Metareview - Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX (PSP)

Now hold on there Joystiq

"...SFA3M is the epitome of 2D fighting games..."

While SF is indeed the best fighting game ever created.
AND in my humble opinion SFA3 is the best of the series.
I believe Marvel Vs Capcom 2 holds the title of best fighting game ever... EVER! And since it's 2D, That means it also covers the title of best 2D fighter.

Anyone disagree? Come on, I dare you to play that game for even a few hours and tell me it's not an improvement on SFA3.

I'm getting myself a psp just for this game.

I've had this game for GBA for well over a year. Good, fun game, but fighting games don't really fare well on handhelds in my opinion.

""Yes, the game is essentially a port of a decade old fighter and it can be hard as hell, but all the horsepower the PSP brings to the table can't keep this game from being at times mind-numbing frustrating when it comes to control. Put simply, the D-pad the PSP has just isn't cut out to be used for a fighting game, where fast fingers and accurate directional control is paramount."

"Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max is one of the best-made games you can get on your PSP, far better than a simple port of an arcade game, yet hindered quite significantly by the handheld's design flaws."

translastion:

Game is Good, but PSP's design ruins it.

How about an ORIGINAL fighting games that takes advantage of the PSP. Besides...this is a 2D fighter and doesn't need THAT much power nowadays to run it.

Jago, Street Fighter is really popular adn making it portable is one of the best things to happen to it, I think so anyway. The matchs(sp) can be quick and it adds new features aswell so it is original in a way.
So jsut leave it alone becasue SF is like just really good.

Umm...duh...I know Street Fighter is really popular and doing quick single player matches isn't something that makes it revolutionary or special.

Oh and just b/c Street Fighter is a great fighting game doesn't mean I can't criticize it.

The reviews from the various magazines/websites point out that the game has some flaws...mainly the design layout of the PSP iteself.

(3.5/5): "Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max is one of the best-made games you can get on your PSP"

But it only gets a 3.5 out of 5.

OUCH!

My thoughts exactly about the PSP d-pad. Apparently you need gorilla thumbs to be able to jump diagonly using that thing. I wish they would get rid of their seperated d-pad design.

i was gonna cop a psp just for this too...but iono, if the d-pad is having problems...and i was also looking for the gameboy advanced version but i cant find it anywhere..???..am i stuck cearching for it on ebay...??..i hate the way capcom does that to SF games..i cant even find Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 for the dam xbox anywhere..argh...anyone know of a site ( besides ebay) where i can find these titles???

What's wrong with eBay? Almost any older game and gaming system I've ever bought has been bought on eBay...and I've never once had a problem.

I fully agree with #1, I have a mame setup at home and I play marvel vs capcom on my x-arcade WAY more than sfa3. And these games really can't be played on a psp with the controls it has. Marvel vs capcom 2 might be playable since the 4 button layout for a majority of the fighting. It would be nice if they ported that.

I hate to sound Bill O'Reilly but the spin stops here, #8. Of course, a person can read the blog post with the comment but you left out the part the reason why it got an above average grade which is of course regarding the game system's design. "yet hindered quite significantly by the handheld's design flaws.""

Also if you read the review, they did say it is well made game because it is perfect port of the old arcade game with extras in the palm of your hand.

Well, Half.com is great, IMO for used videogames. I can find some crazy-awesome Dreamcast stuff on there, so I bet you could find Marvel vs. Capcom 2 there.
Also, it's a buyer's market, where sellers compete, rather than a seller's market where buyers compete (eBay auctions) couple that with the added protection of not having to deal directly with the seller, and we have a winnah!

But seriously. Streetfighter is a good series, but it's old and tired. Anyone read the "breakup letter" about video game series that need to be put out to pasture? This is probably one of them.

As for best. fighter. ever. I would tend to favor Smash Bros. Melee. And the controls are 2-D, even thought the graphics aren't so, it could qualify for the crown, IMO. And anyone who hasn't played Naruto: Gekkitou Ninja Taisen 2, 3, or 4 can hardly call themselves a fighting connoisseur. Sure, anime-based fighting games have notoriously been lackluster (DBZ) but this series is surpassingly well-balanced, intuitive, but very deep. The first one, which is enjoying an English translation is OK, but the fighting system is less refined, and the roster leaves something to be desired.

--Branewalker

The simple answer is to order the game from Capcom's site or get the Japanese version - then you get the dpad cover which is a replica of the awesome Sega dpad, and it makes the game (and other fighters) exponentially. Sadly you cant fit the psp in a playgear pocket anymore, but thats the price you pay

Don't waist your time getting the PSP version or the GBA version. The PSP version is extremly difficult to jump (controlls have a slow responce time) and the GBA version doesn't have enough buttons to pull off 1/3 of the moves! The PS1 is the only way to truly enjoy this game.

The PS1 version was rubbish. It was slower than the arcade version, lacked a lot of the animation, had awful loading times between selecting your character and playing the match, and was just generally a poor conversion.

If you were to go for a home console version, I would suggest a JAP Saturn copy with the 4MB RAM Cart. That included all the animation, the load time was _just_ on par with the arcade version, and the Saturn's joypad was the ultimate design for 2D fighting games!

As for this PSP version, I am looking forward to it, although I think i'll give it a try first before buying, as the D-Pad on the PSP is just pathetic. What is it with Sony controllers and this rubbish separated D-Pad?

I had a few PSPs with flaws, and a couple had non-working diagonals. This is sort of common, unfortunately, and I don't think it has really been addressed by anyone. My last unit DID have all working diagonals, and it was a treat to use in Darkstalkers. The one previous, everything worked except the up+right diagonal.

funny