#985
Gameplay of the boss battle against Omega/Genra in Team Ninja/Tecmo’s Dead or Alive 3.
This is bad. Really bad. Just sort of shite, really.
Omega is one of the most baffling bosses in history. His actual background story makes sense; he used to be Genra, a character briefly mentioned in previous games in the series before he was experimented on and turned into this demonic character of sorts. His design is actually a bit bland (almost seems ripped off from Garuda from the Street Fighter EX series, which doesn’t surprise me) and his powers are…bizarre. For a start, he has a double-bladed lightsaber as his weapon. Yeah. Ein was based on Neo from the Matrix, and Omega has Darth Maul’s trademark weapon. Could this game BE anymore early 2000s? Only if All Star played during the end credits.
Genra’s lightsaber (it has an official name but I’m not using that) has an insane amount of reach, deals substantial damage and he even has a unblockable strike move as well. He has a unique throw (which is actually taken from Tengu from DOA2), and he also has, for some bloody reason, projectile attacks. Three of them to be exact. One is a wind wave attack which must be blocked low, the second is a flame-wave attack which must be dodged to be avoided, and the last is a multi-hit freeze blast attack which must be dodged low. Oh, but there’s more. Any time you knock him down, not only does he teleport away afterwards but he also deals damage to him unless you’re blocking low while it happens. So, it’s incredibly cheap, and I don’t know how such a terrible idea even got off the ground. Or I wouldn’t have, were this not Team Ninja we’re talking about.
You may also notice that this blummin’ fight takes place at what’s known as a Dutch Angle. It’s horribly disorientating, extremely jarring and just not particularly pleasant on the whole. The also has a weird hazy effect going on during it, which is a pretty dumb choice in a beautiful little game, not to mention that it just takes you out of the action even more (and even seems to lag the game in places).
I picked Ayane for this, which turned out to really appropriate as Genra was actually Ayane’s adoptive father, and who looked after and trained her for years. Knowing that, her ending is actually really sweet and probably the only truly good one in the game, as far as I can recall anyway. In hindsight, I’ve also come to realise that Ayane’s bitchy attitude is probably based on Asuka’s personality in Evangelion, given that both characters utilise it as a crutch and coping mechanism to deal with their tragic upbringings.
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