Mighty Final Fight
Nintendo Entertainment System
July 1993 (NA)
One of the NES games I recall playing the most. Outside of this entry, I have no real connection to the Final Fight series, comprised of side-scrolling beat'em-ups and whose first entry was released to arcades in 1989. This is a retelling of that game's story, delivered with a comedic tone and a super-deformed style.
The story, a classic of the era: A girl kidnapped by bad guys. In this case, it is Mayor Mike Haggar's daughter, Jessica, taken by the Mad Gear Gang. Haggar enlists the help of his two friends Cody and Guy, and all three set out to open a whole can of whoop-ass onto various bikers, thieves, and other street scum on their way to Belger, the gang's leader.
The game is set across five stages and had everything to please me: Players and enemies alike have health bars visible at the top of the screen, and enemies come in all shapes and sizes (and gimmicks). All three characters have a wide array of moves, and can even learn more as the game includes a simple (if not simplistic) experience system. Haggar feels like the Easy Mode, being tougher and having stronger moves than his allies and starting out at LV3, compared to Guy and Cody's LV1s. That said, the two guys are speedier. Alas, no 2-Player Mode, but I can't say multiplayer on home console was ever a thing I cared for.
A few sequences within levels feel like mini-games. One notable example being in Stage 1, where the selected fighter has to break incoming barrels (and may also find items that increase their EXP). The bosses are all notable; utterly silly but also pretty dangerous. Unfortunately, the game is also very short, at five stages, and can be finished in well under an hour. Bit disappointing, not gonna lie.
It's short and easy enough that I finished the game multiple times. It ranked among my favorites on the NES alongside Startropics, DuckTales, the Mario games, and more that I'll eventually get to. I can't say I consider myself a beat'em-up connoisseur, but I do think this one's worth checking out. Maybe it's the nostalgia talking, that's usually the case in these Gaming Memories articles. (At least for now, as I focus on the games I really did care for - the ones I didn't, that's gonna be a different story.)
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