Dead or Alive has always been a bit controversial, and I truly wish it didn’t have to be that way. I mean, I can understand purist, function-over-form indie-obsessives crying foul over the series’ blatantly indulgent ways, but that doesn’t have to mean a healthy interest or even love for the series is invalid. Unfortunately, it seems that the upcoming patch and subsequent character addition for Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate will do little to quell the cries of naysayers. The updates feature new outfits and the Lolita-inspired Marie Rose, respectively – Lolita, if you didn’t know, is a word defined as “a sexually precocious young girl.” Pretty much par for the course with DoA.
The announcement of Marie Rose’s upcoming console appearance came via Team Ninja leader Yosuke Hayashi at the recent Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate tournament, at which he also revealed that the 1.04 patch will be gracing the arcade version by the end of January. The aim is to have the same patch on consoles by February and Marie Rose on consoles by Spring, which should bring parity between the home and arcade editions of the game. As mentioned, the most forward-facing addition will be new outfits, but let’s not sell Team Ninja short – there very well could be tweaks under the hood that fine-tune the already well-balanced DoA experience. Then again, Hayashi is a man who claims his team spent ample time “researching” breast physics, so perhaps it will just be outfits after all.
According to the Dead or Alive wiki, Marie Rose is a defense-oriented character, with “quick combos and easy juggles.” The characters I mainly play are a far cry from being quick, so it sounds like she’ll make for a lovely change of pace. Additionally, one of her outfits is called the “battle suit,” a “one piece-style navy blue unitard embellished with frills and a red ribbon around the neck.” Can’t say I’ve seen a battle suit like that before, but I’m not complaining.
Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate will see these updates soon, and likely plenty more over the course of 2014, so fear not – you may squeeze another year out of it yet.