History VideoGame / DeadOrAlive

** The female fighters in the series fit this to a T. They are featured so prominently throughout the main series and the male-less ''Xtreme'' spin-off that some people are ''surprised'' to learn that ''Dead or Alive'' ''actually has male characters''.

** Bass and Zack are clearly based on Wrestling/HulkHogan and Dennis Rodman, respectively. Why a basketball player is the basis for a character in a fighting game is a good question that can only be assumed was because Rodman's antics in the 90's were that out there.

* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Pretty much the entire cast seeing as how they can take on ''Ninja Gaiden'' tier super ninjas. Jann Lee gets special mention for punching out a T-Rex ''onscreen''.

* DarkIsNotEvil: Mainly the ninja cast of characters (the good ones), especially in ''Dead or Alive 5''. While the bad guys [[LightIsNotGood Victor Donovan and Christie are dressed in white]], Kasumi, Ayane, Hayate and Hayabusa are all dressed in black. Ayane has also used her favorite/iconic dark purple.

** The original ''Dead or Alive'' featured ring outs and limited 3D movement. The edge of the ring would explode if you landed on it but otherwise the game was a very different beast from what followed. The rest of the series takes place in very real world-esque environments full of obstacles and uneven surfaces (there are walls and you can be knocked off of areas into lower areas, so no ring outs). Tina is a brunette and her voice was also much deeper than the games that followed; this is due to TheOtherDarrin. Also, it only takes a few hits to defeat your opponent, sometimes as few as four. Certain attacks can suck ''half'' your life bar in one hit. And, the breast bouncing was even more exaggerated than in subsequent games, not following any real world physics and just bobbing up and down for seconds after movement. Finally, there are no specific character endings; it just has your character's win pose [[AWinnerIsYou followed by the credits roll.]]

* GratuitousNinja: [[TheHero Kasumi?]] Ayane? [[VideoGame/NinjaGaiden Ryu?]] [[AloofBigBrother Hayate?]] Hell yeah this fits.
* GuestFighter: Nicole, a female [[Franchise/{{Halo}} Spartan]] soldier, is playable in ''Dead or Alive 4'' and ''Virtua Fighter''s Akira Yuki, Pai Chan, and Sarah Bryant joined the fray in ''5''. ''5: Ultimate'' adds Sarah's brother, Jacky Bryant, and ''5: Last Round'' adds Naotora Ii from ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors'' and Mai Shiranui from ''VideoGame/FatalFury''/''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters''. Mai returns in ''6'' (making her one of the only examples in fighting games of a guest character returning between installments) and is joined by Kula Diamond.

* HealthyGreenHarmfulRed: ''Dead or Alive 1'', ''2'' and ''[[VideoGame/DeadOrAlive5 Ultimate]]'' have green health bars. When a character takes damage, a portion of their health bar turns red before fading away.

* HoaxHogan: Bass Armstrong is a big pro wrestler who is very famous in-universe and has a daughter, Tina, who inherited his wrestling skills, being mostly his participations in Dead or Alive tournaments a way to stop her from her desires in every tournament. Bass is a clear expy to Hulk Hogan in much of aspects, especially that he mimics the Hollywood Hogan persona. Tina also seems based on Hogan's daughter Brooke, but it's more a coincidence than a real expy.

** Bass and Zack are clearly based on Wrestling/HulkHogan and Dennis Rodman, respectively. Why a basketball player is the basis for a character in a fighting game is a good question, [[FridgeBrilliance until you remember that Rodman was a professional wrestler for a brief period.]]

* ArmorIsUseless: Some of the characters have costumes with varous degree of armoring. This has absolutely no effect on their durability. Taken to a ridiculous degree in ''5'', with the addition of a GuestFighter [[VideoGame/{{Halo}} Space Marine]] in full PowerArmor. It gives her absolutely no more protection than the stripperific outfits of some of the other characters.

** ''[[VideoGame/DeadOrAlive5 DOA 5: Last Round]]'' upped the ante with a plethora of [[BarelyThereSwimwear risque]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9dvqPxGiME swimsuit DLC]], such as the "Aloha Set" which was offered as an incentive for pre-ordering the game.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Because the English translation romanized the names directly from the Japanese, a few of the names weren't translated properly from the original language; most notable are the Chinese names, which can be back-translated from the original characters. Using the Yale translation, Lei Fang should be Li Feng, Gen Fu should be Yuan Fu, and Brad Wong should be Brad Wang.
* SpiceUpTheSubtitles: Before ''Dimensions'' and the 5th main title in the series all non-Japanese speaking fans had [[NoDubForYou were subtitles to understand what the characters were saying]], and these translations were heavily localized, ranging from the english text being a mere different reading of what the characters were saying to some other lines being almost completely different, as in it made some characters sound more rude and aggressive than they really were.

