Platform Name: Super Nintendo

Developer: Capcom

Publisher: Capcom

Release Date: December, 1995

Genre: Beat ’em Up

Rating: 8 out of 10

Reviewed by: ChronoSloth

Everyone’s favorite wrestling mayor and bright red wearing ninja are back to save Metro City from a gang who’s risen from Mad Gear’s ashes. Aided by two new playable characters, Lucia and Dean, they beat their city back into shape, one punk at a time. As the third entry in the series, one would think that the weak stories and button mashing gameplay would have the series become stale, but Capcom rectified this by adding new modes, characters, and special moves with commands straight out of Street Fighter 2.

Final Fight 3 can be played single player or two players; it’s a standard beat ’em up fare. However, the game takes those without brawling buddies into consideration with a mode that allows you to have an AI comrade to help you, but this slows the game down when the screen is crowded with enemies. Just kill them faster than they can spawn, right? In all seriousness, this can really hamper your enjoyment of this mode, and I’d suggest you play alone, or with another human.

Channeling her inner Chun-Li

What makes a beat ’em up good is how satisfying it is to pummel the game’s enemies and how entertained you’re kept while repeating this action through all of its levels. To add some variety to the mix, each character in Final Fight 3 has two different sets of strikes and throws depending on whether they’ve grabbed an enemy’s front or back, a dash that allows for a unique combo, a special attack activated by using quarter circle motions that for some characters can be canceled into mid-combo, and a meter that when filled allows for a super attack that can really help with bigger enemies and bosses (if you can get close enough without getting body slammed). While the characters’ basic combos are satisfying enough, these special attacks and grabs help add on extra damage before your next approach and help you prevent yourself from getting attacked. Also, Guy’s dash combo and Lucia’s special attack are just really damned cool looking.

Guy is borrowing Ryu’s Shinku-Hadouken

Speaking of cool looking, Final Fight 3 is definitely the best looking game in the series. Character and enemy sprites are well animated and always well-drawn. I was going to say beautiful, but many of the game’s villains are (intentionally) ugly. I’ve always loved the series’ backgrounds, but the settings in which you break gangster bones this time are especially noticeable and pleasing. Certain elements of the background are also destructible with the use of certain moves or by bashing an opponent close to them. As in the previous games, you also often make it to the next screen or area by doing a badass flying kick through chain link fences, glass windows, and even solid walls. If only our heroes hit the enemies this hard. You’ll fight in a prison, storefronts, on a moving bus, an elevator, a rooftop, and more. I still have hope for another Final Fight release where you begin the fighting right in Haggar’s office where he usually makes his angry, prologue phone calls, but Final Fight 3’s locales don’t disappoint.

Window shopping

The music and sound fit the action well, and serve to raise your adrenaline and push you forward through the game. Sound effects for hitting enemies are satisfying and have bass; they really make your punches feel like they’re connecting. A staple of Final Fight, the crushed vocalized grunts and groans are back and give the game a comfy nostalgic feeling. The music is reminiscent of past games in the series, and while you won’t be rushing to buy Final Fight 3’s soundtrack, it’s enjoyable and fairly catchy.

As the series would go on to become a 3D fighter in Japan, and then have a gritty (read: shitty) reboot in 2006, this is the last classic Final Fight game, and it does the franchise proud. While there isn’t a great deal of enemy variety and it isn’t the longest, there is plenty of challenge to be found in dispatching the latest gang to plague Metro City with your new special attacks in interesting areas. If you’re a fan of beat ’em ups, this is a necessary playthrough, and it’s tons of fun with a friend. It builds upon the gameplay of the past two games and adds welcome complexity. Though I’d suggest the Virtual Console version in lieu of a SNES cartridge unless you’re a collector or dead set on using the original controller, as it’s often sold loose for around $70 online. Maybe we’ll see Guy and Haggar in their own franchise again some day. Until then, they’ll be drop-kicking goons in my heart.

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Written by ChronoSloth

Video game reviewer who particularly loves the fourth and fifth generation of consoles. In an exclusive love triangle with Nintendo and PlayStation. Fluent in Al Bhed and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 combo notation. Follow him on Instagram to see lots of pictures of video games.