Crime ridden, gang infested Metro City has elected a new mayor. But this mayor is not like the others that have come before. He is Mike Haggar, a former professional wrestler and street fighter. The gangs have been unable to bribe him to let them have their way in the city, so the Mad Gear gang, the most powerful of them all, has kidnapped his daughter Jessica.
Now, Mike Haggar is out for revenge. He and his friend Cody (a fifth degree black belt in Karate) must fight their way through five sections of the city to rescue Jessica and rid Metro City of its gang influence.
Final Fight for the Super NES is a one-player port of the 1989 Capcom coin-op game. While the arcade original has three playable characters, the Super NES version has only two, dropping Guy and keeping Cody and Mike Haggar. As either of these two fighters you must work your way through the city, using punches, kicks, jumping kicks and throws to cut a swath through the gang members in your way.
In desperate situations you can employ a special attack that hits everyone around you, but at the cost of a small percentage of your health. You can uncover a variety of useful items by beating down thugs or destroying phone booths, billboards and barrels. Usable items include pizza, grapes, apples and other food that can be eaten for health, jewelry and cash that can be picked up for points, and weapons (such as knives, pipes and swords) that can be used on thugs.
~ Brett Alan Weiss, All Game Guide
Review: Overall
Final Fight for the Super NES could have been a great game, but it's obviously a lazy, first-generation port that was meant to sell based on the name alone. You'll notice the laziness right after the title screen. Whereas the arcade version has three playable characters, the Super NES version only has two, with Guy being the casualty. Guy could have easily been included in the game, and should have been. The laziness is also evident in the fact that the game is one-player only and in the total lack of options; the only thing you have a say over before the game starts is which character you want to play. Even though the Super NES version of Final Fight is substantially the same as the arcade version, the developer laziness strips a lot of the game's heart and soul away.
Final Fight's graphics are not arcade-perfect. Characters seem to have about the same amount of animation frames, but everything else has been downgraded considerably. The characters are slightly smaller and have less detail than their arcade counterparts, while the backgrounds have likewise been downgraded through the simplification of interactive objects and less important background scenery. The characters and backgrounds look decent enough for a Super NES game, though not good enough to make you take notice.
Unlike the graphics, the game's sound and music are arcade perfect. All the voice clips and sound effects from the arcade are present in the Super NES version, and sound quite good to boot. In fact, the Super NES music is better than the music in the arcade version. Whereas you had to listen to weak and tinny music in the arcade version, the Super NES songs are much stronger and have a satisfying amount of bass.
If you've ever played Final Fight in the arcade, then you know what to expect. Hordes of bad guys coming at you from both front and back, keeping the action constant and fierce. But you'll also find plenty of opportunities to apply some t strategy as you try to maneuver to keep enemies pounding you into pulp from both sides. Like the arcade version, this game manages to balance the initial thrill of action with long term interest by introducing lots of different enemies in different patterns. This version is a bit more difficult than the arcade version though, as weapons aren't as plentiful and your life bar is smaller and tends to go faster. On the plus side, the Super NES version throws less enemies at you at once than the arcade version, probably because the graphics engine couldn't handle more. So it evens out in the end.
For those who never played Final Fight in the arcade, this game is an acceptable and enjoyable substitute. On one hand, it more or less accurately recreates the Final Fight enjoyable experience at home, but it's also a lazy port, and fans of the arcade version will find their enjoyment of the game tempered by that knowledge.
~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide
Review: Enjoyment
Final Fight is fun because of its intense beat-em-up action, but it could have been more fun had it not been a lazy port.
~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide
Review: Graphics
The graphics are good, but the color scheme looks washed out.
~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide
Review: Sound
Arcade perfect sound effects and voice clips, plus a soundtrack that's better than the arcade version.
~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide
Review: Replay Value
You get only two characters to choose from and no options at all.
Final Fight is set in the fictional American city of Metro City "sometime in the 1990s" (1989 in the Japanese arcade version). The story centers around the kidnapping of the newly-elected Mayor's daughter, Jessica, by the dominant street gang in the city known as Mad Gear, which seeks to bring the Mayor under their control. The Mayor, a former pro wrestler named Mike Haggar, refuses to give in to the gang's demands and sets out to rescue his daughter with the help of her boyfriend, a martial artist named Cody, and his friend, a modern-day Bushin ninja named Guy.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Final Fight takes place in a 2D scrolling environment.
