DF Retro - Final Fight

The Digital Foundry gang take a look at Capcom's iconic brawler Final Fight, detailing the tech behind the original coin-op as well as the many ports and sequels that followed. Of particular note is the news that, for their Mega CD conversion, Sega slowed down each of the playable characters, clipping the overall movement and attack speed of the nimble selections. A similar sort of averaging out plagued the Mega Drive version of Golden Axe - specifically the hit box of the playable character's weapons. Tyris Flare's short sword and Gilius Thunderhead's massive broadaxe both hit with the same medium range assigned to Ax Battler's middle-of-the-road sword.

Belly Not Full

Revealed at Capcom's recent Captivate event was this retail recalibration of Dead Rising 2, designed to cater for a perceived consumer want. Like a modern-day version of SNES curiosity Final Fight Guy, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record monkeys around with Blue Castle's six month old title, junking family-man player character Chuck Greene in favour of everyone's favourite slob, Frank West.

Dead Rising 2 was a decent enough approximation of the original title's lawless glee, even if it did lack the mumbled, lost-in-translation narrative qualities that drive most Capcom action games. The original Dead Rising chugged along to a pleasing survival horror conclusion, before transforming itself into a fraught, sci-fi scavenger hunt for the post-game bonus mission. Dead Rising 2 accounted for this nifty secret story-telling, but whiffed it by attempting to keep things organic. Dead Rising's joy came in its tangents, mistakes, and wild tonal shifts. It presented itself as a game made specifically for American tastes, whilst taking endless pot-shots at the consumer culture that drives that country. Dead Rising 2 played it straight, and came up short. With Frank West back in the avatar seat - and sporting an impressively slouchy beef gut - perhaps Blue Castle and Capcom can recapture some of the futureshock madness that made Dead Rising so special?