Before the release of the Nintendo 3DS, I had already essentially purchased Street Fighter IV twice. The first time I picked up the special edition of its original release, while the second time I grabbed the vastly improved second iteration.

I didn’t really feel like I “needed” to buy a third version, but as an early adopter of the new system, I wanted a good showpiece for the more powerful handheld. Since the graphics of Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition are arguably the best looking of all the 3DS launch titles, it seemed like a natural choice. But as I got it home and spent the better portion of a week playing it, my feelings gravitated from buying it for lack of other games to falling in love with it all over again.

Despite being on a portable system, SSFIV3D looks almost identical to its HD counterparts. The only real noticeable difference is the backgrounds, which have less animation than before. In most stages, I didn’t even notice. Only in the Africa stage, where a hippo inexplicably has its mouth open the entire match, did it ever really catch my eye.

The fighters however, look just as good as I remembered. Each attack and visual effect looks fantastic. The sense of depth added with the 3D is a nice touch as well, though the edges of models look a bit smoother with it off.

You’ll get the most of the 3D effect when playing in the new Dynamic Mode. This option lets you play with the camera behind your shoulder. I expected the game to be unplayable in this mode, but it actually works surprisingly well. Even still, other than a great way to show off the 3D, it comes off as more of a novelty that I seldom find myself using. Unsurprisingly, the anime intros and endings for each character have not been redone in 3D, but are fully present in their 2D forms.

Of course, eye candy would be pointless if the controls didn’t work on a handheld. Thankfully, SSFIV3D feels great. As somebody with several different arcade sticks lying around, control is very important to me. So I was relieved to find that, after adjusting to it in 2 or 3 rounds, I am in love with the 3DS circle pad. With the exception of charge moves like Chun Li’s “Kikoken” (which I personally find easier on the D-Pad), the circle pad has kept me more than satisfied. In fact, moves requiring a full 360 degree spin I actually find easier than an arcade stick! I’ve never been able to use Zangief as well as I have on the 3DS.

My biggest worry, though, was the Ultra Combos. Hitting two face buttons and a shoulder button would require some sort of Vulcan Death Grip to pull off. Fortunately, the Pro Mode control scheme uses the four touch screen buttons to remedy this concern. You can do “all three punches” or “all three kicks” by hitting the appropriate touch screen button. So by performing the proper stick input and pressing one of these, I can pull off Ultra Combos without having to resort to the Lite control scheme.

Lite Mode allows you to program each of the four touch screen buttons yourself. You can assign anything from a Focus Attack to an Ultra Combo to each. And better still, you can set up these custom assignments on a per character basis. This way you can reserve it only for the moves you have the most trouble performing.

While I personally only play on Pro Mode, I love Lite Mode’s existence. It allows me to play on a more equal footing with people who don’t normally play very many fighting games. Of course, knowledgeable Pro Mode players will still have the advantage as each character has far more than the four moves a Lite player has shortcutted. That combined with the fact that each special attack has three strengths will make experienced Pro Mode players more versatile. Even still, purists can weed out Lite Mode players completely by filtering online matches based on control method, if they want to.

Speaking of online matches, I was shocked to find out that in certain ways, 3D Edition‘s online works better than my console experiences. While the Fight Request option has never had any issue, I often have had Quick Match continually fail on the PS3 version of both Street Fighter IV iterations and even the 360 version of Capcom’s more recent fighter, Marvel vs Capcom 3. But with Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition, I’ve never had a problem getting into an online match. Quick Match always worked almost instantly when I’ve used it, and Fight Request retains its reliability.

The only downside is that, when playing with friends online, I couldn’t find any way to send a match invite. Until the 3DS firmware updates with proper messaging capabilities, you might be stuck alerting a player on Twitter to challenge them to a fight.

Of course, you don’t have to go online to play with other people. 3D Edition supports local wireless versus modes for both lobby creation and Fight Request. You can also enter spectator mode and watch somebody else fight, though that feature is restricted to local wireless only.

Just like before, you’ll be able to earn an insane amount of titles and icons to display for all your opponents to see. You’ll also earn Player Points (for your overall performance) and Battle Points (for your performance with the current character), and even achievements (though the 3DS firmware doesn’t currently have support to display these outside of the game itself).

To make use of the Street Pass functionality, Figure Battles have been added. While the idea seemed quite silly at first, it’s actually neat in its own way. Figure Points can be spent on the Figure Slots where you can earn new figures to use in teams for Street Pass battles. Each figure has stats and a character level. When putting a team together, your entire team must not exceed a certain level to ensure the matches are somewhat even.

When you meet somebody in street pass, the figures fight it out. Looking at the results, tweaking stat ratios, swapping the order, and switching out which figures are in your team make Street Pass battles a surprisingly interesting feature. It also gives you another incentive to play the normal game as your Arcade and Versus victories will grant you more figure points to spend.

Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition is a very easy recommendation to early adopters of the 3DS. It’s the best looking game currently available on the system, it plays great for hardcore fans while adding new options to make it more accessible for newcomers, and it has a robust online mode that really works. It even includes all the DLC costumes you have to pay extra for on its home console counterparts. Unless you’re already completely burned out by previous iterations, you really can’t go wrong with Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition.

This review is based on a copy of Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition purchased by the reviewer.

Tags: 2D Fighter, 3DS, capcom, fighting games, SSFIV3D, Street Fighter IV, Super Street Fighter IV, Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition

This entry was posted on Monday, April 4th, 2011 at 2:00 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.