a new generation of developers who are trying to move the series into a new era.”
Before the term “esports” entered regular parlance, Shimbori was a fanatic fighting-game player during his college years, and used to try to convince people that fighting games should be considered a sport. He was not just a serious player, but even organized tournaments himself. Gradually, he started feeling the urge to create his own fighting game, but he wanted to do things differently. Fighting games at the time were too demanding for casual players, and he wanted to make a game not only for fans like himself, but one that any gamer could potentially love and enjoy. He hopes that Dead or Alive 6 is going to become exactly that.
“I think it’s important to say that I’m not a top-level player myself,” said Shimbori. “Sure, I’m better than beginner players, but there are always players I just can’t beat no matter how hard I try. So I know how unforgiving fighting games can be, which is why I wanted to make a game that feels good no matter if you win or lose. Even with the new Special button, it’s going to be hard to beat a professional player, but you might be able to successfully land a Fatal Rush or Break Blow against them, and that’s going to feel really good, which should make it more fun for new players.”
True Warriors With Realistic Graphics
Another aspect that characterizes the series are the highly interactive and destructible stages. The version we got to play had just two stages, and we didn’t get to throw our opponents off cliffs, nor did we encounter any larger-than-life events such as a dinosaur suddenly appearing on screen. Instead, we got to experience a more realistic type of interaction. For example, one stage had spectators around the edge of the ring, and if our fighter bumped into one of them, they would push us back, causing our character to lose balance and stagger. This gave our opponent the perfect chance to attack. It might not sound as exciting as throwing your opponent against a helicopter’s propellers, but more realistic stage gimmicks have a different, subtler and more seamless impact on battle.
While acknowledging the fact that he is taking a new, more refined approach for the arenas, Shimbori tells fans not to worry, as he is planning some stages with the excitement and craziness that we have come to expect from the series. Together with art director Yutaka Saito, he has already thought of several more stages to implement in the game.
This shift in approach is not only evident in the arena design, but in the game’s presentation in general. Dead or Alive is a series known to feature ostentatious characters such as ninjas and highly sexualized female fighters with nearly superhuman powers, and while Dead or Alive 6 still shares the same DNA, things seem to have become a lot more realistic and refined. The game doesn't only come with new 4K enhanced graphics, but an actual change in direction as well.
“We wanted to make a more cool and mature Dead or Alive this time, and to that end we made a conscious decision to make the characters less sexualized,” Shimbori told IGN.
It goes without saying that this decision is heavily influenced by the fact that the industry is moving away from overtly sexualized female characters in general, but Team Ninja seems to have a concrete vision behind this shift in style. If you look at the game’s concept art, you can see that Kasumi is no longer just a fantasy figure for young boys; she’s a warrior.
“The female characters are still attractive, as are the men, but first and foremost they are fighters,” Saito said.
In Dead or Alive 6, female characters’ breasts no longer jiggle and bounce in the exaggerated fashion the series became increasingly known for, and the costumes we have seen so far are less revealing. Female characters are depicted in a more natural way, which makes them feel more human and believable than before.
The way characters change during fights has become more realistic as well. Characters will start sweating after multiple attacks, make a grimace as they perform a powerful punch or kick, and even sustain visible wounds when hit by their opponents. Until now, Team Ninja has refrained from showing physical injuries on female characters, as they considered this to be something players would not want to see. However, Dead or Alive’s characters are not depicted as fragile or weak; they are fighters. Showing their fights without the consequences they face wouldn’t do them justice. Influenced by a new way of thinking, Team Ninja’s devs seem to have drastically changed how they look at their characters.
That doesn’t mean that Team Ninja is being excessively conservative for the art direction of Dead or Alive 6. Rather, the exaggerated looks of the characters has taken a backseat to a more realistic and natural approach.
This new approach has even influenced the way lighting is handled for Dead or Alive 6. Previous entries had used fixed lighting sources to light the characters, and then enhanced highlights and shadows were drawn onto the textures by hand to make them look more appealing. This is a rather old-fashioned technique that would not have worked with Team Ninja’s brand-new physics-based engine, and so dynamic lighting is now used to bring the characters and stages to life.
