Final Fight CD on MegaCD is the definitive version of Capcom's beat'em up. All three playable characters including Guy absent from the SNES, both arcade rounds, superb CD soundtrack. Perfect.
Your verdict
Category
Beat-'Em-Up1 player12+
Description
Haggar, Cody and Guy rid Metro City of the Mad Gear gang in this outstanding port of Capcom's arcade beat'em up. Published by Sega, released in Europe in January 1994. Scrolling beat'em up with all three playable characters including Guy absent from the SNES version, enriched CD soundtrack. Multilingual version.
Final Fight CD review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
2/5
Story
★★★★★
"Classic"
Akira Yasuda's sprites take up an unusual share of the screen: Haggar stands over a third of its height, and every opponent has a build, a haircut and an outfit that make them identifiable at a glance. Metro City scrolls from the graffiti-covered subway to the docks at sunset, and the conversion keeps the depth of field of the arcade backdrops.
Taking advantage of the CD, the game elevates the arcade themes in rearranged versions of unprecedented richness, with round basslines and punchy melodies. The music embraces the fury of the urban beat'em up with an infectious energy. This superior sound quality makes this adaptation one of the most accomplished of the genre on the console.
Gameplay
"Excellent"
Fun
"From the very first seconds"
Cleaning up Metro City with your fists, hoisting an enemy to throw him into the scenery and sweeping through a crowd of thugs: this port finally delivers the most faithful arcade version, two-player co-op included. The digitised voices and CD soundtrack elevate every street crossed. Raw, generous and cathartic, a peak of the beat-'em-up best savoured with friends.
North American January 1994 Sega longbox edition, which alters the original characterization by reframing Poison and Roxy as male characters via a US-only editorial decision of the era. That alteration remains a historical talking point. The American longbox includes the Final Fight CD mini-poster used for in-store promotion, now a piece of iconography sought after by 1990s beat-em-up enthusiasts.
An underrated gem
Regarded by many as the best console version of Capcom's brawler, this port restores Guy, the co-op mode and an invigorated CD soundtrack, where the Super Nintendo adaptation cut everything back. Though it stayed the preserve of the add-on's owners, its complete content makes it a treat for fans of two-player arcade scrapping.
Is Final Fight CD still worth playing in 2026?
A port of the famous Capcom beat'em up on Mega CD, Final Fight CD offers the most complete home version at the time of its release. All characters are available, the two player cooperative mode is preserved and the CD redbook soundtrack admirably benefits from the support. For anyone who loves old school arcade beat'em ups and wishes to rediscover an absolute classic of the genre in optimal conditions, the title remains an absolutely indispensable reference of the Mega CD catalogue still today without any hesitation truly indeed.
