
Originally reviewed at Last-Gen.com:
Final Fight is one of the most popular beat `em ups ever, but have you played it on the Sega CD?
Like most, I have played Final Fight in arcades, and what a blast it was. When it came came in the form of an SNES cartridge, however, it had several changes: less enemies and items on the screen, less detailed graphics, not as pretty sound/music, a missing stage, etc. While these quirks were tolerable to an extent the SNES port lacked the almighty 2-player co-op, the singlehandedly most important feature in the beat `em up genre that Capcom somehow didn't include. Final Fight CD was made to fix all that.
While the Sega CD never enjoyed much success, it had some drool-worthy features for the time: large capacity of the CD format, much higher music quality, and full motion videos were some of its key assets. FF CD takes advantage of the CD format with voice overs and much more detailed graphics, something that every Final Fight fan can appreciate. Sure, the voice acting isn't great, but it was definitely something that caught your attention back in the day. The detailed graphics were also a sight to see, with more graffiti and destruction throughout the level. It's also interesting to note that while the graphics are more detailed than the SNES incarnation, the colors are less vivid in the Sega CD version due to the Genesis' inferior color palette (32k colors of the SNES vs. 512 on the Genesis).
FF CD also proudly features 2-player co-op, which makes the game a lot more fun. While the SNES version only had two characters to choose from (Haggar and Cody), FF CD also added Guy to the mix. The music also stands out since every track has been rearranged to take advantage of the CD format's superior capacity. The new music still stands the test of time today and wouldn't sound out of place in any modern video game. Good ol' Sega came though once again and broke through the censorship barriers once again. If you ever thought that Billy in the SNES FF looked a little feminine, you were on to something: in the Sega CD port, the original female characters are untouched, while they were censored for the SNES release due to their scantily clad outfits.
So if you're a fan of Final Fight and feel like dusting off your Sega CD, this is a fun game to play with a buddy. With multiplayer, addition of difficulty modes, and cheesy voice overs, you're in for one good fight.
While Final Fight has been ported for modern systems (PS2, Xbox, PSP) in the Capcom Classics Collection, keep in mind that only the Sega CD version has the arranged soundtrack and cheesy voiceovers.
Buy Final Fight (Sega CD)!