Free Step Dodge

In less than three days we will be moving on to our next NEC tournament by Big E. This is a MAJOR DOA tournament staple, where great fights ensue, and also where legends are made. It was two years ago that XcaliburBladeZ emerged with a victory over Shade using his Alpha-152, a character that was said to be horrible in vanilla by Dr. Dogg. Oh, how we've changed as a community since the release of DOA5. We play smarter. We play better!

All of your NEC XV questions can be answered in our exclusive Big E thread to figure out your registration, your schedule and pool assignment.

Stream Information for Spectators:

Semis Saturday 7-10 PM EST
Bifuteki

Finals Sunday 12-3 PM EST
Kick-Punch-Block

Pointed out to us by @grap3fruitman and posted on popular gaming forum NeoGAF, Tomonobu Itagaki, our long-favorite and past DOA producer, had some recent words to share in regards to his thoughts on the current state of DOA and what he thinks of Team Ninja in their current state.

Let's just say, he didn't really have anythinig quite nice to say about DOA: Dimensions.

Here's what Itagaki had to say:

There are a couple points that we do seem to disagree on though, "user X".
You say that DOA5 was the start of the problems (or nightmare?), but I think it started with DOAimensions. I could sense it just minutes after turning the power on, and I immediately had to turn it off. Combos aren’t something that you do with a touch panel.

Click to expand...

There is not an official publication of this discussion. The NeoGAF poster reports that this came from a...

Update: Trailer has been released!


Famitsu has announced that one of the two new characters is the Dead or Alive boss Raidou. He has been altered for his appearance in Last Round. His body has been augmented to cybernetic technology. He's not the same ninja he used to be, but Raidou displays a big build, electric moves and a cyborg body. If you thought he looked evil before... just look at him now. A menacing face, a darker tone, and the cyborg attributes really add an even scarier aspect to the Dead or Alive boss.

His story is as follows:

After being killed by an explosion during the First
Dead or Alive Tournament, Raidou was pieced back together,
outfitted with cybernetic parts, and brought back to life by
Donovan. As a side effect he has lost all memories of his past,
and retains only his natural lust for power.

Fighting Style:
Raidou's fighting style is Mugen Tenshin Ninjutsu at its core,
but he builds upon this with techniques he has...

Click to expand...

Congratulations go out to E-Mann for winning Absolute Battle 5! Not only was this a clutch tournament, but there was more emerging talent on live stream from Reaper's deceptive Brad Wong to T-Boy's well calculated Ein.

E-Mann didn't have an easy time getting his tournament victory as taking out Sweet Revenge and Master in one tournament is an enormous accomplishment within this community; and largely unheard of. You can check out the complete bracket on Challonge.

VentureBeat's games-focused channel GamesBeat has just posted the second part of an interview involving Team NINJA Creative Director Tom Lee, Director Yohei Shimbori, and Producer Yosuke Hayashi. We get a really solid discussion on game balance from Shimbori-san, Tom goes into the games portrayal of women and even GamerGate (in a truly eloquent way, no less), and Hayashi even drops a bit about the long-in-development Ni-Oh. I'll let you guys click through to the two-part interview below and then discuss in the comments.

Part 1
Part 2

(2025 News Archive Update) This tournament got very little promotion or updates, so I removed all of the text that was available and found the actual footage for the Grand Final. You can find all of the matches at Salty Mayhem's Official YouTube Channel individually. Thanks for tuning in and please do enjoy this tournament if you haven't seen it before; or if you just want to take a trip with your nostalgia glasses on!

If you've been playing Dead or Alive 5: Ultimate through the Core Fighters iteration, you might be interested to know that Hitomi is now a free character TO KEEP for a limited time. Core Fighters has offered various character trials since release, but now they offer you the free gift of Hitomi.

Keep playing, guys! Hitomi is a great character for beginners because of her tools and simple button inputs, but within her simplicity is a steep learning curve for competitive play.

Master is streaming tomorrow night. Though some of the contents of this stream are not known; it's going to be big. Master has high hopes that the DOA community will get involved with his stream and will post their feedback on how they feel about whatever he discusses with the community as he plays.

In return, it's likely you will learn a lot. During his last stream, he went back to Dead or Alive 2: Ultimate and showed us what's now missing from those games as they have aged, but he also showed us things that our new installment doesn't have. A history lesson to show us where we are and where we belong as a community.

