Final Fight Guy

Remember red-cloaked Guy from the original arcade Final Fight? Well, the good news is he's back, and his game is still technically sound. Unfortunately, the rest of the news isn't so good for Final Fight fans.

Why, Guy?

Okay, quick history lesson: Final Fight came out in 1991 on the SNES. This awesome side-scrolling action/fighter sported some truly spectacular straight- from-the-arcade street scenes, great combos, special moves, and a crazy gang of enemies. It was one of the year's best games.

Still, many fans of the coin-op were disappointed. They had five main complaints: the game was only one-player; the female enemies were censored (they were changed into males); a level was missing: there was some slowdown and flicker; and everyone's favorite character, Guy, had been removed.

Time for a revised version perhaps?

FF Guy has finally appeared as an exclusive rental at Blockbuster Video stores. Let's run down the checklist, shall we? The key issue has not changed: FF Guy is still only one player. The females are still censored, and the missing level is still missing. On the upside, the slowdown doesn't seem as bad. And yes, Guy is back. But guess what -- Cody was removed to make room for Guy!

For First-Timers Only

Final Fight Guy is basically the same as the old FF, so it still rates highly. If you've never played FF, you'll jam to the jazzy background music through five unique levels of Metro City. You'll stare at sweet street scenes such as the parallax-scrolling Statue of Liberty. And you'll definitely dig the superb enemy artificial intelligence. However, if you already played FF, you've already fought the good fight.

When you pick up the FF Guy box, don't be misled. Although the box is printed in Japanese, this game is not the two-year-old Japanese Super Famicom version. If it were the Japanese version, the female enemies would be intact (in all other ways, the SNES and Super Fam versions are the same).

Final Spite

If you were hoping for the Final Fight with two-player action and the missing level reinstated, spin up the Sega CD version instead. But if you've never played Final Fight, go for this rental.

Welcome fighting fans to another edition of Final Fight! This time, Guy has joined the party, but Cody decided to take a little breather! In Final Fight - Guy, the levels that were left out of the original are now in this outrageous Super Famicom cart. It isn't scheduled to come to the U.S.