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FInal Fight was the classic beat’em up arcade game that paved the path for others such as River City Ransom and Streets of Rage. Its innovation changed fighting games forever and Capcom amazingly managed to strike lightning twice: once with Street Fighter and again with Final Fight. It turned out to be so popular that fans took it upon themselves to make their own ultimate version 33 years later.
With a huge arsenal of crossover characters to choose from, support of up to 4 players, co-op and VS modes, and remixed and remastered soundtracks, Final Fight LNS Ultimate takes SNES fan remakes to a whole new level.
As a 90s kid, I used to stay up late at my friend’s house and play Final Fight, and later, “Final Fight: Guy.” Unfortunately the original game on the SNES was only one player which sucked the enjoyment out of anyone looking for that sweet arcade-perfect gameplay. Often, it would be 3 or 4 in the morning before my friend and I would finally beat the game.
Final Fight was an epic sidescroller for its time. The music was engrossing, the enemies were fun to beat up, and I liked the 3 heroes you could choose from: The street-smart Cody, the ninja fighter Guy, and city mayor Haggar. There seems to be something quite appealing about being able to play the major and deciding to clean up the town single-handedly to save your daughter.
According to capcom.fandom.com, Final Fight was originally supposed to be a Street Fighter sequel (https://capcom.fandom.com/wiki/Final_Fight). And the flavor of the game was supposedly inspired by Streets of Fire, a really bad movie from 1984, starring Willem Dafoe, which cost $14 million to make, and earned about $8 million back (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streets_of_Fire). Interestingly, the main character’s name is Tom Cody (Cody is the name of Final Fight’s blonde haired, denim-clad protagonist).
Streets of Fire is probably one of the worst pieces of crap Hollywood has ever made.
Unfortunately, Capcom dropped the whole “Street Fighter remake” bit once they realized it was a completely different kind of game.
Unfortunately, that is, until now.
In 2021, the LNS team (https://fflnsultimate.firebaseapp.com/home) remade Final Fight. They included all 3 of the original playable characters, plus the next 3 from Final Fight 2. But then they also went ahead and included a whole army of others. (screenshot).
When you start up the game, you have access to all the Final Fight and Street Fighter characters. A bunch of the other guys are grayed out. You can get them after certain accomplishments, like beating the game.
Gameplay:
Like Street Fighter, each character has his or her own special moves. However, the back button functions differently in Final Fight LNS Ultimate.
If you’ve played Street Fighter, you may remember that the back button is block. But in Final Fight LNS Ultimate, the back button makes you run backwards.
The same principle goes for Ken and Ryu’s hurricane kick. In Street Fighter, the move goes down, back, kick. But if you look at how they mapped the specials in the Final Fight remake, you can see there’s no use of the back button.
I guess that’s because we need to use that back button to get out of harm’s way.
And often.
I can’t tell you how many times I got caught in a juggle. The AI loves to juggle you. If you screw up, even on the easiest level, the enemies will come out and mob you. And if one guy manages to knock you into the air – like those fat little dweebs with the magnets who electrocute you when they run across the screen – everyone is going to get a smack. You’ll often stay airborne in a long juggle chain all the way across the screen until you lose literally all your health.
Seriously. It happens to me a lot, and it makes me want to pull out my hair. But then again, maybe I’m just bad at games.
Fan Made LNS Easter Eggs
(I’m going to need a bunch of screenshots for this part)
Like any decent fan made game, FF LNS remake has a lot of great easter eggs. Take the pink-haired dominatrix girls. I once knocked one of them out and saw her nipples.
Then there’s the arcade guy. I don’t know who he is. But he’s standing in front of arcade sets. And guess what? You can interact with them. That’s right, they’re breakable. And when you break them, the guy starts crying.
Then there’s the LNS posters on the walls, the Street Fighter BGM, and the fact that the car you break on the bonus stage actually belongs to one of the bad guys.
All in all, this Final Fight remake is a gem.