Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition

I’ll admit, when I saw the announcement that Super Street Fighter IV would be a 3DS launch title I was concerned. I’ve never been a fan of playing a watered down version of a game on a handheld, preferring to see a franchise play to the strengths of a platform even if it means swapping genre. Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars being a perfect example of this done right. It never crossed my mind that the current champion of the fighting game scene could be ported to a handheld intact, but that is exactly what Capcom have done with Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition.

Just about everything you can find in the home console release is present and, mostly, correct in this port. The full ‘Super’ cast are selectable, including their animated story intros and endings. Every move and combo is theoretically still possible as the fighting engine remains intact. The extras such as the much beloved training and challenge modes are all present and correct. So what’s missing? Not much, really, although all the stages are present they are no longer animated, having been replaced by a freeze frame image, this took me a while to notice but is really the only big change in the look and feel of the game.

The major difference is that, predictably, the game is now in 3D. There are three options when it comes to how much of that 3rd dimension you want in your game. You have the fully jacked up dynamic over the shoulder view. While this looks great it and is fun for a time it does tend to break your overview of a match and make zoning and spacing just about impossible to judge. A nice spectacle but ultimately unusable. The recommended way to use the 3D is by playing on the standard 2D plane with the graphics presented in 3D. This looks great and does nothing to detract from gameplay. It’s my preferred method of play and easily the most rewarding. The third option is to slide the 3D off and play in traditional 2D just like on the console. I only ever found myself using this when someone was watching me play to save them suffering from the blurry effect the 3DS offers people observing the screen from the side.

In addition to the ported content there are a few nice surprises made possible by the standard features of the 3DS. StreetPass functionality is offered in the form of a trophy collecting game where you build a team of fighters from you collection that will automatically be pitted against anyone you pass in the street. Although it is fairly pointless it is a nice addition to the package. The built in Wireless networking of the 3DS means you can jump online and play against a human opponent whenever you have an internet connection. This works well and I never had a problem finding a match. Setting up a match against a friend can be a little more trying and is impossible without organising it in advance via some other medium. Local wireless play is also offered and download play is available if only one of you have a cart, however you’ll be limited to a single stage and you’ll both need to be Ryu.

All good so far? Well yes but now we need to talk about the controls. The 3DS is not designed for playing a six button fighting game, and Capcom knows it. To make up for the limitations of the hardware in this area there are a great deal of control options available. In the more simple mode ‘lite’ you can assign any special, super or ultra move to one of four sections of the touch screen. Any button can be assigned to be pretty much anything in game and all control schemes can be customised differently for each fighter. While this helps it does also break the game a little because it allows moves that traditionally need to be charged to be performed instantly. There is a pro mode that limits this and only allows more basic binds to the screen but it can be very hard to play. The options are there for how you want to deal with this but none of them are perfect.