Free Step Dodge

After a huge fifth anniversary event in 2013, BATTLE ARENA MELBOURNE is back on MAY 9-11, 2014!

The annual Major celebrates the Australian fighting game scene, providing a national platform for players across the country to come together and compete. We welcome new players and spectators to our amazing community.

As always there will be plenty of free-play and casual setups for players looking for practice or just for fun outside the tournament action. Of course, players will be hungry for glory and one of the iconic BAM boxing glove trophies

DOA5 IS A FEATURED TOURNAMENT - SHOW YOUR SUPPORT AND JOIN IN!

The Australian scene's strongest players will converge at this event. If you want to connect with more Australian players, we've been working hard to represent the game at regular events and you can find out more on this thread: http://freestepdodge.com/threads/aussie-players-report-in.1778/

Here is last...

You can finally start voting for your favorite costumes in the art contest, but there are a few rules from Team NINJA that you should follow to make sure your vote doesn't get disqualified:

1. You have up to three votes for each part/album:

2. You can vote only once for one character. So, you can't vote for three Ayane outfits.

3. No bad-mouthing designs. This contest is designed to rep your favorites, so stick to that and leave your negative thoughts to yourself.

4. The deadline is May 6th in your time-zones. That gives you a week to vote.

Have fun, everyone! Be sure to share your favorites in the comment box. Some of my favorites include Rainbow Alpha, Bass w/ Championship Belt, and the Banana Akira... made by none other than our long-time community member, Brute!

It seems like the New York scene is beginning to take off nicely with gatherings and discussion between members on when to meet. If you are residing in New York, why not stop by one of the gatherings or let the community know you're interested? Visit the New York discussion, and/or give a shoutout to @DestructionBomb, @shurf, @Dr Snipe, @splslick


There are plenty of benefits to playing offline as displayed in these videos. It's fun, you can share your character information and improve while having a good time with the community. Also, you get the chance to perform in 100% legitimate matches that cannot be provided in the online portion of our game.


A lot of people unfortunately don't have a scene at all in their community, but the New York group is rising, and a lot of gatherings are growing...

Some breaking news posted by Eric "Big E" Small, CEO of @BigE Gaming, on Facebook:

"Is DOA5U Dead? Team NINJA Says “Alive!”

Team NINJA just announced their “Road to TFC” tour to create hype leading up to the most anticipated DOA5U tournament of 2014, The Fall Classic. Last year’s DOA5U tournament at TFC displayed some of the most exciting DOA5U gameplay and this year will be no exception.

The Road to TFC kicks off with 2 qualifier tournaments leading up to the main event in October. The 1st and 2nd place finishers at DOA In Dallas 10 (hosted by Master) and Summer Jam 8 (hosted by Big E Gaming) will be sent to TFC 2014 to compete. All travel, lodging (shared room) and registration fees will be covered by Team NINJA. If you’re a DOA5U player or looking for a new 3D fighting game to pick up, then this is the perfect reason to sharpen your skills."

Based off our turnout last year, it's...

This is the 10th year in a row i have helped host DOA In Dallas for the community. The team that brings this together has done it for the community during hard times and good times. Since the beginning of competition in DOA back in DOA2U and DOA3 all the way through DOA4, DOAD and DOA5(U). This year we hope to continue to bring lots of FUN and HARD competition to this event and maybe find some new stars in the community trying to make a name for themselves. See if you can be a part of the longest running DOA competition in the WORLD!

This year, like in a few previous years, we will be at the longest running ANIME convention in the USA called A-Kon. The Tournament will be hosted on June 7th in the gaming ball room which is a huge 16,000 sq. ft. of space for all kinds of general gaming fun...

Mark Macklin, also known as, Hoodless within the Dead or Alive community has an offline tournament dream of attending an overseas tournament, much like Sweet Revenge. He’s working towards his goal and is also receiving some donations to help him get there to represent our game. We talked RoF among other things on Facebook and I learned some interesting things about this stellar, offline player.

DOAN: How long have you been a part of the DOA community?

Hoodless: Haha… I’ve been playing Dead or Alive since I was 11. So, 10 long years.


You have a lot of good moments in the offline scene, but which would be your favorite?

My favorite moment would have to be at Season Beatings Ascension. I was playing against Dr. Dogg. This was a funny moment for me because I had...

