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I actually remember seeing the original Dead or Alive in the arcades. While it couldn’t match up to SEGA’s Virtua Fighter 3 in terms of looks, it was still a good looking game for its time. Besides, Dead or Alive had something that wasn’t exactly normal back then…jiggle physics. Unabashedly sexual, Dead or Alive went above and beyond to cater to the typical arcade-goer – male, young and horny. Characters were dressed provocatively, everybody looked like a damn movie star and it had Ninja Gaiden’s Ryu Hayabusa in it! Add that to the impressive visuals, its fluid combat and you have the makings of a classic.
How could it not be a hit?
It wasn’t just a hit, it also practically saved Tecmo from bankruptcy.
Tecmo’s in a much better financial position now, but it’s been a while since a Dead or Alive game has gotten the same excitement and response as the first (and arguably, second and third) game. Does this break the trend?
What is Dead or Alive 6 Last Round?
Dead or Alive 6 Last Round is a 3D fighting game developed by Team Ninja and published by Koei Tecmo. It is available on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. There are currently no plans for a Nintendo Switch or Switch 2 version.
Our review code was kindly provided by the awesome folks over at Koei Tecmo! Massive thanks for that!
Dead or Alive 6 Last Round isn’t exactly a new game. It’s a minimally enhanced version of Dead or Alive 6, but with the DLC characters added in (for a total of 29 playable characters), new lighting enhancements and perhaps the most substantial addition of all, a new Photo Mode.
There is also a free version of the game with four playable characters called Dead or Alive 6 Last Round Core Fighters.
Before I go into the nitty gritty of what makes Dead or Alive 6 Last Round, I’d like to highlight that Dead or Alive 6 is a phenomenal fighting game. It’s not the best in the series (2, 3 and 4 are tied for that) but it has great fighting mechanics, a huge cast (consisting of mostly women) and fun gameplay.
It’s gotten a bad rep due to that though and most fighting game fans just write it off as that TnA fighter. They’re not wrong, but that’s not the full picture either. Dead or Alive 6 is perhaps the easiest fighting game for a newbie to dabble in. Combos are the tap tap tap (and maybe a direction or two) variety, so there’s not much need for dexterity to execute.
The only downside is that the multi-tiered stages the series was known for have been pretty much ignored in this one and replaced with (mostly) boring contained arenas. They still look damn nice, but I miss the days when you could knock somebody out of a window, jump out after them and continue pounding their face in on the pavement below.
If you’re coming from Dead or Alive 6, know that there are certain restrictions on DLC carryover and what comes standard with the game.
It does not include SNK guest characters or most cosmetic DLC.
You can transfer certain DLC over from the base version of Dead or Alive 6 but there are caveats. Tokens, tickets and anything SNK related aren’t transferable and must be rebought.
That’s honestly one of the biggest drawbacks for the game.
The cosmetic DLCs not being bundled in a new paid version of the game really sucks. At the very least, Koei Tecmo should’ve bundled in some of them. It’s not like the game’s lacking in cosmetic DLC! There are 450 pieces of DLC available on Steam right now.
450!
Sure, a few are character unlocks and the like, but the majority of them are cosmetics, or cosmetic bundle packs.
Out of all these, couldn’t Koei Tecmo have been gracious enough to gift buyers the older cosmetics? Considering that Dead or Alive 6 Last Round is meant to replace the base Dead or Alive 6 (it’s been delisted from all digital marketplaces), it would’ve earned a massive amount of goodwill from returning and new players.
It’s also very weird that Koei Tecmo didn’t have a sale for the SNK characters DLC when Dead or Alive 6 Last Round came out. Our review code didn’t come with them and I was sorely tempted to get Mai and Kula if they had been on offer. Instead, each character’s still at their regular price. I’ll wait for a sale, thanks.
Other than the DLC flubs, this is Dead or Alive 6 as it was when it came out years ago. Honestly speaking, the new lighting enhancements (called OBORO) are pretty much a letdown. Stages (well…stage since only one is using the tech for the moment) don’t really look that much better and unless you’ve been playing the game religiously for the past few years, you’ll be hard-pressed to even tell what’s changed.
It’s plain to see that Dead or Alive 6 Last Round is a testbed of sorts for the newly enhanced Katana engine that’ll debut with the next Dead or Alive title. I’m wondering why the game wasn’t just overhauled into the new engine instead of having the OBORO tech shoehorned into the older iteration? If I had to bet, it’s definitely a financial decision considering the DLC fiasco. It would’ve taken massive resources and time, which I’m guessing Koei Tecmo feels would be better off spent on Dead or Alive 7.
It’s the obvious choice (and I do agree with them on it) but still, I do wonder if Koei Tecmo had made the effort, would the game have been better received than it was? Perhaps in the infinite multiverse out there, there’s one where Koei Tecmo did exactly that!
There’s really not much to entice newcomers (or veterans to double dip) to come to Dead or Alive 6 honestly. The core gameplay is still decent but Dead or Alive’s reputation isn’t as well regarded as its contemporaries like Street Fighter or Tekken. Due to that, the game’s never been taken super seriously by the FGC because there’s still no crossplay or rollback netcode in this version of the game!
That’s exactly one of the reasons why I’ve waited so long to do this review.
Dead or Alive 6 Last Round launched on June 25 2026. It’s been about 2 months since then.
I was honestly hoping for the game to gain traction on Steam but it seems like the very issues I mentioned above might’ve been the nails in the coffin for the game.
There is hope that this might improve with the addition of upcoming DLC fighter, Minato but it might be too little, too late. Even if the game gets a shot in the arm, how many will actually stick around? Many will just write it off to get in on the upcoming sequel instead. Why invest time and money in an older game when a successor is on the horizon?
It saddens me a bit. I love the series, but it’s been going downhill ever since Dead or Alive 4. Dead or Alive 6 didn’t change that trajectory one bit when it first came out, and Dead or Alive 6 Last Round won’t either…because it’s pretty much the same game.
Does it mean it sucks? Not at all.
Does it mean we needed this version of the game? Not at all.
The Bottom Line.
Dead or Alive 6 Last Round is a game nobody asked for, yet we still got it. It’s a hard sell enough as it is, but Koei Tecmo’s baffling decisions not to include some DLC and major new features reeks of corporate greed and double dipping shenanigans. Capcom tried this crap back in the 90s too, with multiple iterations of Street Fighter II and other than Super, everything else bit them in the ass.
It’s baffling then why Koei Tecmo is trying the same thing, except with even less features. Perhaps the game is a testbed for their new Katana engine features, but a half-baked attempt like Dead or Alive 6 Last Round isn’t exactly the best way to get word out or to test it on a wide audience.
I honestly don’t see what the thinking is behind this release and the halfhearted support. Dead or Alive 6 wasn’t that warmly received on release… at least not enough to warrant a rerelease like this.
I think it’s to everybody’s benefit to just chalk this off as a rare misstep on Koei Tecmo’s part and just focus on the upcoming Dead or Alive 7.
TLDR:
A puzzling rerelease with barely any noteworthy additions to an otherwise decent (if unpopular) fighting game.
The Technoverdict: Wait for a sale
The Good:
- Dead or Alive 6 is still fun to play.
- Visuals a bit dated but still serviceable.
- DLC from Dead or Alive 6 carries over.
The Bad:
- Not much new.
- Online is pretty much dead.
- SNK characters sold separately.
- Massive amount of cosmetic DLC.
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
