Happy Tenth Anniversary Dead or Alive 3.1!

Matt Ponton

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It was ten years ago that Dead or Alive 3 was released in Japan for Microsoft's Xbox videogame system. The title went on to be the top selling title for the Xbox in Japan and had a small offline tournament scene in the United States for awhile. Here's to a game that still looks amazing for being ten years old, even when compared to some of the 720p games of this generation.

The title featured major system changes from the game that was released with the same name three months earlier in the North American market. This included more characters receiving frame disadvantage changes, move property changes, stage design changes, a freestep system change, and various additional costumes not seen in the American version.

Considered by many of the community to be the most competitive form of the Dead or Alive series, it has led to a push by Team NINJA to restore many of its features into the upcoming Dead or Alive 5. The title was released in Europe shortly after with a few minor tweaks in regard to move properties, frame disadvantage, and freestep system changes. At the time, Dead or Alive 3 was played by countries such as Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, France, and the United States. Unfortunately, many of the tournament videos that were released at the time are now lost due to the age of the internet and the old DOA competitive site getting hit by a worm virus.

So here's to Dead or Alive 3, a title that I could still find myself playing endlessly to this day. Post below your stories about the game.

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The original Japanese DOA3 cover art
 

Matt Ponton

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doa3.jpg

Personally I always preferred this pre-order boxart over the original American/European boxart
 

Berzerk!

Well-Known Member
I played very little of DOA1 due to lack of opportunity, but played tons of DOA2 first on arcade then endlessly on Dreamcast, and DOA3 continued a "first to 10" rivalry with myself and my best friend.

The smoothness of DOA3 is impressive, even if a little strangely offputting at first as the sense of impact from sound effects and animations is slightly changed from DOA2, making it feel a little more subtle in some ways, but more spectacular in others when you take into account the amazing environments of 3.

As for it being 10 years, its even more amazing that its been over 6 years since DOA4... it's truly been a long wait between drinks.

Being in a PAL region, my copy of DOA3 is ver 3.2? I might fire it up tonight (it's backwards compatible) on 360 to show some appreciation.
 

Allan Paris

Well-Known Member
I've only played this game when I traveled to Philadelphia and in Dallas. Just played casual matches, which were very fun to play. The first time I ever played was with Sorwah and that's when I learned that Bass is not worthless character.

Haven't played since last year in June. With Sorwah and Virutapai, oh yeah Raansu played a few with me as well, I think.
 

Talim JP

Leifang practitioner
Premium Donor
Hi all!

Played DOA3 back in the dayz.

Back on DOA after Namco decided to not put Talim in SCV.
 
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