Free Step Dodge

Because of the pandemic fighting game communities have been resorting to online competition while we wait for our respective areas to open up again. Thanks to the efforts of @VigilantSeaGull & FSD you can spectate Dead or Alive 6 competition now at the official FSD Twitch channel. You can contribute to the growing prize pot via Matcherino. Commentary is provided by the hype machine, Megaphone Franke & veteran player, Seres Borne.

This 'stress test' is a first attempt at delivering competitive 'Stay at Home' online tournaments for Dead or Alive 6. While there have been some technical issues, the overall layout & presentation of this event has been great. The commentary is engaging, matches are fun to watch and Free Step Dodge's Twitch channel continues to evolve with a better look catered to players of Dead or Alive. This FREE entry...

Zakkurye has hosted his first Royal Summit FT10 series debuting the event for Dead or Alive 5: Last Round with XcaliburBladeZ & MCD as the two featured competitors. BladeZ has touted a vicious persona lately through social media calling players out and is truly playing the part of being a cocky prize fighter. MCD wanted to prove that he had the best Jann Lee but perhaps now is not the time as BladeZ answered the call and dominated most of this set.

If you think you are good enough to be featured in this FT10 Royal Summit series please contact Zakkurye for a chance to compete. There were a lot of spectators for the debut and the event was complemented with great commentary.


Episode 2 was released last week and features more matches in...

While heavies have largely been nerfed for Dead or Alive 6 they still encapsulate most of the elements that make DOA great to begin with. Their incredible animation & move variety, staggering throw damage, gameplay options and tactics make them must watch characters at tournaments - especially since most DOA players prioritize speed-based characters into their respective game. A new member at FSD by the name of @cotrienla has shared his Bass Wall Game discoveries in a comprehensive guide that will give you an idea of how much Bass can do to his foes on various walls in the game.


New members of FSD are encouraged to report their unique character findings in the character forums. We provide a sub-forum for every official character in Dead or Alive 6 so please continue sharing and studying from the safety and convenience of your...

Verison 1.22 is expected to be the last update for Dead or Alive 6 and with it came a few inevitable send-off DLCs and a couple bug fixes before hanging up the vanilla version of the game. Thankfully 1.22 fixed Tamaki's 4 H+K to now be holdable and Tamaki's ban has been removed from Free Step Dodge's DOA Tournament Suggested Rulings. Please show your support for FSD and Tamaki by purchasing our beautiful new shirt from the FSD shop.

Tamaki was actually incarcerated (and not for public intoxication surprisingly) with two separate charges of bans that would have prevented her from entering at Final Round 2020 & April Annihilation. These counts are: The Two Week Character Release Limit and Unholdable...

Koei Tecmo recently came out on social media with a press release stating that the company would be donating 100 million Yen to Yokohama city in Japan to provide medical support amid the COVID-19 pandemic. With everything going on in the world this year it's both positive & refreshing to see generosity and humanity take the forefront for a change. Koei Tecmo's first step is to provide 6,000 high performance masks.

Official Tweet

Matt Ponton has really gone out of his way to express why the PC version of Dead or Alive 6 is the dominant version and the way to play this game. He shows his dedication by not only trucking gaming PCs to offline tournaments but by also adding additional tools to your FSD matchmaking experience. The best way to enjoy Dead or Alive 6 at the end of the day is by involving yourself with the community, and you're going to maximize your potential by having an account at FSD and being involved here.

More and more players are switching to PC because the graphics are better and the game runs optimally unlike base systems which are several frames behind. This is not only unfair to the players of DOA, but a year later this issue has not been fixed and likely will not be. Even if DOA6 is not in the best position right now, we intend to honor the people that do play DOA6 with our regular tournament reports & news updates and with new features like this Steam support.

You can...

Tamaki released March 9th and despite being out for almost a month hardly any online tutorials are available for the new character. Force of Nature breaks the mold with a YouTube guide that is over twenty minutes long and successfully highlights all of the basic & advance fundamentals of Tamaki. With this guide as a companion you will no doubt be ahead of the curve just by following along and applying what Force of Nature has to say.

Force of Nature & Emperor Cow have created some of the best gameplay online video content for Dead or Alive 6 since release and have showed a steady commitment to the community for a number of years. Force of Nature backs up what he says with solid offline presence and...

