Let's say DOA6 only has 20 original characters on release

[Chapstick]

I completely forgot about that. o . O But that's also it! I forgot about it because it actually didn't even happen...because that story wasn't yet told in the actual game.

And it will be told in DOA6, just like Marie's and Honoka's stories. Not sure what they'll do with Marie since she's just a servant but with Honoka I can see her little story being lighthearted with her going around and fighting people with a cliffhanger (story-wise not special stage-interaction) involving Raidou. Nyotengu will show up to throw a wrench in things for the heroes and possibly the villains too.

Some of you (you for example) in here ruled Momiji and Rachel completely out of the picture. Why rule them out but not the LR characters?

They're guests, simple as that. The other 5U and LR characters all originated in DOA (well, Honoka originated in Love Live but y'know). Ryu's the only exception but he's been here since DOA1.

 

[Tyaren]

Nuh, still not convinced. :/ Raidou would only take away space and time for another pretty girl or a fan favorite character or a completely new character and there will definitely be a focus on other characters and a new boss/bosses in DOA6's story. They would be wasting too much on an old actually unnecessary boss character like Raidou, especially if you yourself say its probably only lighthearted and peripheral. And the roster will very likely be cut to about 20 characters. That's how fighters roll these days.

With Honoka, Marie and Nyotengu I am very sure they will return though.

 

[P2p1mbs]

Post Release DLCs (Yeah... I know... It's bad)
DLC Pack 1 : DOA1 Beauties

Bad indeed. Honestly, I really doubt that while Marie and Honoka becoming so popular so quickly (Marie is my even #5 character*) that they will take priority over Lei and Tina to the point that they will be cut while Marie and Honoka (I don't even LIKE Lei) make it in. After all, Kasumi is the only other girl in the game that has been in the series as long as they have.

Granted, Hitomi was very popular upon release that she appeared in ultimate while Christie and Brad didn't but that was a rerelease as opposed to a sequel so that doesnt really count.

*side note: between Tina, Rachel and Marie all being in my top 5, I realized I might have a thing for blue-eyed blond girls...

 

[Chapstick]

especially if you yourself say its probably only lighthearted and peripheral.

That's not what I meant, I meant Honoka's story would be like lighthearted with her going around sparring with people and eventually making it to the annual DOA tournament. While there Raidou might be lurking behind the scenes where she catches a glimpse of him and the tone turns serious like "do I know him from somewhere" like her tag pose. He would later, during the super serious last part of the story, show up as the ninjas infiltrate MIST headquarters to try to stop them from reaching Donovan and Hayate might get his revenge for being crippled.

 

[Kronin]

Despite being a later addition, TN showned and is showing to put more focus on Raidou - I'm not talking about its role in the story mode, of course absent - than on other veteran males. If some male character is going to be cut from DoA6, at least in the early phases before eventual DLC/remakes, I don't think at all that the most likely is Raidou.

Like it was pointed out, an appearence of Raidou in the story doesn't mean only a major role for him but even easy developments for the other main characters Kasumi, Ayane and Hayate, together with all the other ones tied to MIST and likely Honoka too. It's definitely a character that can get an easy life for being included in the plot with the elements already available... let's say much more than Leon, for using the first example in my mind, that needs to get new elements if TN want putting him in the game without recycling his backstory.

Finally the background of the DLC characters should be considered canon, and the fact that we don't see this at work in the story mode IMO adds even more weight to it in proportion to its "complexity". Marie Rose is estabilished to be a servant in DoA5 background, we don't see ever this at work in the game but anyway DoAX3 further developed the idea stating as she is at the service of Helena - something just implied in DoA5 but never fully explicited: on the same line of what could happen with the link between Honoka and Raidou for making another example.

So if Raidou wanted be just an extra character TN could simply limitate its efforts to create back the Raidou from DoA1 without adding any background or reason to it, a fully extra character without particular reason to be in the roster exactly as happened for Bankotsubo in DoA4. To see instead that they go so further to redesign completely his appearence, giving a reason for it that involves the current plans of the evil organization of the game and even giving an hint of the current Raidou' status - he is oblivious of his own past - when this latter element is something never called in cause in the game neither from his design, neither from his lines, imo just make me realize that TN is putting the basis for what will be Raidou's role in the next episode of the series.

