Final Fight landed in arcades in 1989 and later reached the Super NES, where it sold 1.5 million cartridges worldwide. Capcom’s brawler asks one question — can three fighters clean up a city? — and answers it with fists, pipes and a spinning piledriver.
Mike Haggar Refuses the Bribe
Mike Haggar is a former pro wrestler turned mayor. His city, Metro City, sits on the Atlantic coast and reads as a stand-in for New York. The Mad Gear Gang kidnapped Jessica — Haggar’s daughter and Cody’s girlfriend. Haggar, Cody and Guy set out to get her back. The setup is thin. It does not need to be thicker. Every round gives you a reason to keep walking right.
Three Fighters, Three Styles
Before the first punch, you pick one of three characters. Each has his own fighting style and attributes.
- Haggar — grapples foes during grabs and finishes with a spinning piledriver, the strongest attack in the game without a weapon.
- Cody — throws found knives repeatedly instead of once, stacking melee damage while a blade is in hand.
- Guy — jumps off walls and the edge of the screen to dodge, then flows straight into a flying side kick with real range.
Health gauges show for both player and enemy. Two players can fight side by side.
Pipes, Trash Cans and a Costly Spin
The controls are an eight-way joystick and two buttons: attack and jump. Walk into an enemy and you grab him. From there you strike or throw, and a thrown body can take out another enemy on the way down.
Break a barrel, trash can or oil drum and out comes a pipe, sword or knife — or food, or bonus points. Weapons run out of uses and vanish if you are disarmed too often or move to a new area. Press attack and jump together and you spin, knocking down everyone nearby at the cost of your own health.
Six Rounds Through the Slums and Subway
Final Fight runs six rounds plus two bonus rounds, each set in a different part of Metro City, including the Slums and the Subway. Most rounds hold more than one level. Every round ends with its own boss.
What the Super NES Port Keeps
The port carries the arcade original’s combat to a home console. The three characters still play nothing alike, and the spin attack remains the sharpest design choice in the game: a panic button that charges you health to use.
Final Fight is a 1989 arcade game that became the highest-grossing arcade game of 1990 in Japan. Its development team later worked on the original Street Fighter II. The game’s place in that history is the part worth watching.
Key facts
– Released: 1989, arcades; later ported to Super NES and other platforms
– Developer and publisher: Capcom
– Arcade units sold: 30,000 worldwide
– Super NES cartridges sold: 1.5 million worldwide
– Rounds: six, plus two bonus rounds
– Players: up to two, simultaneous
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