Buying PS3 for 2d Fighters..HELP!!

[cicada88]

I am a complete newbie to PS3, but I finally got an Eizo Foris monitor and got a huge urge to put it to use with some fighting games.

I have a some questions geared toward game downloading and online play of fighting games.

1.) I general prefer only buying Japanese versions of games. Does this affect fighting games as far as playing online. Do the servers completely mix based on location or based on the version of the game you have? Does this depend on each individual game?

2.) In general if a game is available for download from the PSN, does this have advantages as far as load times compared to disc versions, or vice versa? I plan to just buy Japanese PSN cards and download as many games as I can that way.

Anything else I need to think about doing it this way? If it really doesn't make sense, I can just get the US versions of the games, but if the downsides are minimal I would love to do it this way.

games I plan to play: most Japanese 2D Fighters (Capcom, SNK, ArcSystems) & Virtua Fighter 5

[quash]

1) All servers are international, so no, it won't affect who you play. That is, unless, you set a region filter, in which case you will filter out non-JP players.

2) As far as I know, there are no differences in load times between PSN downloaded copies of games and installed disc copies.

If you already have a 360, I suggest you split up your library between the two. The reason being that some games exhibit input lag on PS3 (SSFIV, UMVC3), whereas other games lag on 360 (GGXXAC, Tekken 6).

You should definitely get Dark Awake. It's one of the most flavorful fighting games ever made, if you ask me. It's half of the reason I got a PS3!

[ACSeraph]

To clarify the region thing, it depends on the game, but most games match you with people from your accounts region rather than reading your actual location via IP. Super SF4 for example will try to only match you with North American players if you are playing on a North American account even if (as in my case) you are actually playing from within Japan. So basically even though you are downloading a lot of the games from your Japanese PSN account, you should be playing them using your home regions account.

Also since you like Arc Sys games, beware of Persona 4 Arena. It is region locked so you will need to buy the same version as your PS3. It's totally worth it though, great game.

[cicada88]

Exactly the info that I needed. That is annoying about certain games lagging on the PS3. I guess I was under the impression that PS3 was the more popular system in Japan and therefore had equal or better ports of Japanese games. Although I am certainly aware of the 360s popularity in the west and that the most of the ports on the 360 were more or less perfect as well. Also, I thought I read that they use PS3 for most 2d fighting game tournaments.

Is this a case of the PS3 being way more mainstream popular in Japan but the hardcore 2d fighting players all get an xbox360 even in Japan?

*I actually don't even have an xbox360 so this really makes my decision a bit tougher as I don't want both at the moment. I was going to just go for the more accepted system in Japan, but I might have to rethink this.

[Pretas]

360 versions of fighting games tend to have less input lag, so they're favored by some hardcore Japanese players, but you'll always find the majority of people on PS3 simply because the system is so dominant there. The new Blazblue didn't get a 360 release even after the previous three games had one.

[ACSeraph]

Yeah, at this point 360 is more or less dead in Japan so there's no reason to get one (unless you want a shitload of awesome shmups). We won't be seeing new fighters on it anymore I think.

A few years ago all my Japanese friends were adamant about playing things on 360. The community was smaller, but all of the best players were on Xbox so it was the place to be for serious players. These days though you are better off going with PS3 versions for everything as the active community on Xbox Live is just too small. I bought Tekken Tag 2 on Xbox but I really regretted it.

These days even my most hardcore Japanese friends have begrudgingly moved towards the PS3 for new releases.

[Ganelon]

Nice pick on monitor. Hope you've got an arcade stick to accompany that. There are a lot of choices now from having a stick for each system, a dual-system stick, a modded stick for both systems, and adapters. Also options on stick quality, Sanwa or Seimitsu parts, and button layouts.

-XBL is generally a lot less laggy than PSN, especially for Capcom's games.
-XBL tends to have more and better players for Capcom games, PSN for everything else. As everyone has said, a majority of hardcore JP Capcom game players are on XBL, although there seems to be a ton more JP players overall on PSN.
-360 versions of a majority of dual-platform fighters look slightly better although it's difficult to really notice in real time.
-Most PS3 fighters have an install option for faster loading so if you don't care about having a physical copy, then the digital version would certainly be more convenient.
-Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown has low-quality sound on both platforms so don't be shocked when you play it.
-Tourneys are often run on PS3 because the first current-gen tourney fighter was Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection, only available on PS3. Just about every serious Capcom player prefers the 360 versions (due to potential slowdown issues).
-There aren't that many great exclusives. PS3 has Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection (outdated), Dark Awake (AKA Chaos Breaker) Chaos Code, Tekken Revolution, BlazBlue Chronophantasma, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All Star Battle, and Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers. 360 has Dead or Alive 4 (outdated), Battle Fantasia, Phantom Breaker (outdated), and Ougon Musou Kyoku X. 360 is essentially dead in Japan so anything else in the future (e.g. next Arcana Heart revision) will likely be PS3-exclusive.

