Tekken 3D: Prime Edition

If Capcom staffed the 3DS with its Street Fighter, Namco could not stay behind with its flagship three-dimensional fighting game. Tekken 3D: Prime Edition brought the famous Iron Fist saga to the Nintendo handheld and used the stereoscopic screen to give the King of Iron Fist Tournament matches real spatial depth.

Tekken has always differed from its rivals in its conception of the combat system. Instead of universal buttons for weak and strong strikes, it works with controls per individual limb: each button corresponds to one hand or leg. From this grows an enormous repertoire of combinations, juggling the opponent in the air, and the characteristic moves of individual fighters. Prime Edition offers an extensive roster of characters drawing on the series' rich history, so fans will find their favorites across generations of the tournament.

The package had one more big draw, however. Alongside the game itself, it also contained the feature-length film Tekken: Blood Vengeance in a format that used the console's 3D screen. It was an ambitious attempt to combine interactive matches with an animated film and offer series fans a complete experience on a single cartridge. This combination of game and film was of an unusual kind on a handheld and made Prime Edition more of a collector's package than a mere port.

Development-wise, Tekken is among the longest-running and commercially most successful fighting games ever, and the Namco brand built an enormous fan base around it all over the world. Bringing such a technically demanding 3D fighter to a handheld console was no small task, and Prime Edition showed that the 3DS hardware was up to it.

Culturally, Tekken stands side by side with Street Fighter as one of the pillars of the fighting-game tournament scene. The 3DS version was not a full-fledged sequel to the main line, but for fans on the go it represented a welcome extension and proof that even on a small screen the Iron Fist could strike hard.

Why play: A spatial fighting game with its signature per-limb controls and a rich roster, plus the bundled animated film Blood Vengeance as a bonus for series fans.