I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that Final Fight is one of the most beloved franchises in the beat 'em up genre. Created in 1989 by Capcom, and taking by storm the arcades at the time thanks to its huge sprites, awesome sound design, and combat that revolutionized the genre, Final Fight was without any doubt, a genre-defining game. So much so that one could say that the beat 'em up crazy from the '90s only took place thanks to the outstanding job Capcom did with this game.
Unfortunately, the game never reached the heights it could. Its two direct sequels were Super Nintendo exclusives and despite being great games, they never reached the recognition that the first game had. Both Final Fight 2 and 3 have a lot of fans around the world, but the consensus back in the day was that both games were good, but not good enough, especially when compared to other games from the same era.
Not So Wise!
Almost eleven years after the release of Final Fight 3, Capcom released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, Final Fight Streetwise, a mix of 3D beat 'em up with exploration and light RPG elements that focused on Kyle Travers, Cody's younger brother. The game was received badly by critics at the time and is often used as an example of how not to convert a 2D game for 3D. The game surely has its fans today and some even consider it a good entry in the franchise, but this opinion is far from the majority. Looking at discussions on the internet, you can easily find people claiming Capcom to stick with the original formula, instead of 3D.
The Famous Leak.
Back in 2020, a leak started to circulate around the web, which caused a small commotion in the community. Leaks are always fun to speculate and toy around, but it's hard to take them seriously, especially because they are so easy to fake. In this case, three years after the leak, we are starting to see that maybe, just maybe, there was something in there. While the leak has some pretty obvious names, I mean, it wasn't unimaginable that Capcom was developing an SFVI, others weren't a given like Monster Hunters Stories 2 (released in 2021 as the leak predicted) and Dragon's Dogma 2, which was predicted to 2022, as was the case with SFVI. We now know the leak missed these two dates, but considering the document is from 2020, we can assume that delays and changes in the schedule could very well take part in this. There was also an "Onimusha New Work" set to be released in Q4 2022, which now we know is the new animated series on NetFlix.
For us, beat 'em ups fans, the most important part of the leak was two little games tucked away at the end of the list: Captain Commando (Q4 2023) and Final Fight Remake(Q2 2024). It is pretty obvious by now Captain Commando is not coming this year, or at all, but we can assume, with some degree of confidence, that Final Fight could very well be in the works.
The (Hub) World of Final Fight.
Final Fight was never a stranger in Street Fighter. Since they added Guy and Sodom on Street Fighter Alpha (thanks for the info, Ahmed) more and more characters have been added to the ever-growing roster of fighters on Capcom's flagship game. Rolento, Lucia, Abigail, Maki, Poison, Cody, etc. Even Metro City itself is not shy to appear in the game, being the main stage for many of the characters above. With the arrival of Street Fighter 6, Capcom went all-in with the Final Fight theme, prompting even more speculation about the long-forgotten series. I can't say in first-hand anything about the game because I haven't played it yet, but looking at videos and talking to people around the web, it is more than obvious that SFVI pays homage to beat 'em up franchise. The whole hub world is in Metro City, you can find tons of characters from the series to talk to and train with, and there's a huge statue of Mike Haggar in the middle of the town. You can't deny Capcom acknowledges the series, and is making sure people know about it.
The Battle Pass.
This week Capcom released the new battle pass for Street Fighter which is all about Final Fight. Costumes, emotes, music, frames, avatars, everything is Final Fight related and, while this isn't enough to prompt more speculation about the future of the series, if you combine it with this piece of news, things get more interesting:
It is hard to not connect the two things together. After all, the announcement of a major game came in the same week as the Final Fight Battle Pass. All right, maybe Final Fight isn't as major as I would like it to be, but with all this celebration around the game, not to mention the franchise being introduced to tons of players thanks to Street Fighter VI, it is not unreasonable to think that Capcom could very well be preparing a new entry in the series, or a remake, as the leak stated.
Easy Money!
Capcom wouldn't need to work that hard to create a new Final Fight. Looking around, you can see the Japanese giant already has a huge chunk of the assets and animations ready to be put in the game. Yes, what I am saying is that Capcom could very well be preparing a Final Fight Remake using the RE Engine, and while I would love to see a new entry made in pixel art or even hand-drawn, using the same engine as SFVI would make a lot more (financial) sense.
As I said, they already have a lot of stuff from Final Fight ready to go in the fighting series. It would be just the case of changing the camera angle and adding a few missing things, and they are ready to go. And this would make sense not only financially, but also in terms of marketing. Creating a Final Fight with the looks and feel based on SFVI would create a sense of familiarity for those not used to the beat 'em up franchise. Being part of the same world and having the same looks, would make things simple for Capcom to advertise the new entry inside SFVI's world, teasing millions of players with the new game, not to mention how simple it would be to cross the content from both games with skins and even characters. This alone could make Final Fight the best-selling beat 'em up ever, even beating Streets of Rage 4, which sits today around 4.5 million copies sold. Easy money.
The Future Will Tell
Of course, this is all speculation and none of this is confirmed. Talking to some folks in the industry just left me empty-handed since no one seems to be aware of anything. There are signs, a lot of them, that Final Fight could very well make a return next year. The moment would be perfect since beat 'em ups are all the rage these days, with some heavy names coming next year like The Phantom, G.I. Joe, Toxic Crusaders, and, of course, Mayhem Brawlers II. A huge title like Final Fight would easily get the spotlight from the media, and it would make 2024 one of the biggest years in the beat 'em up history.
Don't forget to subscribe to the site to get the latest news! Follow me on X(Twitter) for more news and some fun stuff, on YouTube, to be up to date with the latest releases, or you can join our Discord Group to meet fans and developers from all corners of the world!
I‘m hoping for this one as well. It would be the first AAA beat’m up since the nineties!