Retro Game of the Day! Final Fight

Retro Game of the Day! Final Fight

Final Fight famously was Capcom's big step-up in preparation for the juggernaut that would be.. do I really need to say the name of THAT game? Released in 1989 in the arcades, and bowing a couple of years later for consoles (1990 in JPN, I believe, and a year later in USA)

This was Capcom taking the rather popular Double Dragon/TMNT formula and putting a super-nice coat of paint on it. The genre had been popular for some time now (actually I am not sure which was first, this or TMNT - same year I believe) Either way they were both heavyweights-

After the revolutionary playstyle initiated by games like Double Dragon, "walk to the right - beat up all the guys on screen for a "session" till they die and you can pass onto the next segment) FF did a way with a lot of the surplus of moves, supersized all the players and graphics in general, and suddenly everything had a lot more heft to it, a lot more attitude.

The game was hugely popular, everyone loved it - much more limited gameplay than a proper platformer, but it was exciting to see a fighting game so powerful, so colorful, so rich in personality and character. It HURT when your guy got beat up.

The game truly helped sell the SNES back in the day. This and Sega's Streets of Rage released around the same time (Sega Geneiss home console) - with very similar gameplay, it was nearly a toss-up as the graphics in FF were obviously a generation ahead of Sega's 16-Bit job - but Sega had the all-important 2-player simultaneous mode. FF couldn't compete with that - history has been kinder to SOR.

All in all, a wonderful and stylish game with a rockin' beat which truly paved the way for many brawlers to come - and certainly was a step away from Capcom's flagship series!

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