An alternative if you are at all interested: Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs Full Boost for PS3. If you ever liked Gundam you'll of course get more value out of it, but I think if you just like expertly designed competitive games you'll really dig it too.
GAF |OT| - "3x Better Than Your Favourite Fighting/Mecha Game"
Thread is not that active since we have an IRC chat room that we've been using since the prior game came out in 2011, where most of our matchmaking and game theory and other things are discussed now.
Rather than a 1v1 technical fighter, it's a competitive 2v2 team-based action game. To give a sense of its credibility (and to be honest I haven't seen any more recent stats), it was the top ranked/most successful competitive arcade game in Japan for like 3 years after the current generation's initial arcade release in 2010. I'd imagine the current version is still extremely successful but I haven't seen any actual data for that.
Sample gameplay
The controls are very simple, it's all just simple directions and buttons. No quarter-circles or anything like that, the most complex input you have available is to quickly press down and up to block--which is rarely the best defensive tactic you have. Because of the simple nature of the inputs, it makes the online experience very very smooth. Miniscule amounts of lag that could throw off an entire combo in a more traditional technical fighter would go unnoticed in this game.
I suppose the netcode is very good as well, which also helps. The group of us play together in 12-player lobbies from all over the world--Bermuda (that's me), Germany, Japan, UK & US of course, and a few other exotic places. Occasionally there is some terrible lag with this variety of locations and unpredictable network conditions, but most of the time I play it has been very good.
So unless you have really unreliable Internet and can only play on WiFi, I think you will be able to find at least 3 people in our group that you'll be able to play with regularly with a good connection. Many of us have been playing together since the prior game in 2011, and we've picked up even more since the current console game came out a year ago. And we're all very happy to teach new people about the game.
Potential Downsides:
-It's only out in Japan. Don't worry about a language barrier though, we can teach you everything you need to know.
-It's never coming out in English. Bandai has an upcoming free to play game called Rise of Incarnates that is a severely watered-down version of Gundam EXVS designed for western audiences instead, but it doesn't compare. If you do manage to get into one of their betas though, do check it out for a diluted taste of what the Real Thing feels like.
-It uses an 'Online Pass' system. A newly purchased game--physical or digital--comes with one code to use on that one PSN account. Even if you gameshare with someone to get the game, you will need to purchase a 1,000 yen online pass on your Japanese Playstation account in order to play online.
-If you have an irrational hate of the subject matter (anime, mecha/robots, Gundam in particular) that you can't get over, I guess there's no helping that.
-Two player split screen severely downgrades the experience. FPS drops from 60 to 30, screen is much smaller, can't play online...not recommended at all.
-As mentioned, it is a 2v2 competitive game, so if you are adamant about not playing online and can't find 3 other humans to play with (who each have their own Online Pass) you will not get the proper experience. The game is not balanced at all for 1vs1. There are 'power levels' so there are some units who are designed to be much stronger than others. The power difference would be an overwhelming advantage without a teammate on both teams. There are systems in place that deal with this power balance that you can learn more about if you are interested in the game, but it only fully applies to 2v2. Aside from the power difference, there are also movement techniques that can be used that can make it almost impossible for your opponent to hit you if you are playing 1v1.
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So, in all, just wanted to give an alternative option if you wanted to explore it. A slight tangent from what you're looking for, but still closely related. I love most of the fighting games mentioned in this thread (I bought a PS3 solely for VF5 after I played it in arcades in Japan), but I think the Gundam Extreme Versus series might be my overall favourite games of the last generation.