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Here are my Top 5 favorite DOA games as someone who has been a fan for the past decades.

5. DEAD OR ALIVE 5 / ULTIMATE (2012) Fun Fact: someone who had connections with Tecmo Team Ninja around this time hinted then confirmed with me through Skype that DOA5 was in the works. They told me to strictly keep it a secret until its long awaited reveal, and so I did. I love DOA5 for a lot of reasons: the new updated graphics for the newer consoles during that year, updated looks for the characters (especially Kasumi, I CRIED), and all the new friends and wonderful people I met through the DOA community. I was also able to participate in the "I'm A Fighter" campaign for DOA5 (I still have the XBOX Magazine where my picture was part of the game's ad). DOA5 was groundbreaking for its long awaited updated gameplay mechanics as well as its appealing graphics. The story on the other hand was a bit all over the place, but it was fun regardless. I would have preferred individual character stories to progress through like in the previous games, but I still enjoyed everything about DOA5. This would be the first DOA game that wasn't under the late Tomonobu Itagaki's direction since his leave from Team Ninja. The fifth installment has become one of my top favorite DOA games for its upgrade in gameplay + graphics and the unforgettable experiences I had with the community which is why I'm placing it as my fifth.

4. DEAD OR ALIVE 2 / HARDCORE (1999 - 2000) The very first time I saw my uncle pop this game into the Dreamcast, my life literally changed. As I watched him play DOA2, I couldn't take my eyes off the tv screen. Afterwards, I begged him to let me play because the game immediately sucked me in with its vibrant colors, graphics, and beautifully designed characters. The first character that caught my eye was Leifang because of her outfits and ability to fight on high heels which were enough to impress me. After I gave playing as her a try, I went straight to choosing Kasumi because her C2 looked really pretty to me and from there, my love for Kasumi began. What's funny is that I thought her name was "Katsumi" at first. DOA2 felt so much more flexible than Tekken and I say this because I played Tekken 1-3 prior. When I realized that Kasumi was the "Main Character/Heroine" of the game, I was blown away. To me, the gameplay for DOA2 was fun and enjoyable, especially during its time. Tag team mode was my absolute favorite and one of the things I loved about it was seeing the characters' paired interactions during their intros and outros. Survival mode was my secondary favorite; I liked to collect the cute survival items that were based on each characters' favorite things. I used to play against my uncles, my dad, and cousins and it was a ton of fun. When my uncle got DOA2: Hardcore for the PS2 the following year (or a little bit later if I can recall), I would play that game nonstop. Personally, playing the game on a PS2 controller was so much easier for me (way more comfortable than a Dreamcast controller despite it being one of my favorite consoles). A fond memory I had was when my family from Hawaii came to visit one Christmas and I'd make my cousin play DOA2H with me. She'd choose Ayane and I'd choose Kasumi. DOA2 is one of my favorite DOA games because it's the game that basically started it all for me. What I would give to go back and play it with my family again. My uncle noticed that I was too attached to DOA2 Hardcore, so he let me keep the game lol. DOA2 holds a lot of nostalgic value to me and that's why it's one of my top 5 favorites.

3. DEAD OR ALIVE 3 (2001) I know it's cliché of me to place DOA3 as third (just like how DOA5 was fifth, unintentionally), but it truly is my third favorite DOA game. The game's beautiful and solid graphics along with its amazingly detailed stages + environments were top tier. I also loved the characters' endings depicted in beautifully animated CGI after completing their stories; this was a huge leap from the simplicity of the DOA2 character endings. Kasumi's ending in DOA3 is one of my favorite DOA moments. DOA3 also introduced us to Hitomi, Christie, Brad Wong, Hayate, and Omega/Genra who all became a prominent addition to the franchise's roster. The gameplay still felt like DOA2 with little updates to it, which I did not mind at all. Team Ninja definitely made this game to amp up their graphics on the Xbox. I would play this game on my uncle's Xbox and he knew that I loved the DOA games. There was a point where he got kinda mad at me for hogging up the Xbox because of this lol.

2. DEAD OR ALIVE 4 (2005) 2005 was the year I finally had unsupervised access to the internet as a child. When I finally got my own computer, the first thing I did was browse the internet through Google for DOA things. Upon my search, I came across my very first forum: DOA Kunoichi. As a minor at the time on August 2005, the process of learning how to make my own email and passwords in order to join websites with your own account was because of this DOA forum; this was my internet origin. The very, very first user name that I had come up with for DOA Kunoichi was "kasumi_fan_girl"… On this forum was also the first time I interacted with strangers on the internet. The internet was very different in the 2000s and as the saying goes: we really had no business being on the internet as unsupervised kids (or something like that). Thankfully a lot of the active members of DOA Kunoichi were very chill and most of them were friendly. When news of DOA4 dropped on DOA Kunoichi, everyone was flooding the discussion boards, including younger (immature) me. I vividly remember members excitedly dropping teaser images and video links to the DOA4 trailer. It really was a "you just had to be there" moment. When my middle brother and I finally got an XBOX 360, DOA4 was the first game I begged my dad to buy for me. DOA4 is one of the best DOA games ever. The groundbreaking gameplay mechanics, amazingly vibrant and flashy interactive stages (THEY HAD DINOSAURS), character designs, costumes, graphics (besides the choppy hair physics but I personally didn't mind it), and character stories + endings. Team Ninja really outdid themselves with this one. DOA4 for the XBOX 360 was innovative and leaves an everlasting legacy within the fighting game community as well as the history of fighting games. And lastly, a little fun fact: seeing people's sigs/signature graphics on the forum was what made me get into Photoshop and editing. It's all thanks to the person who kindly made me my very first Kasumi sig here:

1. DEAD OR ALIVE 2 ULTIMATE (2004) My number 1 favorite DOA game is DOA2 Ultimate for a multitude of reasons: the enjoyable mechanics, iconic costumes, aesthetics + graphics, and Kasumi's design in this is my favorite version of her. This game is very important and dear to me. My uncle, of course, had it for his Xbox and I would spend so much time playing it whenever he permitted me. DOA2U's mechanics is basically DOA2 and DOA3 combined along with "upgraded" graphics from DOA2 since this is a remake of it. DOA2 is what started it all for me, so I didn't mind the lack of significant changes to the gameplay. They did, however, add more holds which expanded the moves list. The interactive stages/environmental hazards were really fun, too. This was the game that introduced us to throwing an opponent down slopes and stairs (Team Ninja was truly ahead of their time). Tag battle and survival mode were my favorite, of course. The reason why I love tag battle and survival have already been explained on my number 4 spot. The opening cinematic that finally gives us a look into Hayate, Kasumi, and Ayane's origins was iconic; I still believe that this was supposed to be a "peek" at what Code Chronos could have been (forever depressed that they never went through with it).

Let me also mention that this game had lots of costumes to unlock for each characters. One of the reasons why I love DOA2U so much is because there was plenty to do in this game and one of the things that kept me busy was unlocking the various costumes for FREE. The costumes in DOA2U are my favorite out of all the DOA games. My favorite specific Kasumi costumes were C11 and C14:

The adorable chibified image of herself on her shoes for C11 (left) is my favorite detail (side note: current devs need to give Kasumi more cute, pink, and casual costumes to wear because she has always been a pink girly). The costumes in DOA2U were iconic and I have a strong preference for them than any other DOA game. I personally think that DOA2U is the most fun, visually appealing, and top tier DOA game out of the franchise which is why it's number 1 on my list.

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