If you met me 20 years ago, Dead or Alive would have been my fighting game of choice. Dead or Alive 2, in particular, especially when it was rereleased on Xbox, literally consumed much of my life. By the time the fourth iteration came out, the one I actually played online, I was a pretty solid SPARTAN-458 main. Oh, to be young and still have a G4 Tech TV that actually had video gaming on it… And still existed. This was my game for years, and then, right around when Itagaki left, I fell off hard. The ironic part is, ask me now, and I will tell you Team Ninja is in my top five studios, just read my world-famous Rise of Ronin review. There was this brief period, it looked like the team might be left in his shadow, even with the cool sweat mechanic of Dead or Alive 5.
I played Dead or Alive 6 for a hot minute back when it released in 2019, when the title released but by that point, I was pretty heavy on Tekken, with a little Street Fighter mixed in because my friends played that. With EVO 2026 set to come right after this review’s release, I would also be remiss to point out that by this point (the franchise always featured hyper sexuality), it was pretty content being the black sheep of the bigger-name fighting games. It did not really have a big presence in those events, which was another reason I gravitated towards these other series.
Returning to the series I grew up with and genuinely taking the time to dig in, I will say that the reasons I actually loved the franchise remain in place. Starting with the actual combat, which is more combo-based than other fighting games. This is to say that in what is primarily a two-button system (one for punching and the other for kicking), you can quickly flow between the two and find almost immediately connecting moves into cohesive strings. Even the harder techniques, like the ninja warping, are easy to mix in, even without an understanding of how you have. This may lead you to think button-mashing is the way to play, and you can, but I find this design encourages learning the mechanics further, as a high-tier string vs. a low-tier combo is night and day.
This said, the game does use the full controller, or fight pad, as I was using. There are a few combinations of the traditional punch and kick, as well as throws, and quick to pick up and diversify play. This is where the risk and reward system comes in, as the game can often play out at a fast pace, and you need to decide whether you are going to turn defense into offense or just go for it. Certain characters also have twists on how they perform these other moves, such as Bass and Tina having multiple grab combos, so there is depth of flavor in all elements. You also have power moves available, though they felt slightly less obvious in terms of realizing they exist.
The franchise also continues to have one of the more accessible training options, which is probably why I hate that it dropped off as a competitive scene. Going into the free fight training options allows you to display almost every frame counter you could want to know what you are doing. In particular, these help learning the slightly different fighting style of the game, which I guess is called the Tringle System, which in part works similarly to a game of Janken. Of course, being fast-paced and user-friendly was part of the reason it saw a decline on the world stage. I maintain it is still much more fun than watching the Fox mains parry for 2 minutes in Super Smash Bros. Being casual-friendly and easy to pick up has always been a plus in my book, and it remains challenging to master.
Besides just having a training function, there is also the DOA Quest feature that ties itself into the tutorials and is a fun way to sort of learn the ropes. You do a fight with a fixed character and need to complete three pretty basic tasks to gain coins. These tasks ranged from winning in a set amount of time to performing a set move twice. Upon failing one, you can jump right into the tutorial to explain it, which helps deepen understanding. The biggest issue here, though, is that the two often don’t translate the way they should.
I was doing the second or third quest in which you play as Lei Fang, and needed to punish a sidestep three times. Could not land them right and kept coming up just short. The tutorial explains the button combo specifically designed for this challenge, but in that tutorial, you play as Bayman. Lei Fang is a faster fighter than Bayman, but this move in particular involved lifting her leg and kicking down while Bayman did a swift jab. The timing was way off, so I still couldn’t complete the challenge until I switched to a low version of the same button, which was a few frames faster. These are obviously things you learn as you go in your fighting game, but I typically see training tasks like this where you get a specific character that actually hurts your learning, as you then need to switch to figure out the character you want to or are using.
Stage design also remains a high point of the experience, even if you are mostly fighting in 3D arenas, as one might expect. Dead or Alive is THE 3D fighter, as even Tekken plays on a plane that allows for movement along the X and Y axis. Here, though, you pretty much start moving around and throwing everybody every which way that you can and want to. This is combined with many fun hazards, like punching somebody straight into a car only for it to explode and send them flying up into a crate, then back down in front of you. You can stage a transition also by saying punching somebody off a roof and right down through the scaffolding. There are even weirder ones like… And this isn’t a joke… Punching somebody into a giant egg, which hatches a Pterodactylus, which then lifts them and drops them so you can get some juggling action in.
