Street Fighter 2 was probably one of the most successful fighting games ever created. Street Fighter IV and its revised version Super Street Fighter IV garnered the same significant amount of attention when it both was released on the PS3, 360 and the iPhone. It was only a matter of time before Nintendo wanted in on the action. It’s a bit strange that Super Street Fighter IV never had a chance to make it onto the Nintendo Wii console; so what better way than to have it be released on the Nintendo 3DS. As a launch title for the 3DS, Super Street Fighter IV looked to be everything that was terrific about the 3DS but does it hold up to what Nintendo and Capcom makes it out to be?

SSFIV 3D Characters

From the start, all 35 characters from the SSFIV roster on its console counterpart makes it onto the 3DS port, it won’t be necessary to unlock any characters. Add in 22 stages to fight on, all the alternate DLC costumes, and achievement-like awards and you pretty much have the complete game, some may say even a more superior game than it was on a console.

The 3D in SSFIV is by far, one of the best out of the entire set of launch titles. Right when you put the cartridge in the 3DS the game logo that pops up simply looks remarkable and from that you can already tell how great the 3D will be when playing it. The words and health bar seem to be free-floating on screen while character models look fantastic and more enhanced with the 3D on.

Although the games use of 3D can be considered on of the best out so far it’s not the most important factor in the game. Simply said: there’s no need for 3D in a 2D fighter setting. The fact that it looks good is because it’s in a fixed 2D setting. Everything can look super impressive when everything looks exactly the same besides the character models.

Graphically (with 3D aside) there’s no noticeably difference between the 3DS version of SSFIV and the console version. Everything single fighter looks amazing, special moves are as visually stunning as usual for the title. The only real negative about the graphics are the static backgrounds. You can tell Capcom had to cut some corners with that, if you look closely enough nothing really moves in the background while on the Ps3 and 360 little things like moving people or furniture moving is a norm. Playing the game especially on the dynamic 3D mode really makes those static backgrounds noticeable and making it seem sort of dead. Taking out the little movements in the background is a bit annoying but it doesn’t necessarily hinder the games gameplay.

Control-wise the game plays out decently though there are some who may not like how it will work. The thing about games like Street Fighter, it uses 6-button attacks. The 3DS has four face buttons and the left and right shoulder button, not exactly the best way to play a fighting game. With that on their mind, the folks at Capcom decided to include a “Lite and Pro Mode” where you can customize controls and set it up so that you can have access to super moves on the fly by tapping a selected move on the touch screen.

In Lite mode all your supers are laid out to be executed without hassle, which can cause some annoyance to those players who believe in doing moves the old fashioned way. Pro mode is less “cheap” by only letting you configure basic attacks. Depending on what type of player you are the Lite and Pro modes may either benefit you or cause you lots of frustration when playing with someone who loves repeatedly tapping on that Sonic Boom. Good thing is, when battling out with others online you can tinker enough with the settings that you can select to only play with people with the same control scheme as yourself, so it’s not totally all bad in that sense.

Battle Figurines

There are also some cool additional features on the 3DS version that are not on the console versions. In the 3DS version there’s a new Dynamic View mode. This setting allows one to play with an over-the-shoulder view which at first is pretty cool by making the 3D more pronounced but in the long run it’s hard to pinpoint where exactly you’re going to land your attacks since the fighting is at a different angle.

The 3DS’ Street Pass is also very useful in the game, that is, if you can find someone that has Street Fighter and a 3DS that is in sleep mode and just so happens to be in the vicinity as you are. In SSFIV 3D, you can achieve and trade these action figurines and also use them to battle it out with other players who have the game also. It’s nothing really special but it’s a nice touch by Capcom.

There are many things to love about SSFIV on the 3DS. The graphics are on par with its console counterparts and the differences are barely noticeable with the problem only being the static background that was used in the game. The 3D itself is downright amazing; you can’t get a better game that shows off the 3D capabilities better than this game. Controls need to be a bit tighter and could have had a bit more work done on it but even that is good and doesn’t mess with the overall gameplay. The featured gimmicks like Dynamic View and the use of Street Pass are cool to use. They’re not the most important factors for the game but they’re nice additions to it. If you’re a super fan of Super Street Fighter IV on the consoles and love fighting games then definitely pick up the 3DS version of the game (if you have the 3DS) otherwise it’s still a good game to purchase to check out all the graphical awesomeness that the 3DS can deliver. It’s easy to say that out of all the games out right now on the 3DS, Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition is probably the best use of all the features that the little handheld provides.

The Good:
– Amazing graphics
– All 35 characters from the start, all DLC costumes, everything from the consoles intact.
– 3D works perfectly

The Bad:
– Controls could be tighter
– Static non-moving backgrounds
– Lite and Pro mode (depending on player)