** Even moreso, Marie Rose and Honoka. Both are popular in Japan, not so much in the West, but that's OK... On the other hand, if ''Dead or Alive'' is collaborating with something else, you know who tends to accompany [[TheHero Kasumi]] for representation? Not Ayane, not Hayabusa. It's those two. For the record, they're side characters for the overall conflict of ''Dead or Alive'' or even Kasumi's personal struggles herself, not deuteragonist and tritagonist, and as far as seniority/legacy goes... they're fairly new.

** Marie Rose, an eighteen-year-old Swedish lolita, was created specifically to spite Swedish distributors for refusing to release the games in Sweden in the wake of a child pornography scandal.

** Elliot from his past appearances to ''DOA 5'', where he goes from a pretty able but doubtful guy to a confident, stonger fighter who is about to learn the final stage of his training.

* {{Combos}}: Juggle combos are present but on the ground, you need to be a little more wary than most fighting games due to Holds that can be done during a string of attacks.

->-'''Dead or Alive 3''' "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jfzh2s3jlE She Kicks High]]" commercial

'''Gamer 1:''' (nervous, interrupted by gameplay footage) [[IReadItForTheArticles Well, I - I only play it for the]] ''fighting''. I appreciate the expansive... multi-tier environments, the 16 characters with the... the pixel shaded bump-mapping... ('''Gamer 2''' giggles.) and the rich plot development. Seriously, [[BlatantLies why else would I play it]]? ({{Beat}})\\
'''Gamer 2:''' [[MemeticMutation She kicks high.]]\\

Though sometimes shortened to ''DOA'', the game franchise is not at ''all'' to be confused with the FilmNoir ''Film/{{DOA}}'' (which is quite lacking in mostly visible breasts in comparison). For the viewer's inconvenience, the 2006 [[TheMovie film adaptation]] of the games is titled ''Film/DOADeadOrAlive'', instead. The franchise is also not to be confused with [[Music/DeadOrAlive the '80s group]] of the same name, who performed the "[[OneHitWonder You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)]]". Additional things that the franchise should not be confused with can be found on Main/DeadOrAlive.

Though sometimes shortened to ''DOA'', the game franchise is not at ''all'' to be confused with the FilmNoir ''Film/{{DOA}}'' (which is quite lacking in mostly visible breasts in comparison). For the viewer's inconvenience, the 2006 [[TheMovie film adaptation]] of the games is titled ''Film/DOADeadOrAlive'', instead. The franchise is also not to be confused with [[Music/DeadOrAlive the '80s group]] of the same name, who performed the [[MemeticMutation memelicious]] "[[OneHitWonder You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)]]". Additional things that the franchise should not be confused with can be found on Main/DeadOrAlive.

* ''Dead or Alive'' (1996 - Arcade, UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn, UsefulNotes/PlayStation [Remake])

* ''Dead or Alive 2'' (1999 - Arcade), (2000 - [[UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast Dreamcast]], UsefulNotes/PlayStation2)

** ''[=DOA2=]: Hardcore'' (2000 - UsefulNotes/PlayStation2)
* ''Dead or Alive 3'' (2001 - UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}})

* ''Dead or Alive 4'' (2005 - UsefulNotes/{{Xbox 360}})
* ''Dead or Alive: Dimensions'' (2011 - UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS)
* ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive5'' (2012 - UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation 3}}, Xbox 360)
** ''Dead or Alive 5+'' (2013 - UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation Vita}})

** ''Dead or Alive 5: Last Round'' (2015 - PC, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, Xbox 360, [=PlayStation=] 3)

* ''Dead or Alive Paradise'' (2010 - UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation Portable}})

** ''Dead or Alive Xtreme 3: Scarlet'' (2019 - [=PlayStation=] 4, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch)

** The UsefulNotes/PlayStation version of the original ''Dead or Alive'' contained nothing resembling a story. Not in the game, anyway. The backstory is told through rather tiny text written on the outer edges of the pages over the course of the entire instruction manual insert in the jewel case.

