Final Fight
Arcade
Nostalgia Factor:
I have such great nostalgic memories of Final Fight. When I was a kid my family lived near a pizzeria that had this game in the back. As soon as we’d arrive I’d always run back there and sink all my quarters into this game. I made it pretty deep into the game – the level where you have to avoid the flames coming out of the ground - but I could never get over that hump. I always ran out of quarters.
I haven’t played this game (or even any iteration of Final Fight) in the 30 years since then, but I still remember my time with it fondly.
When I started emulating a few months ago, it was an absolute no-brainer that I’d end up returning to Final Fight and finishing it off once and for all. How would this game hold up over all this time? Let’s find out!
Story:
This is a beat ‘em up, so ultimately its story is not too important. But Final Fight tries!
Mike Haggar is a former wrestler who has become mayor of Metro City. Under his regime, crime is at an all-time low. Needless to say, the criminals are not happy about this. The top criminal organization in the city, the Mad Gear Gang, kidnaps Haggar’s daughter Jessica in retaliation. Haggar sets off on a journey through the city with two sidekicks in tow – Jessica’s boyfriend Cody and Cody’s frenemy Guy. The threesome tears through Metro City, beating the shit out of every bad guy in sight. At the end of the game (spoiler alert) they make it to the Mad Gear headquarters and rescue Jessica.
The end.
Gameplay:
This is one of the first beat ‘em ups I can ever remember playing, and it set the standard in my mind for every beat ‘em up to come afterwards.
You should know how this type of game works, but I’ll explain it if you don’t. Each level starts with you in control of whichever of the three characters you’ve selected. It is your goal to make it through each stage while punching, jump kicking, and throwing your enemies into oblivion. You walk on a 3D plane, meaning you can go up and down in addition to left and right. Occasionally you’ll find things like telephone booths and barrels that you can break to get special items. These items include health upgrades, shiny collectibles that add to your point total, and weapons you can use to bash your enemies, such as a pipe or a sword.
I’ve played many games like this over the years, and I can easily say that none of them are as good as the original Final Fight. Many of these games I’ve even played recently. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Not as good. Streets of Rage? Not as good. Ninja Gaiden? Get the fuck out of here.
Even though this game is so simple, there’s just something undeniable about how well it has held up over the years. The fighting is satisfying, the breakable objects are fun to smash, the setting is super cool, the playable characters are fun and each have their own unique fighting styles, and the game never seems too ridiculously difficult. A lot of these old beat ‘em ups are designed to make you die as much as humanly possible so you keep feeding quarters into the machine. Final Fight doesn’t fall into that trap. I can make it pretty far into the game (around the stage with the wrestling ring) before even having to use a continue. Even later on in the game when you ARE facing swarms of enemies that are difficult to kill, you still don’t ever feel like you don’t have a chance.
Final Fight just has that “it” factor that makes it special. It doesn’t try to do too much, but it doesn’t do too little either. It’s the perfect balance of literally everything you could ever want in a beat ‘em up. Throw in the option to play this game with a buddy in its two player co-op mode and you’ve got yourself a real winner. I have never encountered a single person who says they don’t like Final Fight, and to me this fact says a lot about the quality of the game.
Graphics:
Part of me can’t believe that this game is 32 years old. It looks so good! Bright, cartoony characters. A world bursting with personality. Small little details in the background that make you smile when you notice them. It just looks fantastic. The graphics have aged just as well as the gameplay.
Sound:
An aspect of successful beat ‘em up games that often goes overlooked is its sound quality. Final Fight definitely does not disappoint in this area. The level music, while not the most memorable in the world, is catchy and really gets you in the mood to beat the living crap out of a bunch of criminals. The smashing sound when you punch or throw your enemies across the screen is just so perfect and satisfying. Capcom really knocked this game’s graphics, sound, and fun factor completely out of the park.
Overall:
I’ve been ranting and raving about this game so much that you are probably expecting it to get an A+. So will it? Well… no.
What is it? What’s wrong with this game? What could I possibly have to nitpick about Final Fight?
Nothing really. The game is fun, it looks good, it sounds good. It even takes a stab at giving you a coherent story, which most games of this genre tend to just completely blow off. To me, it is just too short to give a perfect score. It’s simple. It’s repetitive. Can I really with a good conscience say that this game is on the same level as something like Ocarina of Time of Super Mario 3? No, because it’s not. So it has to get an A. Not necessarily because there is anything wrong with this game, or it isn’t an absolute blast to play. It’s just not *quite* there at a level that I would consider super elite. Of all the games to get an A for this blog, however, it is the absolute closest of all of them to getting an A+. It’s that good.
Play Final Fight. If you haven’t played this game, or even if you have – Final Fight should satisfy the destructive appetite of any gamer out there.
Final Score:
A
If you liked this review, check out some of my other game reviews:
No comments:
Post a Comment