Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate is the enriched version with additional content, new costumes and extra characters. Intermediate version between original DoA5 and Last Round. Excellent for franchise fans.
Your verdict
Category
Fighting2 players16+
Description
Enhanced Dead or Alive 5 Tecmo Koei edition including guest characters from Virtua Fighter. Published by Tecmo Koei, released in Europe in September 2013. Extended roster with Virtua Fighter guest characters, interactive hazard environments, additional modes and enhanced online mode. European version.
Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate review
MAX
Art direction
★★★★★
"Iconic"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
3/5
Story
★★★★★
"Solid"
Fighters modelled with polished realism, spectacular arenas and worked-over light: Tecmo's fighting game tends as much to fluidity as to staging. The richness of the interactive settings and the crispness of the animation impress. This visual finesse, sleek and dynamic, perpetuates the series' graphic reputation.
This enriched version tends to each fighter's sonic identity. To the widened roster answers a gallery of themes, each figure trailing its musical colour from one arena to another. Rather than sticking to the setting alone, the score follows the characters, so that a duel also pits two motifs, and recognising a fighter sometimes passes through his tune before his style.
The Japanese version of Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate, an enriched edition of Team Ninja's versus, a bit less common than the Western runs. This release appeals to fans wanting the game's fleshed-out form in local packaging. Its interest lies in this gathered content and Japanese run rather than marked scarcity.
Better with friends
A 3D fighter as spectacular as it is accessible, where the strike-throw-hold triangle keeps duels readable while rewarding reading your opponent. The competition charms beginners and experts alike, carried by interactive arenas that multiply reversals. Local versus stays its strong suit, ideal for evenings where everyone quickly finds their footing and well-placed counters draw cheers.
Is Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate still worth playing in 2026?
Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate is the intermediate version of DoA5, enriched with new characters, additional outfits and content that fleshes out the base offering. Team Ninja's fighting keeps its briskness and its balance between accessibility and depth, around the strike, throw and counter triangle. The spectacular interactive arenas stay a jubilant signature. More complete than the original DoA5 but later surpassed by Last Round, this milestone will appeal mainly to fans already invested in the franchise. Newcomers would do better to aim straight for Last Round, fuller still and better balanced.
