Swimsuits

In the Dead or Alive Xtreme sub-series, one of the biggest acquirements to finish the games is to collect swimsuits, the main type of clothing the girls wear in the sub-series.

Swimsuits are an item of clothing designed to be worn while participating in activities involving water, such as water sports and swimming. It is also common to see swimsuits being used for summer activities, such as sun bathing and beach sports, being used as undergarments for specialized diving clothing such as wetsuits, and also worn to display the human body as seen in various magazines.

History[]

While artistic evidence can date "swimsuit-like" attire worn by a woman to Pompeii in 1960, the first example of the modern day female swimsuit came in the form of Bathing Gowns in the 1800’s. Made out of weighted, non-transparent fabrics the one-piece gowns (practically full dresses) were separated into two-piece gowns (dress and trousers) come the 1900’s.

In 1907 Annette Kellerman, an "underwater ballerina" from Australia, created controversy in America for wearing a skin-tight swimsuit that exposed her arms, legs, and neck. Her influence would eventually lead to the gradual shrinking of the Bathing Gown design to expose the arms, thighs and bosom, and doing away with the dress portion of the gown, instead coming close to the Swimsuits that the men and children were wearing at the time. It was also at this time that new fabrics were being tested to provide extra strength and comfort to the wearer of swimsuits.

Come the 1940’s, swimsuits began to feature in glamour photography due to their figure-hugging nature. From then onward the swimsuit design began to take the form most commonly seen today, with the Bikini (named after a nuclear testing sight due to its “explosive effect on the viewer”) first being introduced just after World War 2 in 1942. Initially similar to the two-piece swimsuit (shirt and shorts) of 1920, the Bikini exposed the midriff of the wearer, while the 1920 swimsuit did not. As with the swimsuit, from 1960 onwards the Bikini design began to shrink to expose more and more skin, sometimes going as far as to only be covering the nipples and genitalia. During this time, the Monokini (a Bikini without the top, leaving the breasts exposed) was introduced by fashion designer, Rudi Gernreich. The Thong design was introduced in the 1980’s from Brazil.

Swimsuits in Dead or Alive Xtreme[]

In the Dead or Alive Xtreme series, the girls usually wear swimsuits while staying on the tropical Zack Island (although they also wear other types of clothing, such as various types of shirts, shorts, skirts, dresses, and even underwear). All clothing can be purchase from the Sports Shop on Zack Island with Zack Dollars, which are earned by taking part in activities around the island.

Swimsuit Styles[]

While there may be even more swimsuit types out there, the following is a list of types that have appeared in the Dead or Alive Xtreme games:

One-Piece[]

The "traditional swimsuit," which covers the majority of the torso in one piece of material, resembling a sleeveless leotard. It is considered by most to be the most modest of the swimsuit designs, the most common style being the Tank Suit or Maillot.

Variants in the designs include the halterneck, where a strap wraps around the back of the neck to hold up the bust, and plunge front swimsuits, as well as wrap-round bandeau styles that possess no shoulder or neck straps. Some styles of the one-piece may have sections that have been cut-out in order to expose the stomach or the cleavage.

Bikini[]

Normally possessing much the same coverage and design as the typical bra and panties combination, the traditional bikini covers both the pelvic and upper chest area while exposing the mid section and stomach. Variants of the bikini include:

• String Bikini - A "shrunken" variant of the bikini, it consists of two triangular shaped pieces connected between the legs but not at the sides, where a thin "string" of material that can be continuous or has to be tied, wraps around the waist on either side to hold up the two parts. String bikini tops are similar and are held in place by the attached "string" pieces.
• Microkini - An even more exposed variant of the string bikini, where the material pieces covering the genitals and nipples are barely large enough to do so. Some designs only possess the straps, instead of the material ‘triangles’, to cover the wearer's privacy.
• Tankini - The visual combination of a tank top shirt and bikini bottoms, the tankini provides the coverage and modesty of a one-piece swimsuit, while maintaining the convenience of a two-piece bikini. Variants include the Camkini, with spaghetti straps instead of tank-shaped straps, and the Bandeaukini, with a bandeau wrap around/strapless top.
• Sling Bikini - Also known as a "Suspender Bikini," "Suspender Thong," "Slingshot bikini," or just "Slingshot," the sling bikini possesses what resembles a bikini bottom with the straps extending to cover the breasts and going over the shoulders instead of going around the hips. The straps usually join behind the neck and reach down the back as a single strap to become a thong. However, other design variants have the straps joining lower down the back.

In Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation, with the exception of Misaki, all the girls, default or add-on, start out with a basic string bikini, called "ordinary bikini", that is colored in the girls' favorite colors.

Other Dead or Alive Appearances[]

Dead or Alive Ultimate[]

Dead or Alive Ultimate features a vast collection of unlockable costumes for each of the playable characters, including a handful of swimsuits from Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball for Ayane, Helena Douglas, Hitomi, Kasumi, Leifang, and Tina Armstrong. There is even an unlockable Gallery of the girls - plus Christie and Lisa - that features images of them in swimsuits.

Girls of DOA BlackJack[]

In the iPhone game Girls of DOA BlackJack, the player can unlock the Jasper one-piece and the Crocus bikini from Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 as costumes for Kasumi to wear in-game. However, the game was removed from the App Store due to these costumes, as they broke the store's rules against sexual content.

Dead or Alive: Dimensions[]

One of Kasumi's costumes available in Dead or Alive: Dimensions is the Begonia bikini, which also appeared in Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball and Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate. This is the only swimsuit costume in the game and was only made available as free DLC.

Dead or Alive 5[]

Dead or Alive 5 features swimsuits as unlockable costumes for Tina, Christie and Lisa taken from Dead or Alive Xtreme 2. These are unlocked, respectively, by clearing arcade, time attack and survival modes on the Legend difficulty.

Additionally, the game and its expanded version, Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate, features several swimsuits from Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 as DLC for all the female characters except Alpha-152. In Dead or Alive 5 Last Round, specifically the Season Pass DLC sets, the Hot Summer DLC for Season 2 featured swimwear for the girls as part of the promotion for the then-recently announced Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 Venus and Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 Fortune versions, which later acted alongside wallpaper as a subtle voting method for which girls managed to get in. The Valentine's Day DLC in the Season 3 Pass also featured swimwear underneath aprons for the various girls. Swimsuits and similar attire were also the focus of two DLC sets that were originally used for preorders for the game: The first was Last Getaway, which featured four sets, each composed of four characters ("Aloha" for Kasumi, Ayane, Hitomi, and Mila; "Showstoppers" for Tina Armstrong, Christie, Helena Douglas, and Lisa Hamilton; "Beach Party" for Momiji, Kokoro, Leifang, and Rachel; and "New Challengers" for Marie Rose, Honoka, Phase 4, and Nyotengu), plus two additional swimwear for the VF guest female fighters Sarah Bryant and Pai Chan; the second was sexy premiere, which featured the four new girls (ie, Marie Rose, Nyotengu, Phase 4, and Honoka) wearing white bikinis indicative of gravure models (or, in the case of Marie Rose, a navy blue sukumizu). In Naotora Ii's character DLC, one of her outfits is her in a striped swimsuit with apparel resembling that of a tiger, alluding to one of Naotora Ii's DLC costumes from Samurai Warriors 3.

See Also[]

• Swimsuit Catalogues for Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball
• Swimsuit Catalogues for Dead or Alive Xtreme 2
• Swimsuit Catalogues for Dead or Alive Paradise
• Swimsuit Catalogues for Dead or Alive Xtreme 3, both Venus and Fortune versions