Opinion: Dead or Alive 5 has not only proven to be a long lasting offline tournament game, but it's also contributed to breaking a curse of bad cross-overs. Sure we have seen some good ones over the years, but largely it's a topic in games that is not in our control to the slightest as it's a big business decision to even entertain the idea in the first place so just getting the exact crossover you want for your game can be incredibly rare.
We have seen the lamest cross-overs you could ever hope for such as: Yoda, Darth Vader, Kratos... Hello Kitty and Sonic... Mario in a NBA game. These have little meaning to me, but DOA5 has Virtua Fighter guest characters. Virtua Fighter inspired Dead or Alive's existence so it can be seen as a truly beautiful thing that these games exist within another now. The Virtua Fighter characters are well done additions to do the DOA cast, not just pointless throw-ins that get banned or can't compete.
The trend of great cross-overs continues with Mai from the Fatal Fury and King of Fighters games. We have seen more of her recently, and she looks to blend in right away with the DOA universe with her flashy and impressive move set to her stunning design. The Mai and Kasumi matchup is one I believe people have wanted to see for a long time, and maybe the tier list in DOA5 will be able to settle it once and for all.
It's also great to see the diversity of DOA5's roster. We have unique DLC characters that are great and still being studied today, we have four of the most popular Virtua Fighter characters, Akira being used by a world champion offline... and now Team NINJA is bringing in a character from one of the best 2D fighting series. It would be a real treat to get input from the King of Fighters community and to see them at offline events despite the gameplay differences. Mai has her own new forum at FSD to discuss her gameplay, and also displays our current observations based on what we have been given.
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