Game Industry. Biz met up with Koei Tecmo's CEO to discuss expansion, what's trending in the business industry of games & their recent success in the market. Hisashi Koinuma states that the conglomerate found global interest by focusing on their own Japanese identity when they have in fact been focusing on that specific subject for well over thirty years. Koei Tecmo fails to bring up the words 'Team NINJA' a single time in their ode to the golden brick road despite Team NINJA doing almost all of the work to give them this kind of "global success" to begin with.

I meet Koei Tecmo CEO Hisashi Koinuma on a day that's something of a quiet milestone for his company. Years of growth -- mostly organic, aside from Koei's acquisition of Tecmo a decade ago -- has seen Koei overspill its distinctive headquarters buildings in Hiyoshi, a university suburb in the commuter belt sandwiched...

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Final Round 2020 would have been one of the largest tournaments of the year for Dead or Alive 6, but unfortunately Tamaki will not be able to make her offline debut at FR because of the 2 week rule and the event has been canceled due to the disturbing & life-changing Coronavirus outbreak. Sadly, April Anhihilation is also being canceled due to the virus that has killed thousands of people since the beginning of the year. While it may sting that this virus has caused so much damage it is a good thing that the tournament organizers are looking out for the health of the players.

Remember to wash your hands and stay safe, community!

Team NINJA released their Version 1.21 update on the 10th of March and it is scheduled to release in two different parts. Version 1.21 will roll out with Tamaki's debut to Dead or Alive 6, the Design Contest Winner Outfit DLC & bug fixes. Version 1.21a is expected to release sometime after the original patch to address the hair rental service debacle that has now gone on for almost two weeks. Team NINJA has since apologized for the perpetual loop of hair color micro-transactions and hopes Tamaki will be the remedy players are looking for while they scout a fair fix...

UPDATE 3/6/2020: Team NINJA tweeted an official apology to the fighters and stated that they were working on a better alternative to distribute hair colors. So players are encouraged to not purchase anymore colors until the issue has been rectified. The big hope is that players are able to use their perpetual pile of in-game currency to purchase & swap hair colors.

UPDATE 3/1/2020: While we wait for an official response from Koei Tecmo the mainstream press has started dismantling the "bizarre" business practices of the company. YouTuber, YongYea and Kotaku have...

Free Step Dodge commits itself first to the players of Dead or Alive, and since the controversial launch of version 1.20 we have made it a top priority to let Koei Tecmo know that these 'hair rental' & DLC business practices are unacceptable and that enough is enough. The mainstream press is hearing the community and responding to KT with questions and concerns of their own! Keep in mind that Free Step Dodge will still cover the offline players that make DOA what it is today and our latest post supports the efforts made by the community at Reversal in Philadelphia.

It's sort of hysterical that the mainstream media is covering this as most of them are not fighting game fans, certainly not players of the often times underrated Dead or...

This year Dead or Alive 6 is a featured game at Reversal in Philadelphia and Top 4 is being streamed for this minor, but intimate offline event. Jager returned after last week's Winter Brawl to put on another proven Rig showcase that ultimately won him the grand final against FSD's own, Matt Ponton. This short & sweet tournament featured high quality matches that are definitely worth your time to observe. Now that Reversal has concluded the complete Top 4 VOD is available at NerdStGamers Twitch channel!


Jager has a very solid Phase 4 with excellent fundamentals and a great pocket character if he wants to withdrawal from using Rig. Matt Ponton hits like a truck with both Mai & Bass, but he struggles to read everything against this tantalizing Kasumi clone. Ponton was able to defeat Jager in...

It's time for the Dead or Alive community to bear arms against Koei-Tecmo for the absurd implementation of leasing hair colors through exchange of REAL money through the currency of 'Premium Tickets' exclusively on the PlayStation 4 console. As it stands thousands of people have expressed their disdain for the hair renting feature and with very little care or concern from Koei Tecmo games. Today we have received an extremely deceitful ticket response to a customer from Koei Tecmo games and it appears that KT gives not one damn about the feedback they have received.

If you decide to continue reading this story. You will be disturbed. You will see Koei Tecmo for who they really are. Hell you might even cry.

For this particular situation DO NOT blame Team NINJA or Master. With the proof we have now this is definitely the doing of the big wigs at Koei Tecmo games, and their response was to undermine the customer's intelligence and play stupid with the situation assuming...