Earlier this year, it was made pretty clear that Koei Tecmo will develop games on PlayStation 4, a lot of speculation was made that they could go exclusive to that platform. Now, with the XBOX ONE releasing in Japan later this year, we can rest that speculation a little because Koei Tecmo is registered to develop games on the console.

Here is a list for your reference:

2K Games
Access Games
Acquire
Arc System Works
Artdink
Atlus
Bandai Namco Games
Bandai Namco Studio
Bethesda Softworks
BusinessPartner
Capcom
Cave
Codemasters
Cute
CyberConnect2
CyberStep
D3 Publisher
Electronic Arts
Experience
From Software
G.rev
Genki
Grounding
GungHo Online Entertainment
Hamster
Integrow
Kadokawa Games
Klon
Konami
Land Ho
Level-5
Mages
Marvelous AQL
Moss
Nippon Ichi Software
Sega
Silicion Studio
SNK Playmore
Spike Chunsoft
Square Enix
Take-Two Interactive
Tango Gameworks
Tecmo Koei
Triangle Service
Ubisoft
Warner...

We've heard a lot of things about Japanese players in the community without really playing them, and the stuff said has been somewhat of a mixed bag. Recently a player from the fighting game community took a trip to Japan to see for himself, and he came back with constructive things to say.

The player learned that Japanese players are patient and enjoy helping one another with their game. It becomes a more social activity instead of a weird solo performance of practicing tech and withholding it for yourself in your bedroom.

"When I spent time [in Japan], they told me about how they train. It's very different from rest of world. I think that's why they have an advantage. They train (hundreds of fights), take a break/eat, then go at it again. And they help each other."

A lot of people comment on the size of...

Team NINJA has posted the Top 16 to their Official Tournament on FSD's YouTube. They are now also available on our media page. Check out the videos to see some good character diversity along with some nice gameplay from the Japanese competitors:





We also have Top 32 available located on our tournament page. While it may be 2025 now, at the time this story was written we had nearly 400 videos in our Dead or Alive 5 tournament section. It's growing and is the best possible source for DOA tournament spectating.

Very soon you can expect some more international news, and more tournament videos, so keep visiting Free Step Dodge regularly.

With several Koei Tecmo games coming out on PC shortly after Yaiba's Steam release, the company has made a point to see how many of their players are actually interested in seeing more of their games on the PC platform via their Facebook page.

Would you like to see a port or new Dead or Alive title on PC? Maybe Ninja Gaiden 4? Feel free to discuss the pros and cons to bringing more Koei Tecmo games to the PC market.

I think this could be valuable to a lot of players that either don't play on consoles or are looking for a new way to play the long running fighter on PC. It would certainly create a bigger audience despite their being less players on PC; especially for 3D fighting games.

There are also perverted nude mod possibilities that would inevitably be battled by a fair share of the community, and possibly even the developers. What do you think?

(2025 NEWS ARCHIVE...

If you enjoy studying/entertaining yourself with competitive Dead or Alive 5: Ultimate matches, it is highly recommended you check out the FT3 matches available within Free Step Dodge's Media Section.


Member, Sly Bass came up with the idea and says this is a way to highlight other player's abilities within the community, and I believe he has made a nice series that doesn't stretch for too long (like a FT10) but provides a great 8-12 minutes of awesome matches.

If you think you stand a chance against his famed Akira Yuki, perhaps you should consider sending a challenge his way. You can challenge him or watch the whole series by perusing his thread. If you're interested in giving this man a challenge, remember that all matches will be uploaded no matter how bad or good you did. FSD will see the original source material with a few nice production values thrown in.

Enjoy the...

So not only do we have a couple batches of Team NINJA's Official Tournament Videos, but we have Top 8 from Final Round XVII as well uploaded to our tournament page after weeks of waiting. You can finally view Top 8 on YouTube since Twitch deletes replays. Here are some samples of the action:

Recently, a few community members have expressed interest in a European tournament called RoF 3. Hoodless is one of those guys:

"Hi, everybody! I am Hoodless aka Mark Macklin. It has always been a dream to attend a tournament overseas and compete with the best players in Europe. Meeting the french scene and learning from them will be a great experience. It will probably be the only chance for me to go to Paris, and to enjoy the fighter I like to play. I'll be grateful with anything that you donate. The Tournament is: Republic of Fighters 3, May 16-18."


Hoodless surprised us all at TFC with his incredible Rig. He managed to defeat Emann in a set, and he continued to deliver clutch matches the entire time he played. Because of his determination, knowledge and skill set, the community should consider helping him out with his aspirations.