For the record, I get all my fighters on PS3 just for consistency (although I have 360 versions of most of Capcom's stuff). The main reason I started with a PS3 and didn't want to switch around is because I had the system earlier (360 build quality was infamously unreliable for years) and I thought the PS3 would have better versions coming from Japan (not usually the case). If I were doing everything now, I'd definitely split my library up and avoid PS3 for Capcom's fighters. Then again, if you haven't started on this outgoing generation's fighters already, why would a few little details matter?

[cicada88]

Nice pick on monitor. Hope you've got an arcade stick to accompany that. There are a lot of choices now from having a stick for each system, a dual-system stick, a modded stick for both systems, and adapters. Also options on stick quality, Sanwa or Seimitsu parts, and button layouts.

-XBL is generally a lot less laggy than PSN, especially for Capcom's games.
-XBL tends to have more and better players for Capcom games, PSN for everything else. As everyone has said, a majority of hardcore JP Capcom game players are on XBL, although there seems to be a ton more JP players overall on PSN.
-360 versions of a majority of dual-platform fighters look slightly better although it's difficult to really notice in real time.
-Most PS3 fighters have an install option for faster loading so if you don't care about having a physical copy, then the digital version would certainly be more convenient.
-Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown has low-quality sound on both platforms so don't be shocked when you play it.
-Tourneys are often run on PS3 because the first current-gen tourney fighter was Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection, only available on PS3. Just about every serious Capcom player prefers the 360 versions (due to potential slowdown issues).
-There aren't that many great exclusives. PS3 has Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection (outdated), Dark Awake (AKA Chaos Breaker) Chaos Code, Tekken Revolution, BlazBlue Chronophantasma, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All Star Battle, and Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers. 360 has Dead or Alive 4 (outdated), Battle Fantasia, Phantom Breaker (outdated), and Ougon Musou Kyoku X. 360 is essentially dead in Japan so anything else in the future (e.g. next Arcana Heart revision) will likely be PS3-exclusive.

For the record, I get all my fighters on PS3 just for consistency (although I have 360 versions of most of Capcom's stuff). The main reason I started with a PS3 and didn't want to switch around is because I had the system earlier (360 build quality was infamously unreliable for years) and I thought the PS3 would have better versions coming from Japan (not usually the case). If I were doing everything now, I'd definitely split my library up and avoid PS3 for Capcom's fighters. Then again, if you haven't started on this outgoing generation's fighters already, why would a few little details matter?

Thanks for all the really detailed info—appreciate it.

My ultimate stick would be a Hori RAP Viewlix or just a HRAP V3 if I can't find a decent price on a Viewlix.

I guess it looks like a Japanese 360 would be the best bet as the Capcom games are actually the ones I want to get into most, but its more expensive and a bigger hassle to get a Japanese 360 than a PS3 which is region free.

I really just haven't played games for this entire generation. This is why I am just getting into it now. I am a hardcore purist when it comes to this stuff so the details definitely matter if they are significant at all. I used to live in Tokyo and play a ton at the arcades there from around 2002-2007. That's why I am so adamant about getting the Japanese version. That and the only genres I really am interested in are 2d shooters and 2d fighters (and the Virtua Fighter series) which are far more popular in Asia.

One game I am really looking forward to is Ultra SF IV, and it has urged me to get back into it. I have barely even tried the SFIV series as it came out about 2 years after I left Japan, but I just have a crazy competitive itch right now to get into the scene.

I guess I could either just bite the bullet and get a Japanese360 or I could get a PS3 and play one of the games exclusive to it and get a US360 at some point in the near future.

[ACSeraph]

-There aren't that many great exclusives. PS3 has Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection (outdated), Dark Awake (AKA Chaos Breaker) Chaos Code, Tekken Revolution, BlazBlue Chronophantasma, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All Star Battle, and Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers. 360 has Dead or Alive 4 (outdated), Battle Fantasia, Phantom Breaker (outdated), and Ougon Musou Kyoku X. 360 is essentially dead in Japan so anything else in the future (e.g. next Arcana Heart revision) will likely be PS3-exclusive.