Follow Master on Twitch for updates on when he will stream next. It's valuable to know if you are a PlayStation or XBOX player. If you get the buzz on one of his streams, it's likely you will have a chance at fighting him to learn valuable tech through a painful beating. You don't need to be a premium...

TFC was one hell of a fight for everyone involved, but at the end of it all everyone had a great time. I spoke with the top three to get their insight on not just the tournament, but what these normally quiet dudes think of the game and where it's at now.

DOAN: Now that you are TFC champion, what are you plans for the future, and where do you plan to go with DOA on a competitive level now that you have proven so much?

Kwiggle: When it comes to future goals, I'm still a college student so I'm working on graduating. Just one more year and I'll have my bachelors, I am definitely still going to be playing DOA competitively. I love the game and the friends I've made through it, and I will be looking forward to LR and any future DOA games.

DOAN: I watched Sonic Fox try to hand his controller to XcaliburBladeZ during the contest on stream, was this a mind game, or was this Xcal complaining about his controller?

Sonic Fox: Oh, I was just letting him...

The battles were vicious, and it was back-to-back. Both wins and losses on both our part, he took the last one, so we all had to bounce... it was fun at Next Level. We will all play again! - Destruction Bomb

Click to expand...

The New York Scene continues to grow and continues to highlight some incredible high-level play for the community, this time around featuring Akira mirrors, with two of the best Akira players.

If you live in New York and have the desire to be involved with the offline community, please take a look at the New York page here on FSD.

This is it, this is the news that we've been waiting for. In a recent press release, Team NINJA has announced that Dead Or Alive 5 Last Round will be hitting western shores 2 whole days before Japan on February 17, 2015.

For PlayStation 4 and XBox One, the game will be available as both a physical disc as well as a digital download for $39.99. For those still on PlayStation 3 and XBox 360 however, Last Round will be available only as a digital download for $29.99.

Both PlayStation 4 and XBox One will also be recieving free-to-play versions of the game. On PlayStation 4, Dead Or Alive 5 Last Round CORE FIGHTERS will be available free of charge. This version will allow access to Ayane, Kasumi, Ryu Hayabusa and Hayate as well as almost every game mode. Players on XBox One on the other hand will have access to a free trial version with the same features at the PS4 version of CORE FIGHTERS. In addition to this, they can also purchase the XBox One Core Fighters package for $4.99...

Shortly after 2015 begins, we will have the last game in the DOA5 series: Last Round. We already know there will be at least two characters (1 male and 1 female), but what other content will Last Round add to the XBOX ONE and PlayStation 4 editions?

F2P seems to be the new go-to marketing scheme for fighting games, and Dead or Alive 5: Last Round brings this element back to not only the PS4, but the XBONE as well. It is not known if the PS3 or 360 versions will include this mode (which are digital only, by the way).

PS4 will have an "Ultimate Edition" but the contents of the package are yet to be revealed. One would assume that the XBONE version would have this version as well, because it's actually packaged, and the PS3 version isn't, but given Team NINJA's relationship with Sony, we should just wait for more information regarding this packaging and content. One could also assume this may be a Japanese only exclusive.

Newest female character will be the...

UPDATE: We have officially received word that Team NINJA will be adding additional funds to the prize pool for NEC and also contributing money directly to Katsu as well. Please see the below statement and continue to donate and share the fundraiser with the community and your friends!

Team NINJA proudly supports Big E Gaming by matching Matt Ponton/FSD contribution of $500 towards the DOA5U tournament at NEC, bringing the total pot bonus up to $1000. In addition, Team NINJA is donating $500 to help out with medical expenses for one of their most dedicated supporters in the community, Katsu Hayami. DOA Fighters, please join Team NINJA by helping out one of our own who is in need. See you at NEC!

Click to expand...

Original article: As members of FreeStepDodge, we are all a part of a larger community. Through tournaments, online and offline play, character discussion, strategizing, and just chatting with our friends, we have grown and strengthened that community over the...

Today, Eric @BigE Gaming Small released the first trailer of North East Championship 15. The event is happening on December 5th to the 7th. In the trailer it is revealed that the tournament will be another free entry tournament.

The tournament will also have a $500 pot bonus. The trailer mentions it's a sponsorship by myself, but really it's from the donations given to Free Step Dodge. Your donations to this website have a higher probability of being used not only for this site, but for the community itself. The more donations the site gets, the more community support it can provide.

Note that even though the DOA5U tournament entry is free, you still have to pay for admission to the venue with the following fees;

Online Venue Registration: $30 till oct 1st than it will go up to $35

At The Door Venue Registration: $50?

