A nostalgic afternoon with Final Fight

My adolescence was characterized by games such as Street Fighter, Sonic, Final Fights, Super Mario and many other arcade games that marked the 80s and 90s, attracting millions of kids to all the arcades of the world. A game that I was particularly passionate about is Final Fight, a fighting game that recalls the plot of some American film of the time and that so captivated the hearts of us young players.

The story is set in a fictional city similar to New York, Metro City, where a criminal organization called Mad Gear kidnaps Jessica, daughter of the mayor of the city Mike Haggar, who previously had not agreed to cooperate with the criminals, led by the ruthless Belger. At this point Haggar, who is a former professional Wrestling, decides to transform himself into a vigilante supported by Jessica's boyfriend, the martial arts expert Cody, and his sparring partner Guy, skilled in the Ninjitsu art.

My favorite character has always been Cody, a fighter that I have always associated with Jean Claude Van Damme, my favorite actor and martial arts master of those years, even though he may not have been the strongest fighter of the triad. The aim of the game is simple: defeat all the enemies you meet along the way.

The game develops in several levels and at the end of each of them it is necessary to face and defeat the boss on duty. The player has a yellow energy band that turns red every time the character suffers an attack, when the band turns completely red a life is lost (in total each token gives you a maximum of two lives). Along the way there are some foods and drinks hidden in street bins which help the character recover some of the lost energy. In truth, for each level there is only one food, so it is better to avoid being hit than to hope to look for food on the street.

Always on the street it is possible to recover some weapons such as knives, pistols but also iron pipes and swords, always very useful in battle because they avoid close contact with the opponent, decreasing the possibility of being hit.

My strategy is to move calmly and draw the attention of enemies a little at a time. There are some opponents that only strike in close encounters but others are armed with weapons and deal damage from a distance, such as some sort of knife-throwing ninjas 🗡️

Probably today the undeveloped graphics and the limit of the characters' actions could make many young players smile. But who lived those fantastic years where coins were spent to play video games, then they will appreciate Final Fight a lot.

It is possible to play Final Fight and other similar games thanks to some emulators like MAME and I can tell you that the thrill of playing it every now and then is always as beautiful as the first time!