Rumor has it that Guy in this game was mentally retarded
Overview
Crime has risen significantly in Metro City. The Mad Gear (the biggest crime syndicate in Metro City) have kidnapped Haggar's daughter Jessica and are threatening Haggar that if he doesn't do as they ask, they will seriously hurt her. So Haggar, and Jessica's boyfriend Cody, tag up together along with Guy, a bunshin ninja who's a friend of Cody to go and rescue Jessica. And thus, the saga of Final Fight begins.
Final Fight was one of the very first few games which introduced the concept of walking on a psuedo-3D plane, beating up foes which look the same with different color palettes, going through these psuedo 3D levels until reaching an end, where you fight a boss which takes a ridiculous beating in order to be defeated (Usually consists of 2-8 power bars similar to yours). These games were very innovative, and created a genre on their own. Naturally (Just like Street Fighter 2), this game created dozens upon dozens of good and bad spawns (ranging from Sega's Streets of Rage to SNK's Sengoku to Konami's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.)
cody: Guy! Jessica was kidnapped!
guy: Jessica?
cody: My sweet heart since child hood.
guy: The Mad Gears must pay! She's my friend, too. Count me in.
This game introduced our heroes Haggar, Cody, and Guy that we know today. Each character has their own distinct strengths and weaknesses.
Haggar is the mayor of Metro City. He would be the strong, slow-moving character who's hits hurt the most, and is able to manipulate his opponents the best when he grabs them. He's also famous for sharing the same moves as Zangief from Street Fighter II with the spinning piledriver and the spinning lariat as well. Since he's strong, he kinda falls short when it comes to fighting faster enemies.
Cody is the all around character. He has decent strength, as well as decent speed for hitting enemies as well. His motivation to take down the Mad Gear gang is because they kidnapped his girlfriend Jessica.
Guy is the fast moving, combo-busting, modern ninja that we all know and love. Very famous for his distinct moves such as the spinning vertical helicopter kick, and his 5 hit combo which carried through all the Final Fight games. Although his hits don't hurt much, his style makes up for it.
This game also introduced many villians as well that we have seen in Street Fighter games as of recent such as Hugo (Andore), Rolento, Sodom, and Poison.
You go through the game through the game's 6 stages (slum/subway/park/industrial area/bay area uptown), fighting on different planes (on the streets, in layers, in dojo's, in a wrestling ring, on an elevator, etc.) fighting off the hordes of enemies that attack you. Throughout your journey, you pick up chickens and sodas which boost your energy, as well as weapons like swords and pipes to beat down your enemies with.
You then finally fight the last boss Belger (which is an old man in a wheelchair with Jessica in his lap, who shoots arrows at you). Here's the crazy thing though, while he's in his wheelchair...you can't hit him....and if you try, you'll be actually hitting Jessica instead! This includes punches, kicks, knives, etc.....pretty crazy stuff. This guy isn't to be taken lightly either, after a while he jumps out of his chair and starts running round! Pretty genuine for a last boss. Cool thing is, depending on who you beat the game with, each person has their own ending....
Graphics 8/10
Graphics were done very nicely. There was always alot happening on the screen, and there was always alot to see on the screen with little to no slowdown. This game was more colorful than most typical Capcom games back then, which all seemed to share this fleshy-pale skin color that all the human characters seemed to have.
Gameplay/Controls 8/10
Other than the fact that the AI is horrible in this game, the game plays nicely. There was a variety of things that you can do along with some humor (after beating down the car in the bonus level one of the enemies comes in the screen shouting Oh My God!!!) Not too long, not too short, and quite fun indeed. Some bosses though are ridiculously hard though like Rolento.
Sound/Music 5/10
The music in this game I found to be lame. Although some of its music has been re-used in later games (like Guy's and Rolento's stages in Street Fighter Alpha 2), the composition did sounds quite pathetic in this game. The hits and groans were also quite muffled. I think they could have done a better job in this aspect.
Replay Value 6/10
Once you beat the game with all three characters, there isn't much more that it can offer, unless you play with a friend, that will always add an extra fun factor to it.
Overall 8/10
A great way to start a genre, Capcom does it again. It was all about innovation back in those days, and Capcom was on the ball with this one.
Pros:
- Simple, yet addictive play.
- Nice variation of things you can do with enemies (pick them up, hit them
- Graphics were decent, lots happening on one screen.
Cons:
- could get a bit repetitive.
- Music was pretty lame.
- By Hibikster
