in a Danger Zone will take extra damage, giving the attacker a slight advantage. These environmental hazards can be anything from Falls to Explosives to Breakable Structures. If a fighter has low health, being trapped in a Danger Zone is more likely to knock them out than a normal attack, although in certain titles, elements such as falls cannot do this, and instead just leave the fighter with very low health. One of the series' most innovative additions to the genre is its countering system, officially known as the "Triangle System". The basic gameplay of the series is based on the Triangle System with three basic actions: Blows, Throws, and Holds; Blows beat Throws, Throws beat Holds, and Holds beat Blows. Beginning with the original Dead or Alive, players could tap the guard button and a direction corresponding with the anticipated attack, which would do a powerful counterattack known as Counter Hold. Counter Holds must be timed correctly and match the direction of the attack being countered. If the attack targets the torso, the player must also take into account whether the attack is a punch or a kick. The series controls also make the instances of speed and simplicity more congruent with the focus of timing and combos in mind, as the commands for basic attacks are widely considered more straightforward than most video games. There is only one button for punch, kick, throw and guard, with the player rarely having to combine more than two different input schemes together at a time. In the first Dead or Alive, stages were simply fighting ring arenas and the Danger Zones were just explosive outer edges of the arena floors. In Dead or Alive 2, stage environments became larger and multi-tiered and the original Danger Zone was replaced with more fully interactive ones such as Falls off the Edge, Walls, Electrically Charged Walls, Explosive Walls, Breakable Walls and Windows. Players are also offered the ability to sidestep into the foreground or background. Since Dead or Alive 2, the series has implemented its Tag team fighting system, allowing characters to switch back and forth for combo attacks and even attack simultaneously when timed correctly. The Tag Mode also included special throws unique to certain pairs of characters called "Tag Throws", and the mode allows for the participation of four players, something not very common in the fighting game genre. Dead or Alive