I would blame the controller, but I don’t think that’s the real issue. I think I’m just older, out of practice and generally just worse at the game than I used to be. I’ve never been great at fighting games, but as I’ve pushed into my mid-thirties I’ve definitely seen a reduction in my reaction times in games like this. I’m a long, long way from only being able to play turn-based games, but I’ve not got the lightning fast thumbs I had in my youth.

After all, who couldn’t love a game where you can have Ryu, Wolverine and Jill Valentine facing off against Dr Doom, Venom and Mega Man? And it’s all built around and insane Capcom fighting engine that goes all out and ends up reaching ridiculous heights. Maybe it’s not the most technical Capcom game, maybe not the best balanced, but it’s pretty bloody awesome.

So when I saw it was half price on the PlayStation Store this week and cost a mere £5.49 I had to go for it.

It succeeded in putting a huge grin on my face, even as I faffed around on the character select screen trying to choose a team, and the grin didn’t fade when I started playing. I’ve forgotten all the moves – except for the obvious ones from the Street Fighter guys and gals – but there’s nothing wrong with rediscovery.

I was, however, a bit shocked at the difficulty level, even on Easy. Either my memory’s playing tricks on me, I’ve lost all my skills or this version is a lot harder than the old one. Whatever’s going on, in the twenty minutes I had to play around last night, I only managed to win one fight.

Hopefully it’ll all come back to me, but if it not then it’s still worth it for the spectacle and the fanboy glee of it all.

Now, on payday, maybe I’ll look into getting some sort of fighting pad. The ASCII fighting pad I had for the Dreamcast was a treasure. I wonder if there’s anything that good – and cheap! – out for the PS3?