Final Fight 3 (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 ... again. After a two year break, Capcom decided to bring the brawler out of retirement for one last 16-bit adventure. Did Final Fight 3 send the beat-em-up off on a good note, or was it the final nail in the coffin? I have turned to old issues of Electronic Gaming Monthly, Die Hard Game Fan, Super Play and Next Generation to find the answers. See what critics thought of Final Fight 3 back in 1995 in this new episode of Review Crew.
(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 (November 1995)
"Alas, Capcom has once again disappointed me with a thoroughly mediocre Final Fight sequel. Technically, FF3 seems worse than its predecessors - extensive flickering and slowdown prevail. The art is totally average, the animation is Final Fight framey, and the tunes are standard Capcom SNES stuff. I think this genre can still work if handled correctly ... let's hope the next Final Fight will be better." -Nick Rox
(77% out of 100%)
ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY #78
"The Super NES is finally showing its age with titles like Final Fight 3. It isn't that the graphics are bad, it's that they are just "there." This game just wasn't exciting. Sure, there are some more moves and new characters, but I got the feeling that this was a good addition, but the ensuing slow-down really hampered the gameplay. The control wasn't precise at all, and it didn't have an arcade feel. FF3 is a renter only." -Andrew Baran
(6.5 out of 10)
DIE HARD GAME FAN (November 1995)
"Playing Final Fight 3 actually hurts. It's been a long time since I lumbered about with a poorly animated character punching the other poorly animated characters that walked in my path. Not only does the original smoke this turd in terms of gameplay, it does in music and sound effects too. A fond farewell this is not. It's more a kick in the head." -E. Storm
(55% out of 100%)
ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY #78
"As a longtime fan of the Final Fight series and the genre as a whole, I'm sorry to say that the third time isn't a charm. In fact, the gameplay is getting far too repetitive. I like the previous version, but it's just the same reoccurring enemies with a few extra moves, super attack and computer compensating as a second player are good but not enough to make this game original. It plays relatively well but needs a redesign, not just a facelift." -Sushi X
(5 out of 10)
SUPER PLAY #43
"While the gameplay, although a tad simplistic, is varied enough to get you hooked, the challenge is a travesty. Many household pets could take up the rather pathetic gauntlet admirably. Capcom have become sloppy in their old age and need a good slap."
(49% out of 100%)
NEXT GENERATION #12
"The original Final Fight was cool and interesting in its time, but this was more than four years ago. This is the second sequel and its adds almost nothing new. There are four fighters: the dependable Haggar (who was passed over in the original home conversion of Final Fight), Deen, and a new female, Rusia. This game is completely derivative, and technically it could just as easily be the first in the series as the latest. It's not dull, but it's not all that exciting either."
(2 out of 5)
REVIEW CREW AVERAGE: 56% -
The days of giving Final Fight the benefit of the doubt are long gone. As you can see from the reviews above (as well as that low average), critics were not keen on Final Fight 3 for the Super NES. Electronic Gaming Monthly noted that the four year old Super NES is starting to show its age, while Die Hard Game Fan subtly pointed out that "playing Final Fight 3 actually hurts." I wouldn't go that far, but I agree that Final Fight 3 is just spinning its wheels.
It's not just that Final Fight 3 is another aimless sequel, but rather that it feels like a big step backwards. "Technically, FF3 seems worse than its predecessors - extensive flickering and slowdown prevail," explained Nick Rox. Andrew Baran complained that the "control wasn't precise at all, and it didn't have an arcade feel." And Next Generation magazine summed it up this way: "It's not dull, but it's not all that exciting either."
At 56%, Final Fight 3 is the lowest scoring game in the franchise. Although critics were disappointed with
Final Fight on Super NES, they ultimately gave 80% out of 100%.
Final Fight 2 fixed the problems found in the first game, but still only managed a 71%. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
WAS HAGGAR IN FINAL FIGHT 1?
Contrary to what Next Generation would have you believe, Haggar has been in all three Final Fight games on the Super NES. He and Cody teamed up to save Jessica in
the first Final Fight, and then later teamed up with Guy in the appropriately titled, Final Fight Guy. Haggar was also a lead character in
Final Fight 2, as well as Final Fight 3. So when Next Generation says he was "passed over in the original home conversion of Final Fight," I'm not sure what they're talking about.
ON MONDAY'S EPISODE:
Now that we're done with Final Fight week, we can finally move on to something more upbeat. Monday's episode will bring you face-to-face with a blob and a boy. We'll see what Electronic Gaming Monthly and other classic magazines thought of A Boy and His Blob on Monday's episode of Review Crew.
Make sure and check out the
Review Crew archive for more old school reviews, and don't forget to tweet me
@DefunctGames to let me know what games you want to see next!
