DOA Ultimate: Latest Screens & Details

A barrage of unbelievable new screens reveal the most exquisite looking fighter ever, as DOA Online gets a name change. New details inside!

Tecmo has announced that the U.S. version of Dead or Alive Online will be called Dead or Alive Ultimate - this is currently the final name for the online-enabled DOA1&2 combo, which was also briefly known as DOA Ultimate Collection Vol 1.

You should know by now that Dead or Alive Ultimate comprises of the Saturn version of DOA1 (and unfortunately not its superior Sega Model 2 arcade board original) along with Dreamcast DOA2, which has been souped up with Xbox DOA3-standard graphics. New costumes, stages, CG sequences and a trading card feature will all be included on the two-disc bundle, and most importantly, it will all be playable online for the first time in any 3D brawler.

Meanwhile in Europe, a recent Microsoft announcement revealed that, as with all major Tecmo titles on Xbox to date, both DOA Ultimate and Ninja Gaiden will get the firstparty-published treatment in Europe. However, release dates are likely to lag some way behind the US and Japan.

Tecmo, Inc told us that Ninja Gaiden is confirmed for a Feb 26 release in Japan, with a mid-February date also confirmed for the US. DOA Ultimate will hit both territories in March. But in Europe, Microsoft told us the games are slated for "late in this calendar half", which we'd translate roughly as "May". The name change to DOA Ultimate has yet to be confirmed in Europe also.

Regardless, both titles are among the most exciting reasons to own an Xbox right now. With under two months to go until DOA Ultimate hits the shelves, it's time for another round of awesome hi-res screenshots. And don't forget to click related articles for videos you might have missed!

Dead or Alive: The Movie is in production and will be hitting theatres around the same time as Dead or Alive 4, the next true game in the series that promises to expand the formula further with more environment interactivity and a larger playing scale. A sequel to Xtreme Beach Volleyball was also mentioned recently by Tecmo's Itagaki-san, who also said that the enigmatic Dead or Alive: Code Cronus will not be a fighting game or a volleyball game - but something entirely new. Stay tuned.

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com

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