Final Fight was a huge hit in the arcades and basically introduced the world to the modern beat ’em up. It wasn’t the first by any means, but the gameplay conventions as well as level of polish quickly became the standard for the fledgling genre. The original Final Fight was a huge hit in the arcades and was also a launch title for the Super Nintendo in North America. Unfortunately the home version was heavily neutered because the port was needed to be released in a timely manner and censored because of Nintendo’s family friendly image. Needless to say it was horrible. Capcom did however release a Super Nintendo exclusive sequel, but this was missing a little boring to be honest. Finally this brings us to Final Fight 3. This was a late release for the Super Nintendo, and so it’s fair to expect that Capcom spent a lot more time on it. The graphics are fantastic by 16-bit standards, and the game introduces some new elements to the genre. Unfortunately it’s just not all that fun to play, and by that I mean it might just be the worst one.
After the second defeat of the Mad Gear gang at the conclusion of the last game they’ve since given up. This has given the other Metro City criminal organizations the opportunity to shine, and the Skull Cross has come out on top. Mike Haggar is still the mayor, and the story begins one day with Guy (from the original game, but unplayable in the regular SNES incarnation) returning from his training to confront his former ally. The reunion is cut short with an explosion as a riot breaks out in the city. Two other fighters approach mayor Haggar to help with the situation; Lucia a detective on the force, and Dean a street fighter who has a bone to pick with the Skull Cross. Okay so my first issue is with the protagonists. Of course Haggar was going to return, but I was really happy to see Guy as well. The two new guys unfortunately…. well. Their stories are tacked on and uninteresting. Their designs are also very forgettable. There’s a reason why they didn’t make their way to Street Fighter Alpha, or even Final Fight Revenge. This is especially disappointing considering the fact that there are so many other characters to draw upon in the franchise. Where is Cody? He would have been an amazing choice to include, but instead we have these two new contestants. Even Maki or Carlos would have been more interesting. Sure, Guy’s return is cool, but I’m disappointed.
Final Fight 3 keeps with the tradition of the franchise and genre. You begin by selecting a character and are then thrust into a multitude of stages wherein you can move in all eight directions within a limited area. When the screen stops scrolling you must defeat all of your opponents by draining their life bar with a series of punches, kicks, and other attacks. When your health runs out you lose a life, and when those run out you’re forced to spend a credit to continue. This will be a frequent occurrence because enemies outnumber you most of the time and many of the boss characters are frustrating. Unfortunately the first problem rears its head immediately. The enemies just aren’t as interesting as they were in the past titles. There’s no poison this time around, and Andore barely even looks like the real life wrestling icon he paid homage to. The attack patterns have been simplified with fewer aerial foes. There’s a huge lack of variety here, and this is one area a beat ’em up absolutely has to nail. The next issue is the fact that the stages are all incredibly boring as well. This was a complaint I had with the last title, but at least in that we had environmental hazards and moving components in many levels. That has been toned down here, and instead everything seems to be either a warehouse or a street. The scenery is bland and repetitive.
It’s a pretty big mess, but it’s not all bad. While co-op returns and is the best way to experience the game Capcom included a new option that fits the genre exceptionally well. This allows for a computer controlled ally to join you when you’re playing by yourself. I’ve long thought that this would be a fantastic feature, and it turned out to be pretty well designed in this case. You can even choose which character you want to join you. Unfortunately your ally tends to get in the way a lot, and even holds up the action by hugging the edge of the screen preventing you from scrolling forward. Still, it’s a very cool feature. Additionally your characters have more special moves than in just about any other beat ’em up title. You have your standard punches with three of them resulting in a more powerful third strike that varies between the characters. Each also have their own throws and desperation moves. You can also jump and perform mid-air kicks. For the first time in the series your characters can even run by tapping the direction twice. Hitting the attack button during this results in a dash strike which is pretty cool. Finally, Street Fighter II style special moves have been added to the mix. These are performed with specific button inputs. This feature seemed a bit out of place, but these special moves add a whole new dimension to the gameplay and are pretty cool.
Final Fight 3 looks really good by Super Nintendo standards. The character models feature significantly more detail than in the previous installments. They’re all larger here, and all have more frames even just when standing idle. Unfortunately the character designs are very boring. Haggar and Guy are recognizable from their past appearances, but Lucia and Dean just look like Street Fighter II rejects. They’re not interesting at all, and they’re highly generic video game characters I might have thought were cool when I was a kid, but definitely not any more. What’s worse is what Capcom did to the enemies. Final Fight has always featured a memorable host of foes, but that’s not the case here. Even classics (the example I gave earlier was Andore) barely even look like their former selves, and not in a good way. The environments are generally shades of gray or other dull colors, and feature very little animation. All in all it seems to me that Capcom was more focused on keeping the sprite count up and not so much on the art. I’ve always loved the signature style of music in this franchise, but unfortunately this soundtrack is dull and forgettable. There’s not a single track that’s worth listening to outside of the game which is just pitiful.
Usually a third installment combines the best aspects of the previous two and correct any missteps. Unfortunately Final Fight 3 is a bit of a train wreck even compared to the last game. It’s unfortunate because Capcom introduced some really nice ideas for the genre here, but they should have focused more on the scenery, characters, and aesthetics in general. Usually things like this wouldn’t bother me so much, but here it’s really bad. Everything is far too boring, and even fans of the genre can safely skip this one.
