Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX (PSP)

[THATinkjar]

GameSpot have posted a preview of the upcoming entry to the Street Fighter series, due to arrive on PSP in the US next month. From what I read, us PSP owners have a lot to look forward to. These are the highlights of the preview:

We've been hopeful that the project would turn out okay, and it appears that, barring anything disastrous, Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX is going to be a real treat for fighting fans.

As for the new features in Alpha 3 MAX, you'll find four new characters and several new WiFi modes added to the original game's content. The new characters are drawn from two other Capcom games. Eagle, Maki, and Yun have been tapped from Capcom vs. SNK 2, while Ingrid is from the more recent Capcom Fighting Evolution. The Wifi support will include four modes: versus, team battle, variable battle, and dramatic battle. Versus lets you take on a friend in your traditional one on one grudge match. Team battle lets you pick a three-character team a la King of Fighters and pit it against your opponent's trio of brawlers. Variable battle lets you pick a team of three, with up to two fighters controlled by human players and a third handled by the AI. Finally, dramatic battle lets up to three players engage in two-on-one battles.

In addition to the new content, the game features the familiar world tour, variable battle, dramatic battle, reverse dramatic battle, survival, versus-100 kumite, final battle, free battle, and team battle modes.

As far as control goes, the game offers the original six-button layout that uses the PSP's face and shoulder buttons, as well as the ability to remap things to your liking. The customization also features an easy mode to make inputting commands easier, as well as the option to assign rapid-fire functionality to the buttons.

Our initial go with this latest version of the game has gone well thanks to its solid control and reasonable loads. Though you might expect the control would be a little twitchy due to the PSP's d-pad, so far so good.

Based on what we played so far, Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX is shaping up to be a meaty entry in the fighting genre for the PSP. The control is tight and responsive, and the visuals are top notch. Though the game's default is a full-screen presentation that stretches the image slightly, you can tweak it to the original 4:3 aspect ration and even use some nice wallpaper for the borders, if black bars aren't your thing.

All in all, this sounds extremely promising!

[bazariah]

awesome another variant of streetfighter alpha 3 for me to buy

looking forward to this release

[blissfulnoise]

Any word on the import only D-Pad overlay being available in the US?

It might be a game breaker for me. I have nothing but the utmost love for SFZ3/SFA3 but after Darkstalkers, I don't think my thumb can take it on the PSP.

[Blanka789]

I really have no problems with using the dpad on Darkstalkers, and cannot wait for this game.

[keiblerfan69]

It comes out on my birthday (Feb. 7th)

[milhouseOFpain]

Any word on the import only D-Pad overlay being available in the US?

It might be a game breaker for me. I have nothing but the utmost love for SFZ3/SFA3 but after Darkstalkers, I don't think my thumb can take it on the PSP.

i agree completely, the PSP is the worst system i own for fighters.