The first time I ever played Final Fight was about twelve years ago when it was released on the Super Nintendo. At the time I didn’t realize that it was an arcade port. As much fun as I had with the game, I remember wishing it had a two-player mode, and an extra character or two. Not long afterward, I found myself in an arcade in a nearby town that we rarely visit. Lo and behold there was a Final Fight machine and not only was it two-player, there was a third playable character, and he was cooler than the other two in the SNES release. I could not understand why they left these features out of the SNES version. Final Fight on the GBA is the game that the SNES version should have been, and more. My favorite character Guy is included, and so is a two-player link mode.

Final Fight is a side scrolling beat-em-up where the point is to pound the snot out of everything in your way in order to rescue your friend/girlfriend/daughter, depending on which character you choose. It’s not a terribly ambitious game, and it does what it sets out to do well. You have your basic punch, jump, and special buttons, and that’s all you need to get the job done here. Adding to your flurry of punches, you can pick up several weapons including knives, swords, and pipes. The two-player mode is tons of fun. Linking up with a friend and taking on waves of thugs is where this game really shines. The GBA version of this game also includes a save feature which is very nice, and a nifty extras mode that keeps track of how many enemies you have defeated. When you defeat enough enemies you will unlock very nice extras like the ability to increase the number of lives you start with, or even niftier options like being able to play with the Street Fighter Alpha versions of Cody and Guy.

Final Fight is not without its downsides. It is very repetitive. Pummel all of the enemies on screen to death, then walk to the right and repeat. Most of the enemies in the later levels are exactly the same as the ones in the first level except that they are a different color, and they are stronger. More variety in the enemies would be nice. The game is also only five levels strong. It can be easily beaten in an hour. I feel the shortness of this game is not entirely a bad thing. Seeing as how repetitive the gameplay is, if it was much longer I think it would start to get old by the time you finish it.

The graphics look great. I have this game for my Sega CD and the GBA version looks better. The characters animate pretty well, but the enemies have very few frames of animation, especially the ones that that jump around. The backgrounds are nothing to write home about but they fit the levels well and aren’t too boring, and there is not much in the way of special effects at all.

I really like the cheesy bone-snapping sounds the game makes when you connect with a punch or kick, the “HIYA!” you character yells with a jump kick or special move, and the screams of death that the enemies cry out when defeated. The music, on the other hand, is not so hot. It isn’t terribly annoying, but at the same time it doesn’t sound that great. I would have to say it’s livable at best.

I find that this game has high replay value because of its extras system and its short length. This is a great game to break out when you have a little spare time to blow. I mostly just play this game is these types of situations. Starting a game and playing a few levels to rack up some more kills is a lot of fun, and all the different unlockables make it feel worth it. It really helps that the unlockables aren’t all useless things like galleries or sound checks. Most of them are things that you can actually put to use in the game and enjoy.

Final Fight One is a game that new players might not enjoy as much as an “old school” gamer like me would appreciate. Its repetitive nature and short length might turn off younger players who didn’t start playing until the days of the N64 or later. Final Fight is fourteen years old after all. I would recommend this game to anyone, as it is a great time filler, and a heck of a lot of fun in link mode.