Final Fight is an archetypal side scrolling beat-em-up game. One or two player characters move from left to right through each level (most of which are split into 3 or more scenes), fighting with the enemy characters who appear, until they reach a confrontation with a stronger boss character at the end of the level. Once that boss is beaten, the players automatically move on to the next stage. Enemies appear from both sides of the screen and from out of doorways or entrances set into the background, and the player(s) must defeat all of them to progress. If the players try to simply travel through the levels without fighting, the screen will stop scrolling until all current enemies have been defeated, before allowing the players to continue progress. Enemies may move outside the confines of the screen, but players may not. There is a time limit to each stage.
Stages
There are six stages in Final Fight, through which the player must advance in order to get to the location at which Jessica is being held captive. These stages include the Slums, the Subway, the Westside District, the Industrial Area, the Bay Area, and Uptown Metro City.
Characters
Main characters
Final Fight features a strong/fast/average character trinity:
Cody is the well-balanced member of the group in both speed and power and that he can use knives for close-range combat against his enemies.
Haggar is the strongest, yet slowest member of the group, in which he can inflict huge damage against his opponents while using wrestling techniques such as a suplex and a pile driver. He is ranked third in Electronic Gaming Monthly’s list of the top ten video game politicians.[1]
Guy is the fastest, yet weakest member of the group, in which he can unleash fast punches against his opponents and use an off-the-wall kick to knock them down.
Enemies
Underlings
Simons, Bred, Jake and Dug
The typical thug enemies seen in the game. They attack using either a standard punch or kick. Simons and Jake are the only ones who can do a small jump kick.
Two. P and J
A pair of thugs who wear color shades and trenchcoats. They attack the player with quick punches, often using their speed to either attack or dodge the player. Two. P was modeled after the Player 2 character from Forgotten Worlds, hence the name "Two.P" (or 2P). [2]
Axl and Slash
A pair of biker enemies who can block the player's attack and retaliate with either a double axe handle or a kick. Named after Axl Rose and Slash of Guns N' Roses.
Wong Who, G. Oriber, and Bill Bull
A trio of fat men who attack the player with a charging headbutt, a standing headbutt or a kick.
El Gado and Holly Wood
A pair of agility fighters who uses sliding kick attacks and acrobatic knife slashing. A red-clad version of Holly Wood also appears in the game who throws molotov cocktails.
A pair of shemales[3] who uses acrobatic high-heel kicks. In the English localization of the SNES and GBA ports, Poison and Roxy were redesigned into two male punks named Billy and Sid.[4]
The Andore family
A family of pro-wrestlers modeled after contemporary wrestler André the Giant. Their special attacks include a charging smash, a piledriver, and a jumping body smash against a downed opponent. The siblings Andore and Andore Jr. appear thorough most of the game as regular enemies, while Father Andore and Grandfather Andore appear exclusively as sub-bosses in the second area of the West Side stage. Uncle Andore also appears if a second player is present.
Bosses
Damnd (Thrasher in the SNES and Sega CD ports)
The boss of the Slum stage. A Caribbean thug who serves as Mad Gear's informat. He summons his underlings to help him out when he's in danger. Damnd also uses a flying cannonball-style attack.
The boss of the Subway stage. An American Japanophile who wears a blue kabuto helmet and samurai attire. He attacks wielding a pair of Masamune swords. He is noted for possessing a ridiculously high defense, due in part to his armor, so the player must get in close somehow and use grab moves to defeat him.
Edi. E
The boss of the West Side stage. A corrupt Metro City police officer who happens to be a double agent of Mad Gear. He attacks using his nightstick, and will resort to using his gun when almost defeated.
The boss of the Industrial Area stage. A former member of the Red Beret special forces unit. He attacks using a mixture of his military baton, jumping kicks, and grenade tossing. If close, Rolento can also use his own throwing move against the player. Rolento also moves so fast that he has shadow-images following him wherever he goes. When low on health he will constantly run around and throw grenades, eventually blowing himself up when defeated.
