I currently own Ultimate (Which is pretty much the first game and the second game infused with aspects of the third), DOA2 for the Dreamcast, DOA2: Hardcore for the PS2, DOA3 for the XBOX, DOA4 for the 360 and DOA5: Last Round for the PS4. While playing a few of them yesterday I tried some searching to get a more definitive answer on what the crowd consensus is regarding the best entry in the series. I was seeing 4 pop up a lot with 5 also rivaling. While I personally don't like what they did with the art style in the 5th game, it does play pretty well and looks amazing. I would have to say 4 is probably my favorite in terms of keeping the art style from 2 & 3 while building on the mechanics of the games up to that point. Also the game still looks amazing today. Thoughts? inb4 one of the beach volleyball / fantasy island games
While 2 doesn't have as many characters, moves or stages as the others, the game mechanics were smoother and faster when transitioning between striking, locking and throwing the opponent. As a martial artist, I found this game to be the closest to real life fighting. Though I do enjoy the drunken boxing of 3. The sequels I always found more sluggish which is frustrating.
DOA 5 Pisses me off with the DLC out it's ass. They won't even give us the wardrobe malfunction outfits we demand. But as a fighter it's technically sound. As for the best DOA 2 Ultimate. It has the best character from 3 (Hitomi) graphics that have aged shockingly well and it's the tightest of all of them. 3 would be a close second.
Definitely Ultimate 2 followed closely by 3. 4 deserves a top mention too, though, as I thought it had the best online play, and a wonderful lobby system that seems to have not been used ever again. I loved DOA 4 lobbies. . . .
DOA2 Ultimate Edition for Dreamcast (it's a mod but hey) Anything else is trash outside of 5 for PC and theres only one reason why that stands to begin with.
You found 4 the same as well? I thought 4 aged extremely well, too. I was surprised by how great it looked on my TV. I bought DOA5: Last Round when it came out and I believe it has a lot of costumes and whatnot unlockable. I could be wrong, though. I just miss the old character style. I did play quite a bit of 4 online and agree with he lobby sentiment. Those were a lot of fun and I thought the netcode was pretty solid. ...and what would that reason be? Also I haven't heard of that mod. What all does it entail?
It's been a while, I've been meaning to revisit them once I finish modding my DC and PS2. I will replay 4 and see if it has the sharpness of play that I found in DoA2. I would like a newer game with the extra characters and extra fighting styles that doesn't play like a potato.
the AI was too brutal in 4 for me to really enjoy it plus 4's new characters didn't do anything for me. Rig and Mila were great in 5 plus Virtua Fighter Crossover was welcome. I haven't downloaded/bought Mai yet. I'm just frustrated that this is an M rated game that has nothing in it to warrant that rating and if they're going to go with that rating just give us what we want. Can't do it for Japan FINE just make them North America/European only costumes....... UGH.... I blame EGM for that DOA Nude Code that was their meanest low blow April Fools ever.
For me, I say 2 & 5 are my favorites and 1 still holds a place for me for the type of fighter it was at the time.
The PS2 version of DOA2 & the DOA 5 ultimate on the PS3. I profer the PS2 over deamcast as the buttons are too hard on the dreamcast's pad.
DOA4 better. This is the most challenging version, with original characters design and coolest extra content. DOA: D is the best ver for portable platforms.
DOA 4 was deep but I don't think it was different enough from 3 to really be anything that truely stands out, Plus Alpha was a huge pain. DOA5 can be a challenge if you play on higher difficulties.
Do you mean the Ultimate Edition mod made by mrgreenranger? If so, he did release a final revision, suitably called 'Dead Or Alive 2: Final'. If you haven't played the revision already you should definitely check it out. There's a teaser video for it too-
Technically that's 4. 2 arcade variants and the psx & Saturn versions. So probably arcade version of ++ or the ps1 version for me.
I think the DC version of DOA2 is the best. I like DOA4 as well; it was one of the first games I got for the 360. I like all of them except 5. I own DOA5, and I think it’s terrible. It doesn’t feel like a DOA game at all. The rest are all good. The DOAX games have terrible gameplay, but that's another thing entirely.
My heart says DOA 2 DC, but really the Xbox version improves it in every conceivable way. It even had online if I remember. 4 didn't really do anything for me, and I don't even know if I bought 5, given all the different versions of it.
I own the first one for XBOX because I found it second hand inexpensively. IIRC the third one has a reputation of having abysmally low scores. I'll have to check.
I didn't even know there was a third one, that's interesting. Japan and Asia only, apparently. I own the first 2, and I think they're pretty bad. It's just that the gameplay is awful; it isn't fun to play by any metric. Beach Spikers for the Gamecube/Naomi 2 isn't quite as good graphically, but is actually really fun - that makes it a much better game than DOAX.
