Dead or Alive 5: Last Round

Thank you Tomonobu Itagaki for creating the most technologically advanced fighting game series in the world and still to this day the most beautiful looking fighting game to hit the market you will be missed.
The fight for a new entry in the Dead Or Alive series will never stop.

I play this game at the last semester of my high school. I always play with my friend after school until dawn. In this game, it was our last fight session together forever.
I will miss you my friend, Fly High. Let's play another time

honestly, a very underrated fighting game. there's a really fun and in-depth fighting game behind the fan service, with a cast full of diverse movesets. I honestly recommend this game, especially on steam deck where it runs like a dream and is perfect for quick play sessions.

an important note for playing on steam deck though, make sure to use these launch options (thanks protonDB) PROTON_NO_ESYNC=1 PROTON_NO_FSYNC=1 %command%

RIP to the coolest, katana wielding, sunglasses wearing, SOB in the industry.

My favorite fighting game thanks to the Triangle System. The Triangle System makes every match a fast-paced mind game. There are no turns here, offense and defense happen at the same time. For example, say you’re doing a simple combo like Punch->Punch->Punch, which is a predictable string that usually ends with a Mid-Punch. If your opponent expects that, they might counter with a Mid-Hold, dealing big damage to you. But if you expect them to try a Mid-Hold, you can throw instead, beating their counter and dealing extra damage. Every move becomes a prediction game, and that constant back-and-forth makes the combat incredibly fun and reactive.

the game's clearly better than DOA6. it's such a fun game with nice graphics, story and great combos. also rip itagaki.

Rest in peace Tomonobu Itagaki (April 1, 1967 - October 16, 2025)
Itagaki is my favorite game designer of all time and DOA is a big reason why. Whenever I think of my happiest gaming memories they all tie back to this franchise, be it one of the many installments, one of the Ninja Gaiden titles, or even the volleyball games. Me and my sister would sit and play these games for hours and hours and that remained a constant from early childhood into our high school years and has never really ended for me. DOA was always the fighting game that was actually cool, like REALLY cool. You could tell they were made by a team with personality who didn’t prioritize meaningless things like sponsorships or their relationship with the fighting game community or tournament players. The story was mature and entertaining, the gameplay was super intuitive and spectacular, Aerosmith was on the soundtrack, and it was provocative. Truly the killer app of its day. Even people who didn’t care AT ALL about fighting games were playing (and loving) DOA. Revisionists (YouTubers) like to pretend that this is some goofy, perverted franchise but I have always railed against this ignorance.
Just wanted to say all of that so you know I love these games. That being said, Itagaki didn’t direct DOA5, and if the first four games are cinematic masterpieces, then 5 is the direct to DVD sequel. It’s still very charming, very fun to play, full of action and everything else you love, but just lacks that care and polish that the originals had. The gameplay is still top notch and the main draw of this title. If you’re wanting to master one of these games then 5 is the one to go after. It has almost every character in the series plus some awesome new ones like Mila and Rachel and even has Virtua Fighter characters in it. Single best fighting game crossover ever and it’s not even close. They fit so well into DOA and are insanely fun to use. The story is good but is definitely a step down from the previous titles. As established earlier, DOA5 isn’t the first party Goliath that games like DOA2 Ultimate, DOA4 and Ninja Gaiden were. It’s multiplatform now and it shows. The graphics are kind of blurry too and the game in general has a washed look to it.
I’ve played almost every version and port of this game. Vanilla DOA5, DOA5 Ultimate and of course Last Round. LR is the best without a doubt but the Steam version kind of sucks butt for one huge reason, the multiplayer. For some unimaginable reason, there is no lobbies on the Steam port. This means you have to sit in training mode while the game searches for random opponents. This can take FOREVER at times whereas the lively Xbox community always has lobbies full of players. If you have an Xbone, just play that version. The Steam port is just for obsessed super fans like myself who either have nothing else to play it on or just love having every version of it.