Team Ninja explains why Dead or Alive: Dimensions is on 3DS, how it got a Teen rating

A portion of a GamesRadar interview with Yosuke Hayashi

GR: So why the 3DS, then? People tend to associate DoA with being on the system with the most raw horsepower in order to showcase the game’s visuals.

YH: Our main reason for choosing the 3DS was creating Dead or Alive from a bit of a different perspective… no pun intended. We could have just continued on consoles the way we had up to this point, but we decided we wanted to give players a portable experience – let them hang out together with a bunch of friends and just play it. The 3DS felt like a platform where we could most easily realize that. It gave us the opportunity to really flesh out a fresher, portable experience rather than simply doing a direct port. The 3DS simple felt like a good match for what we wanted to do with the game.

GR: Something longtime DoA fans may have noticed is that this is the first “T” rated game in the series in a while – most of the previous games garnered an “M.” DoA has a bit of a reputation for edgy content – does this mean you’ve “toned it down” in any way for a broader (and presumably younger) 3DS market?

YH: Our core fighting action has always been more in line with the “T” rating, really. The main difference is that, in the previous games, some of the movies and sequences could get a bit racy. That’s more or less why the ESRB gave us an “M.” As a result, the whole game needed to be M-rated. But we want fans to know that we haven’t changed or toned down anything here. The fighting’s still as intense as ever, and you’ll still get plenty of fanservice. I guess the ESRB decided this time that our cinematics were on the “T” level, so that’s why we’ve got the rating.