so I booted up Street Fighter 6, and one of the missions to get Drive Trickets was playing an arcade game in the battle hub. so I went to a Final Fight cabinet and went "sure I'll play it for 2 minutes until I get bored"
an hour later I had completed the game. now, obviously I used the unlimited credits option, because I like myself, and played single player as I have no friends. and you know what? this is pretty good! it's a really simple but fun arcade beat 'em up with a paper thin plot and oozing with late 80s charm. the enemies are all stereotypical punks and thugs, and it has a dark and gritty atmosphere while still being very silly. one of the first bosses is named "DAMND", you have an enemy called "Holly Wood", there are multiple Andre The Giant parodies as bad guys, and the game over screen is your character panicking as they're tied up to a stack of cartoon dynamite .
the reason is this game works so well are simple: a simple but effective combat, fantastic feedback on hit, a great enemy roster, and crazy setpieces (for the time)
hitting an enemy and seeing them fly around never gets old, and the sound effects are extremely satisfying and meaty. it really FEELS like you're beating up dozens of hooligans in a decrepit city. the voice grunts your character makes are also very effective, and the animations are simply majestic. I will never get tired of Hagger doing a pile driver or supplexing the enemy.
the combat is also really good! you only have a jump and a punch button, you can do a jump attack, pressing both buttons at the same time performs an invincible AoE reversal at the cost of some health, and you can grab the enemy and pummel them or throw them. it's all pretty barebones but for its length I don't mind. I found myself using the reversal a lot more than expected because you can actually interrupt enemy combos with it, and generally it's a very useful crowd control move. the enemies you throw also hit other foes on the way down so it's another crowd control attack (while always being cool).
the enemy roster is also very good, with easily identifiable and creative character design and a diverse variety. you know exactly what enemy does just by looking at them and that's always useful when you have 5 of them coming at you at once. the only ones I didn't like were the big charging guys who would cheaply hit me from off screen and deal massive damage. yeah this game is pretty difficult, and with its short length it was obviously designed to get as many quarters as possible from you.
one thing I didn't expect is the amount of locations you travel through and setpieces that are effectively sprinked throughout, like riding an elevator filled with enemies while being bombarded by grenades, or when you're captured by an Andore and forced to fight two of them in a giant wrestling ring, or the two bonus stages. it changes quickly enough to never feel like you're at one place for two long, even if I didn't care for the industrial area. the bosses help this a lot, because they're all widely unique and different. you have Rolento, a military guy with a baton who moves very quickly and throws grenades, Eddie E., a cop who keeps running away and shooting you, Sodom, a samurai with two swords which you can punch to make him drop them and pick up one and have a (sorta) sword duel with, it's all really cool.
the only thing I didn't really care for is the music, which is fine if a bit generic. it was also really cool to see all of the characters that would appear later in Street Fighter, tho unfortunately Hagger is locked to Final Fight and UMVC3.
so yeah I was pleasantly surprised by Final Fight! it's a fun and simple beat 'em up that doesn't overstay its welcome and is well worth the hour it takes to finish.
an hour later I had completed the game. now, obviously I used the unlimited credits option, because I like myself, and played single player as I have no friends. and you know what? this is pretty good! it's a really simple but fun arcade beat 'em up with a paper thin plot and oozing with late 80s charm. the enemies are all stereotypical punks and thugs, and it has a dark and gritty atmosphere while still being very silly. one of the first bosses is named "DAMND", you have an enemy called "Holly Wood", there are multiple Andre The Giant parodies as bad guys, and the game over screen is your character panicking as they're tied up to a stack of cartoon dynamite .
the reason is this game works so well are simple: a simple but effective combat, fantastic feedback on hit, a great enemy roster, and crazy setpieces (for the time)
hitting an enemy and seeing them fly around never gets old, and the sound effects are extremely satisfying and meaty. it really FEELS like you're beating up dozens of hooligans in a decrepit city. the voice grunts your character makes are also very effective, and the animations are simply majestic. I will never get tired of Hagger doing a pile driver or supplexing the enemy.
the combat is also really good! you only have a jump and a punch button, you can do a jump attack, pressing both buttons at the same time performs an invincible AoE reversal at the cost of some health, and you can grab the enemy and pummel them or throw them. it's all pretty barebones but for its length I don't mind. I found myself using the reversal a lot more than expected because you can actually interrupt enemy combos with it, and generally it's a very useful crowd control move. the enemies you throw also hit other foes on the way down so it's another crowd control attack (while always being cool).
the enemy roster is also very good, with easily identifiable and creative character design and a diverse variety. you know exactly what enemy does just by looking at them and that's always useful when you have 5 of them coming at you at once. the only ones I didn't like were the big charging guys who would cheaply hit me from off screen and deal massive damage. yeah this game is pretty difficult, and with its short length it was obviously designed to get as many quarters as possible from you.
one thing I didn't expect is the amount of locations you travel through and setpieces that are effectively sprinked throughout, like riding an elevator filled with enemies while being bombarded by grenades, or when you're captured by an Andore and forced to fight two of them in a giant wrestling ring, or the two bonus stages. it changes quickly enough to never feel like you're at one place for two long, even if I didn't care for the industrial area. the bosses help this a lot, because they're all widely unique and different. you have Rolento, a military guy with a baton who moves very quickly and throws grenades, Eddie E., a cop who keeps running away and shooting you, Sodom, a samurai with two swords which you can punch to make him drop them and pick up one and have a (sorta) sword duel with, it's all really cool.
the only thing I didn't really care for is the music, which is fine if a bit generic. it was also really cool to see all of the characters that would appear later in Street Fighter, tho unfortunately Hagger is locked to Final Fight and UMVC3.
so yeah I was pleasantly surprised by Final Fight! it's a fun and simple beat 'em up that doesn't overstay its welcome and is well worth the hour it takes to finish.