To learn the mechanics of the game, you’re in the “Netherworld” fighting back an unending horde of zombies. (As an aside, is there any title we shouldn’t expect to have some RPG elements in the future? We’re two titles away from Mario earning extra ‘jump’ stats for every Goomba he squashes.) But it’s as much fun, and tells as compelling a story, as Konami’s most-celebrated ode to the heroes in a half-shell. Ska Games’ “Charlie Murder” is a love song more to the second title, with this generation’s obligatory inclusion of role-playing progression and in-game economy. If this doesn't give you the warm fuzzies, we have nothing more to talk about. Two stick out in my mind: the brilliant “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time” and 1989’s “River City Ransom.”
The fun of Final Fight led to other classics of the genre. Metro City is apparently a jurisdiction where due process and reactive policing got lost somewhere in the municipal codes. There’s something incredibly satisfying about playing as an elected official – Mike Haggar, the suspendered mayor of Metro City – beating the unholy snot out of street punks.
My education in the side-scrolling beat ‘em up began, as most children of the ‘90s, with the spritely “Final Fight” for Super Nintendo.