I may not say that this is a 3.5 game but it is mediocre at best. *medium-sized review*
Like most fighting games of this type, the storyline doesn't have much of a factor here. It's the balance of gameplay and the balance of characters. Of course a deep battle system would be nice and Pocket Fighter actually attempts to do something unique but with only three buttons to use...you really can't do much. The graphics in this game are a mixed bag. The character sprites are nearly perfect recreations of their Arcade counterparts. On the other hand, the backgrounds are good reproductions of the arcade. Still, not bad. Of course, you also have to deal with the typical loading times on this good 'ol PS1 hardware and software.
The music in this game is a decent reproduction of the music from the Arcade version, so that’s a plus. As for sound effects, they’re at the standard set for what you'd expect from Capcom and seems more of cutting and pasting from other Capcom fighting games.
The game controls decently but for some odd reason pulling off super moves seems to require more work than usual. This is almost laughable when you only have three buttons and a lopsided system where you can upgrade your moves via gems.
Overall, once you get passed the funny animations and cameos of the game and see all the characters, the game just isn't worth more time. The fighting system is hardly deep and it is more of an experiment. There are just too many "money" moves you can do to cheese your opponent. The only reason to purchase it is if you’re just a rabid fan of Capcom’s older fighting games and just need to show your friends that such a game exists. I don't want to say that it's "good" or "great". Because those two warrant spending more time with the game. I say "fair" or "mediocre". Just don't buy it for more than 10 bucks.