Nicole-458

"And that's how you hit like a girl."

- SPARTAN-458

Petty Officer Second Class Nicole-458 is a United Nations Space Command Spartan-II supersoldier. She was introduced as an unlockable character for the fighting style game Dead or Alive 4.

Biography
Nicole was born in the year 2531 in the city of New Legaspi on Mars. At six years of age she was abducted by agents of the Office of Naval Intelligence and conscripted into the Spartan-II Program. She is from a later group of Spartan-II soldiers (Class-II) than those led by John-117, who were born in 2511. Nicole has Type O blood, is of Filipino descent and likes Halo-halo. She enjoys watching Anime and participating in competition shooting. She prefers close quarters combat.

Non-canon biography
In 2552, SPARTAN-458's unit was preparing for a classified mission on Nassau Station when the ONI stealth ship tumbled into real-space – being carried along in the wake of a freak slipspace anomaly. The anomaly intersected Nassau Station; creating a semi-stable "bubble" in the space/time continuum on its way back to the 21st century. For the time being Nicole-458 is trapped in the 21st century; guarding Nassau Station's secrets with anything but lethal force (she realizes killing someone in the past could have dire consequences in the future) and waiting for the "bubble" to collapse and hopefully return her to the year 2552.

Unique attacks
SPARTAN-458 has several unique moves. Most of them are named in reference to the Halo series.
 * Slipspace Straight Combo: YYY or ┌YYY
 * Pillar of Autumn: YY→YYY or ┌YY→YYY
 * Grunt Punt Combo: YY→YYB or ┌YY→YYB
 * Covenant Crusher: YYBB or ┌YYBB
 * Dead on Arrival: YB
 * MAC Lunge: ┘Y
 * Pelican Straight: └Y
 * Tank Treads: ↑YY
 * SPARTAN Straight Combo: →YYY
 * Ghost Destroyer Combo: →YBY
 * Orbital Aggression: →YBB
 * Augmented Assault: ←YY
 * Warthog Tackle: ←→Y
 * Brute Basher: ↓→Y
 * Assault Fist: ←↑Y

Character design
Nicole's movement controls were originally modeled on the character Bayman's set. Designer Tomonobu Itagaki realized a simplistic and effortless palette-swap would be boring to both fans of Dead or Alive and Halo. The Bayman moves were then treated as a starting point until the designers reinvented the Spartan as a unique and exceptional character with every move in her arsenal paying homage to a Halo move. In keeping with the idea of English being the language of the UNSC, Nicole is the only character on DOA4 that speaks English, although she occasionally speaks Japanese. When a taunt is used Nicole smacks her fist into her open palm and activates active camo.

Trivia

 * Nicole-458's designation may be a reference to 7 (458: 8-5=3+4=7 or 5-4=1 8-1=7). This would be because Bungie, creators of the running gag, created Nicole 458 for the makers of Dead or Alive 4 to use.
 * A Bungie employee, Evil Otto, has confirmed that Nicole is actually canon in the Halo universe, but her appearance in Dead or Alive 4 is not. This makes her the first Class-II Spartan-II to be seen.

Internal

 * Nassau Station
 * Dead or Alive 4

External

 * Nicole-458 profile in DOA Wiki