Final Fight - Super Nintendo

Final Fight must rank as one of the most popular arcade games ever, and is used as a yard-stick to judge all scrolling beat 'em ups. So how does the SNES version compare to the original? Well, it's missing the two-player mode and one entire level, but apart from that it's pretty much the same. All the moves are there, all the enemies are there (apart from the two girls who've been censored and replaced by Sid and Billy) and all the action is there. Although Final Fight demands fast reflexes and a degree of skill, strategy plays an important part too, so the game is challenging on all levels. The controls are responsive, there's no slowdown, which is surprising considering the size of the sprites, and the game plays fluidly. There is a real compulsion to see what's next and it's real "just one more go" material, keeping you glued to your screen for ages. Final Fight is a definite classic and a game which should be in every SNES owners collection.

Although this conversion is missing the simultaneous two-plwyer option, Guy, the girls (Doh!) and the fourth level, it still manages to supply much of the original coin-op's thrills and spills. The action is fast and furious, and on later levels the going gets very tough, with hoards of baddies to kick and punch your way through. Although it doesn't take long to master, the comprehensive option screen means you can toughen the game up to increase the challenge, and the action is such fun you keep on coming back to it even after you've finished several times. With its great graphics and crunching sound effects, Final Fight is a must for beat 'em up fans.

Final Fight is one of those coin-ops that defines a generation. It was simply the ONLY the arcade game to be seen playing in the late 80's/early 90's. When the SNES conversion was confirmed, I was heartbroken - being a Megadrive owner, I had hoped that the (false) rumours of a Sega port were true (Sega fans had to wait until the Mega CD before they got this classic brawler) but with Capcom jumping into bed with Nintendo, it seemed impossible. All I could do was pray to the big console God in the sky that he, in his infinite wisdom, would deliver unto me a shiny new SNES when Christmas came around.

As luck would have it, I got one when they were launched in the UK, and Final Fight was one of the first games I got my hands on. The shock of seeing such massive, arcade perfect sprites beat the seven shades of crap out of each other was dampened slightly by the disappointment of the missing two player option (one of the biggest draws of the arcade original). The fact that the game was also lacking Guy and the factory level didn't help, but thankfully enough of the Mike Haggar-inspired magic was present to make this a must-own.

It really is amazing how close this conversion is to the original game, and it also displayed the gulf between the Megadrive and the SNES at the time. Thankfully Sega saved face with their own brand of street fighting - the Bare Knuckle/Streets of Rage series (which, IMO, beats Final Fight hands down) but even the most hardline Sega fanboy would have to admit that in the early days of the SNES/MD war, this game was a sore point.

Envy is a terrible thing, after all.