The original Final Fight was a big hit in the arcades, and ushered in a new age of beat ’em ups. It wasn’t the first in the genre by any means, but with updated graphics and more complex gameplay it was certainly a generation ahead of the likes of Double Dragon and River City Ransom. Capcom chose to release a port on the newly released Super Nintendo instead of the Sega Genesis. This was one of the first big third party games for the platform. Unfortunately they botched this version pretty badly.
In Final Fight Haggar, the former professional turned mayor of Metro City, is in a real pickle. He gets a phone call one day from the local thugs the Mad Gear gang, and they’re out for blood. They’ve kidnapped Haggar’s daughter Jessica and won’t release her unless he allows them to do as they please with his beloved city and citizens. Rather than contact the police he instead decides to take matters into his own hands and brings along Jessica’s boyfriend Cody for the ride. The scenario is told through a wonderfully cheesy introduction sequence after which you’re thrown right into the mean streets to bash some skulls.
In this game you take to the streets as either Haggar (a muscle bound mayor inspired by Jesse Ventura) or his smaller and more agile buddy Cody. Omitted from this version is the third playable character Guy, but to be honest this isn’t a big deal for me. It’s still weird that he was taken out. The problem here is that even with two playable characters multiplayer has been completely left out of this version. It was a highlight in the arcades, and the main reason Final Fight was so popular. We know they weren’t held back by the hardware thus it must be the result of being rushed. Unfortunately solo play is the kiss of death when it comes to this genre, and it makes this the worst version of the game.
In typical beat ’em up fashion this game is completely two dimensional but features a multi-tiered play area. You can walk up, down, left and right as you fight off various incoming thugs using a few different methods of attack. Both characters can punch, jump, kick and feature individual three strike combination attacks as well as a super move that drains your life bar. While Cody can only throw opponents Haggar can pick them up and perform a pile driver attack. Various items such as knives and lead pipes can be picked up and used as weapons. The two characters play very similarly to one another but Cody can move faster while Haggar’s punches hit harder.
Progression is fairly basic; you walk from left to right until approached by mobs of enemies at which point you must defeat them all in order to progress. Final Fight has a leg up on the competition when it comes to enemy variety. Some opponents throw projectiles, others are acrobatic and can jump around the screen, and you have thugs like Andore (an obvious nod to Andre the Giant) that are super strong and can knock your character around with ease. The bosses at the end of each stage are also interesting and make for some memorable encounters. Some of these guys are extremely tough and will take some practice to beat.
While the game is relatively fun it’s hard to get past all of the content that was omitted. As I mentioned earlier there’s no two player mode, and they left Guy out. To make matters worse the entire Factory stage was removed in this version, and Capcom opted to sensor some elements in this game. The most noticeable is the character Poison; the house of Mega Man didn’t want gamers beating up on women and so they completely changed the character to a male. It’s not a big deal, but weird. Considering the fact that they didn’t cut Chun Li out of Street Fighter II only a few years later it just doesn’t make sense.
It’s not all bad however. Final Fight is deliciously 90s in its approach to style, and that’s part of what I love about it. Not even this bad port could ruin this aspect of the game. The pro wrestler turned politician references Jesse Ventura, and the game even pays homage to Andre the Giant. The hulking enemy named Andore bears more than a passing resemblance, and the name solidifies it. The enemies are all over the top and like no ‘thugs’ you’ll ever see on the street no matter which generation you’re from. The whole game is just cheesy, and I love that fact.
The graphics are almost a spot on conversion from those in the arcade version. From screenshots the two look almost identical. Some animation frames had to be removed, but I had to pay close attention to notice. Final Fight is a very nice looking 16-bit title. I wasn’t a fan of the visual changes Capcom made to the game (Poison’s replacement is as generic as they come) but I suppose it’s okay. Unfortunately the soundtrack is a little hard on the ears. It’s close to the Arcade version in this regard, but it comes off as scratchy and quickly becomes grating. The sound effects come off as muddled which is an unfortunate side effect of the Super Nintendo sound chip, but it’s not a big deal.
Unfortunately this is hands down the worst version of Final Fight ever released. A beat ’em up without co-op play is inexcusable. Even Doublie Dragon on less powerful hardware was doing what Final Fight failed to do, and several years earlier. The other missing content makes it pretty apparent that Capcom didn’t have their heart in it. I understand that they had to rush the game to release, but it’s just sad.. I would rather play this game on my iPhone than on the Super Nintendo, and that’s really saying something. This one isn’t even worth picking up for collection sake.
