Final Fight

is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up game originally released by Capcom as a coin-operated video game in. It was the seventh game released by Capcom for their CP System arcade game hardware. The player takes control of one of three vigilantes who must rescue a kidnapped young woman from a street gang. The game was originally conceived as a sequel to the original Street Fighter titled Street Fighter '89, but the title was changed before its release when the game's genre changed from a one-on-one competitive fighting game to a side-scrolling action game similar to Double Dragon or Golden Axe. Final Fight was ported to various platforms, such as the Super NES and Mega CD, since its original coin-op release. Final Fight was followed by a series of sequels that were produced primarily for the home console market, and some of the game's characters would reappear in later Street Fighter games. It is based on the Animated TV Series Final Fight Double impact A Spin off of Eagle Riders.

Plot
Final Fight is set in the fictional American metropolis of Metro City, where a former professional wrestler named Mike Haggar is elected Mayor, promising to handle the city's criminal problem in his campaign. The Mad Gear gang, the dominant criminal organization of the city, plots to bring Haggar under their control by kidnapping his daughter Jessica and using her as leverage against him. Enlisting the help of Cody, Jessica's boyfriend and a Martial Arts master himself, as well as Cody's sparring partner, a Ninjutsu master named Guy, Haggar opts to fight the gang instead in order to save his daughter.

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.

Development
Yoshiki Okamoto cites the arcade version of Double Dragon II: The Revenge as his basis for Final Fight. Final Fight was originally shown at trade shows under the title of Street Fighter '89. According to Okamoto, the sales division of Capcom originally requested a Street Fighter sequel, so his team decided to promote Final Fight as a Street Fighter sequel at trade shows (going as far to refer to one of the main characters as a "former Street Fighter"). The title was changed to Final Fight before its official release after feedback from operators stating that the game was nothing like Street Fighter.

The street gang the player faces in the game, the Mad Gear Gang, takes their name from a 1987 overhead racing game by Capcom of the same name. The game was released as Led Storm outside Japan.

Many of the characters are named after 1980s rock musicians such as Axl Rose, Slash, Gene Simmons, King Diamond, Roxy Music and Poison, with another being from the game Forgotten Worlds.

Super NES


An initial port of Final Fight for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was released as a launch title for the console in Japan in and later in North America in  and then in the PAL region in. The 2-player game mode was removed, turning the game into a single-player only experience; the Industrial Area round, along with its boss Rolento, were removed; and Guy, one of the main characters, was omitted, leaving Cody and Haggar as the remaining playable characters.

Toshio Kajino (credited as "Bull") arranged the original score from the arcade game, for the SNES version.

The English localization of the Super NES port is a censored version of the game and features several differences from its Japanese Super Famicom counterpart: the first two bosses, Damnd and Sodom, were renamed Thrasher and Katana respectively; Belger's wheelchair was redrawn to look like an office chair; Poison and Roxy, two female enemy characters, were replaced with two male punks named Billy and Sid; all alcoholic references were removed, with two health recovering items replaced; a punk's phrase of "Oh! My God" (when his car is destroyed by the player during the first bonus stage) was changed to "Oh! My Car"; the blood splash effect shown when a character is stabbed is replaced by a generic explosion; and finally, the skin tones of certain enemy characters such as Dug and Simons were lightened as well.

A revised edition of the SNES port, titled Final Fight Guy, was released in Japan in. This version replaces Cody with Guy as a selectable character (with a new opening and ending sequence explaining Cody's absence), changes the game's enemy placement and difficulty settings, and adds other new features such as two new power-ups (a Guy/Haggar doll which grants the player an extra life and a Jessica doll which grants the player temporary invincibility), although the Industrial Area stage and the 2-Player mode were still missing from this revision. An American version of the game (featuring the same changes in the localization as in the first game) was released in June as a rental-only game that was initially available at Blockbuster stores.

The SNES version of Final Fight was released for the Wii's Virtual Console service in.

Sega Mega CD
The Sega Mega CD version, titled Final Fight CD, was ported and published by Sega under license from Capcom in 1993. This version retains nearly all the features of the arcade game which were removed in the two SNES ports (namely the 2-player game mode, the Industrial Area stage, and the ability to play as any of the three main characters), adding voice acting to the game's opening and ending sequence, an arranged version of the original soundtrack, and an exclusive time attack mode. Like the SNES version, the Mega CD version also underwent some censorship in its English localization, with many of the same changes made in this version. Poison and Roxy were kept this time, but were redrawn with less revealing clothing, making their tank tops and shorts longer.

Game Boy Advance
The Game Boy Advance version, titled Final Fight One, was released in 2001. Final Fight One features all three characters and the Industrial Area stage that was missing from the SNES version. The 2-player cooperative mode is also featured via link cable. Dialogue scenes prior to each boss battle have been added and the Street Fighter Alpha 3 renditions of Cody and Guy are featured as hidden playable characters. The English localization of the game features the same changes as the two SNES versions. However, unlike the SNES versions, Damnd and Sodom kept their original names, but the female enemies will still censored/replaced, like they were in the SNES version.

