« DOA5: VG24/7 Interviews Team Ninja Director »

 VG24/7 recently interviewed Yosuke Hayashi, director of Dead or Alive 5, to discuss the game's development, origins and inclusion of Virtua Fighter characters.

They also go on to cover Dead or Alive 5's new theme of "Fighting Entertainment" and what that means for the game and fighting game genre.

Hit the jump for some quotes and a behind-the-scenes video of the game's development.

VG24/7: Fighting Entertainment is a good tag line for Dead or Alive 5 because it seems like Team Ninja has really ramped up its stage interactions, ring outs and other high flying stunts.

YH: Yeah, and I think instead of having things flying around the stage and interfering with each round, we’ve made it controllable. The way dynamic stage interactions work is that they’re actually a result of someone pulling off a move.

So its not like something’s going to just fly by and hit you, because then one player may complain and say, ‘Oh, it wasn’t you who hit me, that’s not fair.’ For example in the circus stage, if you manage to hit someone into a cannon, then that’s OK because the person who did that actually planned that strategy.

We made those interactions part of the fight, almost like a tool to let players utilise strategies. It was important that they didn’t create unfairness during fights.

VG24/7: Are there other dream cameo characters you’d like to see brought into your game?

YH: Dream characters from Virtua Fighter…well that’d have to be Akira, as he’s like the essential character. But speaking of Sega characters, I’d say the main character from Shenmue.

When considering a cameo for a fighting game, you have to look at someone who can actually fight. After the release of Dead or Alive 5 we’d like to explore cameos further, but at the moment…it’s a secret.