As soon as the other Capcom beat-em-ups hit the arcades (which was at the very beginning of the '90s), Final Fight felt stale. Cadillacs & Dinosaurs, Punisher, Captain Commando and Warriors of Fate respectively handle much better and are joy to play even after all this time. Not to mention Alien v Predator, Armored Warriors, Battle Circuit...
That said, what do we have here? Primordial beat-em-up made far longer and thus faaar more boring. A real yawn-fest and a true chore to play-through, Street Fighter '89, though gameplay-wise quite true to its source, is so repetitive that soon into your first game you'll be able to figure out the unmistakable pattern in which enemies are about to re-spawn and where. Midway through the stage two, it's always: a) charging fatties; b) barrels; c) Andore family; d) assholes with Molotovs. Just make sure to have your finger on your special attack button ready as you progress through the idle scenery and you'll most certainly reach the last stage on your first try. If you don't get bored to tears, quit the game, delete it and never ever think about the Final Fight and any of its trillion fangames again, that is. Which is the most likely scenario.
Time was not kind to the og Final Fight and therefore re-making it, re-imagining, or whatever you want to call these homebrews, is no more than an exercise in futility. Two stars for the effort. The experience itself was... well, awful. Really no point in sugarcoating it.
