Final Fight, the Video Game by Capcom Co., Ltd. [Japan]

DESCRIPTION

KEYWORDS :

Type of the machine : Video Game
Final Fight © 1989 Capcom.

Jessica, the daughter of the city Mayor Mike Haggar has been kidnapped by the evil 'Mad Gear' gang. Set in the fictional Metro City, Haggar rounds up two of his closest friends, Guy and Cody, and sets out to battle Mad Gear's gang members and ultimately rescue his daughter.

1 or 2 players choose to play as either Guy, Cody or Haggar in this superb, sideways scrolling beat-em-up. As well as the standard punch and kick moves, each character also has a special attack. This move is powerful enough to fell several enemies at once, but with the trade-off that each time a special attack is executed, some of the player's energy is lost. Energy levels can be replenished by finding the food that lies hidden in certain crates and barrels. Some of the Mad Gear gang members will drop a weapon when they are felled. These weapons can then be picked up and used by the players.

After the benchmark-setting "Double Dragon", released by Technos in 1987, Final Fight would become the standard-bearer of the scrolling beat-em-up genre. Featuring a large variety of distinctive, well animated characters moving through colorful and detailed backgrounds, and with a control system that is as intuitive as it is complex, Final Fight is still considered to be the finest example of its kind.

TECHNICAL

CABINET :

Capcom Play System (CPS) hardware
Game ID : CP-S No. 08

Main CPU : 68000 (@ 10 Mhz)
Sound CPU : Z80 (@ 3.579545 Mhz)
Sound Chips : YM2151 (@ 3.579545 Mhz), OKI6295 (@ 7.576 Khz)

Screen orientation : Horizontal
Video resolution : 384 x 224 pixels
Screen refresh : 59.61 Hz
Palette colors : 4096

Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 3
=> [1] Attack, [2] Jump, [3] Release (when grabbed by enemies).

TRIVIA

Released in December 1989.

This game was originally billed as the sequel to "Street Fighter" and was to be called "Street Fighter '89". While the game had become a major hit in its own right, Capcom decided to change the name to "Final Fight" and save the "Street Fighter" name for another game, 2 years later.

Guy's name is written with the kanji meaning 'victory song'. The character of Guy has been allegedly inspired by the lead singer of the post hardcore group Fugazi, Guy Picciotto.

The enemy character, Andore, and all of his relatives (Andore Jr., Uncle Andore, Father Andore and Grandfather Andore) are Capcom's homage to the now late WWF Champion, Andre Rene Roussimoff, aka 'Andre the Giant'.

Two other Mad Gear characters, Axl and Slash, are parodies of the lead singer and guitarist respectively from American rock band, 'Guns N' Roses'.

Poison is taken from the glam rock group of eighties, in which the singer used to wear a similar hat to the female character in the game. The character Poison is actually a male transvestite and so is Roxy (although a translation error in the Capcom Classics Collection character profiles refers to Roxy as a female).

Abigail is a King Diamond album, whose singer (King Diamond) resembles the character in the game.

Sodom is a famous German thrash metal band founded in the eighties.

The enemy character 'Two P' appears in "Forgotten Worlds" as the second player ('Two P' for 2P, 'Player 2').

The game shares a similar plot with the 1984 movie 'Streets of Fire' directed by Walter Hill. Starring : Michael Parï¿½, Diane Lane, Rick Moranis and Willem Dafoe. Here's a list of the things the movie and the game have in common (Warning! Contains movie spoilers) :
1) The main character played by Michael Parï¿½ is named 'Tom Cody' and resembles the game character. Wears jeans and a white shirt at some points during the movie.
2) The city is plagued by gangs and a motorcycle gang kidnaps Codyï¿½s Ex girlfriend.
3) The cop that arranges a meeting between Cody and the Gangï¿½s boss is nothing other than a corrupted cop by the name of 'Ed Price', the only Cop in the game is called 'Eddie'.
4) The city has an old and trashed look similar to the game.
5) At the end of the movie Cody leaves the girl just like in the game. Only this time there is no 'Guy' to stop him from leaving (see Final Fight ending sequence)

A bootleg of this game is known as "Final Crash".

Before the release of "Final Fight", Capcom released a vertically scrolling driving/shoot-em-up called "Mad Gear".

Pony Canyon/Scitron released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Final Fight : G.S.M. Capcom 3 - PCCB-00030) on 21/05/1990.

UPDATES

The Japanese version has an additional scene that shows Jessica in underwear on the TV. This scene was removed in all non-Japanese versions of Final Fight.

The US version has the 'Winners Don't Use Drugs' screen.

TIPS AND TRICKS

* At the front of the train of level 2, stand on the barrel and let the clock get to about 45. You will skip the section without defeating the Mad Gear guys.

* Special Endings : finish the game without having to continue to see an additional credit sequence (meet the staff).

* Hidden Stuff :
Gaining extra points : to gain jewels and other high points items from breakable stuff like barrels, dustbins. Execute the jump+down attack move. (Cody - headbutt, Guy - Elbow). When doing the move, rapidly jag controller left to right. Usually, jewels will appear instead of other cheap things.
Crewing Gum : when fighting Eddie B. (Cop), you will notice that he spit out a wad of gum. That thing will give you about half a life if you pick it up.
Last Boss : Cody is able to punch away the bolts that the last boss fires. No other character can do it.
Off the wall attack : besides doing the normal off the wall flying kick, you can change it into a flying elbow drop by doing down+attack.
Hidden Gems : on the way to the last boss, there is a stage when there are some pillars. Located at the bottom of each pillar are gems. Make sure you get them.

* Super Combo : This super combo can be easily executed with Cody or Guy, but it's a bit tougher with Haggar. To begin, initiate a punching combo (press attack, attack, attack for Cody or Guy) or (attack, attack for Haggar.) While you're pressing these buttons, hold the d-pad AWAY from your enemy. Before you do your final ending combo blow, you will throw the enemy, delivering massive damage!
Note : You can also start this combo with a jumping knee (jump and hold down, press attack) to deal even more damage! (This will not work for Haggar).

* Cody is the only character who can attack with a knife without throwing it. Press Attack while standing next to an enemy to stab them.

SERIES

1. Final Fight (1989)
2. Final Fight 2 (1993, Nintendo Super Famicom)
3. Mighty Final Fight (1993, Nintendo Famicom)
4. Final Fight 3 (1995, Nintendo Super Famicom) ("Final Fight Tough" in Japan)
5. Final Fight Revenge (1999)
6. Final Fight Streetwise (2006, Sony PlayStation 2)