Top 100 SNES Review: #46 – Final Fight (1991)

A Homoerotic Tussle.

Why does everyone have a porn ‘stache?


Sydlexia’s Ranking: #46/100
My Rating:cropped-smooth-star-e1545862962550cropped-smooth-star-e1545862962550cropped-smooth-star-e1545862962550

I went to a gay bar last night. It was the typical affair: everyone in their tightly knitted cliques creating walled-off circles as Ariana Grande music saturates the air. Almost all stereotypes were accounted for, even the alternative Beatnick with skinny jeans, platinum colored hair, and a stuffed animal back pack.

I’ve had kind of a rough morning since; maybe well rum and cokes don’t do the body as good as they used to. I needed something easy to play, and a classic side-scrolling beat ’em up was the answer. Maybe it’s because I’m hungover or maybe it’s because of where my last contact with society was, but this game seems like an alternative gay reality.

Final Fight SNES
Your first choice: to play as a twunk (a muscle twink) or a manatee (a hairless bear).


The story takes place in Metro City, a violent and vile place ran by the notorious Mad Gear Gang. A new mayor, Hagger, is elected and vows to clean up the city. The Gang responds by kidnapping his daughter. He gets his daughter’s boyfriend Cody (likely story) to help him as they fight to rescue his daughter and put an end to the city’s corruption.

Final Fight SNES
Not too unlike the gay club I was just at except this one has better lighting and decor.


This game isn’t complicated. You use two buttons for jump and punch. Depending on character placement, this can lead to a combo, grapple, toss, and a few other moves. The name of the game is to smash your fist in other people’s faces and have their life bar reach an empty red so they disappear forever from this dimension. Occasionally you have a bonus level where you beat up a car to smithereens for extra points.

I’m going to take a stab at the ground breaking features of Final Fight that probably floored the 1991 crowd:

  1. You have a character selection between the quick and weak Cody vs. the strong and slow Hagger.
  2. There are a couple opportunities to interact with your environment, like smashing doors, tire stacks, and oil barrels.
  3. A few different weapons add an additional layer of moves outside of your normal martial arts.
Final Fight SNES
The jaguar-patterned guy’s special attack? A quick hump.

The biggest thing that’s missing (outside of a straight character) is the co-op. This game was ported from an arcade version where you actually had three characters to chose from and where you could play with someone else. The SNES port is only a one-player affair, and I feel like it would have been more fun if your “friend” who lives with you in a single bedroom apartment could play as well, in between taking showers together of course.

Final Fight SNES2
Katana’s original name in Japan was Sodom. I suppose Nintendo America thought the theme would be too obvious if that was allowed to remain.


Final Fight is a good entry from the bygone era of arcade ported games and mustaches being a sex symbol.

Other People’s Takes:

  • SNES a Day: “Final Fight isn’t going to be anyone’s favorite beat-’em-up, but the simplicity of gameplay makes this a great game for someone new to games like this to try.”
  • Ray’s Backlog: “Also it’s only 1 player…Huh? it’s a beat em up that’s one player. I finally understood why more people went to Streets of Rage, it was clearly the better of the two games.”


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