Retro Game of the Week: Final Fight

On 10/03/2015 at 10:03 AM by The Last Ninja

Take off the nostalgia blinders and you'll see that this game is not very good

It's really neat to be able to look back on the Console War Era between Nintendo and Sega. Each company gave it their best and we find two series in direct opposition for the same genre. Mario competed against Sonic. Final Fantasy competed against Phantasy Star. Vectorman competed against Donkey Kong Country. And in the field of the beat 'em ups, it was Final Fight vs. Streets of Rage. Developed and published by Capcom, Final Fight was an arcade port which resembled the original pretty well. Released in 1991, it was exclusive to the Super Nintendo and was in direct competition to Sega's Streets of Rage.

The story, while nothing special, goes like this: The Mad Gear Gang has kidnapped Jessica, Mayor Mike Haggar's daughter. Luckily, Haggar used to be a pro wrestler, so he takes to the streets of Metro City to beat down these punks and rescue his daughter. Cody comes along too; I think he's the boyfriend, but don't quote me on that. So it's a typical plot for a beat 'em up. Double Dragon and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had already used this kind of simple plot.

You can play as either Mike Haggar or Cody. Haggar moves slowly but is a beast; plus, he performs wrestling moves on the enemies, which is just awesome. Cody is slightly faster than Haggar, but not by much. The fighting moves are pretty basic, and the combat is clunky. Movement is stiff rather than fluid, and the two playable characters both move at a snail's pace. The sprites are big, and the graphics are colorful, but there's not much life in them.

The best part of Final Fight is the satisfying sound of beating up bad guys. However, there are some problems with the bad guys. If a bad guy hits you, it's hard to recover before he knocks you down (which takes three hits). This is especially a problem if you're using Haggar because he's pretty slow. To make matters worse, your life bar depletes quickly, much too quickly. This means you'll go through lives faster than expected, making it difficult to beat the game.

The mechanics of the game match Streets of Rage to a T. You can break open crates and barrels to find things like gold, health (ham), and weapons such as knives and swords. All the enemies are your typical beat 'em up enemies: you've got your street punks, fat dudes, guys who throw knives (who are Indians), etc. If too many enemies get on screen at once, the game lags, and this happens often.

But worst of all, Final Fight succumbs to one of the worst sins of beat 'em ups: it gets repetitive. It doesn't take long for the fighting to get old, and some of the bosses can be really frustrating. Add to this the fact that the game is only one player, which is a huge oversight; playing a beat 'em up with a friend is a LOT more fun than playing alone.

Final Verdict--2 Stars: Not Worth It

In the end, Final Fight doesn't hold up. Its clunky combat, repetitive gameplay, and slowpoke characters make it a chore to slog through. If you have nostalgia for it, it'd be best not to go back and play it now lest all that nostalgia is dashed to pieces. You'd be better off playing Streets of Rage, which holds up much better. Or you can play the vastly superior TMNT IV: Turtles in Time on SNES. There's plenty of great beat 'em ups out there, but Final Fight is not one of them. Its sequels would be better.

Join me every Saturday as we take a look back at all kinds of retro games, good and bad.

Machocruz

10/03/2015 at 10:53 AM

While FF is dated and not as impressive as it was at release, the SNES port is not a good representation of the game, being severely altered due to hardware limitations. Since your blog is not labeled 'Retro Console Game of the Week,' I think you do the game a disservice by limiting your attention to a frankly poor port instead of assessing it in its undiluted form, which is the arcade/MAME rom version, or at least the PS2 or XBL/PSN ports. Especially when making comparison to Streets of Rage, of which you used its best version and not the lesser SMS or Game Gear ports.

Super Step Contributing Writer

10/03/2015 at 01:29 PM

Fair points, but it's made clear these two games were part of the SNES/Genesis competition, so it makes sense to compare those two versions in that context.

Personally, I was never much for beat-em-ups either way, so I'm not surprised a console port doesn't hold up.

The Last Ninja

10/03/2015 at 06:43 PM

I'm sure the arcade version is superior (as most are), but this was the version I decided to review, and this particular one doesn't hold up. Capcom could have done a better job suiting it to the SNES, so the blame still stands. Final Fight as a series, though, is certainly not a bad one.

KnightDriver

10/03/2015 at 02:53 PM

I love the Final Fight series but they can feel unfair at times, especially those bosses and the life bar. I don't think I've played the SNES version of it. I have it on Sega CD which includes the essential two-player mode.

10/03/2015 at 06:44 PM

Wow, I didn't know there was a version on the Sega CD! And two player, very nice.

10/04/2015 at 04:26 AM

Yea, I happened upon it at a thrift shop one day. I snagged that quick.

Cary Woodham

10/03/2015 at 02:54 PM

I played the arcade version of Final Fight recently and I still enjoyed it and I think it has aged very well. The reason why Streets of Rage beats out the console version of Final Fight is that Streets of Rage was designed as a console game first, not an arcade game. And even then it took a sequel to perfect the formula. So yeah, Streets of Rage 2 is definitely better than SNES Fight Fight. Although Streets of Rage 2 did rip off a lot of Final Fight staples. Awesome music, though. I think it's funny that Capcom released a rental only version of Final Fight that let you play as Guy only (it was called Final Fight Guy). I never played the console-only Final Fight sequels, I wonder if they're any better? Final Fight One on the GBA had some neat unlockables, but that was about it. I tell you what is a good console Final Fight is Mighty Final Fight on the NES.

10/03/2015 at 06:47 PM

The "made for arcade" argument doesn't quite hold up because Konami made a supeior console port of the Turtles 4 arcade game. It just shows that Capcom didn't quite put in the work needed to make a good console port.

Alex-C25

10/04/2015 at 02:06 AM

Yes, Cody is the boyfriend.

I do remember playing this on an emulator and enjoying it, but that was really a long time. I do want to come back to this game, though maybe I should check the arcade version instead.

10/04/2015 at 03:18 PM

It would be best to play the arcade version. If you want to play the console games, FF2 and 3 are certainly better than the first one.

jgusw

10/04/2015 at 08:48 PM

I hadn't played the SNES version in many years and really don't remember it much. I've played Final Fight on other systems recently and really enjoyed it. Final Fight One (GBA) is a good version. The Arcade and it's ports on the 360, PS3, XB, and PS2 are probably the best you're going to get.

10/04/2015 at 11:57 PM

I haven't played any of the other versions, but now I sure want to.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

10/04/2015 at 10:18 PM

Say what you want about this port, it looks beautiful to me!

10/04/2015 at 11:58 PM

The graphics are great, although the characters move very stiffly.

10/05/2015 at 12:16 AM

it looks great in screen shots!!! I just love the character designs.

BrokenH

10/05/2015 at 01:43 AM

I remember being excited for the snes version of Final Fight only to find out they took out my favorite character Guy. lol. Game still looks beautiful for its' time but you're right Matt,the lack of 2 player and limited character roster kinda hurts the overall enjoyment factor.

Streets Of Rage 2 holds up much better and it had some really ace protagonists. (Like Skate, a kid on roller skates who had some wicked sweet original "moves" I had never seen in a beat em up before.) That and Blaze Fielding was one of the "hawt dream gurls" that helped me thru puberty! (Thumbs up)

10/06/2015 at 04:05 PM

LOL Streets of Rage 2 is one of my favorite beat 'em ups, right behind the top one, Turtles in Time on SNES.

PixlBit

Retro Game of the Week: Final Fight

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Machocruz