Abigail
The boss of the Bayside stage. A street brawler who has a bad temper in battle. He prefers brute force to technique, using various punch attacks, and grabbing his foe to chuck them high into the air. When he gets real angry, his face turns red and he charges against the player with a high-damaging punch.
Belger
The final boss of the game. A wheelchair-bound millionaire who happens to be the secret leader of Mad Gear. He comes into the last fight of the stage while holding Jessica captive in his lap. The player must throw Belger off his wheelchair so that Jessica can get to safety before the battle against Belger, whose specialty lies from his cross-bow attacks. In the SNES and Sega CD versions of the game, Belger's wheelchair was changed into an office chair.
Development
Yoshiki Okamoto cites the arcade version of Double Dragon II: The Revenge as his basis for Final Fight, stating that he liked the concept of a game involving street gangs, but was "unimpressed" by the gameplay.[5]Final Fight was originally shown at trade shows under the title of Street Fighter '89.[6] According to Okamoto, the sales division of Capcom originally requested for a Street Fighter sequel, so his team decided to promote Final Fight as a Street Fighter sequel at trade shows (going as far to refer to one of the main characters as a "former Street Fighter"). The title was changed to Final Fight before its official release after feedback from operators stating that the game was nothing like Street Fighter.[5]
The street gang the player faces in the game, the Mad Gear Gang, takes their name from a 1987 overhead racing game by Capcom of the same name. The game was released as Led Storm outside Japan.[7]
Ports
SNES
The arcade version, on the left, features Poison showing undercleavage after being hit. The SNES and GBA versions, center, replaced Poison with an entirely different character named Billy. In the Sega CD version on the right, Poison has a complete redesign. She wears a longer tank top and longer shorts to make her less revealing.
An initial port of Final Fight for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was released as a launch title for the console in Japan (December 21, 1990) and later in North America (November 11, 1991) and then in Europe and Australia (December 10, 1992). The 2-player cooperative feature was removed, turning the game into a strictly single-player experience; the Industrial Area level, along with its boss Rolento, were removed; and Guy, one of the main characters, was omitted, leaving Cody and Haggar as the remaining playable characters. Due to the SNES' limited power, only three enemy sprites could be on screen at once (as opposed to seven in the arcade original) making this port easier and less hectic.
The English localization underwent considerable changes for the game's international releases as well. The first two bosses, Damnd and Sodom, were renamed Thrasher and Katana respectively. Belger's wheelchair was redrawn to look like an office chair. Poison and Roxy were replaced with two male punks named Billy and Sid.[4] All alcoholic references were removed, with "bar" signs becoming "club," while two health-recovering items, Whiskey and Beer, became Vitamin E and Root Beer respectively. A punk's statement of "Oh! My God" (when his car is destroyed) was changed to "Oh! My Car." Also, the blood splash effect when a character is stabbed is replaced by a generic explosion.[8]
A revised version of the SNES port, titled Final Fight Guy, was released on March 20, 1992 in Japan. This version replaces Cody with Guy as a selectable character (with changes to the game's plot explaining Cody's absence) and features several subtle changes from the original port and added features such as new power-ups, although the Industrial Area stage and the multiplayer cooperative mode were still missing from this version. An American version of the game (featuring the same changes in the localization as in the first game) was released in June 1994, but as a rental-only game available at Blockbuster stores.[9]
The SNES version of Final Fight was released for the Wii's Virtual Console service in 2007.
Sega CD
The cover for the North American version of Final Fight CD for the Sega CD.
The Sega CD version, titled Final Fight CD, was ported and published by Sega under license from Capcom in 1993. This version retains nearly all the features of the arcade game which were removed in the SNES port, adding voice acting to the game's cut-scenes, an arranged soundtrack and an exclusive time attack mode. Like the SNES version, the game also underwent some censorship in its English localization, with many of the same changes made in this version. Poison and Roxy were kept this time, but were redrawn with longer tank-tops and longer shorts to make them less-revealing.[10]
Game Boy Advance
The cover for the Japanese version of Final Fight One for the Game Boy Advance.
