The original Final Fight, for the time that it came out, was massively impressive, and still holds up pretty well to this day. It may be extremely simple, having only one attack button and no other bells or whistles to make it seem too diverse, but the combat was still satisfying enough to be engaging throughout, and the graphics and music helped make things exciting and appealing. This not only applies to the original arcade version, but this could also be said about the SNES port, which while I haven’t played it, and although it is missing things like co-op and Guy, it still kept the same look and feel of the original game to make for a pretty solid port. In fact, that port managed to sell 1.5 million copies, which was pretty good for a Capcom SNES game at that point, so for the next game in the series after this, they would focus on making it for the SNES rather for the arcades. Kind of an odd choice, but either way, this next game would arrive four years after the original’s release, and simply be known as Final Fight 2.
Before reviewing the original Final Fight, I had already played through it previously, so I knew what I was getting into when it came to revisiting it, but in terms of this game, as well as the rest of the Final Fight series in general, I have no experience with it whatsoever. But hey, considering that they managed to have a good foundation for the first game, I was sure they could keep it up for the sequel. That is, until I then started playing it, and then I realized that I had myself another Splatterhouse 2 situation on my hands. Yeah, Final Fight 2 is a very basic sequel, and as such, I can’t really say that it is anything other than just good. It can still be fun for big Final Fight fans, and it does keep the core gameplay intact, but that’s the thing: it keeps the core gameplay intact almost exactly, which doesn’t benefit the game in the long run.
The story is typical for a beat-’em-up sequel, where the Mad Gear gang have returned, and have now kidnapped two more people, so now it is up to Mike Haggar, Maki, and Carlos to go take them down once again, the graphics are pretty much on par with the original game’s SNES version, which still look good, but it would’ve been nice to see some significant changes here or there, the music is good, at least, based on what I remember, and there were no real bad tracks, but there weren’t really any standout tracks that I could latch onto, the control is what you would expect from a beat-’em-up game, being exactly like the original Final Fight, so no need to go on any further then that, and the gameplay stays very true to the original formula established with the first Final Fight, which ultimately becomes its biggest hindrance.
The game is your typical early 90s beat-’em-up, where you take control of either Mike, Maki, or Carlos, go all around the world through six different countries, along with a few bonus stages for pointless points that only give you extra lives, beat up every single thug that you run into along your way to show that you are the baddest fighter around, gather plenty of health items, point items, and weapons to give you an advantage over the constant goons you will come across, and take on quite a few bosses that will provide quite a challenge, such as with a soldier, a giant mass of muscles that you could mistake for a human, and a… clown? I dunno, I guess it is good for those people who wanna beat up clowns. But yeah, either way, as you could probably tell, there isn’t really anything new about this game, nor anything all that special about it when compared to other games at the time, which is fine, but as a sequel, there could be a lot more.
I will say though, as a followup specifically to the SNES version of the original game, it does fix some of the issues that game had. This time around, the two player co-op is back, so that is great to see, and you have a choice between three different characters rather than just two, which is also pretty good just in case you get tired of playing as Mike Haggar. Aside from all that though, you know what you are going to get with this game. You go through the six stages and beat up the same dudes over and over again, and while it is fun for a little bit, it definitely drags at certain points. Not to mention, your moveset remains completely unchanged from the original. You still just get one attack button, which is fine, as you can still perform the same moves that you could in the original, but again, some variety with the moves, as well as how the moves look, would’ve been appreciated.
Not to mention, there are parts of this game that just flat out suck, such as with some of the enemies and bosses. I am well aware that it may just be my fault for playing through the game by myself, but I swear, a lot of the enemies in this game are just damage sponges, and they will just CONSTANTLY take damage over and over and over again, and by the time you actually do beat them, it feels it has been years. This also applies to without a doubt the hardest boss in the game, Rolent. This boss moves around insanely fast, and can also hit just as fast as well, to the point where you can barely land a three-hit combo normally without getting smacked down immediately afterwards. The optimal strategy would be to just spam the jump kick on him, which definitely does work, but then there is the problem of his RIDICULOUS health bar, so it took forever to finally knock him down. By the time I was done, I didn’t feel accomplished or triumphant, but instead, it just felt good to finally be done so I could move onto the last stage, that’s how bad it was.
