DeathMatch VR is a combat simulator program made by dataDyne that allows a small or large number of people to face off against each other in virtual arenas.

DeathMatch Versions

There are three known version of DeathMatch:

• The Portable Version - Also known as the home version, this variety of DeathMatch is made up of a headset (that has the dataDyne double-D diamond logo embossed on the side), projection lenses, basal sensor, body sensors and neurolinks. In Perfect Dark: Initial Vector, it is noted that the rig is quite delicate dispite the violence it fakes. This version can be played for long periods of time (Joanna having played for almost two days straight) and can be operated by just the player or the player and someone on the control deck. The portable version comes in a variety of colors.
• Zhang Li's Custom Rig - Seen in Perfect Dark Zero and Perfect Dark: Second Front, this version is made so that if you die in the game, you die for real. The only exception to this is if the player is disconnected from the rig before they die in-game, as Zhang Li did when Mai Hem lost to Joanna. Chun Fan avidly believes that Zhang Li's custom rig is the way that he always intended DeathMatch to be played, thus to her it's the only way it should be played. So far, there is only one version of this particular version of DeathMatch, which is located in Zhang Li's home in the Sichuan Province in China. Unlike the portable version, this version of DeathMatch is quite large. Zhang Li's rig differs in apperance in Perfect Dark Zero and Perfect Dark: Second Front. In Zero, it is shown that Zhang Li's rig is made of two large reclined chairs that have a set of controls attached to them. Once the players are in place, two large tops that resemble corbra heads are lowered over over the players which has a visor of sorts that can be adjusted. In Second Front, the rig is described as being made up of a bed, which is made up of a blue-green biomemetic gel, and requires feedback leads to be attached to the temples and fingers. Once set up, the bed vibrates as it lowers and as the top comes down, playing the trademark DeathMatch music and prerecorded announcement before the player's world flashes white, which shortly becomes a dot that unfolds 'like an origami box' that when done, shows the DeathMatch arena.
• LoveMatch VR - A hacked version of DeathMatch. Instead of allowing the player to participate in virtual violence, this version allows the user to participate in their virtual sexual fantasies. There are other names for the hacked DeathMatch, but it is known as LoveMatch VR in polite society. There are a number of underground clubs that are devoted to and/or feature LoveMatch as an attraction, most notably the Club Lisboa in Macau, China (which also offers gambling). Like the portable version, LoveMatch can be operated by one or two people (but only one can use each rig at a time).

Perfect Dark Zero

DeathMatch is first seen in use in Mission 0. At the end of the level, it is revealed to have just been a combat simulation courtesy of the dataDyne DeathMatch VR.

Later, during the latter part of Mission 4, Joanna Dark sees Zhang Li's custom DeathMatch rig. Zhang Li then notices her, and mistaking her for a professional DeathMatch player, he sets her up against his daughter Mai Hem, who is a professional player. At the start of the match, Mai Hem has a SuperDragon while Joanna only has a MagSec 4. If the player hacked the satellite server earlier, Chandra can then get Joanna either a Hawk, M60 or a Combat Shield. Halfway through the match, Mai Hem will 'dissapear' several times as the stone statues around the arena 'come to life'. When the match ends, Zhang Li disconnects the rig in order to save Mai Hem, who lost to Joanna.

Perfect Dark: Inital Vector

When the story first goes to Joanna, she is in the middle of playing a DeathMatch simulation where she has been fighting dataDyne recovery teams and gang members alike. She has lost count of how many people she has killed (believing to have lost count around the mid sixties) by the time she has made it to a Japanese reasturant, exhausted and growing tired of killing. She continues anyway and makes her way into the reasturant, taking out four gang members before she is shot in the back of the head.

Daniel Carrington then disconnects the rig, which is met with protest from Joanna. She states that she wasn't finished, to which he replies "Admittedly, I don't know as much about these things as you do, but my understanding is that a bullet to the back of the head leads to death, which, in almost every instance, translates to game over." Carrington is further disapointed that she was using a dataDyne product, believing that it could be messing with her mind. She then replies that she'll go back to using the HoloMan VR, to which Carrington states that Joanna's use of DeathMatch is an unusual way to deal with grief, which Joanna denies that she is grieving. (this is however false, as she starts to cry for her father shortly after Carrington leaves and is later playing on a HoloMan rig after her unsucessful attempt to rescue Benjamin Able.)

At the end, Carrington gives Joanna a new DeathMatch rig (replacing the one she accedentally broke afer he disconnected her earlier in the story) as a thank you for saving his life. Joanna however, gives it back, stating that she doesn't need it anymore.

Perfect Dark: Second Front

In Second Front, Chun Fan is seen using a Portable DeathMatch rig to train herself for her planed fight against Joanna, first putting herself against fully armed Mai Hem bots (which she sucessfully kills eighty-four of with only a Combat Knife before being killed with a Rocket Launcher) then pitting herself against a custom Joanna bot that was created with the aid of her brothers and sisters to be as much like the real Joanna as possible, which she sucessfully beats after two and a half minutes.

When Joanna is finally brought to Fan, Joanna is put under Chrysalis to take the form of Mai Hem, so that Fan can obtain her revenge (the first being unable to kill Mai Hem herself, the other being able to kill Zhang Li's murderer) in the way 'their father' always inteded them to fight, which is on his Custom Rig. Being heavily wounded beforehand, Joanna almost loses but ultimately wins when she uses her likeness as Mai Hem to her advantage, causing Fan to have a mental breakdown when she acts just as Mai Hem would.

Notable DeathMatch Players

• Joanna Dark - Played during her free time, using both DeathMatch and HoloMan to train herself so that she could be able to help her father catch bounties. It is stated that if things turned out differently for her, she could have played for the Seattle Slayers, a professional DeathMatch team.
• Mai Hem - The most popular DeathMatch player. She is well known for her reckless style of play and for using more showy weapons (such as the Rocket Launcher, the Dragon or the MagSec 4) over the use of pratcial ones (such as the Falcon or the Sniper Rifle) so that she could be the show (which also explains her choice of wardrobe).
• Takahata Sato - CEO of dataDyne's ServAuto Robotics division. He is single due to his love of LoveMatch VR.
• Chun Fan - Oldest member of The Continuity and their leader. Much like Joanna, she spent much of her time training on DeathMatch, except she was training to defeat Mai Hem so that she could become Zhang Li's favoriet.
• Nolan 'Headshot' Ross - DeathMatch VR superstar.
• Brian 'Killzone' Maeda - DeathMatch VR superstar.
• Kristine 'Princess Die' Hatch - DeathMatch VR superstar.