Final Fight

Final Fight is a classic game trilogy from Capcom. It is Street Fighter's cousin, and the two series share a common "storyline universe". Final Fight mainly graced the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, but it also graced the Arcade, Sega CD, Sega Saturn, and Gameboy Advance. It involves the mayor of Metro City (Capcom's fictitious city, located near New York), and former pro wrestler (as seen in Saturday Night Slam Masters) Mike Haggar.

Final Fight

The first installment was originally an arcade game in 1989. There were two SNES ports of this game: the original version only featured Cody and Haggar as playable characters, while a later revision (titled Final Fight Guy) added Guy to the roster by replacing Cody (the explanation given was that Cody was on a training mission in Japan while Jessica was kidnapped). The fourth stage (the Industrial Area) was removed from both version. The reason is that the SNES cartridge at the time of Final Fight's SNES release did not have enough space. However, the Super NES version's strong point was audio and has the highest audio quality of any version of Final Fight.

The Game Boy Advance version, released in 2002 under the title of "Final Fight One", is an enhanced version of the SNES port that's a bit closer to the Arcade games. It includes the fourth level that was omitted in the previous SNES versions, the two-player co-op mode from the Arcade game, and all three playable characters. Instead of three enemies appearing simultaneously on the Super Nintendo version, four enemies appear simultaneously on screen on the GBA version, because the GBA screen can handle more sprites. The Gameboy Advance version of Final Fight is also the only version of the game to have dialogues for each boss and the playable characters' reply dialogues in response to them. It also has an unlockable option to allow the player to play as the Street Fighter Alpha 3 versions of Cody and Guy.

The Sega CD version was published and developed internally by Sega under the title of "Final Fight CD" after Capcom gave them the license to produce the title for their Sega CD platform. Final Fight CD added voiceovers to the opening and ending sequences of the game, as well as a new Time Attack mode in addition to the main game.

The story of Final Fight involves the abduction of Mike Haggar's daughter, Jessica, because he would not work with Mad Gear to ensure their dominance of the streets. When the Mad Gear thug Damnd contact Haggar and informs him, Haggar calls up his daughter's boyfriend Cody and his sparring partner Guy, and they head into the streets to bust Mad Gear's skulls, fighting their way through the hordes (including the Rastafarian thug Damnd, the "Japanist" Sodom, insane Red Beret Rolento Shugerg, corrupt cop Edi. E, and the ill-tempered Abigail), to get to Mad Gear's boss, Belger. Cody delivered the kick that knocked Belger through a plate glass window and sent him plummetting to his death. Haggar returned to the mayor's office, Cody and Jessica went on vacation (and Cody got busted for disorderly conduct), and Guy returned to his Bushin-ryu training.

For the localized editions of the SNES games, Sodom (the boss of the second stage) was renamed Katana because of fears that the name would be associated with sodomy. The name of Sodom is intact in Final Fight One. Some fans feel Katana is a more appropriate name for an American who wants to be Japanese.

The localized SNES ports also has the two female enemies in the game, Roxy and Poison, replaced by male versions named Sid and Billy. This was presumably done since Poison was actually a she-male in the Japanese version. Reportedly she was originally conceived as a female character before the company's US division (Capcom USA) objected to the fact that the game allowed the player to beat up women, so the developers changed her backstory to make her into a she-male. When Capcom USA localized the SNES ports, they were oblivous to this fact and changed her character's appearance anyway. This change was also made in Final Fight One (for historical reasons), although Poison still made an appearance in the game's manual artwork. According to the Street Fighter and Final Fight Canon Guide, Roxy and Poison canonically exist in the Street Fighter and Final Fight universe.

Final Fight 2

Released in 1993, Final Fight 2 and Final Fight 3 are Super NES exclusives. Final Fight Two happens four years after Final Fight. It involves the abduction of Guy's fiancée Rena and her father Genryusai, and the Mad Gear gang regrouping secretly. Rena's sister Maki contacted Mike Haggar for help, as he was a friend of Guy's (who has gone missing), as well as an enemy of Mad Gear. Maki joined Haggar and Carlos (a boarder at Haggar's), and they travelled around the world, busting Mad Gear's cells, until they found Genryusai and Rena, captured by Retu. Maki delivered the final blow, knocking him through a window, just like Cody had done to Belger.

Capcom has no plans to port Final Fight 2 or 3 to Gameboy Advance.

Final Fight 3

Released in 1995, Final Fight 3 begins after the destruction of the Mad Gear Gang, with the Skull Cross Gang taking its place. When the Skull Cross detonated a bomb in downtown Metro City, Mayor Haggar (now sporting a long ponytail) and Guy are joined by Metro City SCU officer Lucia Morgan and a street fighter named Dean in taking down Skull Cross. The Skull Cross Gang killed Dean's family, because Dean refused to join the gang and allied with Haggar. The heroes fought their way through Skull Cross's army of goons, until they battled the gang's leader, a militaristic fighter named Black. Dean delivered the blow that knocked Black into a transformer, electrocuting him. Unfortunately, after all the gang wars, Mayor Haggar lost the next election, and returned to pro wrestling.

Final Fight Revenge

Released for the arcade and the Sega Saturn, Final Fight Revenge was a 3-D fighting game based on Final Fight characters, similar to what Street Fighter EX was to Street Fighter. This game takes place shortly after the events of Final Fight.

Abbreviation Confusion

Final Fight may be confused with Square Enix's popular Final Fantasy franchise if the name is abbreviated FF. An "i" should be added after "FF" for "Final Fight" in order to prevent confusion with Final Fantasy. Therefore, Final Fight is abbreviated FF in fighting game circles and Capcom-related forums, but the abbreviation FFi is used in role-playing game circles and non-Capcom forums. On a side note, Cody, Guy, Maki, Sodom, Rolento, and Hugo (a character related to one of the villains) also starred in various Street Fighter games, while Mike Haggar has also appeared in the Slam Masters series. Hugo, Maki, and Rolento also appeared in the SNK VS. series. In the SPC archives Final Fight is abbreviated "FFight," while Final Fantasy is abbreviated "FF"; since Final Fantasy is much more popular than Final Fight, those who attempt to type "Final Fight" may mistakenly type "Final Fantasy."

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