Dead or Alive 2

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Description

The arcade conversion adds an improved tag feature, with new stadiums to fight in, new character moves to play with, and plenty of windows, walls and ledges to fall over and crash through. Unlike Tekken Tag Tournament, however, DOA2 also includes a single player mode, a dodge button (allowing you to move left and right away from attacks), and multi-level arenas.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Alternate Titles

• "生或死2" -- Chinese spelling (simplified)
• "DOA 2: Hardcore" -- US PS2 title
• "Dead or Alive 2" -- UK/Japanese PS2 title

Part of the Following Groups

• Dead or Alive series
• Launch title: PlayStation 2 (North America)
• PlayStation 2 Platinum Range releases

User Reviews

I'm in love with the Tecmo girls!	PlayStation 2	Kartanym (12718)
Dead or Alive 3 is better, but this game is still a fantastic experience!	PlayStation 2	Jim Fun (243)

Critic Reviews

CyberGames	Dreamcast	Mar 29, 2000	9.9 out of 10	99
Jeuxvideo.com	Dreamcast	Jul 31, 2000	19 out of 20	95
Gamer's Pulse	PlayStation 2	Jan 02, 2001	91 out of 100	91
GameSpot	Dreamcast	Mar 16, 2000	9.1 out of 10	91
Game industry News (GiN)	Dreamcast	2000		90
IGN	PlayStation 2	Oct 24, 2000	8.7 out of 10	87
Game Revolution	PlayStation 2	Dec, 2000	B+	83
Joypad	Dreamcast	Sep, 2000	8 out of 10	80
Gameplanet	Dreamcast	Sep 10, 2000		80
PlayFrance	PlayStation 2	Apr 08, 2003	7.5 out of 10	75

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Trivia

Extras

Dreamcast GD-ROM contains Bonus directory with five swimwear pin-up posters featuring the DOA girls. These are standard BMP images which you can read with your computer and use as desktop wallpaper for example.

Hidden intro

The Dreamcast versions of the game include a hidden intro for Kasumi that shows her naked in a cloning vat. Additionally as this is an engine-based cutscene you can hack the console with a Game Shark and use the naked model in-game.

References

Once again, Ryu Hayabusa from Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden series makes an appearance. This time, one of his bonus costumes is the outfit he wore in the old NES game trilogy.

Sex

This game shamelessly used as marketing a plug it's lineup of female fighters both before and after it's release with a series of..uhm..."suggestive" official swimsuit images released before the game, and the inclusion of, among other things, catwoman suits and schoolgirl uniforms as bonus outfits in the PS2 release.

Shadow Man

The European Dreamcast version has a Shadow Man costume for the character Zack, since it was released by Acclaim, the publisher and developer of Shadow Man.

Interestingly enough, all following versions of DOA2 (such as Hardcore or the upgraded version on DOA Ultimate) still feature Zack's Shadow Man costume, despite the fact that Acclaim wasn't involved in any of them.

Version differences

The only real difference between this version and its others is the lighting effects. In the PS2 version, the lighting was very bright and made it kind of hard to see. In fact, there have been some reports of people having eye problems from the lighting.

There are six versions of Dead or Alive 2 so far: First came the original Dreamcast port which was pretty much a carbon-copy port of the original arcade release, then the PS2 port which added a few extras but had some graphical issues. The lighting was very bright and made it kind of hard to see. In fact, there have been some reports of people having eye problems from the lighting. An expanded Dreamcast port then followed which included all of the extras from the PS2 version which was then followed with the "Hardcore" release that fixed most of the graphic glitches and added tons of extra material. Finally, even more stuff (such as conceptual galleries and story events) was added for the Japanese "Hardcore" release.

The sixth and final version is the X-box remake Dead or Alive Ultimate, which uses Xtreme Beach Volleyball's engine and adds even more stuff as well as online play.

Information also contributed by karttu, M4R14N0, NightKid32 and Zovni

Related Web Sites

• Dead or Alive 2 Website (DOA2 website as part of Sony Europe.)
• Official Tecmo DOA 2 page (Tecmo's product page for DOA 2, including character profiles & moves and a downloadable PDF manual so you can keep your original in mint condition.)
• Official Tecmo page for PS2 DOA 2 Hardcore (Tecmo's product page for DOA 2 Hardcore, including character profiles & moves, tips & tricks, and a downloadable PDF manual so you can keep your original in mint condition.)