After Capcom's lackluster port of the original Final Fight to the SNES - I wasn't initially compelled to purchase another port on an even weaker system. However, I managed to play the game a bit at a friend's house a few years later and was totally taken by surprised at how the game handled and decided to hunt down a copy for myself. Onto the review..

Story 7/10

The gritty tale of revenge from the arcade game and subsequent SNES sequels isn't present here - and in its place is a light-hearted yarn that kind of reminds me of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Belgar (strangely a cyborg in this incarnation) has become obsessed with the mayor's daughter Jessica and whisks her away for himself - instead of kidnapping her to force Haggar to work with him like in the Arcade/SNES/Sega CD version.

Graphics 9/10

The protagonists and enemies have received a super-deformed makeover and exhibit exaggerated features like bulging eyes or enormous lips. Despite the massive scale-down of specs - the enemies are all recognizable (although Axl resembles Rolento for whatever reason) and the environments are pretty detailed and don't resort to the "copy and paste" backgrounds that some beat 'em ups have. The animation is rather swell - the enemies move fluidly and have expressions they change upon taking damage or using a special attack. I like that the enemies still "hang out" before engaging the heroes - you'll see them lying on a park bench, leaning against a wall, or squatting on the sidewalk before they into the combat poses. The attacks used by the protagonists translated onto the NES pretty well - everything from Cody's signature fisticuffs to Haggar's spinning clothesline look about as good as they can for the console's limitations.

Sound 8/10

I'm a bit disappointed that the only recognizable music on here is the "stage clear" melody. The soundtrack is otherwise pretty good, and I guess it had to be reworked since the game isn't as grim or gritty as the original version was. Each stage has a unique theme and there are separate boss tracks that pop up when you deal with the area's head honcho. The sound effects are above average in quality - although they lack the thudding ferocity of games like Double Dragon.

Control 10/10

Even though the controls have been limited to a small selection of buttons - the fighting remains flawless even in the most heated moments. No lag or hiccups in the hit detections have been observed during my various play-throughs of the game.

Game-play 9/10

The first thing anyone should notice is that all three characters are one again playable - a very refreshing correction after the fiasco of the SNES Final Fight/Final Fight Guy. As usual, the characters are very different in terms of strength, speed, weapon choices - and are now introduced to alternate growth of experience points. The experience comes from defeating enemies or doing well in bonus rounds - accumulating XP will have your character level up, which refreshes your life-bar and unlocks more moves for you do use. It is a nice touch - although it cannot compare to the upgrade systems of Knights of the Round or The King of Dragons. Most of the abilities the characters had in the arcade/SNES versions remain here - with the only one missing that I noticed being the off-the-wall kicks, since there are no walls here to rebound from. One of the game's few flaws is that a only a maximum of two enemies can be fought at once - despite that earlier games like Renegade featured more baddies onscreen. One of the other negative things that prevents this game from scoring higher is that there is no co-op, that's right - this is a single player game. Despite this, the game is still quite fun to play I'm not going to hold a grudge against Capcom for the minor limitations it has.

Replay Value 8/10

As mentioned, Mighty Final Fight has three playable characters to switch around with. This helps establish a bit of variety, and the only NES beat 'em up with a larger cast is Double Dragon 3. I wouldn't have minded a few extra modes, like a one-on-one versus battle that you and another player could compete in since the campaign mode is strictly solo. Nonetheless, the game had a good draw and you'll probably play it through several times if you're still active on your NES console.

Overall 9/10

Even if you have the arcade version in the cab or on the Capcom Classics Collection Xbox/PS2/PSP disc - this is definitely an incarnation you'll want to pick up if you still play your NES. It is also bundled in the Capcom Classics Mini Mix compilation for the GBA. Just keep in mind that it isn't a direct port of the original game but rather an offshoot that compensates the less-intense action for RPG aspects and a full roster of heroes.

plagiarized review

[trashed]