The arguably weakest point of the entire experience, though, is the story mode, which is there. Fighting games, especially ones as long-running as this, typically tend to have nonsensical narratives, but here the isn’t the only issue. For starters, it is disjointed with very little consistency, which, besides the fact that the narrative jumps around, makes it hard to follow. Multiple stories are playing out congruently, but even along one track, often ludicrous with dialogue that is all over the place. I would single out instances, but it really is the whole thing. This can be fun, sometimes, but here, not really.
This is worsened by the fact that the cutscenes look bad, and I mean bad for 2019. Characters have static faces that don’t move with lips that often don’t sync with the dialogue in English. Not to mention the voice work is at best bland. There is also this filter over the entire thing that makes it all look muddy. What this all makes me miss is the arcade endings of 4. There is an arcade mode, which is more fun but just ends by tallying your score. The Arcade endings were idiotic, if memory serves. Three of the women in 4 had basically the same ending, but they work significantly better as the dumb payoff to a 10-minute mode, not the midpoint to a full narrative. That Christie end though…
You might notice in the story mode, there are also two locked which becomes the more unfortunate part of this game. While Dead or Alive 6: Last Round does include some DLC, specifically 5 additional fighters, the two fighters who had story DLC require purchase, seven years after release. I was expecting this with the costumes, that has kind of been the DOA bread and butter, but I think it is a misstep to not include Mai and Kula in this rerelease. I would have also argued it’s a way worse effect to jump into the game now on this release, maybe knowing nothing, only to see a massive amount of locked costumes. You go through the work trying to learn how to unlock them, only for oops, they are DLC in packs that at the absolute least on sale cost typically 20 bucks (which is a steal). I guess I was hoping for some kind of Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate situation, and that’s on me. At least a way to earn them in-game might be nice. Again, seven years.
In terms of the actual game, the graphics hold up nicely, save for some textural issues that cause elements to pixellate. Stages don’t look horrible, though they could benefit from some polish, which is a shame. Character models were always the best aspect of a Dead or Alive, though, and they stand up. This is part of why the cutscenes just stand apart as jarringly bad. There is also an at least enjoyable soundtrack and a multitude of different modes to explore, to keep the game engaging. My question will be, sadly enough, whether there is an audience here to make online play viable. I managed to find one singular match, then never again.
Given that the game looks like it was ported and not remastered, I am assuming I have access to the playerbase across every platform it’s on, which should at least have somebody somewhere, I had hoped. The lobby matches were under maintenance when I attempted, but the ranked matches were accessible. Maybe that’s the issue, but I am unsure overall. It might be for the best; having not played for a while, I did not do great in that one match I found, so the only pool to draw from might only be players who dedicate themselves to this game or other fighting games in general.
Verdict
I will be fair and honest and say, I don’t really know what I was expecting with Dead or Alive 6: Last Round when it made the jump to current consoles. On the one hand, Pixel Byte is a fairly new outlet, so reviewing remasters or ports is great for the purposes of reviewing games before the site existed. This is one of those times, plus I did get to discuss a franchise I genuinely love, like Dead or Alive, which is part of my childhood, and is a core memory for me.
There is just a lot here that feels weak in a frustrating way. I know Team Ninja has a lot going on, even developing the next Dead or Alive game, but this is an opportunity to attract new players, like Virtua Fighter 5: R.E.V.O did, and ultimately it feels like this was done solely for people already playing the game; they would know that community better than me, though. There was an opportunity to polish the game so it doesn’t feel like it got, and there was the chance to make this an ultimate edition or a complete edition that also wasn’t taken. This could have been the start of the hype train for the next Dead or Alive, and it isn’t.
This is especially bothersome because deep down in there, the game is still just as fun as I remember. Great combat, a great roster of characters, a system that is easy to pick up, and tutorials that actually encourage you to learn the mechanics. It just struggles to make a case for why you, the fighting fan, not playing Dead or Alive, should be playing this one. What I know is what I want from the franchise in the future, and if nothing else, I’m on board again.
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Reviewed for PlayStation 5, also available on Xbox Series, and PC
*A code for this title was provided by Koei Tecmo for the purposes of this review
Developer: Team Ninja
Publisher: Koei Tecmo
Release Date: June 18, 2026
Pros:
+Enjoyable fighting mechanics
+Easy to pick up and newcomer friendly
+Tutorial and Training modes
+good stage and character design
Con:
-Disjointed story mode with hard to follow plat
-Horrible cutscene visuals
-A lot of DLC content
-Online multiplayer seems dead.
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Dead or Alive 6: Last Round
