Dead or Alive 5

THE BUZZ: For those picking up the further adventures of Ryu Hayabusa, you’ll be getting an extra treat—an exclusive demo for Tecmo Koei’s upcoming fighter Dead or Alive 5.

For the Japanese release of the game, the “Demo Alpha Version” of Dead or Alive 5 will come in three different versions, depending on which version of Ninja Gaiden 3 you pick up. Purchase the standard version on PS3, and the demo will feature Hayate and Ayane as playable characters. Purchase the game on the Xbox 360, and you’ll get Ryu Hayabusa and Hitomi. However, if instead you purchase the Collector’s Edition of Ninja Gaiden 3 on either platform, you’ll get the “Demo Alpha Version Premium Edition” flavor of the Dead or Alive 5 demo, which has all four characters playable.

For North America, however, getting the demos will be a little more convoluted. To get the Ayane vs. Hayate demo, you’ll need to pre-order Ninja Gaiden 3 from Amazon. If you want the Hayabusa vs. Hitomi demo, you’ll have to pre-order it from GameStop instead. If, however, you want the demo with all four characters, you’ll still get that from the Collector’s Edition—which itself is exclusive to GameStop.

EGM’s TAKE: While the idea of splitting up the demo depending on which platform you bought the game on wasn’t the most perfect of ideas, at least everybody buying the game would get a demo. For the North American version, making the demos limited to only those who pre-order the game is absolutely ridiculous, and just helps to continue on this horrific trend of locking away more and more content to the requirement of pre-ordering.

It’ll be interesting to see how Dead or Alive 5 turns out without its “father”, Tomonobu Itagaki. I like what I’ve seen so far, however, and actually prefer the new visual style that the game is going for. So, bring it on!