Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition (3DS) Review
It’s a little bit of a strange situation we find ourselves in. With a rather terrible offering of fighting games available for the system, the DS was always known for its lack of decent and compelling fighting titles that could compete with their console counterparts or even the PSP. With the 3DS, however, we have a veritable supply of fighters available for the system instead, which is no doubt a welcome change to the fighting fans like me. Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition is the first of these fighters out of the gate and we must say that Nintendo and Capcom have certainly started on a high note for the genre.
If you’re not really sure why this game features one of the most convoluted names ever, allow me to shed some light. Basically, Capcom released Street Fighter IV a few years ago to critical acclaim, which was then reissued as an update, Super Street Fighter IV, which added in around twelve new characters, new levels and rebalanced. It was essentially an expansion pack but with a little more meat on its bones. Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition is essentially the exact same game available on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, but with the added 3D functionality and a few little extras. In short, it’s a whole freaking console title perfectly packed onto a 3DS cartridge. And it’s oh so good.
Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition takes a bit of a different artistic direction to other games in the series, and employs a combination of cel-shading but at the same time looks somewhat realistic. Facial expressions are very exaggerated to create this almost cartoon like look, but despite this large jump away from the traditional art style, it still looks really good and for some reason, it really works. There’s nothing like pulling off a hyper combo and your opponent’s face dropping in sorrow as they realise they’re about to be absolutely crushed. It’s a nice touch indeed. For the most part, the game looks almost on par with its console counterpart but there are a few niggles here and there that will definitely seem unfamiliar. First off, the backgrounds are no longer animated and are all static now. This wouldn’t really be a problem except it gives the environments a bit of an eerie feeling as everyone has just frozen in place. Some of the effects have been toned down a bit but these are hardly noticeable.
Probably one of the most controversial elements of Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition’s release is whether it manages to keep a steady framerate and just how the 3D factors into this. Well, there’s a bit of good news and bad news in this regard. The good news? It runs in 60fps at times. The bad news? The player must manually turn off the 3D effect through the options (no, not through the 3D slider) in order to get such a framerate. To be perfectly fair, after a few matches the lower framerate, when combined with the 3D effect seems almost negligible and I easily adjusted thereafter. However, during some of the more intense Ultra Combo sequences, there was notable slowdown, particularly when playing online. When we turned the 3D off via the game’s options, we were still forced to play in a lowered framerate when jumping online anyway, possibly to balance out these issues. Still, if you don’t mind foregoing the 3D, it looks absolutely amazing running at such a silky smooth framerate on the 3DS’s screen. And to think this is only the first wave of software!
The 3D effect itself is utilised as you would expect. Fighters pop out while the environments themselves have multiple layers but always appear in the foreground. The menus, life bars and other on-screen information all overlay and really hammer home the fact you’re playing a game on a device as great as the 3DS. Everything just has depth, even the menus. It’s a great use of the 3D effects. Unfortunately, the FMV sequences that serve as character endings and prologues are not in 3D, though we understand it’d take ages to re-draw these animations in a 3D compatible format. The game also employs an over-the-shoulder view as an exclusive to this 3D edition, which probably best takes advantages of the 3DS’s functionality. Arms, fireballs and all other kinds of things on screen sometimes look as if they’re popping out of the screen when they’re close enough, and it’s a nice mode. That being said, it’s a little hard to pull off some moves while in this view and I promptly returned to standard view close thereafter.
Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition is pretty much your standard fighter. Players pick from a selection of thirty plus characters, and they battle it out until one person’s life bar is depleted. Street Fighter IV has a few twists available to its players that no other proper fighting games do. [b]Players can perform a focus attack, which absorbs a little bit of damage and essentially counters with an unblockable attack that deals a little bit extra damage – which really puts off players who abuse certain moves from doing so as they eventually get punished severely.[/b] Doing multiple attacks builds up an EX meter, which enhances normal moves in exchange for one portion of the meter (IE. A fireball used in EX mode would hit twice instead of once). A full EX meter can be sacrificed to perform a Super attack, which is usually a string of moves that deal a little more damage than the usual attack. Finally, the Revenge meter powers the Ultra Combos in the game – cinematic and super powerful moves, and the meter is filled not only by focusing enemy attacks but also by simply taking damage. With so many options available to so many characters, a round of Street Fighter IV never gets boring and in fact, there’s a lot of strategy involved in when certain meters should be sacrificed and some characters have better uses for certain meters than others too.
