365//365: Day 036 – Final Fight One (GBA) [Quickie]

There are only a few games that are a port of a port and still come out worth playing and worth owning. Final Fight One on the Game Boy Advance is one. While it gains a couple of notable things that the Super Nintendo was lacking, it also has a couple of things slightly altered, or changed as well.

Finally, a Nintendo port of Final Fight that features all three characters.

FFO gained the Industrial Area stage, as well as all three characters in the same game, and two player simultaneous gameplay, all missing from Final Fight and Final Fight Guy on the Super Nintendo. I don’t know why it was so difficult to have all three characters in the same game on a system more than capable of pulling off something so elementary. Everything else you loved and remembered is back in a smaller screen. The mayors daughter is kidnapped by Mad Gang and as the mayor Haggar, her boyfriend Cody, or….Guy, you have to fight your way through hundreds of bad guys to get her back. Great gameplay that defined the genre, detailed visuals, weapon and item pick ups, varied enemies, fun bosses, its all there. For some reason, it was extremely rare to find any game in the genre that could match its replay value and sheer fun factor. A timeless classic on the Super Nintendo, and more so in the arcade.

There are a couple of noticeable changes on the port over to the Game Boy Advance. First and foremost, the frame rate is a bit choppy. While gameplay isn’t hampered in any significant way, it is noticeable. Being that this is a portable game, not to mention an early GBA release, it’s not a huge knock against FFO. The other change comes to the audio. While the arcade and Super Nintendo versions feature powerful, pulse pounding music, as well as equally powerful sound effects, the GBA port sounds remixed, and less than impressive. It’s not bad at all, considering it’s on a portable system in its early stages of life.

Graphically, the Game Boy Advance version holds its own against the much older Super Nintendo port.

If you want a portable powerhouse that’s pick up and play, solid all around and never really gets boring, Final Fight One on the Game Boy Advance is as good as it gets. While the frame rate has issues, and the audio doesn’t pack as big of a punch as other ports, it’s still a must have title, one that you’ll come back to often.

Rating: 8.7