CHARACTERS

Final Fight was a huge success in the arcades so Nintendo quickly snapped up the rights for an exclusive home conversion. Their newest console, the Super Nintendo, was the most powerful console available at the time, so the conversion was bound to be very good and very close to the arcade. Or was it?

You all know the story by now so there is no need to go into it here, and I'll just go straight into the game. Graphically the SNES version is quite good, with everything looking faithful to the arcade. Some detail from some of the stages has been removed but other than that everything is just the way you remember it.

However a lot of things have been cut out despite the SNES being the most powerful console at the time. The first thing you'll notice is that Guy is not in the game. This is one of the worst points in the game because you would have thought that getting all three playable characters in was top priority, but no. So you can only choose to play as either Cody or Haggar, who have all of the same moves as in the arcade.

The game's major draw back is the fact that it has no 2 player mode. The whole point of playing Final Fight in the arcade was that you could get a friend to help you out, thus making the game much more fun. But on the SNES it's a single player game only, which is a massive let down.

When you play the game it is still quite good, since it plays very well. There aren't nearly as many enemies on screen as in the arcade but on the SNES it feels good when you hit a punk and it is quite addictive. The same weapons and most of the items from the arcade have made it into this game, along with a few new ones that give you an extra life or make you invincible for a few moments.

The sound for the game hasn't been translated that well, and like most arcade to SNES games it sounds a bit campy, and isn't anywhere near as good as the arcade. Sound effects, however, are very good and it sounds great when you hit someone. The speech is a let down though because the playable characters don't have as much as they did in the arcade, but most of it is still there.

Another thorn in the side for this game is that one level has been removed. The Industrial level isn't in the SNES version. I think it was going to be in originally but then Capcom either didn't have room for it or ran out of time in making this conversion and left it out. The Industrial lever was hardly the best level ever but the game is shorter since it is gone.

The final flaw is the fact that a lot of this game was censored. In the Japanese version you get Poison and Roxy, in this you get Billy and Sid, two guys who act in the same way as Poison and Roxy but are male. There have been other slight annoying changes like Sodom being called Katana. At a push it may be better off getting the Japanese version since that has better things in it.

In the end, this game is a massive disappointment, mainly because it has been so cut down despite being on the most powerful hardware of the time. It really is taking the mickey when there is no two player mode, even though a whole level and character have already been cut out of the game. Capcom could have done a better job, as seen since the sequels had 2 player modes and more characters. This isn't the worst conversion ever but it could, and should, have been a much better game.