Final Fight: Double Impact Review
It’s kind of odd to think these days that spending any amount of money to buy a game requires a promise of at least a good 5 or 6 hours of gameplay, minimum, to be considered worthwhile. Moreso when you consider that the titles us veterans began our trip down carpal-tunnel street were arcade experiences where a quarter secured MAYBE 10 minutes. So if a game took 2 hours to beat, you’d only have to invest 3 bucks. 6 for those high end 50 cent games. Home consoles soon changed all that so that we no longer needed to make change or wonder where the hands of the previous player had been. Final Fight was one of those late 80’s scrolling fighters that gained popularity alongside Golden Axe and Double Dragon. It also happened to be one of the launch titles available when the Super NES released, though slightly gimped.
That same gimped version was released for the Nintendo Wii 3 years ago, but Capcom dove back into their archives to resurrect the title for the Xbox 360 and PS3 via download and re-christened it Final Fight: Double Impact. Lost levels, 2 player co-op and a certain scantily clad sprite is back. In addition, the download gets you a bonus arcade slasher, Magic Sword. Admittedly, I’d only heard of this second title in passing and don’t remember actually seeing it in the wild as a kid. Still, it makes sense to bundle the two co-op games together and increases the value of the purchase.
Immediately I was impressed, of all things, by the menu. I know, right? Seriously, the interface here is pretty cool. An arcade cabinet with your chosen game, set in an appropriate environment. A back alley with a lead pipe and trash cans for Final Fight and the entrance to a medieval dungeon with sword and treasure chest for Magic Sword. Obviously, this does nothing to the gameplay itself, but it certainly helps add to the nostalgia factor. Each game simulates a ROM boot up you would expect to see when powering up a 20 year old cabinet of this type and to really sell the effect, developer Proper Games even threw in the ability to change the display to simulate scan lines and the old phosphor screen dimming and burns you might see on any real arcade machines that survived the Nintendo generation. It’s certainly a nice touch, but I don’t recommend playing long term for the same reason your parents told you never to stare at the screen for too long.
Any typical gamer will blow through both games in a matter of a few hours. Total. That’s not to say that gameplay has to end after destroying the final bosses, but these ARE buttons mashing games by definition and even the hardest difficulty has unlimited continues. To ensure at least some re-playability, challenges have been built into individual levels or into each game as a whole such as clearing a level with X number of points, in a specific amount of time or without losing X number of lives. In turn, clearing challenges earns unlockables such as original character sketches, fan art and even an entire episode of a Street Fighter cartoon that retells the Final Fight story in 15 minutes and features Ken and Ryu alongisde Final Fight heros Guy and Cody.
Ultimately the draw here isn’t going to be a remixed soundtrack or the bonus materials, but that the once forgotten multiplayer has returned and no longer requires sharing precious elbow room with a buddy. Online co-op let’s you drop into any game at any time for a virtual pick-up game. The downside to this is an innability to pause the game. True, this is accurate to the time period, but if the phone rings or you spill your drink all over your freshly re-upholstered couch, hitting start only overlays a meny on top of the wailing your character will continue to get while you find a towel. There is some comfort in knowing you can save anywhere in the either game, but pausing is kind of a luxury I have a hard time living without.
So yeah, it’s a pair of 20 year old games with a fresh coat of paint and a few new tricks, but for around 10 bucks, you’ll certainly get your money’s worth, especially if you can find a buddy to drop in with you now and then. Vets will get a nostalgic kick and newbies will get a couple of solid games and a glimpse of what life for a gamer was once like.
