Last weekend there was a casual tournament for Dead or Alive 6 at Couch Warriors Crossup in Melbourne, Australia. This preview was informative, but also our first glimpse of what competitive DOA6 could be like. The DOA6 demo provided runs on the same build shown at DOA Festival, so you will see improvements to the stage design and more Bass gameplay, who has hardly been seen since his reveal.
Considering this was a preview event, the matches were really good for the time these fighters had with DOA6. Some players do not like the Break Blow and Hold mechanics, but these players showed how imperative they are to creating a more seamless experience. When you combine these factors with the improved animation, you have an absolutely stunning game that defines what an e-sport title should be for competitive players and spectators alike.
Competitive player, @Berzerk! has posted all kinds of new moves, lists and changes to his YouTube channel as an extension of content to the recorded casual matches at Couch Warriors. Team NINJA gave these players an opportunity to show the world DOA6, and they did an impeccable job of managing their time experimenting with different characters. You can also read a followup report by Berzerk! in the forum with even more interesting system findings!
He confirms in his video that Bass has a brand new hit throw (input is 44P*T) which gives the champion more variety to his move pool. If you watch the Bass matches provided you will notice his high damage output through strikes and counter throws, plus a brand new launch throw. Specifically watching Bass in this casual fight with Mila displays significant improvement to the hit detection of his moves in DOA5 from the start of the match.
Helena players might be excited by her new sidestep from the Bokuho stance! The command for this move is 2P+K, and according to Berzerk it evades the initial frame of an attack. If you do not perfect the timing for this sidestep, you will be punished for it as shown in the video.
If you're studying the Christie matchup for DOA6, you can check out her current move list, and Berzerk displays a few new move videos for your observation. In the first video we see that Christie has a punch and kick option out of her 7K backflip. So not only can she keep people away with initial move, but she can dive in with the punch and transition to a different side with the kick option.
In the second video you will see that she has an extension to her BT launcher that allows her to keep her opponent in the air for an extended amount of time. Judging by these early matches, one may assume that Christie will still be an extremely effective character for tournament play. She has damaging moves, she's one of the fastest characters in the game, and now has even more ways to keep her damage going.
While we are on the topics of heights and launchers, let's pay close attention to his video featuring Hitomi. As he says "Launch height depends on the launcher in DOA6." He demonstrates the same combo from different launchers, and shows that you can get a follow up from a bound attack after a combo. Bezerk also wants players to understand the difference in damage between Hitomi's 236P and the Break Blow as the follow ups.
Bezerk also added a video that details some of Diego's current safe moves and some fuzzy guarding techniques from them. Diego has a few awesome guard breaks and moves that allow him to escape throws and mid attacks. Beyond these specific topics, you might see Diego perform a move or two you haven't seen in this footage.
A few days passed before Berzerk uploaded a new video of Tina fighting Diego at the 'Forbidden Fortune' stage. Not a lot of moves outside of her DOA5 list are discovered in this casual fight, but there are some remedies for that. Tina enthusiasts will be happy to know that her classic 4K, KP, 66K, PP string and 6PP moves have returned to her arsenal.
Though the information on Tina is sparse, there are some new moves displayed outside of Tina's rump-thrusting break blow. She has a new high elbow attack that can hit and extend even when your opponent is close to the ground, and a new stomp type move when her opponent is on the ground. Both of these attack could play out interestingly when you factor in how many ground options Tina has.
Berzerk also uses his main character, Leifang to illustrate pieces of DOA6s system changes with the DOA Festival build. He shows that the ground game is still being debated at Team NINJA since it is currently incomplete and can go on forever. Though the bounds mechanic sees more completion as it adds more variety and options to the gameplay.
Even if this wasn't a major tournament, a lot of new material was discovered from the demo that wasn't seen at DOA Festival. If you watched everything you might have noticed that the ash and dirt from the explosions on 'Road Rage' sticks to the fighters, and their clothing will tear as well. Team NINJA is applying a coat of polish to an already attractive DOA6 and we will continue to keep you updated on everything at FSD, even through the holiday season!
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