It’s not easy playing SSFIV on the 3DS. Surprisingly enough, using the d-pad and analog stick isn’t so bad. You might even find yourself switching between the two depending on the situation. It’s having to press two buttons simultaneously that requires more effort than it should. It’s even worse for Ultra combos since you need to press three buttons at the same time. The problem comes from using the shoulder buttons. After awhile, your hands just get cramped up and it’s difficult to be precise when you can’t play comfortably.
To remedy some of the pain, Capcom added touch screen controls. This essentially gives you four extra buttons to work with. There are two types of mappable control schemes – Pro and Lite. For Pro mode, you can only assign normal attacks, grabs, and focus attacks to the touch screen. It’s no different than changing the buttons for the console version. Lite mode, however, allows you to map special moves, EX moves, super moves, and ultra combos to all four panels.
The touch screen controls work well for the most part. What’s neat is that you can personalize each character’s four panels to your liking. The execution is near flawless. The problem is, lite mode essentially breaks the balance of the game. Take Guile, for example. If you map his Flash Kick to the touch screen, you can walk up to the opponent and just do the move out of nowhere. This is impossible under normal circumstances since it’s a charge move. In the right hands, lite mode can be a nightmare. Just imagine playing against a Zangief player that can mindlessly do a spinning piledriver at the touch of a button. It’s pretty bad.
You can also enable auto-blocking while in lite mode. It’s not as broken as it sounds. When enabled, players take “white damage” in a way that’s similar to using a focus attack. Getting hit after blocking a bunch of strikes will not only deal normal damage, but you’ll also lose all of your white health. It’s a somewhat balanced setup that prevents abuse.
When playing in 3D, the gameplay is locked at 30 frames per second. By turning off 3D in the options menu, the game jumps to a full 60 frames per second and matches the console version. You won’t notice too many dips in frame rate during a match, although it’s occurs more frequently when 3D effects are on. Visually, this game looks phenomenal. The character models look great, all of the animations remain intact, and the special moves provide tons of eye candy. The stages, unfortunately, have taken a hit. All of the wildly animated backgrounds are now empty, lifeless backdrops. It’s not that big of a deal, but it’s still worth mentioning.
The 3DS version also includes a figurine collecting mode. Figures can be purchased with Play Coins by either playing through the game normally or by walking around with the 3DS. You can then assemble a team of five figurine warriors to use in StreetPass mode. Whenever you encounter another player with the game, you will automatically engage in a battle of epic proportions (not really). You’re not missing much if you never use StreetPass. Still, it’s a fun mechanic that rewards the player for doing absolutely nothing.
Online play is surprisingly good. Finding a game is simple and it’s even faster than the console version. Sadly, connections are not always stable. Sometimes it feels like playing underwater. It really depends on the opponent, but don’t expect flawless netcode. What’s great is that you can disable lite mode when playing online. The level of competition changes drastically when doing so. One of the more useful abilities is being able to rematch an opponent immediately without going back to the character select screen. This may not seem like much, but you can’t even do that on the PS3 or 360. The only downside is that you can’t add players to your friendslist. That should have been an option.
Unfortunately, Team Battle mode, Tournament mode, and Replay Channels are all missing from the 3DS version. The option to use character specific themes as background music has also been removed, along with Japanese voiceovers. These are unfortunate sacrifices but it’s understandable.
Pros
- It’s Super Street Fighter IV in the palm of your hands
- Impressive visuals highlight the awesome character designs even on a portable
- Online works well and only has slight hiccups
- Figurine collecting and Street Pass are fun diversions from normal gameplay
- Touch screen controls are intuitive, even for pro players
- Utilizes nearly every feature of the 3DS
Cons
- Lite mode shifts the balance of the game
- Shoulder buttons are a bit difficult to use
- Dynamic View, while neat, is awkward for a game like Street Fighter
- Online leaderboards, Replay Channels, Team Battle mode, and Tournament Mode didn’t make the cut
- Options for arranged BGM and Japanese voiceovers were removed
While the transition from console to handheld wasn’t without compromises, Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition is a must-own title for the 3DS. With the addition of touch screen controls, Capcom successfully made the game more inviting and accessible to a larger audience. It doesn’t matter if you’re a seasoned vet or a newcomer to the series. This is a game that you’ll be playing for a long time. It’s just that good.
