I like Tekken. I burned through so many quarters playing Tekken 3 at summer computer camp collegiate programming seminar. Tekken hasn’t been on a Nintendo handheld since the Game Boy Advance, and it hasn’t been 3D at all until now. The Nintendo 3DS now has its own Tekken game, Tekken 3D Prime Edition, and fight-to-fight it’s a faithful recreation of the Tekken arcade experience.

Outside of the ring is another story, and a short one at that.

This is Tekken, albeit closer to Tekken Tag Tournament than Tekken 6 (or Tekken 3), and considering the features it’s especially similar to Tekken Hybrid. It has the full roster of fighters from Tekken 6, and they can all fight each other as fast as you can select them. While the action’s on a smaller screen, it still looks smooth and fully 3D in both action and effect. The Nintendo 3DS’ controls work well for the game, but fighting fans will be disappointed with any handheld simply because it doesn’t weigh 20 pounds and have Sanwa buttons. For mere mortals who like fighting games, though, it’s a great way to get a few matches in during your commute.

Outside of raw matches, though, there isn’t a lot to Tekken 3D Prime. There’s no story mode or Arcade mode, save for a 10-match “Quick Battle” mode that takes you through a standard ladder of increasingly difficult fighters. When Dead or Alive Dimensions does a better job of telling any sort of story, that’s a bad sign.

The other modes besides Quick Battle are Versus Battle, Special Survival, and Practice. Versus Battle lets you fight online, so it’s slightly more useful than a basic local fight mode, but you still have to deal with the wonders of Nintendo’s non-existent Internet game service. Like every other online Nintendo game, you need to coordinate outside of the system if you want to play with friends online. There are also Tekken Cards, Tekken 3D Prime’s attempt at Super Street Fighter 4 3D Edition’s collectible figures. As you fight, you unlock concept art cards and can trade them through StreetPass, but outside of looking at art from the game they’re completely useless.

As a bonus, Tekken 3D Prime includes Tekken: Blood Vengeance on the card. It’s a full-length 3D movie that’s better than the 2010 movie or the 90′s anime, but still not that interesting. It shows the events that take place between Tekken 5 and 6, focusing on the usual insane bullshit around the Mishima Zaibatsu and the G Corporation and various other groups that want to make super soldiers or raise demons or whatever the plan is. They make Umbrella look forward-thinking. Sadly, the player is half-made. You can start the movie, you can fast forward or rewind the movie, but that’s it. You can’t skip to different chapters or save your place in the movie. It’s a welcome extra, but disappointing in its implementation.

Tekken 3D Prime doesn’t feel like a full Tekken game. It feels more like a Tekken trainer, a fighting game to take with you when you want to keep your skills sharp outside of the consoles. Its few modes give you only basic fighting with nothing to engage you outside of the standard ladder matches. Yes, it’s a fun and faithful fighter if that’s all you want, but considering you can get Tekken 6 for half the price, it isn’t that compelling for all but the hardcore fans. It’s a better justified purchase than Tekken Hybrid, at least.