With a plethora of fighting games making their appearance on Nintendo's handheld in its first year (Dead or Alive, Street Fighter, and Blaz Blue), it was only fair that Tekken would join the fray in 2012. Tekken 3D: Prime Edition not only marks the second appearance of a Tekken title on a Nintendo system; it also accomplishes a few technical feats for the system, such as running at 60 frames per second while using 3D effects.

Primarily a port of Tekken 6, Tekken 3D: Prime Edition features a Special Survival mode which has a lot of features not seen in other games' version of this mode. Survival mode is the focus of the game, and it has a card-collecting aspect attached to it. Only given one health bar, players can choose to go through a series of 5, 10, and 20 battles. Through the 10 and 20 battle modes, players can collect 700 cards, and towards the end, that can only be won through special conditions, such as only being able to do damage through combos that send opponents in the air. Cards collected can be viewed in Tekken Card mode, which features 3D character models on the card. Alternatively, the ability to buy cards can be earned through exchanging StreetPass data with other who have a game save, and points earned from battles can be used to unlock them.

Aside from the expanded survival mode, Tekken 3D's other modes are pretty self-explanatory. There's Quick Battle, which is basically an arcade-style 10-opponent ladder, Practice mode, Profile mode, and Versus Battle. Versus Battle can be played online or local, but it's not playable in 3D regardless of connection to the opponent's vicinity.

Strangely missing is any kind of story, as featured in the extensive Scenario Campaign mode in the console port of Tekken 6. Tekken 3D: Prime Edition's Survival mode seems to have a bit of story progression added to it, and the addition of the CG movie Tekken: Blood Vengeance should fill the gap of any story not being attached to the actual gameplay. Another common feature of the series omitted from the game is the ability to customize characters with items earned through gameplay, which the card system replaces, but it is something that will be sorely missed by fans.

Promising an expanded port of Tekken 6 and the Tekken: Blood Vengeance 3D movie, in addition to an optional simplified control system not unlike other DS fighters, Tekken 3D: Prime Edition looks to be the most accessible Tekken game yet. Look for it on store shelves as early as next week!

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