Final Fight 2 (Super NES)
Ever wonder what Electronic Gaming Monthly, GamePro and other popular magazines thought of your favorite 8-, 16- and 32-bit games? Now you can find out, thanks to Review Crew! This is the only show on the internet that is willing to go back in time to find out what old school critics thought of retro games at the time. Did they pan your favorite game? Did they love something terrible? Find out every week as Defunct Games presents Review Crew!
Haggar is back in Final Fight 2, the sequel to Capcom's popular Super NES launch game. Learning from the first
Final Fight, Capcom has added new characters, locations and a two-player mode. But was this enough to please the critics back in 1993? We dig through old issues of Die Hard Game Fan, GamePro, Super Play and Nintendo Power for the answers.
(NOTE: Although we occasionally cut for length, no other edits are made to the review. Defunct Games does not change any of the wording, grammar or punctuation use. Also keep in mind that our score is the average of all critics at the time, not just the sample that is reprinted on this page. If you still have more questions, I recommend you check out the
Review Crew FAQ, where we address the review guidelines, converting scores, magazine covers and more.)
DIE HARD GAME FAN (July 1993)
"Haggar's back ... Finally. Not only is the boss back but 2 play simul. Is now possible and there are all new levels that have some of the best graphics I've ever seen since Toads. Besides that I have to point out one thing I didn't like. The game is a little too easy, but it's still the best fighting game out this year." -The Enquirer
(93% out of 100%)
GAMEPRO (July 1993)
"Final Fight 2's a fighter to be reckoned with, but it's not a knockout. You'll want to take it on for the thrills of two-player Final Fighting, but the game play's predictable, the music's weak, and the enemies are bums. This isn't the fight to end all fights, and we hope the next Final Fight installment is better ... finally." -Slasher Quan
(4 out of 5)
SUPER PLAY #10
"If I had to sum up Final Fight 2 in just one word, I think that word would be 'disappointing'. There are plenty of good things about the game. (It's still getting a pretty high mark, after all.) There's plenty of video game mythology in there to discover -- the Street Fighter II characters standing in the background, for example. But it simply isn't the revolutionary game we'd hoped for. It's just another scrolling beat-'em-up." -Jonathan Davies
(75% out of 100%)
DIE HARD GAME FAN (July 1993)
"Unfortunately, the only advantage FF2 has over the original SNES is the two player action. Everything else is more of the same. The moves are limited and soon get very repetitive and the difficulty is set much too easy. Streets of Rage 2 is still the one to beat." -Tom Slick
(70% out of 100%)
NINTENDO POWER (August 1993)
"Before there was a Street Fighter II stealing all the glory, street-fighting fans were punching and kicking their way to fame and fortune with Final Fight. PLUS: Great graphics and animation, and excellent play control. Capcom may provide its own biggest competition when players try to choose between Final Fight 2 and Street Fighter II Turbo. MINUS: It's hard to argue with success, but it would be nice to have more fighters to choose from and better artificial intelligence."
(3.4 out of 5)
SNES FORCE #3
"The one-player version takes some skill to complete, but only because you have to restart a level when you lose a continue, not through any strength of the gameplay. And as for the two-player game, Simon and I sailed through it on 'difficult' mode at our first attempt. What's the point of effectively rereleasing Final Fight with a new mode which poses no challenge at all? -Will
(62% out of 100%)
SNES FORCE #3
"With all the technical advances since the original Final Fight was released, I've come to expect more in gameplay than the standard walk-and-punch. Although the first few games are fun, I completed the whole thing in a day; one-player mode has more challenge but there's only so much you can do with such a simple concept, and FF2 becomes tedious within hours." -Chris
(58% out of 100%)
NINTENDO MAGAZINE SYSTEM #10
"The backgrounds are OK, with one or two nice touches, but the sprites are a tad shoddy and can suffer from, horror of horrors, screen flicker! At first glance the game looks like a huge challenge, but it's just way too easy and there's just not enough long-term appeal to warrant the cost of the cart. I hate to say this, and still can't quite believe it, but Capcom have turned out a sequel which proves a massive disappointment. What a terrible shame." -Tim
(58% out of 100%)
REVIEW CREW AVERAGE: 71% -
Based on these reviews, critics are starting to get Final Fight fatigue. While this sequel largely answers the criticism leveled against the
1991 launch game, it can't compete in a world full of Street Fighter II clones. The result is a predictable collection of reviews that complain about tedious button mashing and bland artificial intelligence.
To the game's credit, there were critics that enjoyed Final Fight 2. Die Hard Game Fan's Enquirer gushed over the visuals, saying the sequel had the "best graphics I've ever seen since Toads." GamePro called it "a fighter to be reckoned with." But they were the minority, as SNES Force, Nintendo Power and Nintendo Magazine System all featured lower scores. Given the technical advances in the two years since the first game, most critics were disappointed Final Fight 2 wasn't more ambitious. But even with the lower scores, Capcom's 1993 brawler still managed to average a so-so 71%.
ON FRIDAY'S EPISODE:
We conclude our Final Fight week with Haggar's final 16-bit outing. Is Final Fight 3 the game that brings the critics back to the long-running franchise, or would this be the final nail in the coffin? Find out what old school critics thought of Final Fight 3 on Friday's episode of Review Crew.
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