The biggest and quite possibly most game changing component of Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition is the addition of the touchscreen controls. Players can now choose between LITE or PRO modes for their battles. LITE provides four panels on the bottom screen which can be assigned to any move that a character may have access to. This changes the game completely – characters who usually have to charge their moves now only have to tap a button to easily pull it off instead. Of course, this makes the game incredibly friendly to newcomers too. PRO mode, on the other hand, creates an experience a little bit more like the console experiences. Players can assign a combination of attack buttons so that pressing one touchscreen button is equivalent to say, pressing all punch buttons. This means you’ll have to memorise inputs a little bit more than in LITE mode, however most veterans will find themselves gravitating towards this mode instead.
Generally speaking, the game plays rather well and players will have no problems pulling off moves using either the Circle Pad or even the D-Pad, although it’s pretty easy to see that veterans used to an arcade stick will have issues with the migration. We had many lengthy play sessions and found that the more intense nature of the game, combined with having large hands and smaller buttons made for some uncomfortable playthroughs. Still, in terms of the actual underlying mechanics of the game, players should have no problems inputting commands properly, especially in the heat of battle.
The game makes use of the 3DS’s extra functionality quite well. Online play is included and, in the fifty or so matches we played we only experienced lag on a few matches from players who were located much further away. So, for the most part, it’s a great use of online functionality that works very well, particularly in matches that took place within our own country. The addition of a very robust and fully featured online mode really makes Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition proof that Nintendo may just be getting it right with online this generation, it’s almost on par with it’s console counterpart and gives even more functionality than Capcom’s Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The game also features a trial mode, in which players can run through possible combos with each of their characters, and all of the console counterparts are intact. There’s a lot of value packed into this little cartridge and at no real compromise either.
The game also utilises StreetPass functionality in the form of figure battles, a mode in which players can use their coins collected via the 3DS’s pedometer to purchase figurines based on the playable characters in the game. Once designing your team from one of the 500 unlockable figures who each have their own individual stats, players will automatically battle anyone who passes by with the system. We have only been able to try it out once with our import unit as well, but it’s a nice little diversion and a fairly fleshed our diversion that demonstrates StreetPass functionality perfectly.
There is a pretty good soundtrack on offer in Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition however most of it is inaccessible as it was in previous iterations of the title. Every single character has their own personalised remix that plays during more important battles in story mode, however gone is the ability to play these tracks during versus matches, which is a bit perplexing. Similarly, players now can only choose to have English voice options for their characters, whereas in the previous iterations, a choice could be made between Japanese or English. Still, I personally feel the voicework is not bad at all and does the job at capturing the character’s personality perfectly.
Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition is really a bit of a mixed bag depending on your experience with the franchise prior. Players who are looking for a good fighting game with a lot of depth, but that’s still accessible should look no further. Those who are well versed in the genre will probably get a bit of enjoyment out of the notion of a portable and 3D version of what is arguably one of the best fighting games ever made. There’s one thing that’s for sure though, and that is the fact that Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition is one of the most value packed, most polished launch title for the 3DS, and couple this with a very robust online mode and you’ve got the perfect launch title. Be warned though, if you grow tired of Street Fighter IV , this will do little to change your mind.
Graphics 8.5
Great translation of HD assets to the smaller 3D screen. Animations and facial expressions are great, but the diminished effects of some attacks and static backgrounds are a bit of an eerie distraction.
Gameplay 9.5
Still one of the best fighting games available on the market. The sheer complexity of the fighting system combined with a very accessible system makes it a game that will appeal to most people. Online functionality is well done and the touchscreen controls really change the way the game is played.
Sound 8.0
A nice selection of tracks though its a shame we dont hear them as much as we could in previous titles. Theres only an English voice track this time around, too.
Tilt 8.5
Theres quite a bit to do including your own achievements system within the game. Online functionality really extends the play time and such a large and diverse roster of characters means youll have a lot of fun for a long time.
Value 9.5
Despite being rather sick of Street Fighter IV and having moved on to the much faster paced Marvel vs. Capcom 3 on other consoles, during my time with Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition, all I could think about was how much I was enjoying it. And when I was away from it, I just had to get back to it.
