Final Fight

[JaySevenZero]

Here's where you can write up your thoughts and opinions for Capcom's 1989 side-scrolling beat-'em-up - Final Fight.

[EvilNinjaPhil]

Have finally got off my various bits to join the forum to make sure something long and rambling was written about this cracker of a game!

You can kind of spot people who didn't grow up with arcades: when they walk into somewhere they don't have a quick scan around the premises to spot a random JAMMA cabinet in a corner somewhere. Growing up in the 80s I developed this habit quickly, which is how I first spotted Final Fight in an indoor market in Widnes.

The market was in a big warehouse unit, the cabinet sat near the entrance, one of those big roll up metal doors, about two feet from the rain lashing down outside. I spotted it a good twenty feet off, not even knowing what it was but it was an arcade cabinet so it was at least worth a look.

And was I glad that I did. The big chunky sprites leapt out of the screen, the tinny audio spitting out grunts and punches and finally that logo burned onto the screen. Sold. I ran through my pocket change and whatever I could negotiate out of the nearest parent pretty quickly as I navigated Mike Haggar through the mean streets of Metro City. Not sure why I picked him, maybe it was because his moustache kind of reminded me of my Dad's. But anyway, moving on.

This was before Street Fighter II but after Double Dragon and felt great to play. The attacks were simple but fun to watch, the enemies well designed and the levels just about staying on the right side of annoying, at least in the early stages. It was and is a superb arcade game, even down to the continue screen having your character strapped to dynamite imploring you to insert another coin before time ran out.

Several years later and I was the proud (ish) owner of a Mega Drive 2 and Mega CD 2. Why, in anyone's right mind, would they want a Mega CD? Snatcher of course, but also it also had probably the best home version of Final Fight. Between the arcade release and 1994 I had played Streets of Rage and Street Fighter II and all that but Final Fight still held a special place for me. It was, after all, supposed to be the Final of all Fights. So naturally it was one of my first purchases for the machine, I believe from the Special Reserve catalogue if you remember that.

The game was still cracking, sure the graphics weren't quite as good as the arcade but the feel of the game was there as well as an improved soundtrack. I spent hours on the time attack mode just beating people up because it was so fun.

The only part of the game that makes me feel sad is the way that the legacy has been squandered. Sure the characters rocked up in a few other games, like the SF Alpha series and a lacklustre sequel or two, but nothing that recaptured the feeing of that first game. The scrolling beat em up genre was one of those that didn't really make the transition from the 2D to 3D consoles; the only games that are close to it these days would be the Yakuza series, the odd retro indie game and maybe the fighting bits in the recent Arkham series of Batman games.

Still, none of them quite scratch the same itch as Final Fight. Walking left to right and slightly up and down whilst cleaning up the streets of Metro City remains one of video games’ finest pleasures.

[Alex79]

I've never played Final Fight before. I mean, of course I've played it, but I'd never really played it before this evening. I must have played the first five minutes dozens of times. Every time I download MAME or a SNES emulator I get Final Fight, it's standard. But I usually walk the streets for five minutes before my attention wanders on to the next game in the list. I've played all of its friends and relatives, Renegade, Double Dragon, Streets of Rage etc so I was pleased to finally have an excuse to sit through the entire game.

I wasn't keeping track of time, but I'd say my playthrough took just under an hour or so. Unfortunately, it lost any semblance of entertainment value after approximately three minutes. I can't remember a game I've played in recent memory that bored me more. I trudged on from left to right, mindlessly hammering the attack button because, well, that's all there is to do. There doesn't appear to be any tactic involved here, you just keep pressing attack until you die. And you will die, because like most scrolling brawlers, it's an incredibly unfair game. And then you do it again. There is very little variety within the enemies, and the boss designs don't stretch the imagination much either. There were two occasions though that did give me a teeny tiny smile. The blatant rip off of WWF superstar Andre The Giant, and the naming of a couple of enemies after Axl and Slash from Guns N' Roses.

Overall, the game doesn't seem to have the depth or range of moves of the later Streets Of Rage series (which seems to have wholesale stolen enemies from Final Fight!), but its worst sin of all is that it's just so dull.

I appreciate there is a large nostalgia factor at play here. If I'd played and loved the game as a kid I imagine this post would be very different, but coming to the game as a new player in 2016? Well, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

THREE WORD REVIEW : Streets Of Dullage.

[ratsoalbion]

Great post as always Alex and thanks for playing along and contributing. I feel the same way about SoRII both ripping off and improving hugely on FF, but I can't agree that FF is a skill free, mindless brawler.

In fact, videos such as this one prove that this game can be played at another level entirely (literally and figuratively):

[Alex79]

Yeah that's fair enough, that video certainly took some crazy skills. That fight with Rolento on the elevator took me about two credits alone, so I can't imagine how much time has been spent perfecting that run! I was a little harsh on the game, but I really did find that I was unable to find any fun in it at all. They're not directly comparable, but when I think back to Comix Zone, I enjoyed that a whole lot more. Comix Zone was hard as nails but gave a huge sense of satisfaction beating each level whereas the difficulty in Final Fight just seemed to come from being overwhelmed by enemies and was more annoying than anything. I imagined it would be impossible to complete without multiple continues, but I did actually Google 'Final Fight One Credit' after I finished it to see if it could actually be done (which was stupid. It's a game - someone somewhere will have done it!)

I think it's one of those games where if I'd owned it as a kid I'd have spent ages with it, learning the levels and the enemies etc (as I did with SoR), and appreciated the game a whole lot more, but it's not one I'll be rushing back to any time soon!

[EvilNinjaPhil]

I wonder how much of that is down to Final Fight being developed as a pure arcade game, it was designed to suck you in then milk you for as much money as possible. Streets of Rage (especially the sequels) and Comix Zone were developed for a home market in mind so that may explain the different mind set. After all, when there is no money on the line that Final Fight continue screen is less compelling.

[ratsoalbion]

Absolutely, and this is definitely a topic that we'll cover in our discussion.