Danger Zone (term)

Danger Zones refer to the interactive features that appear in certain fighting arenas in Dead or Alive. Fighters caught in a Danger Zone will take extra damage, giving the attacker a slight advantage. These environmental areas can be anything from falls to explosives. If a fighter has low heath, being trapped in a Danger Zone is more likely to knock them out than a normal attack, although in certain titles, elements such as falls cannot do this, and instead just leave the fighter with very low health.

While Danger Zones could be deactivated in the first first Dead or Alive, this option was taking then in later titles, making Danger Zones an important element to consider during matches and tactics.

Outer Ring Area
In the first Dead or Alive, stages were simply fighting rings with no obstacles. The rings were designed with two different-colored areas: the centre and the outer rim around it.

The fighters can safely stand on all of the ring, but if a fighter falls onto the ground of the outer rim, this will create a explosion, throwing the said fighter into the air and causing them to take massive damage. While being thrown, the fighter will be vulnerable, allowing their opponent to take a quick strike at them.

The fighters can also avoid being thrown by the explosion by pressing the three attack buttons simultaneousy in the small time frame before the explosion begins. This way they will take damage from the Danger Zone, but not from the explosion.

As the series started to use more varied stages and environments, this type of Danger Zone was not used outside of the first Dead or Alive, but certain elements from it can be seeing in other Danger Zones, such as exploding floors.

Falls
Falls, or "Off The Edge", are a common type of Danger Zone, and are often a key element of the environment with multi-level stages. Falls are triggered when a fighter is pushed and thown off the edge of a floor or level, and made to fall onto the next level below. Their opponent will then perform a controlled jump to land on the same floor in order to continue the round; these jumps will not cause damage.

Falls can often differ in height depending on the stage, from a couple of feet to several stories. Naturally, a longer fall tends to cause more damage than a simple drop. Some falls may be hidden by breakable walls or floors, so these may be a surprice to players who have yet to fight a battle in these types of stages.

In terms of style, there are two types of falls: one is a straight fall down to the lower level, such as falling off the edge of a cliff, which will off a chuck of health as the fighter hits the ground, or a steady fall, in which the fighter tumbles down some kind of slope, such as a hill or a staircase, and gradually loses health all the way down.

It is possible, if the falling fighter is on low health and the impact of the fall is hard enough, that falls can knock out fighters. Apart in Dead or Alive 4, in which this feature to the falls was taken out, mean that the fallen was instead just left with minimal health, requiring another blow from their foe before being knocked out.

Dead or Alive 5 will introduce an alternative to the fall Danger Zone call the Cliffhanger, in which the fallen fighter will change the edge, and has the choice to fall, or fight against their opponent's incoming attack, risking additional damage as they try to turn the tables in battle.

Charged Surfaces
With enclosed stages, it's common for certain sufaces - such as walls, floors and sometimes ceilings - to be electorally charged or to be fitten with explosives. Simular to the outer ring ground in Dead or Alive, when a fighter is struck or thrown against these surfaces, they will take extra damage from being electrocuted or from being caused in a explosion. Damage can differ depending on the stage.

Breakable Structures
In some stages, there will be breakable structures that will be destoryed when somebody to thrown against them, such as statues and standing fire torches. Although the structure breaks, the impact will cause some additional damage to the fighter and leave them studded for a moment.

As said above, there are also breakable walls, windows, and floors that stand in front of hidden falls which can only be used if said structure is broken.

Moving Obstacles
A rarely used type of Danger Zone, in some stage there will be moving obstacles which could hit fighters, causing damage and send them flying. For some of these obstacles, such as the wild cat in Savannah Safari, they travel in a set route. In Gambler's Paradise, fighters can be hit by cars, but these cars are not fixed to a set track, and for the most part will try to avoid the fighters if possible.

These obstacles can be avoided by using a hold against them at the right time, allowing the fighter to jump over them without taking damage.

Ridley
In the Geothermal Power Plant stage - an arena in Dead or Alive: Dimensions based on the title Metroid: Other M - Ridley, a pterodactyl-like creature and a recurring boss in the Metroid series, acts as a Danger Zone.

When a fighter is thrown of the edge of the stage, rather then fall, they will be caught mid-air by Ridley, who will then strap them against the external wall and breath fire on them, before throwing them back down onto the stage. All these three moves will cause massive damage to the fighter.