Score: 8/10
Jaffa-the-Cake
I have it on 3DS and it is amazing. The only problem I have is the price of the game. I could easily buy the console version with arguably more features and it would cost much less than the £30 I payed for the 3DS version.
christoph
Great review but the best game in the 3ds is an 8? Wow
Delriach
an 8 is a very good score! All other handhelds should be jealous that they don’t have this game on their platform *pokes PSP*
Dan Lee
Having a look back on Metacritic, some of the better launch titles for the PS3, PSP, and Xbox 360 all scored between 7.9 and 8.8.
mynameisblair
Brilliant, it’s an absolutely awesome game and definitely the biggest launch game available. Really loving it.
Pitcher-T
Brilliant review. I got this game with the bundle, so pricing wasn’t an issue.
however how can you say dynamic view is a negative for the game? Surely adding an optional extra, regardless of how good it is, is a bonus.
Brilliant game tho, I just need to get better at it lol.
Delriach
I actually debated about adding that to the cons section myself. The option is indeed cool but the implementation makes playing the game more difficult. When you remove the ability to properly judge distance you essentially take away a major component of the game.
It’s more of a con from a gameplay perspective. It’s a shame that there aren’t replay channels because it’d be neat to watch matches in this viewpoint.
Pitcher-T
Or they could’ve even had the camera move around a bit in the replay channel. That would’ve been neat.
but I do agree with you, I used it once to see what it was like, then never again.
Also I didn’t know the game ran at 30fps in 3d and 60 in 2d! Might sacrafice the 3d for a bit. I bet that’s why i’m not very good at it ;-) lmao. Nothing to do with skill level aha.
Delriach
Going from 30fps to 60fps is a pretty noticeable difference. Make sure that you actually turn off the option in the options menu. Just lowering the slider won’t change anything.
Everything seems to work fine regardless if you’re playing in 30fps, which is good ;P
KeRaSh
Shoulder buttons are hard to use? Shouldn’t this be a con for the console itself? It’s hardly the devs fault.
Delriach
The shoulder buttons aren’t really a problem for other types of games. SSFIV uses both buttons frequently and the way the game is played makes using them very difficult to use comfortably.
KeRaSh
Ah, I see. Thanks for clearing that up.
Klart
A bit sad the killer app isn’t coming from Nintendo and is a rerelease of a game that’s been out for some time.
minerwilly
Thats my whole bugbear about the Nintendo thing , so few new IP’s and always the same thing Mario , Zelda , Monkeyball , Donkey Kong , Mario Kart etc etc every generation whereas Sonys mascot titles from only as far back as 95 things like Tomb Raider , Crash Bandicoot , Tekken , Parappa the Rapper have pretty much all been put to bed and we have newer mascots now like Uncharted , Ico , LBP etc etc .
Sony and Microsoft developers seem less afraid to take a risk and thats why i havent owned a Nintendo since the SNES which was only good for Multiplayer Mariokart and the very first ISS . Megadrive well and truly spanked the SNES in terms of quality games . Road Rash .. need i say more .
SpikeyMikey23
I’ve never got on well with handheld beat em ups, Ill stick to console versions. The bigger screen holds my attention better, sad but true
Foxhound_Solid
Cracking game by the sounds of it :-D
gaffers101
Great review, well done.
Squalje
I’m interested to try this out. It’s great they packed all the characters from Super into it. I don’t like the sound of lite mode but I guess it will be great for getting newcomers into it. Shame they removed the Japanese voiceovers though. Thanks for the review.