Fighting Games Friday: Dead or Alive 6’s Fanservice Reduction

When Dead or Alive 6 was revealed shortly before E3, there were several remarks about how similar it looked to Dead or Alive 5 and its enhanced iterations. It looks a little prettier, with the backgrounds being more visually impressive and more interactive. The character models are also more detailed, and contain improved facial animation. But it’s tough to blame anyone who came away with that initial impression since it’s keeping the same core action and animation system, and is using character models based on the admittedly-impressive versions from the last game. They already looked good for Team Ninja’s budget, so they can’t afford to discard them.

The impression has started to shift now that info and showcases for its new gameplay features have been provided, which show how they’re following in the footsteps of other fighting game developers in making their title more welcoming to novices. The reveal of a new character is also making it look more like a new game.

There’s another way in which Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo want to attract a larger audience: By toning down the fanservice. The DoA series has been one of the top fanservice fighters since it emerged on the scene. The PSOne port of the first game, for instance included a boob slider in which the player could increase or decrease the intensity of the boob bouncing. Cranking it up to the highest intensity would have them bouncing like water balloons, which looked as goofy as it sounds. The female characters also received far more wardrobe options than their male counterparts. Future games toned down the bouncing and number of outfits, but still contained an overwhelming amount of fanservice compared to other fighting games.

This also isn’t getting into the Dead or Alive Xtreme volleyball spinoff games, whose intention is to offer more titillation, free of the constraints of a fighting game with a moderate learning curve.

Now, the developers want to change that, to welcome in an audience larger than the otaku one they currently have. This can already be seen in the version currently shown. In previous DoA titles, Kasumi wore a blue dress that exposed her cleavage, thighs, and panties, despite being under 18 for several installments. (Her age was listed as “unknown” in the western versions of those games for good reason, and rival Ayane was given the same treatment.) This time, she’s wearing a black ninja bodysuit for her default outfit, reminiscent of her Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge threads. It’s also similar to Ayane’s default DoA5 outfit, which she’ll likely retain for DoA6. But also like Ayane in the last game, chances are Kasumi will have her old outfit as another option.

The current footage also shows how the breast bouncing has been reduced, though there’s no way to tell if more options will be available.

Note that “toning down the fanservice” doesn’t mean they’re removing it entirely. The only other female character shown thus far is Helena, who wears a dress with her thighs and cleavage exposed for her default outfit. The next characters revealed will be Hitomi and Lei-Fang, both teased as part of the string of announcements from Evo 2018. Neither of their default outfits were too scantily clad in previous installments, though it doesn’t appear the latter character is wearing the trademark Chinese dress she’s worn as her default since Dead or Alive 2. But it’s also possible the silhouette is misleading.

We’re on the internet, so of course plenty of people mad about this. Most of them are the same who were upset when Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 was passed over for a localization, and blamed so-called “Social Justice Warriors” for it, even though they couldn’t have cared less. They may not even be DoA fans. You can find them using the #NotMyDoA hashtag on various social media platforms.

But there’s also a chance they’re having panic attacks for no reason, and that Team Ninja could go back on this promise. DoA5 was previously promoted as a serious fighting game, with the intention of luring in the Fighting Game Community at large. It attracted some of them, but not large-enough numbers for Koei Tecmo to be impressed in terms of profits, which is why they started appealing to the otaku audience instead. Over time, a dizzying array of DLC outfits were added to the game, which assuredly made quite a bit of money for the company. This was followed with more blatant fanservice characters like Marie Rose (who’s allegedly 18) and Honoka.

DoA6 will fall back in with the old and (mostly?) faithful otaku audience if their plans to expand the audience don’t come to pass. Hopefully it does, though, since it would be nice for the series to be taken seriously in the tournament scene at large. It’s also incredible to realize there are no options for 3D technical fighting games outside Bandai Namco’s offerings (Tekken and Soulcalibur) these days. The game is due for a release in early 2019 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC; look forward to Team Ninja revealing more characters soon, starting with Hitomi and Lei-Fang.

P.S. You pervs can always get your fix with SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, if you so desire a horny fighting game. The game will release three weeks from today.