Final Fight Guide
The two kick ass and take names at an alarming rate. Though Final Fight's combat system consists of the usual two-button control scheme that most brawlers from this era used, it holds up surprisingly well. Both Cody and Haggar can string together some basic attack combos, as well as pull off jumping attacks, grab attacks, and spinning maneuvers that prevent them from getting surrounded. There's more depth to it than meets the eye, and that the enemies you face come at you with such varying patterns of attack makes things all the trickier. Boss fights are challenging, lots of enemies pop up in every level, multiple weapons present themselves throughout the game, and you get to break barrels to find hidden barbecued meats that replenish your health.
Though Final Fight's combat system consists of the usual two-button control scheme that most brawlers from this era used, it holds up surprisingly well. Both Cody and Haggar can string together some basic attack combos, as well as pull off jumping attacks, grab attacks, and spinning maneuvers that prevent them from getting surrounded. There's more depth to it than meets the eye, and that the enemies you face come at you with such varying patterns of attack makes things all the trickier. Boss fights are challenging, lots of enemies pop up in every level, multiple weapons present themselves throughout the game, and you get to break barrels to find hidden barbecued meats that replenish your health. Each character has a single attack button and a jump button. You can throw punches or combinations of punches, you can jumpkick, and moving in close to your opponents will trigger a grab animation that you can then transition into a throw, or a couple of knee shots to the poor guy's chest, or a fancy spinning piledriver (if you're playing as Haggar). Beyond that, each hero also has access to a signature special move -- Haggar's spinning clothesline, Maki's handstand kick or Carlos' hurricane slash with his sword. You can use these techniques as frequently as you like, but if they connect with anyone they'll drain away parts of your health bar to counterbalance the extra damage they're doing to your enemies.
Final Fight was a fairly loyal port from its arcade brethren. Despite some minor issues (censoring Katana's original name of "Sodom", the removal of the playable character Guy, or covering Poison's partially exposed boobs) the game held up under scrutiny. One glaring fault, however, was the puzzling (and immensely frustrating) castrating of the game's ridiculously fun two-Player mode. For those unfamiliar with the game, Haggar a very large brute refuses to aid Mad Gear in his bid for dominance over the city streets. The evil Mad Gear kidnaps Haggar's daughter, Jessica, and holds her hostage. Haggar hops on the phone, calls up Jessica's boyfriend an accomplished fighter Cody, and informs him of the dire situation. The two hit the streets with the vengeance of a father's rage and the annoyance of a boyfriend having lost his scrabble partner. The two kick ass and take names at an alarming rate. In Metro City, crime runs the show, until former street fighter Mike Haggar is elected into mayoral office. The Mad Gear gang, the primary force behind the crime wave, doesn't like Haggar's clean-up-the-city initiatives, and opts to kidnap Haggar's daughter. So, Mayor Haggar does what any good politician would do--he gathers up his daughter's boyfriend, a handsome martial artist named Cody, and hits the streets to beat the snot out of every Mad Gear that crosses his path.
Two-player co-op play is also restored in this sequel, so Final Fight makes some significant strides to make up for all the cuts that afflicted the original Final Fight SNES port after you've seen just the title screen and character menu -- but then the novelty's pretty much run its course. After any initial interest created by who you can play as and the fact that you and a friend can finally play together, it's just basic brawling for the rest of the game. Each character has a single attack button and a jump button. You can throw punches or combinations of punches, you can jumpkick, and moving in close to your opponents will trigger a grab animation that you can then transition into a throw, or a couple of knee shots to the poor guy's chest, or a fancy spinning piledriver (if you're playing as Haggar).Beyond that, each hero also has access to a signature special move -- Haggar's spinning clothesline, Maki's handstand kick or Carlos' hurricane slash with his sword. You can use these techniques as frequently as you like, but if they connect with anyone they'll drain away parts of your health bar to counterbalance the extra damage they're doing to your enemies.And that's that. You walk right, punch, kick or suplex your enemies until they're dead, then walk right some more to find more foes to fight. Each stage has a boss at the end that offers some more complicated attack patterns to deal with, but your heroes never do anything more complex than what they're able to achieve at the very start of the game picking up temporary weapons like wooden planks offers a bit of variety on the rare occasion you find one, but other than that it's all straightforward street fighting from beginning to end.
Even after a decade and a half the gameplay holds up quite well. Cans of whoop-ass are unleashed at every possible turn, as the side-scrolling beat-em-up progresses through its flaky story. Despite the overall story not being anything spectacular, the character names and models are quite entertaining. You'll take on charming fellows such as El Gado, Holly Wood, and even Andore -- the Japanese pronunciation of Andre -- who is modeled after the legendary Frenchman and wrestler Andre the Giant. Don't be fooled by his calm exterior (a bright pink glitter tank top) either, he has no reservations about grabbing Cody or Haggar and piledriving them into the ground. And I mean that, he actually piledrives him like Zangief in Street Fighter II (oh, and Haggar punches like Blanka as is the flame animation for someone set ablaze). I guess you can't harp on Capcom for recycling impressive animations - it may even have been deliberate, as the game feels a lot like Street Fighter in terms of mechanics and AI (which isn't a bad thing).While the graphics are true to the arcade version, the sound most certainly is not. Due to an inferior audio chip in the Super Nintendo (when compared to the arcade rendition), the effects cut in and out all the time. While it's not a detractor from the gameplay, it's still a noticeable nuisance.Far worse than the sound issues is the absence of the original 2-Player cooperative mode that was just so much FUN in the arcade. Even though the game can hold its own with the single-player campaign, not being able to control Hagger and Cody with a buddy really hurts.
