- "I'm no pushover, sweetie."
- —Sarah in Dead or Alive 5
Sarah Bryant is a character from Sega's versus-fighting series Virtua Fighter.
A college student and mixed martial artist, due to a new partnership between Tecmo Koei and Sega for Dead or Alive 5, Sarah featured as a guest playable character along with Akira Yuki and Pai Chan.
She is also the younger sister of Jacky Bryant, who later appeared in Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate.
History[]
Background[]
Sarah had become suspicious of the circumstances surrounding her older brother's horrible accident in the 1990 Indianapolis 500. While investigating this accident, a mysterious group called Judgment 6 kidnapped and brainwashed her. However, the group could not control her completely for long and she failed to carry out her orders.
Although she was finally rescued by her brother, all of her memories had been wiped clean. Occasional fragments of her memories began to return as she lived her daily life and she found that they returned far more often during her training. She fully regained her memories but still felt a twinge of uncertainty. Even though she has recovered, she remembered all the bad things she had done while under the Organization's control.
Role in Dead or Alive[]
The only time Sarah appears in story mode Zack confuses her for Tina Armstrong, making the wrestler angry and leading to a fight between the two females. It is unknown who won the fight or if Sarah joined the tournament, although it can be stated that Sarah signed off the tournament because her fight with her rival dissatisfied her.
Character[]
Appearance[]
- See also: Sarah's costumes
Sarah is a tall, slender and athletic young female with fair skin, blonde hair, and light blue eyes. Her face is bright and thin, her eyes are expressive, and she has full lips. Her hair extends to the middle of her back but it is tied up in a high ponytail so it only reaches her shoulders.
She wears her trademark costume from Virtua Fighter in Dead or Alive 5: a shiny, dark blue bodysuit with exposed arms, a high collar, and tied up with a silver zipper up the length of her torso. The outfit also includes a belt, black boots, and grappling gloves.
Personality[]
Sarah has changed considerably ever since her brainwashing. She is an extremely confident and optimistic individual with little to no fear at any given situation and often masks her feelings with a smile. She also enjoys fighting and will never hesitate to talk down on opponents who fail to meet her expectations.
She does show her more caring side however as she is willing to put down the group J6 for all the terrible things they have done to both her and her brother.
Etymology[]
Sarah means "lady" or "princess" in Hebrew. The surname Bryant is of Old Breton-Irish origin, and derives from the Celtic personal name "Brian", believed to contain the element "bre", meaning hill or "brigh", strong.
Relationships[]
Tina Armstrong[]
The official relationship chart for Dead or Alive 5 suggests that there will be a rivalry between Sarah and Tina. However, the reasons behind the rivalry are currently unknown.[2] In one encounter, they ended up fighting because Zack mistook her for Tina. However, they are capable of having mutual respect for their respective abilities as fighters, as they had their own tag throw as well as their own tag intro and outro.
Jacky Bryant[]
Sarah's overprotective older brother. She was rescued by Jacky after Virtua Fighter 2, but most of her memories were wiped clean until she's fully recovered at the end of Virtua Fighter 3.
Sarah also shows deep care for her older brother like he does for her. Both also fall under a threat to J6 if the siblings didn't join the Virtua Fighter tournament, starting with Jacky, about his racing sponsors, leading Sarah to follow her older brother, even though she's also one of J6's targets and victims.
After regaining her memories, Sarah wondered if she subconsciously wanted to kill Jacky, due to subtle feelings of jealousy and resentment over the years. She now views her older brother as a rival and has become determined to defeat him and find an answer, straining their relationship.
Gameplay[]
- See also: Sarah's command lists
Sarah plays the same as from Virtua Fighter. She is a fast striker, and relies on very quick and long combos. Her kick and punch combinations make her perfect at doing long air juggles, and due to her almost non-existent recovery frames, she has great mobility. Unlike many characters, Sarah is relatively unhindered by and actually benefits from walls and other obstacles, as these allow her to juggle opponents for longer by repeatedly using the first kick of her "Spear Kick Combo".
Her unique flamingo stance expands the number of moves at her disposal, and can confuse and trip up opponents who aren't used to her kicks and fake-outs, making her very difficult to hold and counter against.
A major downside is her weak throws that put her in a safe distance, rather than really damaging her opponent. Her holds also do this, and as a result, players must play her offensively, or they are otherwise helpless against combo heavy opponents.
She is recommended for intermediate to expert players who focus on dishing out fast and damaging combos, rather than holds and throws.
Stats[]
The following are Sarah's official stats as listed in the games.
Game | Strike | Throw | Hold | Power | Speed | Moves |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dead or Alive 5 (5+) | 5/5 | 2/5 | 1/5 | 3/5 | 4/5 | 5/5 |
Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Dead or Alive 5 Last Round |
5/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 4/5 | 5/5 | 3/5 |
Unlocking Sarah[]
To unlock Sarah in Dead or Alive 5, the player must defeat her in Tina's chapter in Story Mode.
Appearances[]
Dead or Alive series[]
- Dead or Alive 5 (unlockable, 2012)
- Dead or Alive 5+ (playable, 2013)
- Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate (playable, 2013)
- Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Arcade (playable, 2013)
- Dead or Alive 5 Last Round (playable, 2015)
Non-Dead or Alive appearances[]
Virtua Fighter series[]
Sarah first appeared in the 1993 arcade title Virtua Fighter and was part of the series' original fighter line-up, which, at the time, only included eight characters. Since then, Sarah has appeared in every installment of Virtua Fighter and has become one of the most popular characters in the series.
She also appeared in the Virtua Fighter anime series. Sarah is kind and gentle, from a wealthy American family. She has a flying squirrel named Alexander for a pet and travels with her brother in their RV. Whenever her brother participates in any Formula One contest, Sarah helps out by doing racing queen duties. She is later kidnapped and brainwashed by Eva Durix to be used as a basis for creating a "Perfect Soldier," Dural. In the series, she first has a crush on Akira but later has feelings for Kage-Maru.
Fighters Megamix[]
Sarah also appeared in the Sega Saturn title Fighters Megamix, with the entire Virtua Fighter 2 cast. A younger version of her, from Virtua Fighter Kids, is also an unlockable playable character.
Fighting quotes[]
Gallery[]
Concept art |
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Promotional images |
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DLC images |
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Virtua Fighter series |
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Trivia[]
- Sarah was inspired by Sarah Connor from the Terminator franchise.[3]
- Her trademark "VF Suit" also appears in Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd as a Module for Vocaloid Megurine Luka.[4]
- Interestingly, her blue catsuit is modified in Dead or Alive 5; the top and bottom are treated as separate garments, with a little of her midriff exposed because of this. Also, her boots are sleeker, having a high heel rather than the low heeled boots she originally wore.
- All of Akira, Sarah, Pai, and Jacky's lines are recycled from Virtua Fighter 5 for Dead or Alive 5.