If something the few efforts done for explaining the reason for the inclusion of Momiji and Rachel in DoA5 could give the idea that TN is just trying to use a weak explanation for putting them in the game because doesn't want be conditionated from it in the future (so Rachel and Momiji could be in the series' sequel with different motivations without necessarily being based on their entry or less in the fifth tournament, thing that so could be considered to happen totally off-screen withouth changing anything for their future).

 

[Argentus]

Plus he's a ninja so he automatically gets priority over other males

 

[Juihau]

What about Naotora or Ayane in Senran Kagura?

Like Chapstick said, they're guests. A better SK comparison would be Naraku and Kagura being playable in a game that, due to multidimensional shenanigans, they shouldn't actually be a part of. Yet, like the DoA5U-LR characters, there were some hints to try and justify their presence which may lead to them playing an actual role in the story. Or it may just go nowhere, nobody knows yet.

 

[UpSideDownGRUNT]

Like hints of Ein in DOA5 being a clone of some kind, his bio states that he's supposed to have returned as Hayate already and the tag intro with Lisa is also pretty suggestive of him being part of Project Epsilon 2.0 considering he never really came across Lisa until after he regained his memories.

 

[Kyoto's Finest]

​

With 34 characters in its roster (and soon 35), the DOA serie never had so many fighters in a single game.
This thread could have been called "what are the 20 characters TN should prioritize for a sequel ?", as it is obvious some of them won't be available on release. It's hard to believe Team Ninja will make 35+ new models on the due date, as Tecmo is apparently more and more pushing them to release games on restricted time. They would also need time to make new fighters from scratch.

Of course it doesn't prevent them from releasing all the missing characters with DLCs (like SF5 will do), but which characters should they include in the default cast, story mode and marketing strategy ? The same thing happened with Leon and Ein, who were planned for DOA5 Vanilla, but cut due to the lack of time, meaning they were the two characters with the least priority at the time.

I would like you to respect some criterias if you can, such as :
- their overall popularity in Japan and in the West
- the uniqueness of their gameplay and their individuality
- their relevance to the story and their relations to other characters
Also this is not a battle between fans, so let's be nice.

Time to theorize! Choose 20 characters between these 30 characters and be objective!





VF characters are excluded
No arguments regarding dead characters

E.g : "Brad has poor relevance to the story, and is not the most popular character, but his fighting style is unique and most fighting games have a drunk guy... his choregraphies are nice, and if they want to advertize the removal of clipping, I'd say he would be a great candidate... also I feel like players need a trolling characters with multiple options... based on that, I'd say we should keep/remove him."

Ayane, Bayman, Christie, Eliot, Hayate, Helena , Tomi, Noka, Jann, Kasumi , Koko, Lei, Rig, Marie, Mila, Tina, Bass, Momiji, Rachel, and Ryu.
Im pretty sure Alpha is gone. Brad lost his relevance. Ein (same reason as doa5). GenFu pretty much passed on his legacy to Eliot so i feel Eliot will take up some of his moves and GenFu will be gone. I Hope Lisa is gone. Leon (same reason as doa5), I honestly feel theyre going to push Marie and Honoka so thats why i kept them in the doa6 roster. Mila along with Momiji and Rachel is a wild card. Phase will probably be dlc again. Raidou should be in the game but hes #21 on my list. Oh and zack was pretty much for comic purposes but now they have the lolis for that.

 

[Kyoto's Finest]

This is the roster I want

Kasumi
Ayane
Hayabusa
Hayate
Bass
Tina
Leifang
Jann Lee
Eliot
Zack
Christie
Lisa
Bayman
Honoka
Marie rose
Helena
Kokoro
Rig
Mila
Hitomi

Remove Mila (or Kokoro) and Bass for the 2 new characters.

NOOOOOOOOOOOO NOT KOKORO. SHES GOING TO DO DOATEC JAPAN RIGHT!? WE NEED HER. KOKO NEEDS TO WIN. and eliot.