Marc wrote:Final Fight is currently handing me my ass. Like someone above stated, half the time I'm genuinely not certain what it is I'm supposed to have done wrong, and the penalty for making a mistake is harsh. It's more of a game that I remember fondly from childhood rather than anything I'd ever try and seriously master, though I wasn't aware of a few of the tricks mentioned in this thread, so will try it with those in mind. There's definitely something about it though, for all that Capcom have refined more balanced, nuanced and playable titles, there something bout the visceral nature of FF than remains almost unmatched.
Besides following the advise given in this thread (Ex_Mosquito's post is pretty damn spot on), watching video's of someone clearing it with the character you decide to play as will absolutely help you. You learn how to deal with specific patterns/groups of enemies in the game, plus, it gives you a good idea how to tackle the bosses effectively, which is key early on. Best to save those resources for later patterns and spots that give you trouble.
Also like Ex_Mosquito said, memorizing the enemy patterns and when they appear is a big part to learning the game. Much like shmups, knowing what comes next is very helpful!
Indeed, the penalties for making mistakes is harsh, but once you learn the spots where you get guaranteed health you can use that to your advantage. Try not to overly rely on the area's where the food drops are random, as there's a few of them (for example, see the Subway).
The game does require you to learn how to play it as in knowing how your attacks work on specific enemies/groups of enemies, what enemy attacks you need to really pay attention to and how to handle them (hint, early on just use your super, it's gonna cost you less health), where you have iframes, how to correctly grab enemies, and what direction you face after using a throw is crucial. Especially as crowd control is huge in this game. But, once you understand the basics, the game starts opening up in a way that gives you a number of options depending on what the enemies are doing (as they certainly like to misbehave). You'll eventually find that you can play certain sections in nearly a free style way and have fun with them when you have the life to spare, or play conservatively (basically deadly, lol) when you need to hang on to your resources. You can even play it for score if you get
that into it!
It's a phenomenal game for a reason.