FFXIII Gets “T” Rating Long After Nintendo Tried Marketing Original to Adults

Following the announcement of a release date, The Examiner reports that Final Fantasy XIII now has a rating by the ESRB. And that rating is… T for Teen. Like you thought it would be anything else.

The reason for the rating is Violence (natch), Mild Language (yippee), and Suggestive Themes– hello. Examiner says that “While the rating shouldn’t be a shock to anyone, the use of suggestive themes could be. With the game appearing to have a heavy atmosphere of love and caring, two women who link together to form a car, are surely some other sexual like surprises, the suggestive themes are likely to be minor sequences.”

On a related note, did you know that Nintendo once tried to market the original NES Final Fantasy toward adults?

Kotaku posts the following excerpt from the June 24, 1990 edition of The Oregonian, which had an article discussing movie adaptations such as “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” and “Dick Tracy.” Beyond that…

Tom Sarris, a spokesman for the Nintendo empire, said that the company expects about 70 new game titles out between now and the beginning of the year.

“Basically, you can expect something for everybody,” he said. “One of the most eagerly anticipated titles here is ‘Final Fantasy,’ which is very, very big in Japan, and that is very much geared to the adult market.”

Final Fantasy is a role playing-adventure fantasy game that will come with two maps and, Sarris said, the biggest instruction manual ever to accompany a Nintendo game — 84 pages long.

“It will be the most sophisticated game yet,” said Sarris. “We estimate the serious player can get through it in 60 hours. Casual players may take twice as long.”

Now you know, and knowing is half the battle. But you still don’t get any experience points for it.