The team has also put a lot of effort into dynamic facial animations, which portray more honest emotions during battle. Your favorite character might look less attractive or cool during certain situations, but it should make them feel more relatable.
“Our goal is to no longer force characters to look great at all times, but to leave that up to the natural flow of battle,” Saito explained.
This new sense of reality might contribute in making the fantastical setting of Dead or Alive feel more believable as well.
“The game will look more realistic, but we have no intention in changing the sci-fi-fantasy atmosphere with ninjas, clones and whatnot,” said Shimbori. “In the real world, not even the strongest fighter can survive falling off a skyscraper, but that is what makes Dead or Alive so much fun. The new sense of reality will come in handy to make this over-the-top fighting more convincing.”
Ninja Action for the Lone Wolf
A great deal of fans love Dead or Alive most for its characters, settings, and aesthetics. According to Shimbori, this type of player enjoys Dead or Alive primarily as a single-player experience, and so, while Dead or Alive 6 can of course be played in local or online multiplayer, Team Ninja is also putting effort into the story mode and other offline modes. Shimbori says that Team Ninja will probably take a similar approach to the story mode from Dead or Alive 5, which has you play as all the characters through different episodes as the story unfolds. He plans to add some refreshing elements to that formula. This mode should not only allow the player to enjoy the story, but will likely function as a tutorial as well, as players will have the chance to control different characters and get a taste for each one. For players who want to improve their skills even more, there will be an in-depth training mode, and DOA6 will also come with a basic arcade mode. Shimbori also has plans to add a new type of solo play experience, but he did not go into detail on what this will entail.
In the version we played, we could choose between six characters, all of whom are series staples: Kasumi, Zack, Helena, Jann Lee, Hayate, and Hayabusa. Hayabusa, who is also the main character of the Ninja Gaiden series, is an interesting case. Until now, his character design for Dead or Alive has been based on the most recent Ninja Gaiden entry. However, a new numbered Ninja Gaiden has not been released since 2012, when both Ninja Gaiden 3 and Dead or Alive 5 came out, and so the new Hayabusa has been designed especially for Dead or Alive 6 under the supervision of Ninja Gaiden director Fumihiko Yasuda. It makes us wonder if Hayabusa will have a similar appearance for a potential new Ninja Gaiden entry, but nothing of the like has been announced yet.
An interesting new feature for ninja characters such as Hayabusa and Hayate is that their masks can get smashed off, revealing their faces. Saito says he plans similar elements for other characters too, such as glasses falling off. He also wants to not only have the degree of a character’s sweat depend on the amount of movement, but also make the way each character sweats slightly different.
The final character roster for Dead or Alive 6 has not been revealed yet, but Shimbori is planning to include further familiar fighters as well as some brand-new characters. Past entries have included guest characters from other series such as Virtua Fighter and The King of Fighters, and Shimbori says the team might consider something similar this time around, but that they plan to start the game with a pure Dead or Alive cast.
With a new, more mature image and a more accessible approach to its gameplay, Dead or Alive 6 seems like it could mark a new beginning for the series. Only time will tell if it is suitable as an esports title, but for now Team Ninja wants to focus on delivering an enjoyable fighting game for everyone, and continue supporting it with updates long after launch. Hayashi believes that rather than trying to organize tournaments before DOA6 is even released, Team Ninja should focus on delivering the best game they can, and see how the community reacts to that. While Dead or Alive 5 Last Round is confirmed for a side tournament at EVO this August, Shimbori revealed to us the team is considering making DOA6 playable by attendees at that event, so hopefully we won’t have to wait long to see the fans’ reaction.
At the very least, Hayashi passing the torch to a fighting-game fanatic like Shimbori – who seems to see an almost evangelical mission in reaching a broader audience – sounds like a clever decision, and it will be interesting to see what kind of punch Dead or Alive 6 will pack when it is released next year.
Esra Krabbe is an editor at IGN JAPAN. He lives in Tokyo, but does not know any ninjas.