Dead or Alive Hits Tyler's Da List

August 17th, 2002

It's not just about the tits. The tits are a nice bonus, sure, but they aren't the only reason I rate Dead Or Alive above Tekken or Virtua Fighter (please keep in mind that I haven't yet played Tekken 4 or Virtua Fighter 4). There's also panties. That's a joke (sort of). The real reason I like DOA so much is simple: reversals and throws. I know both Tekken and VF have reversals too, I just think that DOA does them best.

You see... I'm a throw whore. I love throwing people. It's my Achilles heel. I've lost countless matches because I try to end them with a throw. My friends know and exploit this fact. I've played a lot of crappy fighting games for much longer than they deserved simply because they had one or two characters with cool throws. Crap. I've forgotten the name of the game I am about to talk about, but it was by Criterion for the N64 (two words you almost never here in association with good fighting games. The character was a black space ranger with a laser rifle. His throw consisted of sticking the (long and sharp) muzzle of his gun into the gut of his opponent, hoisting said opponent into the air and then pulling the trigger sending them flying. Fantastic throw. Crap game.

So yeah, I likes me the throws. IMHO, DOA has the best looking throws, every character has a wide variety of cool looking throws and the throws are intuitive to do. This is where DOA hands Tekken a whuppin'. I don't use King in Tekken. King is Tekken's "Mr. Grapple" but I don't use him. Why? Because no throw should involve over 20 button presses. Tekken pisses me off in that respect. But I'm not here to bury Tekken, I'm here to praise Dead Or Alive.

Almost all the throws look painful too. No lame hiptosses here. Here you'll find neck wrecking limb wrenching throws. And the reversals keep the pain coming. Do you go for the high kick, knowing that you risk getting your knee crushed? Or getting slammed into a wall? I may not use Bass all that much but his low kick counter simply owns. Again, I know that other fighting games have counters and reversals, but DOA does it best. Doesn't' get much easier than back and grapple. Admittedly, the damage caused by reversals is a little high, but that's only an issue when you're losing.

Just because it's easy to play, that doesn't make it shallow. It just need to be played slightly differently. Some people say it encourages turtling, makes people defensive bitches. So what if it does? If someone gets that way, just throw them. See? That's why I love these games. They encourage and reward throwing. That and the tits.

- Tyler