Meta Review: Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max For PSP

Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max for the PSP has made it over here to the US and from what I’ve seen in this video clip, it looks impressive.

This PSP version also includes Yun, Maki, and Eagle, characters that were added for the GameBoy Advance version of the game — plus Ingrid, who was introduced in Capcom Fighting Evolution (and would have been in the cancelled Capcom Fighting All-Stars). It’s cool to see the new characters in action in the video trailer — it doesn’t look like they were simply quick additions.

As much as I love the Alpha series, playing these games on a portable isn’t much for me. I am too addicted to regular arcade joysticks. But if you do want portable fighting action, here is some bits of review around the Net to help you make the decision.

Review Tidbits:
“There are four new characters here, each with a unique play style, which makes for a tricky 36 character balancing act. Yun (from Street Fighter 3) has been Alpha-ized and plays like a mix between Chun Li and Fei Long, while Eagle (from the original Street Fighter) is a melee-style fighter with long-ranged quick strikes. Maki, from Final Fight 2 fame, is primarily melee as well, but with terrific speed to easily throw players off their usual zoning patterns. Finally, Ingrid, introduced in Capcom Fighting Evolution, has quick flash kicks and hanging, short-range fireballs to ground jump-happy players.”
Game Revolution

“You can play the play the versus mode, variable mode, team battle, and dramatic battle modes using the wireless multi-player system. The wide screen was made for this game as it’s very easy to keep both players within the perimeter of the screen whether they’re grappling or keeping their distance. Add some more wireless players to the mix and you can create a tournament.”
Cheat Code Central

“Capcom’s visceral delights haven’t lost anything in the transition to the PSP hardware either. The backgrounds and characters look crisp and clean on the PSP’s screen. LCD “ghosting” isn’t a problem, despite the game’s relatively speedy pace. By default, the graphics are stretched to fill the entire screen. The text for menu items and dialogue boxes is somewhat distorted in this “wide” view, but the characters and backgrounds look just fine. You can select a “normal” 4:3 display setting in the options menu, which will return the graphics to their normal dimensions, although you’ll end up with small black borders at the left and right sides of the screen.”
PSXExtreme

 “I hate to keep bringing Darkstalkers into this, but I have to: when I originally picked up Darkstalkers, it took me a few days to get down the nuances of the PSP’s d-pad in conjunction with the game’s move detection before I was able to unleash my moves with relative ease. However, from the second I picked up SFA3M, I was busting out my moves without any trouble: I even managed to pull off Zangief’s spinning pile-driver on the second try, and I’ve always had problems with that. The only two minor complaints I do have about the controls are pretty small. For one, horizontal jumping can sometimes be hit or miss: every once in a while, you’ll mis-fire a jump that might hurt, but I have a feeling with time and personal adjustment, that will go away. If you really find yourself having trouble, though, you can always search out the D-Pad cover that Capcom released in conjunction with the game”
Deeko

Related Links:
Street Fighter Alpha Anthology for PS2 Announced
Capcom Makes Fighters More Enjoyable on PSP
What Are Your Favorite Saturn Games?

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6 Comments

alonzobots says:

I sold my PSP because I couldnt stand the way it controlled, the D-pad especially, the analog stick was no picnic either but the d pad made my thumb hurt and in general the game suck. The moment I decided to sell it was when I was showing it to my brother telling him I had starwars battle front and Burnout for PSP, and he was all excited to see them, then he stopped playing after two minutes because he said the controls were so awful compared to the console versions. I agreed with him.

Mozgus says:

I’ll stick with my DC version. Those 3 new characters are already in CVS2, right?

Also, should I look into the Saturn version if I already have the DC one? Some people actually claim the Saturn one is slightly better. Plus the buttons are mapped correctly.

racketboy says:

yeah, they were all in Capcom vs SNK 2, but personally, CvS2’s game engine wasn’t that great.

I’d rather play them in an Alpha game.

Ingrid was only on Capcom Fighting Evolution.

Zero 3 on the Saturn is a bit better than the Dreamcast version, but I wouldn’t make the decision based on the button mapping. Just purchase a good arcade stick and that will resolve that issue. The Dreamcast version has more play modes.

lunar says:

The DC version is quite good but it doesn’t have reverse dramatic battle mode

neohx_7 says:

If you read this topic at gamefaqs you’ll find two mod techniques for fixing the d-pad on the PSP. I tried the “tape” mod to get some more contact going on and it works amazingly great. In fact, the Capcom d-pad add-on, plus the mod makes it one of the best d-pad experiences I’ve had playing street fighter since the Saturn. Darkstalkers is great now as well.

http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=928337&topic=25896243

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