Final Fight 3

The Good
This game was one of the good two player simultaneous Final Fight style games on the SNES. Its a side scrolling fighting game in the vain of Double Dragon. Graphically, its inferior to the first two, but it has more moves and better control and finally includes the fan favorite, Guy, who was left out of the Super Nintendo conversion of the Arcade game.

The Bad
Inferior to Final Fight 2.

The Bottom Line
If you like this game some others you might like for the SNES would be: Knights of the Round, Captain Commando, Final Fight 2, and King of Dragons. These are all two player side scrolling fighting games and they are all Capcom titles. Capcom generally made the best games on all of the home systems in the 80's and 90's.

The Good
The graphics are great. The special moves and combos that Haggar and company have really make the game funner then the first two Final Fights. The character designs are very nice, for both the heroes of the game and the street punk enemies. The boss fights are fun and not cheap. The music is catchy.

The Bad
The SNES processor was not made for games like this. Capcom just put to much in here and there are times when the game is brought to a crawl during 2 player games. Capcom should rerelease this with the slowdown taken out. I also don't like how this is the final Final Fight. Capcom should have made ten more Final Fights since this game's release if you ask me.

The Bottom Line
It's a brawler, with incredible graphics. The game offers a dash attack and lots of special moves and combos for the characters and these make the game a lot more fun then Final Fight 1 and 2. This game also has secret rooms and multiple ways of defeating levels (example: destroy the bus stop sign and you can finish the third level in super quick time). The massive slowdown in 2 player mode might turn people off, but it actually does make the game less cheap.

The Good
Final Fight 3, for the SNES, finally, raised the stakes and actually seemed like it was trying to compete, with better Beat ’em Up’s, like Streets Of Rage. In the end however, it is too little too late.

In Final Fight 3, we learn that the Mad Gear Gang, is finished. However the Skull Cross Gang, has taken over. Now, I know that Beat ‘em Up’s are not known for their compelling stories, but this one is a pretty lame attempt, even for a Final Fight game. More on this in the “bad” section of the review.

The fighting, is gasp…more fluid this time, finally! No longer do you fighters move as thought the have been stricken by rigamortis. And the games motley crew, is at last able to pull of special moves! However there still are no tandem moves.

The Graphics is FF3, are much better, than it’s predecessors. Unlike the first two, that barely used the power of the SNES. In this installment, the characters are big on screen, and well detailed. The backdrops look impressive, and almost up to arcade quality.

However, graphics do not make the game, if they did this would be a much better game.

The Bad
Now for my problems with the game. The plot is pretty dumb. If Metro City, is so crime ridden, why the hell bother try to fight it? And like in Final Fight 2, for some reason, the Skull Cross Gang, dumb ass name, is all over the world, now why would a petty gang have influence all over the world? And why is Haggar, the only original fighter that ever returns?

The new fighters are pretty lame, but then again so were Guy and Cody.

The sound, unlike the graphics, have not improved what so ever. It is still crap ass Final Fight. You know, cheesy sound effects, and really bad lame ass jazz esque music. Nothing special here, nor anything particularly good for that matter.

The gameplay is improved, but could have been even better. Sure there are finally special moves, despite the fact that Streets Of Rage has had this since the very 1st game. And animations are no longer stiff. But there could have been team moves, and unlockable fighters, in other words there is still much room for improvement.

The Bottom Line
Overall Final Fight 3, finally make some much needed improvements. In the end however all the changes are too little too late.