Crime Fighters is something of a damage case, Konami's characteristically shredding late 80s OST aside. First thing to know is that anything but the three-button rev is trash. That dedicated [back kick] button makes a world of difference, providing both a reliable poke, and massively expanding your combos. Stock PPP is weak, KKK is shocking. PP.BK.BK.BK. is a reliable demolisher, and raw BK can take down heavies entirely on its own with good off-axis positioning.
I can't help liking it, a lot, just on the sheer meanness of those Muay-styled combos. Look at them career-ending kidney shots to poor Junkyard Dog!
Yeah you're gonna be hawking vitamins and BBQ grills from now on JD. 3;
The gritty world design is A1 too, far nastier and grimier than its sequel where our hardass ex-cop discovers mom jeans. Unfortunately, the stage design is brutally unhelpful - wave partitioning is even more vital than in other beltscrollers, they'll let you put a goddamn army onscreen if you're not careful - and even if you can wrest the game under control, it goes and pulls a Gradius III with that stupid Boss Revenge stage. I'd like to go for a 2ALL Nomiss someday, but the Boss Revenge is such a farcical spike, it demands an entire university course... see also GIII cube rush.
CF2 can't be compared, imo, either in difficulty - it's downright uncommonly generous by AC brawler standards, with the massive vertical range on your attacks (in direct contrast, CF1's vert range is infamously, at times irritatingly tiny), plus the virtually bulletproof A+B knockdowns, which open up the dominating stomps, and this isn't even counting the weapons, which would be outright overpowered if they didn't break - or technical quality - it's chalk and cheese compared to CF1's stiff, unforgiving, sometimes inexplicable collison.
That said, you will still get eaten alive if you're not conversant with off-axis attacking. Fighting head-on will get you splattered pretty fast. Use that vertical range to stay out of the line of fire, and you might be surprised at how quickly the first loop falls in line. It's also critical you make full abuse of that stomp game... you're expected to actively pounce on and demolish grounded enemies, who'll (in another pleasant surprise) recover not refreshed, as is the beater norm, but doubled over in agony and ready for even more punishment. Very gritty, I dig. The ground is a harsh mistress, kids!
You can even hit multiple grounded targets with one ground flurry, and if you get knocked down, the recovery kick can stagger or outright kill nearby enemies.
So You Thought You Were Safe, And Now Your Face Is On Fire
(yo, is that the dancing girl from Paro Da... and Pastel from Twinbee?!
Oh hell no, did she really end up on the game?! Headcanon headcanon headcanon... yeah nah she's working undercover to bust the Donburi Human Trafficking Co, that makes sense
)
The second loop, I really wish was just the one and only. It bulks up the crowds perfectly, and the (again, surprisingly fair) bosses don't change at all. The deadliest by far is actually the little Igor dude who rides on his Frankenstein Monster big bro's shoulders, possessing the game's one and only 8way attack. Even the Boss Revenge stage is redeemed.
A single dumb gimmick aside - the big boss's CF1-recalling last resort - you can attack CF2 bosses with an aggression - and more importantly, intuition - undreamed of in say, Final Fight, where most bosses have some highly idiosyncratic quirk that'll annhilate the non-conversant. I wouldn't call it unfair, let alone brutally, just unforgiving - even zako grunts can decimate your lifebar in a couple stray jabs. That's more of a plus than a minus imo.
A serously admirable final showdown, in my estimation. No obscure tricks needed, just weather the brutal pressure with brawler fundamentals. Stay off the enemy's line, even when attacking. Don't get pincered. Place your shots carefully. Even more or less under control (that was a second loop practice run), look how that random knifer damn near annhilates me for a split-second's hesitation.
I would call it a near-perfect hybrid of Kunio's low-fi viciousness and Final Fight's cleaned-up interface. CF1's a charity case, even before considering the kiss of death that is the Boss Revenge. Still glad to have it around though, in 3-button rev, that is!
hamfighterx wrote:this one is already a go to phrase in my daily life, THANKS NICE BOYS
I love it when an arcade game calls me nice
See also
Magician Lord, I swear it catches me off-guard every time.
~THE THEME OF NICE BOYS~
NICE BOYS! (NICE BOYS!)
Never lose it!
NICE BOYS! (NICE BOYS!)
Never chose this way!
NICE BOYS! (NICE BOYS!)
Never close your eyes...
Nice Boys Always Shine!!! 
Serious fellows. That TLC is a rarity in the console emulation field.
), and 
