SPARTAN-458

Nicole-458 (ニコール-458, Nikōru-458) is a secret unlockable character from Dead or Alive 4, created to be like a character from the Halo series. She is a non-canon character in the Dead or Alive and Halo, and does not officially exist within the universes or stories of the said series.

In her non-canonical history, Nicole is a Petty Officer Second Class, and is a member of the SPARTAN-II Program. Her related stage in the game is the Nassau Station. She is unlocked once all of the stories have been played at least once, including Helena Douglas' story.

Dead or Alive 4
Nicole was born in the year 2531 in the city of New Legaspi on Mars. At six years of age, she was abducted by agents of the Office of Naval Intelligence and conscripted into the SPARTAN-II Program.

Nicole-458's unit was preparing for a classified mission on Nassau Station when the stealth ship Apocalypso tumbled into real-space – being carried along in the wake of a freak slipstream space anomaly. The anomaly intersected Nassau Station; creating a semi-stable "bubble" in the space/time continuum on its way back to the 21st century.

For the time being, Nicole-458 is trapped in the 21st century; guarding Nassau Station's secrets with anything but lethal force, as she realises killing someone in the past could have dire consequences in the future, and waiting for the "bubble" to collapse and hopefully return her to the year 2552.

Appearance
Also see: Nicole's Outfit Catalogues Donned in the Mark VI MJOLNIR armor, Nicole's physical characteristics are hidden within her armour. As such, her most notable trait is her abnormal height, as it is with all SPARTANs, and she stands a good three inches taller than the biggest Dead or Alive fighter, Bass Armstrong.

Having undergone the SPARTAN-II augmentation procedures, Nicole is capable of running at speeds exceeding 55 km/h (34.155 MPH), lifting three times her own body weight, possessed virtual night vision, had reaction times reduced to twenty milliseconds, capable of unprecedented teamwork that resembled "telepathy", and had no physiological or mental instabilities.

Personality
Little is known about Nicole's personality, as she is only seen in a professional light, protecting the Nassau Station with all her might. During fights, some of her sayings suggest an aggressive persona, such as her taunt "I'm going to break you", which implys she is going to act in a violent manner towards her foe. There is also suggestions of a confident, quite cocky side to her as well; "You were strong, just not as strong as me" shows a great confidence in her strength.

Etymology
Nicole is a French feminine form of Nicholas, which is from the Greek name Νικολαος (Nikolaos) which meant "victory of the people". Her service tag is 458.

Gameplay
Nicole-458's fighting style is very quick and powerful. A variation of standard military close quarters combat, her move list contains moves from other characters in the game, such as Leon and Bayman. It is a style meant to incapacitate an armed opponent in a matter of seconds and take advantage of the SPARTAN's enhanced strength, as well as exploit any environmental advantages. She cannot backface her opponent on her own and doesn't have any "special" backfacing attacks.

Many of her moves have names alluding to the Halo series, such as "The Great Journey" and "The Grunt Punt", the former of which is a powerful move to send an opponent down stairs or off a ledge.

Several technologies from Halo also appear in Nicole-458's repertoire including active camouflage (that can be activated and deactivated by taunting), and the plasma grenade.

Development
Nicole-458 is the result of a collaboration between Tecmo's Team Ninja, and Microsoft's Bungie Studios. Team Ninja originally approached Bungie asking to use John-117 as a guest character, which proved impossible due to storyline restrictions. However, the staff at Bungie were intrigued with the idea, and wanted to go forward with something similar.

As a result, Bungie developed the concept of a SPARTAN not entirely connected to the Halo storyline that could conveniently (and somewhat plausibly) be inserted into the Dead or Alive universe. This concept evolved into the character of Nicole-458. Nearly all of the resources for her design came straight from the Halo 2 game data. The data was modified to work in the Dead or Alive game engine as a female combatant, but keeping with the traditional Spartan design, as a feminine figure would not be very plausible for such a heavily armored individual pushed well-beyond normal human limitations in regards to fitness and power.

In keeping with the idea of English being the language of the United Nations Space Command, Nicole is the only character in Dead or Alive 4 that speaks English, although she occasionally speaks Japanese.

Trivia

 * It is suspected that the female SPARTAN that appears in the fan-made CG, Halo-Metroid crossover movie Haloid - made by Dead Fantasy creator Monty Oum - is actually Nicole-458. The Spartan, commonly referred to as "Master Chick" (a play on the rank title Master Chief), bears the number 458 on her breast on the bodysuit under her armour; the same number as Nicole's service tag.

Externel Links

 * Nicole's article on Halopedia