Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight
System: NES
Release Date: September 1990
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Genre: Action
Run and jump your way across the solar system punching everything in your way in Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight! You are the street fighter, Ken. No, probably not that Ken, though he does throw projectiles from his fists… You are looking to avenge your friend and partner in science, Troy. Together, you had created a super substance named Cyboplasm. It’s time to look to the frontier of other worlds for answers… and vengeance.
Ken jumps with the A Button and punches shockwaves with the B Button. Holding a direction modifies the attack. Pressing up shoots up. Pressing left or right throws a stronger projectile. Pressing down throws an out and upward curving shot. Jumping punches also seem to be more powerful than their standing counterpart. You’re going to need to punch a lot in order to take out all of the enemies in your way. There were three things that bugged me when it came to attacking. One was a lack of a crouching attack, which is difficult to get used to when the jet robots come in from below your attack. The second was that you can only punch once in the air, meaning if you miss, you’re a sitting duck. The third was that I could only ever get the backflip and related downward shot to work on accident when it was detrimental to me.
Most levels start by showing you a target you must defeat. These are either bosses or mini-bosses. They all have patterns that you can learn to make them trivial. These targets drop energy needed to teleport to the next area. Once you open the teleporter, you only have ten seconds to find it and get out. Levels also have blocks that you can destroy that occasionally conceal powerups. For every two you collect, you increase the power of your attacks. They are a must grab when you enter an area underpowered. Trying to take on the bosses without some powerups will prove to be incredibly frustrating, as they are hit sponges.
Ken can cling to walls and ceilings by pressing the A Button. Walls can then be scaled in order to reach new areas and avoid enemies. Enemies spawn constantly, so it’s always a battle to stay alive. There are a lot of enemy placements that are cheap and difficult to avoid, such as invulnerable rolling guys in narrow hallways. If you take damage, you lose a level of punching power and must recollect it. Enemies occasionally drop health in small and large varieties, and the rare 1-up. Also found in the item container is the back shield, which floats behind you and does damage to enemies that touch it. Very satisfying when you kill some weaker enemies with it.
Many levels are just a punching gallery where you need to kill a certain number of enemies to unlock the teleporter. Other levels are auto-scrolling and will pinch you between a wall and the trailing edge of the screen. These are the most frustrating levels that will have you using your unlimited continues over and over again. The final level is a boss gauntlet of sorts and requires a lot of precision or else you have to start from the beginning of the challenge. The final boss has two forms and they’re incredibly easy to bum rush through. As an aside, I love how three pages of the manual are devoted to advertisements for other Capcom games.
Graphics: 3.0
Sprites are a little small and the backgrounds are a little busy, but otherwise are pleasant to look at.
Sound: 3.5
Capcom really knows how to get good sounding tunes out of the NES and they showed it again here.
Gameplay: 2.5
The slowdown is atrocious. The game would have played a lot better without it.
Difficulty: 2.5
Once you get the controls down and learn the layouts of the levels, you’re not in for too difficult of a time, but until then it feels very unfair with many hazards appearing out of nowhere.
Fun Factor: 3.0
I didn’t know what to expect after the first couple levels, but the experience grew on me as I kept playing.
Overall Rating: 2.9
Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight earns a B. Ken’s adventure is a solid foray into the action platformer genre. Play it, because you could be doing a lot worse.