What if Sega preferred Eternal Champions?/Dead or Alive (1996 Game)

Gameplay
Dead or Alive was unique in its debut in that it featured fairly different choices in gameplay than other 3D fighting games at this time. Its most defining features were its speed and countering system. Dead or Alive put an emphasis on speed and relied more on simplistic commands and reaction time rather than long combo strings. Furthermore, its countering system was the first in the fighting genre to utilize different commands that corresponded to each type of attack.

There are two kinds of holds, an offensive hold (OH) and a defensive hold (DH); furthermore, these commands are executed by holding back or forward on the directional pad along with the guard input to either force away or counter-damage an opponent. Finally, the game is one of the first in the genre to have undulation in the stages.

Characters

 * Kasumi, a young kunoichi who instead of taking up the responsibility to become the new master of the Mugen Tenshin clan, secretly left her village without a word to find out the truth and discover who attacked and crippled her older brother, Hayate.
 * Zack, an over-the-top DJ whose sole purpose for entering the Dead or Alive tournament is to win the prize money.
 * Ryu Hayabusa, a powerful shinobi and the heir of the Hayabusa clan, Hayabusa accepts an invitation to the tournament to fulfil his thirst for challenge when he learned that his best friend's sister, Kasumi, had disappeared.
 * Bayman, a man who witnessed the assassination of his parents as a child and then trained by the Russian Army in Commando Sambo to become a special agent. Now working as a professional assassin, Bayman enters the tournament to complete his new assignment: assassinate the notorious leader of DOATEC, Fame Douglas.
 * Lei Fang, an impulsive, yet determined prodigy of taikyoku-ken. Several years ago, Lei Fang was challenged by a gang of street fighters, and though was prepared to take them on single-handedly, she was rescued by a boy wearing a dragon emblem. Hating the though of someone believing that she can't handle things on her own, the incident left Lei Fang determined to one day find and defeat the very same boy who saved her.
 * Gen Fu, an elderly gentleman who may just appear to be a feeble bookstore owner at first glance, is actually a great master of shini-rokugo-ken. Though no one knows why Gen Fu came out of retirement to enter the tournament, only his closest enemies suspect that it may have to do with the tragedy that surrounds his granddaughter, Mei Lin.
 * Tina Armstrong, a pro wrestler since high school who has worked her way up to become of the most feared lethal competitors in women's pro-wrestling. Tina almost 'threw in the glove' last year until her father, Bass Armstrong, stepped in and convinced her to 'take on the world'. Though her father thinks that Tina has entered the tournament for the glory of winning, her real aim is to be discovered by Hollywood.
 * Bass Armstrong, the father of Tina, who is known to dote on her and has trained her throughout her life to fight.
 * Jann Lee, a young man whose parents died when he was a child, then left alone to fend for himself. Though at first he threw himself into the study of Jeet Kune Do to replace what he had lost when his parents died, Jann Lee eventually fought for just the sake of fighting.
 * Ayane, a kunoichi from the same clan as Kasumi, who was sent to kill her for running away from the clan.
 * Raidou, a nukenin ("missing shinobi") and the paternal uncle of Kasumi. After leaving the clan, Raidou traveled around the world to steal moves and techniques from others fighters in order to grow stronger. It is later discovered that it was he who crippled Hayate.