Final Fight

Final Fight, released in 1989, is the first game in the beat 'em up Final Fight series. It is considered to be Street Fighter's "cousin", and the two series are set in the same universe. Final Fight was originally released as an arcade game and was ported to several platforms, including the Super NES, Sega CD, Sharp X68000 and Game Boy Advance (as Final Fight One). It is also included in Capcom Classics Collection.

Story
The story of Final Fight involves the abduction of Mayor Mike Haggar's daughter, Jessica, because he would not work with the Mad Gear Gang to ensure their dominance of the streets. When the Mad Gear thug Damnd contacts Haggar and informs him of the dire situation, Haggar calls up his daughter's boyfriend Cody and his sparring partner Guy (later on stated by Capcom that they never met until then and the dialogue was added for the U.S audience, Guy being Bushin is sworn to fight evil). The three vigilantes then head into the streets of Metro City to bust Mad Gear's skulls, fighting their way through the hordes of goons littering the city (including the Rastafarian thug Damnd, the "Japanophile" Sodom, former Red Beret and militia leader Rolento, corrupt cop Edi. E and the ill-tempered Abigail), to get to Mad Gear's boss, Belger. On the top floor of a large building, Cody knocks Belger out of the window, sending him falling to his death.

The original Japanese version of the Final Fight intro states that the game takes place in 1989, and provides the corresponding ages and birthdates for each of the main characters. The English language version changes the setting to "Sometime in the 1990s..." and only provides the birthdates for the characters. The recent English translation featured in Final Fight One reverts back to the original 1989 date.

Gameplay
Final Fight can be played by up to two players simultaneously, with each player controlling a different character. Before the game begins, the player chooses between the three main characters, Guy, Cody, and Haggar, each with his own fighting style and attributes. Guy is the weakest but has faster attacks, Haggar is the strongest but also the slowest, and Cody has all-round attributes.

The controls consists of an eight-way joystick and two buttons for attacking and jumping. The player character can move in any of the eight directions, but can only face and attack to the left or right like in most beat-'em-ups. Pressing both buttons simultaneously performs a special move that attacks in both directions, though uses a little vitality. Players can also grab and throw opponents, as well as use various weapons such as knives, pipes, and swords.

Levels
Final Fight consists of six stages or "rounds", as well as two bonus rounds. Each round takes place in a different section of Metro City such as the Slums and the Subway, with most rounds featuring more than one level. At the end of each round the player will face a boss character unique to that round.

SNES and Sega CD
On the Super Nintendo home console version, the game underwent some extreme changes. The list below addresses the major ones:
 * Co-op mode was removed, rendering the game a one-player experience.
 * Two major characters, Guy and Rolento, were taken out, altering almost the entire storyline.
 * The only female characters in the game, Poison and Roxy, were replaced by Billy and Sid, for censorship reasons.
 * In the English localization, Sodom and Damnd were renamed Katana and Thrasher.
 * Belger's wheelchair was redrawn to look like he was sitting in an office chair, and thus not handicapped.
 * Bred screaming "Oh My God!" was changed to "Oh, My Car!" after he discovers his car has been destroyed.
 * Blood and alcohol was removed entirely.

The Sega CD home console version, while retaining nearly all the features of the arcade game which were removed in the SNES port, still had Poison and Roxy wearing less-revealing clothes. On the plus side, the CD version contained a time-attack mode and voice acting was added to the game's cut-scenes. Whether the re-arranged music featured was a good thing or not, is, of course, a matter of taste.

Final Fight Guy
Since the SNES release of Final Fight excluded Guy, Capcom revised it and released Final Fight Guy in 1992 on the SNES. This time, Cody was excluded from the roster, and the player could only choose between Guy and Haggar. The beginning of the story states Cody is in Japan.

In 1994, Final Fight Guy was released in the U.S. and was a rental-only game available at Blockbuster stores.

Final Fight One
The Game Boy Advance version, titled Final Fight One, was released in 2001 as one of the earliest games for the system. Final Fight One features all three characters and the Industrial Area stage that was missing from the SNES version. Dialogue exchanges prior to each boss battle have been added, and the Street Fighter Alpha renditions of Cody and Guy are featured as hidden characters.

Final Fight: Double Impact
In April 2010, Capcom released Final Fight: Double Impact, which featured Final Fight as well as their side-scrolling fantasy-tinged beat-em-up Magic Sword. Both games received an HD graphics boost similar to Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. The downloadable release featured both classic visuals and a new visual mode that displayed the games in HD. Both games also supported leaderboards and drop-in online co-op play.

Trivia

 * FFOriginalTitle.pngFinal Fight was originally going to be the sequel of the original Street Fighter. The working title for the game was Street Fighter '89. The game was announced in Japanese magazines with the name Street Fighter: The Final Fight in March 1989.


 * Guy and Sodom were featured as playable characters in the original Street Fighter Alpha released in 1995 with Sodom trading his katana blades in favor of a pair of jutte sticks. Rolento was then added to the playable roster in 1996's Street Fighter Alpha 2, followed by Cody in 1998's Street Fighter Alpha 3, who was reimagined as an escaped convict. Also in Alpha 3, if Sodom is selected under the X-ISM system, he will fight with a pair of katanas again.


 * In Guy's stage in Street Fighter Alpha 2, all the characters from Final Fight make cameo appearances in the background such as Cody, Haggar, Jessica, Poison and Hugo, etc.



External Link

 * Final Fight One Official Japanese Site