** And now ''[[UpdatedReRelease Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate]]'' for the UsefulNotes/Playstation3 directly takes after ''Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2'' once you activate the "OMG" option in the "Breast Motion" settings. While in-game after selecting any female character, just jiggle the controller and gaze at the results.

** Fans remember the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jfzh2s3jlE "she kicks high"]] advertising campaign, which was used to promote it coming to UsefulNotes/XBox, along with both the ''[[HotterAndSexier "Xtreme Beach Volleyball"]]'' spin-offs.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Played straight in the first four titles, but averted in ''Dead or Alive 5'', where everyone becomes relatively dirty and grimy by the time the fight's over and stays that way for the rest of the match; of course, the player can turn that detail off in the options.

* {{Eagleland}}: Tina and Bass (a mixture of both types). [[strike: Possibly]] Probably Zack too.

%%* TheOjou: Helena.
%%* OldMaster: Gen Fu.

** Played straight with [[EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench Helena]], [[FemmeFatale Christie]], [[GorgeousGaijin Tina]] and Lisa. With their rather mature looks and personalities, you’d think they’d be in their late 30s… but they’re all only in their 20s, with the “youngest” being Helena at 23 and Christie being the “oldest” at 26 (this also makes her the oldest female character in the series, not counting [[{{Really700YearsOld}} Nyotengu]]). [[{{AmazonianBeauty}} Rachel]] could also be included here, but since her age is unknown, there is a possibility that she’s probably as old as she looks.

After the fights, the women tend to [[GoKartingWithBowser get together and play beach volleyball]] in a spinoff series called "''Dead or Alive: {{Xtreme|KoolLetterz}}''". Starting from ''Xtreme 2'', there are also other activities like jet skiing in addition to the volleyball component.

Though sometimes shortened to ''DOA'', not at ''all'' to be confused with the FilmNoir ''Film/{{DOA}}'' (which is quite lacking in mostly visible breasts in comparison). For the viewer's inconvenience, the 2006 [[TheMovie film adaptation]] of the games is titled ''Film/DOADeadOrAlive'', instead. The franchise is also not to be confused with [[Music/DeadOrAlive the '80s group]] of the same name, who performed the [[MemeticMutation memelicious]] "[[OneHitWonder You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)]]". Additional things that the franchise should not be confused with can be found on Main/DeadOrAlive.

Though sometimes shortened to ''DOA'', not at ''all'' to be confused with the FilmNoir ''Film/{{DOA}}'' (which is quite lacking in mostly visible breasts in comparison). Additional things that this should not be confused with can be found on Main/DeadOrAlive. For the viewer's inconvenience, the 2006 [[TheMovie film adaptation]] of the games is titled ''Film/DOADeadOrAlive'', instead. Also, the franchise should ''never'' be confused with [[Music/DeadOrAlive the '80s group]] of the same name, who performed the [[MemeticMutation memelicious]] "[[OneHitWonder You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)]]".

!![[CatchPhrase Get ready, tropes!]]

** This is taken to extreme levels with characters like [=NiCO=], where she's ''4'8" and weighs 90 pounds''. [[note]]142 cm and 41 kilograms[[/note]] Even most of the other girls outweigh her by at least 15 pounds - in reality, parts of her would have to be scraped off of the ground in a fight against someone who is of equal skill when they outweigh were by 20 pounds.

** Played straight with [[{{EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench}} Helena]], [[{{FemmeFatale}} Christie]], [[{{GorgeousGaijin}} Tina]] and Lisa. With their rather mature looks and personalities, you’d think they’d be in their late 30s… but they’re all only in their 20s, with the “youngest” being Helena at 23 and Christie being the “oldest” at 26 (this also makes her the oldest female character in the series, not counting [[{{Really700YearsOld}} Nyotengu]]). [[{{AmazonianBeauty}} Rachel]] could also be included here, but since her age is unknown, there is a possibility that she’s probably as old as she looks.

* BoobsOfSteel:
** Even by ''Dead or Alive'' standards, Tina's boobs are huge and she's also physically the strongest girl in the game.
** ''DOA 5 Ultimate'' gives us [[VideoGame/NinjaGaiden Rachel]], who's not only strong canon-wise, but is also arguably one of the best characters in the game.
** ''Last Round'' brings a new champion with Honoka, who not only has the biggest chest in the cast, but her fight style is very based on physical strength, [[MusclesAreMeaningless despite her slender figure]].

* GiantWaistRibbon: Ayane, a.k.a. "The Giftwrapped Ninja".