Final Fight
Game Title: Final
Fight "ファイナルファイ"
Developer: In-House
Publisher: Capcom
Release Date: 21/12/1990
Serial No: SHVC-FT
Cart Size: 8 Mbit
Players: 1
Battery Back-Up: No
Game Info: Hit arcade Beat-em-up Influenced by the film
"Streets of Fire"
The Story:
Final Fight involves the kidnapping of Mayor Mike Haggar's daughter
Jessica after Haggar refuses to work with the Cities Gangster Mad
Gear. When the Mad Gear thug Damnd contacts Haggar and informs him,
Haggar calls up his daughter's boyfriend Cody and the two head into
the streets to bust Mad Gear's gang.
Final Fight is a side scrolling Beat-em-up typical of the late
80’s-early 90’s style, featuring excellent large and detailed
sprites. It was a number 1 hit in the Arcades and set new standards
in the genre. It was just a matter of time until Capcom ported it
onto the Super Famicom. The conversion is not Arcade perfect
however, all the moves and enemies are there.
Unfortunately due to the memory size of the cartridge you are
limited to select from 2 characters; “Cody” and “Hagar.”
During the course of the levels you will fight various gang members
using your fighting skills, along the way you can use a number of
weapons that are at your disposal. The weapons can be useful as they
can quickly reduce the energy of your enemies, the pole is one of my
favorite weapons due to its long reach. Be careful though and
don’t rely on the weapons too much as the thugs can gang up on
you!! A unique feature for Final Fight is each thug has an energy
bar so you can determine when you can finally beat them to
submission. During the levels you can collect food to help replenish
your health bar after a beat down, although when you have used all
your 3 lives you have the option of switching to the other
character.
At the end of each level you fight the end of level boss. The bosses
tend to use some tactics whether it is the element of surprise,
using weapons or beckoning their cronies into the fight. Some
strategy is involved and this is really where your reflex and skill
needs to be sharp.
The controls are very fluid and very responsive just like the
Arcade. Each character has different abilities like strength and
power moves. Haggar is powerful enabling him to hit harder, he also
has good grappling ability. Cody has youth on his side so he is very
quick and agile.
Because of the 8 Meg cartridge, the 2 player option is missing,
level 4 (industrial zone) was left out and some of the animation has
been cut. But if you have never played the Arcade version then it
really does not make any difference, this version is excellent. My
only negative view with the Super Famicom version is the missing 2
player mode, a real shame.
There are a total of 5 great crazy slug fest levels, fighting on the
streets, subways night clubs and other locations around “Metro
City.” There are also 2 bonus levels involving wrecking a thug’s
car and smashing glass panels in a factory.
Glitches:
Some sprites start to flicker at times when a number of enemies
clash.
Availability:
Final Fight is a title that I would not really say is rare however,
there are periods on Ebay when you just can’t find any and periods
when they appear. Expect to pay £17 (MIB), £13 for (CIB) and £5
for a loose cart.
Ratings:
Graphics: 90%
Sound: 90%
Playability: 90%
Lastability: 90%
Fun Factor: 90%
Total 90%
Final Thoughts:
Final Fight is an excellent game featuring stunning large detailed
sprites and superb graphics, it was visually stunning for its time.
Compared to the classic “Double Dragon,” it took the genre to a
new playing level and set a new bench mark for the Beat-em-up. To
this day I feel if Nintendo stalled the release then we would have
seen a far better version as close to the Arcade perhaps? But they
needed to release as many hot titles in order to stay way ahead of
the Mega Drive. Capcom intended Final Fight to be the sequel to the
original “Street Fighter” but at the time Capcom felt that the
one-on-one Beat-em-up was not popular enough due to the failure of
Street Fighter in the Arcades.
So own a piece of gaming History with one of the greatest Beat-em-up’s
of all time, a classic!!
Reviewed By MO
