Jebus! I remember the C64 version being much better than that!
Spectrum clearly wins on basic sprite look and Amstrad on colour pallet but C64 on speed so it's a weird mixed bag really.
For me it'd probably go to Spectrum ultimately!
Love Final Fight though, my original and favourite side scroller beat'em'up and would take it any day over Streets of Rage etc.

Well, 1st time i'd ever seen both the various versions in motion and anything of the CPC version, so good result.

Until watching the video, i'd always been impressed by (still) shots of the Spectrum version, huge, detailed sprites etc, but seeing it in motion, ohhhh noooo!, it's a mess.

Mind you the C64 version, which looked poor, is just as bad, but for different reasons:small, block sprites, poor animation, washed out look to the colours etc, really does'nt look anything like Final Fight, does look the fastest version though.

The CPC version, despite, being a little sluggish, did look impressive, very colourful, decent sprites for an 8 Bit version, so CPC 'wins' here.

But Final Fight was always going to be more suited to the 16 Bit machines and seemed ill-suited to the 8 Bit formats, in my eyes.

I remember my friend getting the 128k Speccy version and I couldn't wait to play after seeing all the screenshots. I was incredibly disappointed when I played it, it just feels so empty with both the lack of enemies and lack of sound.

Any chance of an 8 Bit Ninja Spirt comparison soon mate?.

Any chance of an 8 Bit Ninja Spirt comparison soon mate?.

If I can find the video sure! 

Any chance of an 8 Bit Ninja Spirt comparison soon mate?.

If I can find the video sure! 

Sweet.Also like to nominate:

X-Out, Black Tiger and Midnight Resistance.All 3 i missed out on, 8 Bit wise as had 'moved on' by then.

I do like Black Tiger, the C64 version was exceptional!

I thought that while all three were clearly a stretch too far for the respective hardware to cope with the Amstrad and Speccy conversions looked more faithful to the arcade coin-op than the bizarre-looking C64 conversion.

The C64 version reminded of certain arcade coin-op conversions for the NES, e.g. Ninja Gaiden, that may as well have been called a different name entirely given that they departed so far from the source material. If I were to have been a fan of the Final Fight arcade coin-op all those years I'd have felt conned if I'd bought the C64 conversion as it just isn't like Final Fight at all.

I can't decide on whether I prefer the Speccy or Amstrad conversion. The Speccy for those magnificently large sprites and gritty-looking visuals and the CPC for a nice colour palette (unusual for the CPC given how garish many of its games' graphics were).

Oh, and credit to the guy who made said video for pointing out Streets of Rage II (MD) was the superior game in any case.

Looking at the then Zzap 64 review of Final Fight on C64, U.S Gold were asking £10.99 for this on tape!.

As well as looking awful, it had poor collision detection, hellishly sluggish controls and the flying kick move was all you needed to pull off, it defeated everything that came at you, thus making the game far too easy. 22% was review score (with Commodore Format giving it 19%).

Any chance of an 8 Bit Ninja Spirt comparison soon mate?.

If I can find the video sure! 

Just an idea, but how about getting some A8 love in on the 8 Bit wars threads?

Spy Vs Spy series came out on A8/C64/Speccy (and Amstrad), good enough place to start?

Any chance of an 8 Bit Ninja Spirt comparison soon mate?.

If I can find the video sure!  8)

ReplyQuote

Must have missed the A8 versions Laird originally, as i probably viewed the thread when i was with Talk Talk and thus streaming video for anything more than 30 secs at a time, without long buffering pauses, was impossible.

The OCD in me, likes to see 8 Bit micro Vs 8 Bit Micro, Console VS Console etc rather than 'all under 1 roof', but what ever is easiest is great with me.

Anything that increases coverage of A8's is a winner in my eyes.

Very much appreciate your time here.

This game should not have been ported to those platforms.

The Speccy version was clearly made thinking of how the game would sell if people only saw screenshots on the box and in the manual; when it moves, it is beyond any redeeming qualities.

The CPC version looks like they tried really hard; fine visuals, good sprite size for the resolution, but in the end it is still too slow to be good. But I really feel they made an effort to get it close to the arcade visually while playable.

The C64 game looks playable, it's definitely fast enough; obviously they did not even try to emulate the arcade look. Problem is, while I would say from the footage it is probably the best (as playability always comes before visuals, and decent speed aids playability) if it plays as poorly as described nevertheless it's also worthless.

This means the SNES got the only half-decent port, until the Mega-CD got the first really good one.

The trouble with the 8 bit ports is that on cassette, it would take you about half an hour to play as you went through an excruciating multiload, even though it was for the 128K. I'm sure like everyone else, I always selected Haggar, the huge gay-icon bloke. Sadly, without all the music and squeals, it felt pretty dead, and of course on the  Speccy it was too slow. That Final Fight made the conversion of Double Dragon interesting just about says it all.