Final Fight

The Good
Final Fight CD is was the best version of Final Fight to hit the home console market until 2005 when it came out for the Playstation 2. It has many features missing from the Super Nintendo translation such as the missing level, the female characters, and the missing playable character, Guy.

There are some extra features and graphics not found in any other version of Final Fight such as additional into screens. There are also three timed levels with new backgrounds that are not found in the Arcade. I would rather they had incorporated them into the main part of the game as extra levels than making them selectable demos, however.

It is better than Final Fight for the SNES, better than Streets of Rage for the Genesis, and better than Final Fight 3. It is inferior to Streets of Rage 2 and about on par with Final Fight 2.

This was the best fighting game for the Sega CD and was among the main reasons many purchased the Sega CD system (which had few merits).

The Bad
The color pallet on this game is tremendously reduced from the arcade game, making the graphics inferior to its SNES counterpart.

This is not excusable because Sega's own Streets of Rage 2 had far more colorful graphics than Final Fight CD. Final Fight CD has all of the muscle of the Sega CD's extra processor and extra storage capacity leading one to believe that the only reason it could possibly have such a washed out color pallet is due to lazy programmers.

The music tracks are silly. I would rather have had a duplication to the Arcade game than the silly jazz tracks they put on this CD. The voices are also campy and poorly acted.

The game is has worse play control than the arcade resulting in difficult situations in which it is impossible not to get killed (in later stages).

The Bottom Line
This is arguably the best version of Final Fight to come to home systems prior to the Capcom Classics Collection for the PS2. It has some extra features seen in no other version of Final Fight making it worthwhile for collectors. I'd recommend the PS2 version over this one, however.

If you like this game I would also recommend the following: Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis) Final Fight 2 (SNES) Captain Commando (SNES) Capcom Classics Collection (PS2) *Streets of Rage (Genesis)

The Good
The Sega CD version retains many of the features that were cut out from the Super Nintendo ports due to memory limitations. The CD edition has a 2-player mode, the option to play as any of the three urban heroes and includes all the original arcade game levels. Unique to the CD version is an original sound track, voice work during some of the intermission sequences and a special time attack mode.

It remains one of the few side-scrolling, brawler action games for the Sega CD with a 2-player mode. Their are also some nice options such as the ability to adjust the level of difficulty.

The Bad
The severe hardware limitations of the Sega CD, meant that the 1993 CD port can not perfectly recreate the quality of an older arcade game. It could not even match the graphic capabilities of the Super Nintendo.

Final Fight CD, even if it had been a perfect port, suffers from being an 1980's brawler game without many of the improvements seen in subsequent 1990s games in that particular genre. Sega's own Streets of Rage 2 offers playable characters with many more offensive and defense moves, which are much easier to execute them the limited, often more cumbersome controls found in Final Fight CD.

One of the more common problems with early brawler games was the nasty habit of the computer to pull some pretty dirty moves out of its programming. For example, when your character falls down, thugs or even bosses often gather around you, thus ensuring that you will take some serious damage.

Last, but not least, Sega apparently still felt the need to censor the game. The transgender-women thugs were allowed to stay, but with less revealing attire. Certain Mad Gear thugs, such as 'Sodom' were given different names and bits of profanity were also toned down.

The Bottom Line
Final Fight CD is a solid port of a 1980s, brawler arcade game. Of the 16-bit ports it is closer to the original arcade game in terms of the number of playable characters, levels, bonus rounds and overall basic game play, with a few nice little extras, such as a cool sound track and the ability to adjust the level of difficulty.

If you can get past the Sega CD hardware limitations and the petty censorship, then you are left with one of the best games released for the Sega CD and one of the few Sega CD games with a 2-player mode.

The Good
Final Fight cd is often praised for it's good music, extra introduction screens and being close to the arcade conversion. The introduction has spoken dialogues and extra animated screens that aren't in the arcade. The game has also a time attack mode where the object is to defeat as many baddies as you can. This mode has some new locations that fit the game very well.

The Bad
This "good" music are just plain audio tracks, and what is so special about that? Anyone can just record real music and put it on a disc. The audio tracks just fade out and start over and that can be real ugly to listen to especially in the real long levels like the bay area. The game is still heavily censored: there is no blood, roxy and poison's clothes are larger, the liquor is still absent, the thug that discovers his car in a bad condition still says: "oh my car" etc. Most of the stuff is still missing, from the beginning you can tell those barrels are deleted and so it happens many times during play. This is just an incomplete arcade version. The graphics may be close to the real final fight, it's colours are definitely not. Maybe the sega cd couldn't do any better, but I cannot bear to see these washed out colours any longer. There is something wrong with the animation and the hit detection. For some reason I can't explain it simply does not play the same as the arcade version. And finally my real complaint about this conversion: The introduction with spoken words is real nice but why didn't they hire real voice actors?? Haggar doesn't sound like a mighty wrestler but like a wimp! The voice of the villain also sounds like a goof. I am not very happy about that, it is a major disappointment as it just doesn't fit the gorgeous animated introduction.

The Bottom Line
If you want to enjoy the arcade game to it's full glory you still have to stick with the real arcade game. However, if you are a real final fight fan like me, I do recommend you to watch the enhanced intro and to try out the time attack mode.