G4TV

Ah, Street Fighter. There was a time when it seemed all Capcom ever churned out were Street Fighter games. And that time was good. Not because Capcom’s other games aren’t great – they’re generally worth playing – but because the Street Fighter series, in all its iterations, is usually so well balanced and polished that you can’t help but have fun playing.

Assuming you’ve got a decent controller, of course…

Man Hands

Street Fighter at home has always been a bit of a problem, mostly because of the controllers available, though you could always buy official or third-party fighting sticks if you really needed them.

Unfortunately, the PSP doesn’t have some sort of extra controller port to help alleviate the fact that the stock d-pad is basically useless when it comes to Capcom fighting games. SNES and PlayStation veterans will likely have no problem adjusting to the use of shoulder buttons for their attacks (though some of us have never been able to make that leap), but honestly, it takes some magical hands to pull off the more intricate fighting moves in Alpha 3 Max with the standard directional pad on the system.

Of course, you could always find one of the sweet d-pad nubbins Capcom created and stick it to your PSP. Or be even more creative, like gluing a quarter or some other flat, disc-like object to that awful d-pad. But while these modifications make Street Fighter Alpha 3 supremely playable, they’re also generally irreversible, making your sexy PSP a Frankenstein-monster of a portable, and one that most likely won’t fit into that nifty carrying case you have.

Flawed Perfection

If you can get around the control issues, there’s a lot to like about Max. It looks and sounds about as arcade-perfect as you could ever imagine on a portable system. With 37 characters to choose from, 15 different game modes, and the awesome “ism” system that changes up the controls to suit your playing style, you’ll get a lot of mileage out of this little silver disc.

And if you’ve got some friends to play against, Alpha 3 even includes some fantastic wireless options, including a tournament mode. Capcom really has all the bases covered.

Location, Location, Location!

It’s a real shame that the only down side to this game is basically the system Capcom chose to release it on. Well, that and a lot of Street Fighter fans are used to getting more than one classic game per disc. Either way, a lot of people are going to find this game unplayable on Sony’s portable.