Game description
Final Fight is a beat ’em up video game by Capcom released on December 1, 1989, in the arcade. Originally designed as a sequel to Street Fighter, it eventually becomes a game in its own series, featuring the beat me up genres. However, Final Fight is in the same universe as Street Fighter and many of its character were featured in subsequent Street Fighter game. The Super NES port came out during the launch title for the Super NES in all region (1990 for Japan, 1991 for North America and 1992 for Europe). It was also released for the Vitual Console service of the Wii and the Wii U.
The game features three playable character :
- Haggar, the mayor of Metro City and former wrestler
- Cody, a fearless street fighter
- Guy, a Bushido master, a form of Ninjutsu
Dues to the early release on the Super Nintendo Port, Guy is not a playable character (but his still part of the ending). A special version of Final Fight , named Final Fight Guy, was later made for the Super NES in 1994. Along with a few changes, this version replace Cody with Guy and add some cutscene explaining his absences.
The game start with the kidnapping of Haggar’s daughter, Jessica. This event is a result of his refusal to be bribed by the criminal Mad Gear Gang that is getting more and more space in Metro City. When Damnd, a notorious street gang attempt to call Haggar to tell him about the kidnapping, he thought he would be able to force him to cooperate.
However, Haggar call up his daughter’s boyfriend, Cody and his good friend and sparring partner Guy to end this once for all. The trio then venture through the street, before eventually getting to the gang’s boss and rescue Jessica.
Final Fight is similar to Double Dragon, the first massively popular beat ’em up games. With each character, you can perform a set of move to knock the opponent down, jump kick and throw. In Haggar case, his wrestler’s past shine as he can jump with his opponent and perform a piledriver.
In the Super NES port, the game has five levels. You start in the Slum, before heading toward a subway, the street, the bay area and finally the boss hideout, venturing in his luxurious building.
Beside Guy being missing, other elements didn’t translate to the Super NES port dues to technical constraints. Along the most prevalent are :
- The lack of 2-player mode
- The game’s fourth level, the industrial area
- Only three enemies can be on the screen at once. If items or explosion occur at the same time, the game will slow down until less object are on the screen.
The North American version of Final Fight was also censored dues to Nintendo’s Family-Friendly Image they wanted to keep. Some names, skin tone, character was changed. All reference to alcohol was also removed as well as blood.
Final Fight playthrough
The playthrough use the USA version of the game. The goal is to beat the game without taking damage at the highest difficulty level. The only exception is special move that drain some health when it hit an opponent. The game is first played to the end with Haggar and done again with Cody, in order to see everything both characters can do.
The runs also show some hidden secret developer have implemented in some of the stage.
With Cody, it is possible to stunlock character in a fury of punch until they are defeated. This technique is used against certain boss in the game.