The Game Boy Advance version, titled Final Fight One, was released in 2001 as one of the earliest games for the system. Final Fight One features all three characters and the Industrial Area stage that was missing from the SNES version. 2-Player cooperative gameplay is also featured via link cable. Dialogue exchanges prior to each boss battle have been added and the Street Fighter Alpha 3 renditions of Cody and Guy are featured as hidden characters. The English localization of the game still replaced Poison and Roxy with Billy and Sid, although little else was changed (Damnd and Sodom kept their original names this time).[11]
A port for the Sharp X68000 computer platform was released by Capcom in Japan only on July 17, 1992. This version is a relatively close conversion of the arcade game, with the only notable changes being different music due to different sound chip and a slightly reduced number of on-screen enemies.
An 8-bit version was released in 1993 for the NES titled Mighty Final Fight. The game is not a strict port of the arcade game, but a different take on the same concept, featuring child-like "super deformed" character designs and an RPG-like character build-up feature.
Final Fight is included in the 2005 compilation Capcom Classics Collection Volume 1 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and in the 2006 portable version Capcom Classics Collection Remixed for the PlayStation Portable. The game is emulated from the original CP System arcade version and features very little differences from the arcade game. The compilation includes tips, character profiles, an art gallery and a sound test as bonus features.
The arcade version is also included as a hidden feature in the 2006 game Final Fight: Streetwise for the PS2 and Xbox. However, the emulation in this version was programmed by Ultracade, rather than Digital Eclipse (the developers of Capcom Classics Collection series).
Legacy
Sequels
Final Fight was followed by two sequels for the SNES: Final Fight 2 in 1993 and Final Fight 3 (Final Fight Tough in Japan) in 1995. These games were produced specifically for the home console market by Capcom's consumer division with no preceding arcade versions. An NES game entitled Mighty Final Fight was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System and featured cartoonish versions of the Final Fight characters. An American-produced 3D fighting game spinoff, Final Fight Revenge, was released for Sega's Titan arcade hardware in 1999, which was followed by a home version for the Sega Saturn in Japan only. A second American-produced spinoff titled Final Fight: Streetwise, released in 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, was a 3D take on the game.
The American Street Fighter animated series featured an episode based on Final Fight and titled after the game, which aired during the show's second season. Adapting the plot of the game, the "Final Fight" episode centered around Cody and Guy teaming up with leading Street Fighter characters Ryu and Ken to rescue Jessica from the Mad Gear Gang. Although, Guy and Cody were both characters in the Street Fighter series, the episode actually predates Cody's first appearance in the series as a playable character in Street Fighter Alpha 3 and depicts him in his character design from Final Fight.
The Street Fighter II Turbo comic book by UDON Entertainment will feature a supplemental story arc spanning issues 6 and 7 centering around the Final Fight characters who were featured in the Street Fighter series.[12]
In the February 1991 issue of the Japanese coin-operated video game magazine Gamest, Final Fight took No. 1 spot as Best Game of 1990 in the 4th Annual Grand Prize. Final Fight also won the category of Best Action Game, placed No. 4 in Best Video Game Music, No. 9 in Best Graphics, No. 2 in Best Direction, and No. 5 in Best Album. The character Mike Haggar was displayed on the cover of this issue, who took the No. 1 spot in the Top 50 Characters of the year, with Guy in second place, Cody at No. 7, Poison at No. 26, Sodom at No. 33, and Jessica at No. 40.[13]
References
^ Scott Sharkey, “EGM’s Top Ten Videogame Politicians: Election time puts us in a voting mood,” Electronic Gaming Monthly 234 (November 2008): 97.
^All About Capcom Head-to-Head Fighting Game 1987-2000, pg. 327
^Studio Bent Stuff (Sept. 2000) (in Japanese). All About Capcom Head-to-Head Fighting Game 1987-2000. A.A. Game History Series (Vol. 1). Dempa Publications, Inc.. p. p. 339. ISBN4885546761.
^ abSheff, David. Game Over. p. 225. "With Capcom USA, Phillips's team edited some of the grislier games that came in from its Japanese parent company, although Capcom's own censors weeded out the most offensive touches... When a Capcom USA representative suggested that it was tasteless to have the game's hero beat up a woman, a Japanese designer responded that there were no women in the game. 'What about the blonde named Roxy?' the American asked. The designer responded, 'Oh, you mean the transvestite!' Roxy was given a haircut and new clothes."
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