UPDATE: See the embedded image below for Team NINJA's response to hanging issues and a community-provided workaround as an alternative to the original export option.

Community, the English patch notes for version 1.05 have been released. Follow the link below for the full list, but I've included an important note regarding the patch from Team NINJA as well as the general system changes.

"This version contains mostly bug fixes and minor balance changes, without any general overarching goal. Based on comments from players, we took a look at the play style of each character and adjusted specific points which we felt were too strong or weak."

• Data added for new character Marie Rose. (Playable after an unlock key is purchased)

• New stage Lorelei added.

• 19 titles added for Marie Rose.

• 3 victory movies and 1 defeat movie added for Marie Rose.

• "Bloody Nocturne" and "Blood Tie ～DOA5 Ultimate mix～"...

As many of you are no doubt aware, the 1.05 patch, Marie Rose, her costumes, and the compatibility pack are available on PSN. Some of you may also have seen Marie Rose up on Xbox Live. You can purchase her individually now on both platforms for $5.99 USD (or her and her costumes for $12.99) however she is not yet playable on Xbox 360. The 1.05 patch is not slated to roll out until tomorrow on the platform and, until that time, Marie Rose will be unavailable on the character select screen. If you do choose to purchase her you are effectively preloading and nothing more.

Additionally, if you choose to purchase any of her costumes on either platform, remember to download the new compatibility pack. Without this download, you cannot see any of her costumes even if purchased.

Happy lab time, FSD!

Thanks to Brute for the reminder on the bundle pricing.

For those of you needing to wait for your Marie Rose fix (Xbox players and busy people), head over to Gill Hustle's stream to watch some gameplay right now!

Those of you with a PS3 and an internet connection can now manually search for Marie Rose on the PSN under Add-ons.

http://www.twitch.tv/ugslive

The North American Dead or Alive community has raised the $300 necessary to bring our player, Sweet Revenge to another country for the biggest European DOA event of the year... RoF III (May 17th & 18th). Congratulations, Sweet Revenge. Free Step Dodge was cheering USA all the way as Sweet Revenge dominated the competition! Looking back at this memory in 2025 brings a tear of joy to my eye that we were able to do as much as we did all by ourselves as a spectacular community that ran almost exclusively on a grass roots system.

Team NINJA has CONFIRMED on their Twitter that more characters are definitely in the works. A big portion of the community has recommended that Team NINJA should add Tengu, and perhaps he is in the works thanks to all the Project Revival studs out there.

However, Tengu is still not confirmed so we can expect a handful of different characters such as: Yaiba, Raidou, Genra, Miss Monday (please no) or Irene. Who are you representing?

(2025 News Archive Update: We did get an updated Tengu in the form of Nyo-Tengu who is now one of Team NINJA's most popular characters!)

From European Tournament Organizer, @K4arma

You may have already saw it, @SweetRevenge plans to come to France to attend the Republic of Fighters tournament (May 17 & 18). I do believe that it’s a great opportunity for the worldwide DOA community to finally meet and fight. That would be the ultimate US vs Europe offline clash. I think everyone can expect that kind of confrontation and knowledge to share.

In order to make it easier for him to come, we’re implementing a donation campaign to fund part of his trip. The French community responded very well to our call. We have already gathered a lot of money, and are now only short of 300 USD.

So we decided to appeal to US players’ generosity and ask them a bit of support on this. Sweet Revenge has created a GoFundMe page in order to reach his goal!


This definitely encourages positivity towards our tournament scene...

Sweet Revenge has done it again with his fourth consecutive tournament win utilizing his main Genfu. We also got to see some tournament regulars compete in some great matches. You can watch the Grand Final at this Front-Page News Post and go to FunkyP's Official YouTube channel from here to watch the rest of Final Round XVII's preserved matches! There isn't a single VOD that has the entire tournament zipped so you will have to watch each preserved tournament fight.

If you've checked up on the tournament section recently you will have noticed there are quite a few events coming up within the next couple months such as Final Round XVII in Georgia, Texas Bar Fights XIV in Texas (duh), and Top of the Food Chain 7 in Virginia. For the west coast residents, there are two fighting game events, DOA included, taking place in Northern California. 1 local tournament and 1 major tournament.

The first upcoming event is BEST of the Battle V on March 22nd in San Jose, California. The second event is NorCal Regionals 2014 starting on April 18th in Sacramento, California. If you live in Cali be sure...