Dead or Alive is a media franchise centered on a series of fighting games developed by Team Ninja and published by Tecmo. It is primarily composed of fast-paced fighting games that began with the original Dead or Alive in 1996. The series received universal acclaim with the sequels Dead or Alive 2 in 1999 and Dead or Alive 3 in 2001, which are both considered landmark titles in the fighting genre and gaming. Dead or Alive is the creation of Tomonobu Itagaki, who developed the first four installments but has since left the company and is no longer working on the series, which continues without him.

A fighting game is a genre of video game that involves combat between two or more characters. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as blocking, grappling, counter-attacking, and chaining attacks together into "combos". Characters generally engage in battle using hand-to-hand combat—often some form of martial arts. The fighting game genre is related to, but distinct from, the beat 'em up genre, which pits large numbers of computer-controlled enemies against one or more player characters.