Retro Done Right – Final Fight: Double Impact Review

SeanNOLA’s Take: When I was in sixth grade, I lived in a town in Alabama called Enterprise.  There was a kid in my school named Kareem who was twice my size, very athletic and a snappier dresser than me. Needless to say, we ran in different circles and never said a word to each other. One day, while I was in the Dothan Mall with my parents, I took my allowance to the arcade and started feeding tokens to the Simpsons Arcade game. I was halfway through the first level when Kareem appeared out of nowhere and threw a token into that very same machine.  Although we had never carried a conversation before that time, we talked about school, the Simpsons and the Braves for close to an hour, until we had reached Robot Mr. Burns (spoiler?). Halfway through the final boss battle, I reached into my pocket – I had no quarters left!  Before I could even say goodbye, Kareem added a credit and hit start for me.  “We’re almost there!” he said.  The next thing I knew, we were entering our names to the top scorers’ list and watching the Simpsons, once again reunited with Maggie. I’m not going to say that Kareem and I became stalwart companions after that, but it was a shared experience, and every time we saw each other in the hallway, he’d give a nod, as if to say “thanks for helping me save Maggie from Mr. Burns.  I’ll make sure the basketball team doesn’t give you a swirly.”

It has been a while since arcades were declared dead, and since then, it is harder and harder to share an experience like that.  Competitive death-match style games don’t lend themselves well to conversation, and most cooperative action games require too much planning and coordination between the players to play with a stranger.  Arcade beat-’em-ups were perfect social lubricants, because very little cooperation was required, but having a companion made the games significantly easier.  Leave it to Final Fight, the original beat-’em-up, to help me rediscover that.

Final Fight: Double Impact sports largely similar features to other retro rereleases, like Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection or The Data East Collection, such as graphics filters, an art gallery and in-game save states, but what makes Double Impact truly unique is its drop-in/drop-out coop mode.  At any time, a player can set the game to allow strangers to drop quarters into their machine and hop start punching punks alongside them.  The resulting experience is just like playing in an arcade – you meet people, you talk and you have fun for an hour or two.  The feature works especially well in Magic Sword, which can take an entire afternoon to conquer, and is filled with nifty secrets that I never would have known about if helpful adventurers had not shown me the way.

The only major downside for Double Impact is that it only includes two games, Final Fight and Magic Sword.  Although they are impeccably presented and hold up surprisingly well, the experience ends quickly.  Some might have a hard time shelling out $10 for two 20-year-old games, especially when other, similarly priced compilations offer dozens of titles.  My greatest hope is that this release serves as a proof-of-concept, and we start to see Capcom release a library of classic arcade games with this great social feature.  Is anyone else up for a game of Captain Commando?

DesertEagle’s Take: Long before arcades deteriorated into homogenized locales lined with lightgun shooters, steering wheel-augmented racers, and the sporadic Dance Dance Revolution machine, they were the de facto venue for gamers. Before console technology blurred the distinction between arcade diversion and home conversion (thereby necessitating gimmicky hardware) paradise was never more than a token drop away. As SeanNOLA adeptly indicated- friendships were forged amid the glow of flickering phosphorus in a manner than cannot be replicated in online cooperative matches.

Final Fight: Double Impact may be the closest retro revisionists have come to imitating the arcade experience. While most modern recreations are content with merely emulating memorable titles, the developers of Double Impact clearly went to great lengths to offer an exceptionally polished experience that recalls a visit to the token-taking rooms of 1990.

Whereas most restoration struggle with the conversion of aspect ratios from arcade monitor to widescreen display, Double Impact offers a number of feasible variations. Players may duplicate the game’s original 1:1.17 ratio, complete with arcade instruction of the borders of the screen. Others may take delight in the view which offers subtle scanlines, a curved playfield and a nostalgic glow, carefully mimicking the distinctive look of a vintage display. No matter which option is chosen, the game can display a pixel-perfect rendition, or extended a refined coat of anti-aliasing; the choice is yours.

One element that hasn’t changed over the years in the difficulty of the two diversions included in the game. Neither Final Fight nor Magic Sword have been eased from their token- devouring heyday;  although the title offers limited continues, both games will offer a serious challenge to contemporary players. Luckily, each amusement still holds up amazingly well- especially when a second player joins Final Fight’s pugilistic proceedings. Players can either bond over local enemy pummeling, or indulge with the game’s fantastic online co-op, which offers a seamless arcade-like experience.

Double Impact is retro done right. With a myriad of customizable graphical options, a wealth of in-game achievements which unlock goodies, and flawless co-operative play, players seeking to relive the halcyon days of yesteryear will find few revitalizations better than this title. Now, if Capcom brings us either a U.N. Squadron/Gun.Smoke collection or a 194X compilation they just might win over the hearts and minds of a generation of aging arcade aficionados.