Mighty Final Fight
Review

Mighty Final Fight By: Capcom Year: 1993 Lives: 5 (3 continues) Levels: 5 Special Features: the evil MAD GEAR GANG, special combo attacks, experience points. Replay value: High Availability: somewhat rare Average recent eBay selling price: $9.33 (based on three auctions) August FuncoLand price: $5.99 Bub’s Cutesy Meter (from 1 to 10): 6

The story in this game starts out with Jessica, the daughter of Haggar, being kidnapped. Haggar just happens to be a Jesse Ventura wannabe, who is the mayor of Metro City by day, and an ass kicker by night. His pals Cody and Guy happen to be around when they hear the news about Jessica and they set out to rescue her. This game is notable for its very late release date of 1993. As to be expected, game graphics are top-notch for the NES. Use of colors is well done and it avoids the bland look that plagues many NES games. All characters seem to have more frames of animation than a typical NES title as well. Sound is pretty average, as none of the music sticks in my head, but at least its not annoying.

This game is a little different from most of the beat-em-ups on NES for a few reasons. First off, it has experience points and allows the characters to gain levels. This sounds great in concept, but I really noticed very little change in the characters power once they advanced levels. The three different characters seem to have good variety, and each seem to have a stage they excel at. I also liked how you could change characters at the continue screen, and also the player’s level and experience points were kept even if you switched to a different character. Occasionally, barrels will roll across the screen, and you can punch them to gain bonus weapons or life-ups. I think the bonus weapons could have popped up a little more often however, since they were quite useful. Each character also has combo button attacks that are useful, but some of them drain life. (Haggar’s special move will probably remind you of one of Zangief’s attacks in Street Fighter). The bosses in the game are also unique from other games, since each will taunt you for a minute before you begin the fight. Sometimes they give you choices about the situation, which seem to have no effect on the outcome, considering you always end up fighting them.

The big disappointment in this game is the lack of a two-player simultaneous mode (or even any two-player mode). Two-player is VERY necessary in a game like this to me, and it’s featured in the majority of its competition (River City Ransom, Double Dragon series, etc.). I’m not sure if this was a case of a rushed game, or if Capcom was more concerned with keeping the games’ high production values free from slowdown or drop in graphics. Overall, I think this game is well worth picking up. It’s not terribly challenging, as I’ve gotten to the final stage rather quickly, I just didn’t make it to the final boss due to running out of continues. In presentation, it more than stacks up to the other similar games on the NES, but its lack of two-player keeps it from winning the gold. Of the many Capcom games on NES, this is certainly in the top 5. Mighty Final Fight gets an 86/100.