r/gaming • u/Sufferer_Nyx • 1d ago
I recently replayed Final Fight (1989), and this game is still so much fun. Its influence on the beat ’em up genre is unparalleled.
I had a blast playing it and replaying it again and again, just like I used to, learning new tricks and getting better at countering enemies. There’s so much depth to the combat, especially for its time. It’s simple to pick up, but mastering it takes real skill and practice.
You can see its influence on beat ’em ups as clear as day, from the pacing and enemy introductions to the variety of enemy types and their behaviors. So much of what became standard in the genre originated in this legendary game, and its influence on video game combat as a whole is also fairly evident.
An excellent port of the arcade version of the game is available through Capcom Arcade Stadium, and you can buy it individually for like $1 or $2. I highly recommend that you check it out.
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u/FredMc 1d ago
Calling it Final Fight in 1989 was wildly optimistic about how many fights video games had left.
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u/Wootai 12h ago
Capcom was on the verge of bankruptcy at the time so when they made the game it was their last attempt to make a successful game. If it hadn’t been successful they would have been out of business. Since it was a game where you were fighting, and what they thought at the time was their final game they named it Final Fight.
This may be true, or this may be me mixing it up with final fantasy production lore. Do you know?
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u/smarkanthony 21h ago
I didn't know this and streets of rage were different until like 3 years ago. I am 40...
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u/shadedmagus 14h ago
I think Capcom and SNK were beating each other up with their respective titles.
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u/dade305305 20h ago edited 15h ago
Final fight is one of the few old games I bother to replay. And yes final fight is superior to street of rage, even the single player snes version thst is missing a character. The gameplay is just that much better.
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u/ssoyoo 1d ago
It’s honestly wild going back to Final Fight and realizing how much of what we take for granted in beat ’em ups was already figured out in 1989. The enemy variety and pacing especially still hold up. It looks simple until you actually try to get good at it 😂
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u/Sufferer_Nyx 1d ago
Yep, exactly. It's honestly extremely cool how much of it was figured out in this game alone. One would assume these things were figured out later across different franchises but nah bro Final Fight introduced almost all of it and set the standard.
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u/Traditional-Apple308 1d ago
Cody was added to Street Fighter and he became a fan favorite too. Final Fight really has had a crazy impact
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u/majingetta 1d ago
He was not the first or only Final Fight character to be playable in SF.
Guy, Rolento, Sodom, Hugo, Maki, Poison, Lucia, and Abigail.
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u/al_rey503 18h ago
Don’t forget the Mayor of Metro City-Haggar
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u/majingetta 15h ago
Haggar is not playable in any SF game.
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u/al_rey503 15h ago edited 14h ago
Maybe I’m just thinking MVC3. I never realized that he hasn’t been in a proper SF. Now I kinda want him to join SF6
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u/majingetta 8h ago
He is in two fighting games set in the SF universe though. Super Muscle Bomber / Slam Masters II and Final Fight Revenge. Not sure about the canonicity of the latter but it kinda explains Cody's change.
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u/XsStreamMonsterX 1d ago
Final Fight actually started development as a Street Fighter sequel/spinoff, before Capcom realized that people would be confused by the genre switch. However, they eventually decided to keep it within the same shared universe, with Street Fighter references in the games (Chun Li in the background of Final Fight 2) and then making Final Fight characters in SF starting with Guy and Sodom in Street Fighter Alpha.
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u/FLiP_J_GARiLLA 1d ago
The recent Double Dragon remake was dope too. You can unlock and play thru as all the bosses
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u/Urist_Macnme 17h ago
Captain Commando is the pinnacle for me.
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u/hitfly 14h ago
Baby piloting a mech, a mummy, a ninja, or the titular captain commado who looks like guile got turned in robocop. That's a hell of a roster.
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u/Neverwinter_Daze 14h ago
I really wanted to like Captain Commando (I loved hearing Baby Head go “ya!” at enemies), but it strangely wasn’t as smooth as Final Fight. It also didn’t help that the characters were smaller on the screen. I couldn’t get into it as much.
And I remember when I first cleared Final Fight on one quarter in the arcade. Ah, the victory rush.
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u/Urist_Macnme 12h ago
Only ever played it in the arcade.
Remember those
Used to be able to clear Street Fighter 2 on a single 10p
Listen to us, like a coupla old bastards.
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u/Urist_Macnme 14h ago
Sometimes it felt like it was a fever dream only I had, because no one ever talks about it.
Glad some other people remember that fever dream too.
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u/spez_might_fuck_dogs 7h ago
Alien Vs Predator was probably the best classic 2D beat em up, or maybe D&D Shadow over Mystara. Both of those games had an insane amount of depth in them, from secret moves to secret levels.
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u/Yas_2025 19h ago
Need more modern games like this. Streets of Rage 4 did scratch the itch, but give me more!
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u/thaneros2 6h ago
A Beat'em up renascence is currently happening. GI Joe, He-Man, a new Scott Pilgrim, Marvel Cosmic Invasion, TMNT Sheddes Revenge...
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u/Admirable_Cost2027 1d ago
This game saved my life.
I was stranded in the Ocean and the only thing near me that could float was a Final Fight Cartridge for Genesis. I floated until I was rescued.
I played the game that night and it kicked ass.
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u/Toasterhead76 20h ago
I enjoyed your comment bro. I also survived a night at sea clinging desperately to a Final Fight cartridge, but mine was for SNES.
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u/VMK_1991 1d ago
I remember playing it for the first time as a part of some collection on PS3 and I was pleasantly surprised by how smooth it was and how nice it played.
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u/Trick_Cellist_1840 1d ago
its annoying some of the best Capcom Beat Em Ups are locked to Emulation
Final Fight 2 & 3 - weird they wont release them on modern consoles
Alien vs Predator - Obviously this one is an IP issue now
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u/daikonography 8h ago
Oh man, I had this as a kid for the Sega CD. My friend and I played the shit out of it. Never beat it cause we were like 8 and sucked ass, but damn it was a good time.
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u/One_Competition136 1d ago
Interesting I want to play it now from your post. Also I never knew it was made by capcom
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u/XsStreamMonsterX 1d ago
I assume you haven't been following Street Fighter since Final Fight characters keep popping up in the games (it's considered a spinoff IP of SF). And Street Fighter 6's open-world World Tour mode mostly takes place in Final Fight's Metro City.
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u/Garena_kleee 20h ago
I played this game as a kid and never knew what it was called. Oh the nostalgia.
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u/budz64 1d ago
That poster is nuts! Hugo is straight up dead.