Dead or Alive

Platforms: PC, Saturn, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Dreamcast, Xbox, Arcade
Publisher: Tecmo, 1998
Developer: Tecmo/Team Ninja

Not exactly ideal attire for a fight.

Dead or Alive emerged pre-1998 as an arcade game, built on Sega's Model 2 board, the same as Virtua Fighter 2.This immediately gave the game credibility as a fighter. When gamers brought DOA home, first on the Saturn, they were instantly impressed. The Virtua Fighter-style play, the memorable characters, the mechanics, the graphics, and the 3D animations were spot-on. Besides a few nitpicky technical splotches, in his review, GameSpot's Ryan Mac Donald had one minor complaint: "Apparently the designers went a little too far when it came to the motion design of the female characters though, because they made it so their breasts bounce while fighting. Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that they keep on bouncing well after they should, it may have been seen as a commendable effort for the designers' keen attention to detail. At any rate, the breast-bouncing can be turned off or on in the option menu."

For five years the breasts kept bouncing, amid minor flak with each new release, and then in January 2003, Tecmo and Team Ninja created their magnum opus (in terms of the breasts only) with Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball for the Xbox, mostly featuring the female fighters from the series.

Shortly before the release, the ESRB announced that the game would receive an M rating. John Inada, a director of marketing and sales at Tecmo, said, "While there isn't rampant nudity in the game, there are certain elements that caused the ESRB to give it the nudity descriptor. ... As with all other games in the Dead or Alive franchise, we believe the stunning visuals, explosive action, and classic arcade gameplay will bring Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball to an even wider audience of admirers."

Accepting the M rating may have saved the game from further controversy, attesting to the theory so many game fans and game makers hold--that ratings, in most cases, are an insurance, of sorts, for the developers and publishers against blame and responsibility. Because the Dead or Alive franchise was firmly established and known to be an exceptional fighting series, and the Beach Volleyball property was not a known quantity, the controversy did not hurt the game's sales.

Anyone up for volleyball?

GameSpot gave DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball the dubious distinction of "Most Embarrassing Game" in its 2003 Game of the Year awards. Senior editor Jeff Gerstmann wrote that the game set the industry back about five years: "While we here at GameSpot aren't against the concept of poolside wiggling, the way it's portrayed in DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball is embarrassing to the point of disgust. Its dress-up, peep-show mentality comes across as just plain creepy, and just as people's perceptions about games as serious subject matter were beginning to change, something like this sticks out like a sore thumb. Games still have a long way to go, and softcore digital exploitation like this surely isn't helping to expand the market, regardless of its M rating."

But that doesn't mean the company won't capitalize where possible. After the game's release, Tecmo announced that it would release a Team Ninja-designed line of swimwear based on the Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball outfits. The four bikini styles would be produced in Japan and sell for about $150 each. Nice work if you can get it.