Overall, despite a complete lack of change or many of the damage sponge foes you fight, Final Fight 2 is still an alright sequel, one that won’t be doing anything to convince you it wants to innovate or change, but it will still provide a fun enough time when you got a buddy by your side. I would recommend it for big fans of Final Fight, as well as fans of beat-’em-ups in general, but for everyone else, I would say, if you played through the original Final Fight and didn’t really get into it, then this game isn’t gonna do anything to convince you otherwise. Let’s just hope that the next game after this actually does something to change up the gameplay, or innovate the genre in some way. We don’t want this series to become another Golden Axe for me, as I actually like this series, and I don’t wanna see it get bad right now….
Game #402
Before reviewing the original Final Fight, I had already played through it previously, so I knew what I was getting into when it came to revisiting it, but in terms of this game, as well as the rest of the Final Fight series in general, I have no experience with it whatsoever. But hey, considering that they managed to have a good foundation for the first game, I was sure they could keep it up for the sequel. That is, until I then started playing it, and then I realized that I had myself another Splatterhouse 2 situation on my hands. Yeah, Final Fight 2 is a very basic sequel, and as such, I can’t really say that it is anything other than just good. It can still be fun for big Final Fight fans, and it does keep the core gameplay intact, but that’s the thing: it keeps the core gameplay intact almost exactly, which doesn’t benefit the game in the long run.
The story is typical for a beat-’em-up sequel, where the Mad Gear gang have returned, and have now kidnapped two more people, so now it is up to Mike Haggar, Maki, and Carlos to go take them down once again, the graphics are pretty much on par with the original game’s SNES version, which still look good, but it would’ve been nice to see some significant changes here or there, the music is good, at least, based on what I remember, and there were no real bad tracks, but there weren’t really any standout tracks that I could latch onto, the control is what you would expect from a beat-’em-up game, being exactly like the original Final Fight, so no need to go on any further then that, and the gameplay stays very true to the original formula established with the first Final Fight, which ultimately becomes its biggest hindrance.
The game is your typical early 90s beat-’em-up, where you take control of either Mike, Maki, or Carlos, go all around the world through six different countries, along with a few bonus stages for pointless points that only give you extra lives, beat up every single thug that you run into along your way to show that you are the baddest fighter around, gather plenty of health items, point items, and weapons to give you an advantage over the constant goons you will come across, and take on quite a few bosses that will provide quite a challenge, such as with a soldier, a giant mass of muscles that you could mistake for a human, and a… clown? I dunno, I guess it is good for those people who wanna beat up clowns. But yeah, either way, as you could probably tell, there isn’t really anything new about this game, nor anything all that special about it when compared to other games at the time, which is fine, but as a sequel, there could be a lot more.
I will say though, as a followup specifically to the SNES version of the original game, it does fix some of the issues that game had. This time around, the two player co-op is back, so that is great to see, and you have a choice between three different characters rather than just two, which is also pretty good just in case you get tired of playing as Mike Haggar. Aside from all that though, you know what you are going to get with this game. You go through the six stages and beat up the same dudes over and over again, and while it is fun for a little bit, it definitely drags at certain points. Not to mention, your moveset remains completely unchanged from the original. You still just get one attack button, which is fine, as you can still perform the same moves that you could in the original, but again, some variety with the moves, as well as how the moves look, would’ve been appreciated.
Not to mention, there are parts of this game that just flat out suck, such as with some of the enemies and bosses. I am well aware that it may just be my fault for playing through the game by myself, but I swear, a lot of the enemies in this game are just damage sponges, and they will just CONSTANTLY take damage over and over and over again, and by the time you actually do beat them, it feels it has been years. This also applies to without a doubt the hardest boss in the game, Rolent. This boss moves around insanely fast, and can also hit just as fast as well, to the point where you can barely land a three-hit combo normally without getting smacked down immediately afterwards. The optimal strategy would be to just spam the jump kick on him, which definitely does work, but then there is the problem of his RIDICULOUS health bar, so it took forever to finally knock him down. By the time I was done, I didn’t feel accomplished or triumphant, but instead, it just felt good to finally be done so I could move onto the last stage, that’s how bad it was.
Overall, despite a complete lack of change or many of the damage sponge foes you fight, Final Fight 2 is still an alright sequel, one that won’t be doing anything to convince you it wants to innovate or change, but it will still provide a fun enough time when you got a buddy by your side. I would recommend it for big fans of Final Fight, as well as fans of beat-’em-ups in general, but for everyone else, I would say, if you played through the original Final Fight and didn’t really get into it, then this game isn’t gonna do anything to convince you otherwise. Let’s just hope that the next game after this actually does something to change up the gameplay, or innovate the genre in some way. We don’t want this series to become another Golden Axe for me, as I actually like this series, and I don’t wanna see it get bad right now….
Game #402