Who doesn’t remember spending way too much time and money in videogame arcades in the late eighties and early nineties, playing classic games like Capcom’s hit side-scrolling brawler, Final Fight?

You haven’t played Final Fight?!

Well, at least you played Capcom’s side-scrolling fantasy-based action game, Magic Sword, right?

You haven’t played Magic Sword either?!

Perhaps it’s time we spoke a little bit about Final Fight: Double Impact, then.

Capcom’s latest Xbox LIVE Arcade and PlayStation Network game, Final Fight: Double Impact, is a collection of two of the publisher’s older arcade titles in one package, complete with modern-day accoutrements such as couch and online cooperative play, remixed soundtracks, Achievements/Trophies and improved visuals, all wrapped up in an all new, awesome presentation that suits the history of the games very well.

Final Fight is a pretty straightforward 2D brawling game that lets you take control of one of three selectable characters as you battle your way through city streets, night clubs and upmarket office spaces in an effort to save the daughter of the mayor of the city, Mike Haggar.

Input is dead simple, with directions to move around the screen and two buttons, punch and jump, available. These buttons are then used in different combinations to pull off special moves, perform jump kicks, throws and to pick up special items (health and weapons), so there’s a surprising amount of depth in play as you beat up waves upon waves of goofily named enemies and end of level bosses. If you die too many times, you can either run out your time and restart from the beginning, or continue where you left off and finish the game in one sitting.

Adding a second player to the mix doubles the fun (fancy that), although I wasn’t able to find an option to turn ‘friendly fire’ on (so you and your partner aren’t able to hit each other). That would have been a nice addition, but perhaps against the spirit of the arcade version.

Magic Sword, on the other hand, is a fantasy-based side-scrolling action platform game, where players are equipped with the eponymous sword which builds up energy automatically, allowing you to unleash more powerful attacks and projectiles against an array of peculiar beasts and magical foes. The key hook for Magic Sword is the ability to pick up a single ally by freeing prisoners from cages – anyone from magic users to brawlers.

These allies follow you around and attack when you do, and even level up the more you use them. You can, however, discard a chosen ally at any time and choose another if you come across someone you’d rather take on your adventure, but then you lose your levelled up character.

Unlike Final Fight, adding a second player to Magic Sword is pretty frustrating and chaotic, as you’re essentially adding another two characters on-screen throwing projectiles and moving around causing visual confusion. You’ll need to consciously ensure players remain at opposite ends of the screen to avoid clashing with one another, but even this is a poor solution.

In both Final Fight and Magic Sword, the remixed music is very good (although you can choose at any time to play the old classic music), while the different combinations of viewing modes (to make the older visuals smoother, and even allow you to play the games in an arcade cabinet view) are a great touch.

While there’s a great deal of content contained within Final Fight: Double Impact, it’s the quality of that content I’m concerned about. Everything is presented in top-notch form, but the fact that the gameplay of Final Fight and Magic Sword isn’t particularly engaging past the first fifteen minutes of novelty play means that the remaining levels (and there are a lot of them, especially in Magic Sword) won’t really inspire you to slog through.

The ability to continue from where you left off (if you choose to quit mid-game) is a great addition and helps in this regard, but even the great drop-in two-player functionality won’t help freshen up the same challenges you faced in the last level.

These games were terrific back in the day, but it may be time to remove those rose-tinted spectacles and realise that modern-day games are able to keep the average player’s attention for much longer, as game designers have learned the importance of pacing and the introduction of new challenges and abilities throughout a game to keep it fresh. These were games designed for short bursts of play in the arcades, and not for long periods of couch play.

At $10 on both Xbox LIVE Arcade and the PlayStation Store, Final Fight: Double Impact is priced about right, and Capcom would tell you that for all of the content (two full games, all kinds of improvements and additions, two-player modes etc.) it’s an absolute steal, but you should also consider that you may only play the package a few times, and then a few times with a friend, either for nostalgia and novelty, or because you’ve never played the games before.

If you’re eyeing some or other game for purchase in the immediate future, you can probably put Final Fight: Double Impact on the backburner for now – it’s not going anywhere.

(Note: PS3 version requires online connection to play)

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