Dead or Alive 2

This article is about the video game. For the Japanese film, see Dead or Alive 2: Birds.
Dead or Alive 2
North American Dreamcast cover art featuring Ein (center), Kasumi (left), and Tina (right)
Developer(s)Team Ninja
Publisher(s)Tecmo
Director(s)Tomonobu Itagaki
Producer(s)Tomonobu Itagaki
Yasushi Maeda
Designer(s)Hiroaki Matsui
Katsunori Ehara
Programmer(s)Takeshi Kawaguchi
Hiroaki Ozawa
Composer(s)Makoto Hosoi
SeriesDead or Alive
Platform(s)Arcade, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2
ReleaseArcade
  • JP: October 16, 1999
  • JP: January 18, 2000
(Millennium)[1][2]
(Millennium)
Dreamcast
  • NA: February 29, 2000[3]
  • EU: April 28, 2000
  • JP: September 28, 2000 (Limited Edition)[4]
PlayStation 2
  • JP: March 30, 2000
  • NA: October 26, 2000 (Hardcore)[5]
  • JP: December 14, 2000 (Hard*Core)
  • EU: December 15, 2000 (Hardcore)
Genre(s)Fighting
Mode(s)Up to 2 players simultaneously (Arcade)
Up to 4 players simultaneously (Dreamcast/PlayStation 2)
Arcade systemSega NAOMI

Dead or Alive 2 (Japanese: デッドオアアライブ2, Hepburn: Deddo oa Araibu To~ū, abbreviated as DOA2) is a 1999 fighting game developed by Team Ninja and published by Tecmo. It debuted in arcades in 1999 and was later ported to the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 home systems in 2000. It is the second main entry in the Dead or Alive fighting series following the original Dead or Alive (1996). Several enhanced editions of the game were released, including the updates Dead or Alive 2 Millennium[1][2] and Dead or Alive 2 Hardcore.

The game's plot focuses on the evil tengu, Gohyakumine Bankotsubo, who escaped from the tengu world into the human world, and the Dead or Alive tournament's change in purpose and significance after the murder of DOATEC's founder and CEO, Fame Douglas. The game improved upon the gameplay system by including many new features; it improved upon and popularized the concept of multi-tired environments and improved upon the graphics engine of its predecessor by utilizing the Sega NAOMI hardware.

Dead or Alive 2 received universal acclaim, strong sales, and is considered one of the greatest fighting games of all time. In 2004, Dead or Alive 2 was remade for the Xbox as part of Dead or Alive Ultimate. In 2012, DOA2: Hard*Core was released on the PlayStation Network platform in Japan, followed by North America in 2015. Dead or Alive 2 was followed by its sequel Dead or Alive 3 in 2001.

  1. ^ a b "Date Set for Dead or Alive 2: Millennium Edition". ign.com. January 12, 2000. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Dead or Alive 2 Millennium arcade video game by Tecmo, Ltd. (2000)". Arcade-history.com. March 25, 2014. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
  3. ^ "Dead or Alive 2". GameSpot. February 29, 2000. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
  4. ^ "デッド オア アライブ 2 まとめ [ドリームキャスト] / ファミ通.com". Famitsu.com. February 22, 2014. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
  5. ^ "Dead or Alive 2 PlayStation 2 Box Art Released". IGN. October 2, 2000. Retrieved June 25, 2024.