Final Fight 3

Developer: Capcom     Publisher: Capcom     Released: 1996     Genre: Beat em up

Final Fight 3 was a bit of an anomaly at release. 1995 was a sequel heavy year for Capcom, with Mega Man X3, Mega Man 7 and Breath of Fire 2 released earlier. It is not to say the game is bad; far from it. But in a year where everyone anticipated the PlayStation and Saturn I don’t think anyone was desperate for a third trip to Metro City. Luckily Capcom did right by the series and made up for the disappointing second game. With improved graphics, a deep fighting system, and branching paths Final Fight 3 is a more than worthy entry in the series and one of the better brawlers of that generation.

With the Mad Gear gang completely eliminated Metro City has finally enjoyed some peace. But it doesn’t last long as a new gang steps up to fill the void left in their absence. The Skull Cross Gang are staging riots across the city forcing mayor Mike Haggar to step in personally along with returning martial artist Guy, police detective Lucia, and the mysterious Dean.

Final Fight 2 did an excellent job righting the wrongs of its SNES predecessor.  But it did little else. In fact one could even view it as an expansion rather than a true sequel. Final Fight 3 brings a significant number of improvements to the table. Some of its ideas I wish were even adapted by other games in the genre.  One such feature is the AI partner. For those without friends you can start a 2-player game with the CPU controlling the second player. It isn’t very smart but can somewhat take care of itself. The problem is it is very aggressive about moving forward and ends up taking unnecessary hits.  Also it can’t continue once its lives are used up. I would love to have seen future games expound on this idea but no such luck.

The most crucial overhaul came to the game’s fighting system. Both Final Fight 1 & 2 were pretty simple with regards to combat and grew stale over time. In addition to the normal round of punch and kick combos you can dash. Dashing not only increases the pace but can also lead into a number of combo attacks. Grappling has also seen an expansion, with various techniques executed with simple commands. More options open up when you grab from behind and you can even perform reversals. Everyone has one or two moves activated with Street Fighter commands and the game even has a Super meter! Capcom really went above and beyond making the game fun to play and it is better as each character is distinct.

The one area I wish they put more work in is the enemies.  The Skull Cross Gang are completely different from the Mad Gear outside of Andore. But they still seem to have a limited number of recruits. Enemy variety is still very low and it shows. They try to work with what they have; each round introduces a new enemy at least. The problem is you face the same three or four repeatedly. It would at least be engaging if they had anything resembling AI but these guys are D-U-M-B dumb. It’s a shame such a great fighting system is largely wasted on enemies that barely fight back.

In contrast to most brawlers Final Fight 3 is incredibly easy. You have five lives to start and extra lives are easy to come by with points. The brain dead enemy AI means you’ll have little trouble blowing through the game in short order. Even the bosses who usually deal unreasonable amounts of damage have been toned down. I finished the game on my first try using no continues and I imagine most will fare the same.  And this was on the normal setting. Higher difficulties aren’t much worse. While it’s nice to have a beat em up that isn’t flagrantly cheap the game could have used more punch.

In its favor Final Fight 3 does have plenty of replay value.  Almost every level has multiple routes that lead to alternate stages and bosses.  Some of these are even hidden. There are multiple endings that take into account a few factors such as difficulty setting, route taken and character. The map of the different variations per character is pretty extensive adds a good our or two to the game.

In Conclusion

Final Fight 3 is a solid entry in the series and a nice return to form. It doesn’t stand up to its stiff competition but is entertaining nonetheless. This could have been a nice base to build from going forward. Sadly subsequent games in the series are simply awful. But those are stories for another day.