Dead or Alive (デッドオアアライブ Deddo oa Araibu) is a fighting game and the first entry in the long-running Dead or Alive series. It was released in 1996 in arcades, followed by home ports for Sega Saturn in 1997 (Japan only) and Sony PlayStation in 1998 (all regions).

​

The original version of Dead or Alive was released in arcades in 1996, utilizing Sega's Model 2 arcade board[1] (it was also the first time Sega licensed their hardware to a third-party company; in this case, Tecmo). It was later ported to the Sega Saturn in Japan on October 9, 1997. The game was never released for the North American nor European Sega Saturn. It was released in the United States and Europe for the Xbox on October 26, 2004, and February 18, 2005, as part of Dead or Alive Ultimate (see below).

 

On March 12, 1998, Tecmo released Dead or Alive for the PlayStation in Japan. This version included two new characters (Bass and Ayane), a different graphics engine, a slightly revamped fighting engine and new background music (BGM). The PlayStation version was released in North America on March 31, 1998, and later in Europe on July 1998.