Oh... also you're playing it on the 3ds, when there was an option that said "would you like simple controls on your touch screen" you should have said Yes!

so you base your opinion on an 3ds port?

There's no harm in just adding the button icons above them. That doesn't make the game explode. Just like SF allowing you to pick Japanese or English on each individual character. It's a fun bonus that was worked on.

You kids have it too easy. Back in my day, we learned the moves by buying gaming magazines. Moves lists. Bah!

It means that the command list can't be a set list of detailed pictures like in the OP, because each time you would go into the button config and set out your preference of buttons (since very few people would keep the default layout for street fighter) that would mean having to redo the command list and keep it from just being a static image as the OP is.

Also when it comes to different consoles and ports each command list needs a new set of icons, besides all of which... the command list would look a whole lot more confusing imo if for example the Fireball motion said the same direction it shows now but with a punch icon followed by ( Square, Triangle or Right Bumper) not to mention the fact that in street fighter it's possible to bind multiple buttons on the pad to be the same action button, so you could have 8 seperate buttons for fierce kick, on the command list having a hurricane kick as quarter circle away and a list of every button on the pad, and each other move saying that they work without a bound button, since again... it's possible to bind the controls in a way which means you do not have a punch button.

It does come up where this happens at times, in a "holding an arm behind your back scenario" I've beaten people just using a single button with Ken before for lol's, Since his Fierce kick can double into a vicious Axe kick down on a person who is blocking low, those scenarios would all lead to a very broken command list if the buttons to press for the moves had to be present

We didn't even have those at first. You put your quarters in the arcade machine and had to figure out the moves by dumb luck. If someone figured out a move, they wouldn't tell anyone else so they'd have an unfair advanatage.

If Capcom really wanted to attract casual players with SF then they would consider maybe an option offline where you can unleash the best signature special moves/combos with simultaneous button presses as opposed to a string of inputs.

The best special moves are really really easy to pull off and they are basically the same since forever. Combos are a different beast. They are hard to get your head around at first, but it's all about muscle memory. At some point, you can just pull them off out of nowhere, you don't even think about the exact input anymore. It just takes practice. Easier input wouldn't change too much, as combos are pretty specific. Just spamming random combos won't do you any good. You need to know what you're doing.

It has been like this forever and it's part of what makes Street Fighter great. It's easy to learn, yet hard to master. You don't need to master it to have a good time though. Anyway, on the topic, it's really as easy as it gets. I mean you see a picture of a fist, so what do you do? Try to hit a punch button? Maybe? You could just give it a try, it's not like anything bad will happen. It's not so easy to swap it with a button. That way it would be something liek "hit left + square or triangle or L1 or L2" - how intuitive does that sound? That would confuse me way more. Then you have people playing with fighting sticks, which often don't have classic button labels from the controllers. 

Seriously, come on, it's not rocket science. I figured this shit out when I was 8 years old and wanted to pull off fatalities on Mortal Kombat! You can do it.

Here are the manuals for PS3 and X360 in english (and even canadian - french).
http://www.capcom.com/manuals/sfiv/

That would be incedibly short sighted. Players would never learn how to play the game. They have tried similar options with their crossover franchises with little success.