The Thinking Behind Dead or Alive: Dimensions’ Touch Screen Functions

Both of the two major Nintendo 3DS fighting games releasing during the system’s launch window, Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition and Dead or Alive: Dimensions, make use of the 3DS’ touchscreen in slightly different ways.

While Super Street Fighter IV allows you to assign up to four commands of any sort to the touchscreen, Dead or Alive goes a different route and simply puts the entire movelist for your character on there. You can scroll through the long list of moves and tap any one to pull it off.

Dead or Alive’s method is more thorough, but Super IV’s is more customizable. Curious to understand the thinking behind DOA’s method, we asked Team Ninja head, Yosuke Hayashi, why the touch controls were implemented the way they are. The decision, he told us, arose primarily from wanting to give players an easier way to understand and memorize the game’s moves.

“I remember playing the sparring mode for countless hours because I needed to memorize my favourite characters’ techniques,” Hayashi told Siliconera. “Even so, a week later I would forget a few of those combos and would have to go through them again. Taking these experiences into consideration, the team decided to give players a chance to enjoy the beauty of 3D fighting games without having to work out too much to get to this level.”

“While thinking about this feature, we came to a sudden realization that the bottom screen of the 3DS is sitting there doing nothing, so we decided that displaying the tech list on the touchscreen is the only way to go!” Hayashi revealed. “Players will be able to touch on the screen to execute a tech right there and then.”

He continued: “Taking into account the fact that each type of tech will be included in there, depending on the way each player learns his/her techs, they will have a chance to execute many of their favourite combos without much stress, memorize their favourite combos, polish up their combos, or remember the way their favourite combo is attributed to the type of technique they are trying to execute.”

Aside from touchscreen controls, Dead or Alive: Dimensions also has a motion-sensing feature. Curious to clarify past rumours, we asked Hayashi if you would be able to shake the 3DS to make certain “things” in the game jiggle.

His reply: “We are taking full advantage of 3DS functions. That is all I can say at this moment!”