Final Fight: Double Impact
The arcade version of Final Fight was released in a two-in-one bundle titled Final Fight: Double Impact, alongside the arcade game Magic Sword, for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. Added features include various graphic filters, including an arcade cabinet view, online drop-in multiplayer, an arranged soundtrack composed by Simon Viklund (who worked on Bionic Commando Rearmed), and extra content such as concept art and comic pages which are unlocked by completing certain in-game challenges. The game was ported and developed by Proper Games and released for Xbox Live Arcade for 800 Microsoft points and April 15, 2010 for PlayStation Network for $9.99. The PS3 version features a very restrictive DRM protection which circumvents the ability other PSN games have to be shared among several PSN accounts. The DRM protection was met with a negative response as it had not been disclosed previous to the game's release.

Other versions

 * U.S. Gold released ports of Final Fight for the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC for the European market in . These ports were developed by Creative Materials.


 * A port for the Sharp X68000 computer platform was released by Capcom exclusive for the Japanese market on July 17, . This version is a relatively close conversion of the arcade game, with the only notable changes being different music (with a choice between a MIDI soundtrack and one using the X68000's internal sound chip) and a slightly reduced number of on-screen enemies.


 * Final Fight is included in the compilation Capcom Classics Collection Volume 1 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and in the  portable version Capcom Classics Collection Remixed for the PlayStation Portable. The game is emulated from the original CP System arcade version and features very little differences from the arcade game. The compilation includes tips, character profiles, an art gallery and a sound test as bonus features.


 * The arcade version is also included as a hidden bonus game in the game Final Fight: Streetwise for the PS2 and Xbox. However, the emulation in this version was programmed by Ultracade, rather than Digital Eclipse (the developers of Capcom Classics Collection series). The controls cannot be adjusted and the quality is lower than other emulated versions.

Reception
In the February 1991 issue of the Japanese coin-operated video game magazine Gamest, Final Fight took No. 1 spot as Best Game of 1990 in the 4th Annual Grand Prize. Final Fight also won the category of Best Action Game, placed No. 4 in Best Video Game Music, No. 9 in Best Graphics, No. 2 in Best Direction, and No. 5 in Best Album. The character Mike Haggar was displayed on the cover of this issue, who took the No. 1 spot in the Top 50 Characters of the year, with Guy in second place, Cody at No. 7, Poison at No. 26, Sodom at No. 33, and Jessica at No. 40.

Sequels
Final Fight was followed by two sequels for the SNES: Final Fight 2 in 1993 and Final Fight 3 (Final Fight Tough in Japan) in 1995, produced specifically for the home console market by Capcom's consumer division with no preceding arcade versions. A parody of the original game titled Mighty Final Fight was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System and featured childlike versions of the original Final Fight characters. A competitive fighting game spinoff, Final Fight Revenge, was released for Sega's Titan arcade hardware in 1999, which was followed by a home version for the Sega Saturn in Japan only. A 3D sequel titled Final Fight: Streetwise was released in 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

Appearances in other games
The character Mike Haggar is featured as a wrestler in Saturday Night Slam Masters and its two sequels, Muscle Bomber Duo and Slam Masters II: Ring of Destruction. A few Final Fight characters would also re-emerge as playable characters in later Street Fighter games and other competitive fighting games by Capcom: Guy and Sodom appeared in Street Fighter Alpha in, followed by Rolento in Street Fighter Alpha 2 in and Cody in Street Fighter Alpha 3 in. Hugo, a character modeled after Andore, debuted in Street Fighter III 2nd Impact: Giant Attack in as a playable character, with Poison as his manager. Guy is a playable character in Capcom Fighting Jam.

Cody and Guy are also playable characters, Hugo is in a cameo in a stage, and a large statue of Mike Haggar also appear in the Super Street Fighter IV. There is also a downloadable Mike Haggar outfit for Zangief in Street Fighter IV. Rolento was considered as a playable character for Super Street Fighter IV, but was edged out by Adon as he had slightly more interest. However, the construction site from his boss battle features as one of the stages.

The car vandalizing bonus stage was later used in early versions of Street Fighter II.

In other media
The American Street Fighter animated series featured an episode based on Final Fight and titled after the game, which aired during the show's second season. Adapting the plot of the game, the "Final Fight" episode centered around Cody and Guy teaming up with leading Street Fighter characters Ryu and Ken to rescue Jessica from the Mad Gear Gang. Although, Guy and Cody were both characters in the Street Fighter series, the episode actually predates Cody's first appearance in the series as a playable character in Street Fighter Alpha 3 and depicts him in his character design from Final Fight. The episode is included as unlockable content in Final Fight: Double Impact.

The Street Fighter II Turbo comic book by UDON Entertainment will feature a supplemental story arc spanning issues 6 and 7 centering around the Final Fight characters who were featured in the Street Fighter series.