DigitalNoob

The Dead or Alive series of fighting games has a bit of an interesting past and appeal to it. To be perfectly clear, as a fighting game, the series has always exceeded expectations when it comes to unarmed combat for a 3D fighter. Many fighting game aficionados refuse to move past 2D or the old favorites, which is fine as those games have persisted for a plethora of reasons, but DOA has carved its own niche. Dead or Alive has never been afraid to flaunt sexuality in the face of everyone, as we’ve seen with games like Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, and now Tecmo Koei today released the final cover art for Dead or Alive 5 along with images from the Collector’s Edition of the girls in — get this — bikinis.

As a full-grown man now, I’m not afraid to admit that my purchase of Dead or Alive 2 for Dreamcast in February of 2000 was an anything-but-chaste decision. Sure, I enjoyed fighting games and had played Dead or Alive before, but the marketing for it was too much for my seventeen year old brain to process and I had to purchase it immediately and not tell anyone that I purchased it. Little did I know it would be in permanent rotation with my group of friends as one of the fighting games we’d play for endless hours for years to come, alongside Soul Calibur, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and Fire Pro Wrestling D.

Dead or Alive 5 is set to be released on September 25th, and for those fawning over the DOA girls in swimsuits, those are available in-game with a preorder of the Collector’s Edition from Gamestop.