Battle Fantasia actually got a PS3 port, it just happened way after anyone still gave a shit about battle fantasia. PS3 exclusive Aquapazza (Aqua-pizza) is also decent enough to be worth mentioning. PS3 also just got the new version of Phantom Breaker as an exclusive, but it totally sucks. Also if you are into weird old crap theres a ton of unusual PS1 fighters available on the Japanese PSN.

Basically my advice is that if you plan to play any newer fighters, go with the PS3. I have both the Xbox and PS3 versions of all of the capcom stuff and I honestly can't tell what people are talking about with the input lag (maybe I just suck...)

However, if you are as interested in shmups as you are in fighters then the 360 is worth the effort to import, because there is very little shmupping to be had on the Sony side.

[Ganelon]

cicada88: Stick picks are good. You may already know this but note that while the HRAP3 VLX is really cool, heavy, and closer to a Vewlix layout than any other stick, it's still not a 1:1 match to a Vewlix control panel in size or build quality.

If you're a purist for Capcom fighters and would rather not own both systems, then yeah, 360 is the unequivocally better option to avoid game slowdown, input lag, and graphics aliasing (and have a better experience online with US players). But for me, even knowing that the 360 version of USF4 will be a hair better, I'm still getting the PS3 version for consistency (since I spent a lot more relative time with SF on PS3) and because the differences aren't significant enough to stand out (since I don't play SF4 competitively).

ACSeraph: Good catches. I missed Tekken Hybrid (AKA Tekken Tag Tournament for PS2 but in higher res) for PS3 only as well. PS3 flat out wins on exclusives then.

For input lag, the easiest way to tell is with link combos. Do a 3-4 hit link combo for 30 minutes on 360 while looking at the characters. Immediately switch to PS3 and try the same. Even though relative frames shouldn't be affected, as long as you're relying on visual cues like most people, the input lag should be obvious. For casual playing, yeah, it's not really noticeable. I couldn't even notice 4 frames of lag when I started. But 2-3 frames of input lag is pretty much the top reason the Super Turbo scene avoids using HDR in tourneys.

[dannnnn]

Not to hijack your thread or anything cicada88, but since we're talking fighting games does anyone know which ones still have an active online community on European servers?

I know that SSFIV has a good number of players on 360 (probably PS3 also) and is likely the most popular. SF3 was all but dead last time I checked, as was ST:HD Remix (both on 360). I would imagine the SNK downloadable games such as KoF 98 and Garou were dead on arrival as well as reportedly suffering from bad netcode. How does KoF XIII fare? What about VF:FS, GGXXAC, Darkstalkers 2/3 or any of the MvC games?

Is there currently anything on either 360 or PS3 apart from SSFIV with a lot of European players? I know some of those games are active on GGPO but that's not an option for me atm.

[ACSeraph]

2-3 frames of input lag is pretty much the top reason the Super Turbo scene avoids using HDR in tourneys.

I always wondered why that game never took off. I absolutely loved it. Considering how strict the reversals are though I could see how a few frames of lag would be a huge deal at pro level.

[quash]

How does KoF XIII fare? What about VF:FS, GGXXAC, Darkstalkers 2/3 or any of the MvC games?

KOFXIII has pretty bad netcode on both consoles. The PC port's netcode is better, but it can still fail you when it matters most (namely during HD combos, where you're buffering specials non-stop and the slightest delay in input can either result in an unwanted move coming out or dropping the combo entirely).

VF5's mileage may vary. When you can find a good connection, it's pretty playable. More often than not, though, online VF turns into dickpuncher.

Guilty Gear's netcode is lol

The CPS2/3 ports use GGPO, so they're pretty good if you can find a good connection.

[Hagane]

PC netcode for KOF XIII is not optimal, but it's on par with SFIV PC. In general, if you want to play online the best platform is PC, if your game is available there.

[dannnnn]

Guilty Gear's netcode is lol

Nice blog, enjoyed reading about your trips to Mikado.

[cicada88]

Guilty Gear's netcode is lol

Nice blog, enjoyed reading about your trips to Mikado.

i want to read this

And thanks for the really informed opinions everyone. Glad I decided to ask here first before just buying the PS3. I have actually decided to get a J360 first since the Capcom games are more accurate and maybe pick up a PS3 down the road if there is a particular exclusive game I want.

Now where to find a J360 in the US for a good price...