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1992 · SNES · Super Famicom
| Region | Date | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Japan | 20 Mar 1992 | Capcom |
| North America | Jun 1994 | Capcom |
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The first Super NES Final Fight, a 1990 launch game in Japan, had to leave things out of the arcade original. Two-player co-op went. The Industrial Area stage went. And Guy went. The console could show two or three enemies at once against the arcade's nine or ten, so the game stops more often and places its enemies differently.
Final Fight Guy is a revised edition. Guy is in, and Cody, the other hero, is out, with a new opening and ending to explain where he went. It adds four difficulty settings and two new power-ups. Everything else that went missing stays missing: no Industrial Area, and still only one player.
Capcom released it in Japan on 20 March 1992. The American version came in June 1994, and it was unusual: a rental-only cartridge, first at Blockbuster stores, with a limited sale later. It carried the same changes the first American port had made, such as renamed bosses, swapped enemies and no alcohol. Toshio Kajino's port of the arcade music, credited to 'Bull', stayed.
If you know the first port well, this is a fresh way through the same streets, and the extra difficulty settings let you tune the fight. But it is still the narrowed version of Final Fight: one player, short crowds, no Industrial Area.
Unless you want Guy in particular, the later SNES sequels serve the couch better.
Final Fight Guy is a game made because players missed someone. The first port dropped a character, and two years later Capcom put out a whole cartridge to bring him back, even if another had to leave to make room.
Przybylski and colleagues found games draw us in most when the character lets us step closer to the person we would like to be. Players had chosen Guy in the arcade. Losing him on the console meant losing that self, and this cartridge exists to hand it back.
Read: Who you are when you play →
You have been training these without noticing. Here is how to do it on purpose, and where it pays off away from the couch. All the skills games teach →
In the game. The console only shows two or three enemies at once, so the game stops more often and places its thugs differently from the arcade. Learn where they come from and you're waiting for them.
Do it on purpose. Play a stage and call where the next group will appear before it does. Next run, be standing there.
Off the couch. Your boss, your mates and your bank account all have habits. Spot the loop before it loops and you get to step out of it.
In the game. Four difficulty settings let you tune the fight. Losing on the top one is just information.
Do it on purpose. Play the hardest setting and count your continues to the end. Next session, beat that number.
Off the couch. Gym goals, a new job, learning to cook. Count the fails, beat your count, and it stops feeling like losing.
In the game. It's one player only, so there's no partner to bail Guy out when the street fills up. Get swarmed and you need a calm head to get clear.
Do it on purpose. When you get cornered, stop mashing. Grab one thug, throw him into the others and reset.
Off the couch. A night out goes sideways and someone starts mouthing off. Staying calm and getting your date out of there is far more impressive than squaring up.
Verdict · 6/10
Final Fight Guy swaps one hero for another and adds difficulty settings, and that is all. A curio, best known for its strange life on a video shop shelf.