Spectator Fee: $20

Click to expand...

NEC 15 will be taking place in Philadelphia, PA from December 5th to December 7th. More...

Things didn't start well for Mr. Kwiggle as his younger brother Sonic Fox took him out two matches straight knocking him into loser's bracket. Meanwhile XcaliburBladeZ managed to beat Master in winner's bracket dropping Master down to the loser bracket, and after that set he defeated Sonic Fox as well solidifying his position in the final. Gehaktbal managed to get a big win on the Tengu specialist, Ninja CW and Lopedo knocked Perfect Legend...

Today we witnessed a turn of events that nobody saw coming, Ninja CW defeated Sweet Revenge and Hajin - dropping two players that were expected to be seen in Top 8 using Nyo-Tengu. Kwiggles and Sonic Fox tore apart all the high-level play that came their way (as many expected) heading Christie, Marie Rose and Rachel. XcaliburBladeZ decimated the competition with his incredible Alpha-152 against the diverse... but masked Hoodless. It looks like he's making the comeback required to be back on top of the scene.

Master came in and tore the house down beating out some of the best in clutch sets, and among the best... well how about the "best in the world" Lopedo? These two clearly have a rivalry that is unparalleled in the DOA universe and competed in intense rounds with impeccable reads, combos and guarantees. Master lost to Lopedo last year, and this year he's looking to knock him off the throne to capture the...

For those who sadly won't be in attendance to participate in one of the biggest Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate tournaments of the year, The Fall Classic will be streaming much of the tournament matches this weekend. However, for those who were able to make the event, they will be given the opportunity to try out a demo of Dead or Alive 5 Last Round on PlayStation 4. Be sure to keep checking social media and Free Step Dodge for people posting their thoughts of the game and the tournament throughout the weekend. There's even a Tournament discussion chatroom available at the bottom left of your browser window (Mobile users please use this Mobile Version).

• 2:00 - 8:00 PM - Emergency on-site registration for venue and/or game entry.
• 7:00 - 11:00 PM - Dead or Alive 5 Last Round demo will be playable...

Tournament players, stream monsters, and casual fans, we are one week away from the largest Dead or Alive event of the year. The main event for tournament players will undoubtedly be the singles tournament itself with $8,000 guaranteed to top six on top of the pool. For everyone else, we will also be getting hands on time with the current build of Dead or Alive 5 Last Round on the current generation consoles. There will also be other things going on so keep your eyes and ears peeled to the profile pages, Twitter accounts, and Facebook pages of players in attendance!

This is also a reminder to players intending on being there to get your pre-registration in! The more players we have pre-registered the easier it will be to set up the brackets and get things moving. On-site registration happens to be cheaper so there's no real reason not to. There's also no reason to get long winded here, so hit the links below for more information or to head to the pre-registration site...

There will be a live streamed DOA5U tournament this Saturday, September 27th. The tournament is set to take place in San Jose, California. There will be a 5 fighting game lineup for the event with DOA getting top stream coverage. The tournament stream is scheduled to start around 2pm Pacific Standard Time. Watch the live stream of the event at Twitch.TV/CPSIV or by clicking this. Scroll down for a preview and more info regarding the event. Those attending the event will have the chance to win DLC content courtesy of event sponsor, Team Ninja.

EVENT LINEUP
Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate (XBOX) *casual stream starts at 12pm **tournament stream starts at 2pm
Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (PS3)
Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late (PS3)
Ultra Street Fighter 4 (XBOX) *stream starts at 6pm
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 (XBOX)

STREAM INFO
TWITCH.TV/CPSIV

For those...

Kwiggle has already secured a paid trip to TFC but still took 1st place at GUTS 3. Sonic Fox also won a sponsored placement for TFC taking second place at this featured tournament. Thank you (to the now defunct) Pwnit! for sponsoring our players while being financially involved with the Dead or Alive community in other faucets and tournaments!

(2025 News Archive Update) After over a decade, the Top 8 broadcast has finally been posted here at Free Step Dodge. My apologies on missing this one. I believe that NYC Furby had a tendency to export tournament replays from Twitch late and somehow GUTS 3 slipped through the cracks!

On the latest episode of @MASTER's stream he decides to venture off to PSN where different challenges await him.

This time around he attempted to overcome several Virtua Fighter characters from @DestructionBomb and @Codemaster92163. If you haven't seen a great Pai yet, it's highly suggested that you give this two hour stream a view. What would Hayabusa do?