The new Venus Vacation character for Dead or Alive 6 has been revealed to be Tamaki today during a developer stream for DOAX:VV. This is interesting news for the community whether you are a fan of the volleyball game or not considering players could be introduced to a completely new fighting style or a returning move set mapped to this new character. A commentary for the reveal stream is available at Free Step Dodge's YouTube, but with no gameplay to be shown there was very little to talk about outside of Tamaki being invited to Dead or Alive 6.

1.20 has launched with much controversy surrounding the infinite micro-transaction loop of changing the color of your character's hair-style, so a solid reveal of this character may not fix every salty heart, but it could be a...

Before Dead or Alive 6 there was Dead or Alive 5, Ultimate & Last Round and within a year people were showcasing the game offline with thunderous applause from the community and complementary winks from other communities that never considered trying DOA thanks to new creative combat intertwined with strategical elements to stages and their respective Danger Zones that the FGC had never seen before.

Some of the best characters to demonstrate the innovative features of DOA5 were Gen Fu & Ryu Hayabusa that could both send their opponents into intoxicating blenders through careful planning and prior lab training. Regardless if you thought these characters were fair or not, fighters Sweet Revenge & Master successfully discovered the perfect opportunities to maximize their damage and because of this delivered some of the finest matches this community has ever seen.

In a recent Emery Reigns video, he discussed what could make DOA6 better and that maybe the community needs...

Jager was able to secure his second Winter Brawl tournament win in a row at the 3D Edition of this staple Dead or Alive major. He took most of his opponents on a wild ride through the "Rig Cyclone" that is nearly impossible to escape at his level of play. This list of opponents included major players such as Lord Xavier, a fighter that has been on a rabid war path, fresh off his win at NEC 20 with Hitomi. Feel free to pursue our report here at FSD and check out the bracket at Smash.GG to complete your experience with this event. VOD Replay coming soon!


Brackets C1 & C2 play out while Dead or Alive spectators at Kombat Network wait for the Mortal Kombat 11 tournament to conclude. Jager...

With a plethora of balance adjustments, ground game changes & character tweaks, Version 1.19 is easily Team NINJA's biggest update for Dead or Alive 6 yet as made evident by the tantalizing patch notes. The trend of releasing 'Revival' outfit packs continues with the 'Chinese Dresses' from Dead or Alive 5. The DOA community has taken firm passes on most recent updates to the game, but version 1.19 has fighters back in the lab looking for all of the new character possibilities before the exciting release of the new Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation character.

Version 1.19 doesn't just make big game changes, but also fixes a slew of mistakes and bugs including: displayed values to moves, missing moves &...

While Team NINJA is making big moves to bring their casual fan-base to Dead or Alive 6, it's important to remember that there is a list of possible characters that could return in the future. The most requested of past characters now that Momiji & Rachel have been released is Leon, and there are many logical reasons to deduct that he would be the best choice of the bunch even if it would be nice to see them all return. By simply applying the process of elimination to the remaining outcasts of DOA we can all see this become fact by the end of this post - and agree that Leon still has a place in this fighter.

Dead or Alive expects competitive players to be familiar with how the environment works, and how utilizing it well presents you with rewarding and satisfying damage. Can you name a character other than maybe Hayabusa that does this better than Leon? Taking Leon out of this game further cripples the lineup of heavy characters considering both Bayman & Bass are...

Before Dead or Alive 6 was released, Team NINJA seemed pretty confident when they stated that a Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation character would not make an appearance in the 3D fighter, but with the rising success of Venus Vacation it comes as no surprise that our favorite developer would recant their statements in favor of expanding their DOA6 player base to a new audience this March. This surprise character is a part of the Season 4 Pass, and can be purchased in several different skews if the SPs are not your forte. With this story we explore why Team NINJA recanted their official statements that could result in being one of their biggest & best business decisions in years for the fighting series.

Contrary to popular belief, Team NINJA has definitely toned the sexual nature down as they have promised for the 3D fighter. Rachel's Fiend skin was controversially censored, there is an option to censor select oufits, and even their offering of bikinis are...

This video is meant to showcase what Momiji is capable of in DOA6 (Ver. 1.18). Combos marked with a yellow star cannot be avoided with fastest hold. Combos marked with a red star cannot be avoided even with fastest low hold.

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