So as a guy who loves fighting games I figured that I would take about one of my favorites in the genera. Dead or Alive was release in 1996 by Tecmo and became a huge success. This was mainly due to graphical upgrades done at the time as well as the feature of attractive female fighters. Over time, the series would go on to be pretty iconic. I've decided to review all of the games in the series and hopefully just keep it in this thread alone.

DOA 1:

Graphics: Graphically I have to say that the game hasn't aged the best for me. Don't get me wrong for 1996, the game looks incredible but by todays standards there is a lot to be desired. So you may not be too impressed with this game unless you remember that time like I did. A time when blocky, ugly fighting games were considered cutting edge. That being said, character models look pretty nice. Backgrounds are just stock paintings but that was to be expected for this time. So is it amazing? No...but it's not bad either.

Sound design: Much like the graphics, you have to look at this through the lens of 1996. It get's the job done with it's 90's synth rock music but it's missing some things that other fighting games have. Most evident to me is that they recorded voice work for attacking characters but no grunts for those being attacked. It's stupid and picky I know but games like Tekken didn't have this issue.

Gameplay: If you've never played DOA before you might have a good time with this one. It's easy to pick up and play and it doesn't require too much memorization unlike a lot of other games at that time....If you've been playing the later games however this will be a hard one to go back too. It's missing a lot of combos that we all know and love. Causing some serious balance problems. Aside from gameplay there are a few modes here. Practice, vs and arcade are all pretty standard but the one that stuck out to me was Kumite mode...which is basically just survival mode but nonstop. I didn't care for it but I'm sure there was an audience for it at the time.

Overall:

What you have here works, is it amazing? No. but It is a very solid game. The future games certainlly get more interesting and fun so I'm looking forward to reviewing the whole series.

I have a video version of this review that goes into a little more detail. Without spamming, this is literally just ment to give a video version of the review for those looking for more detail.

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