Final Fight ruled the 2 player beat em' up genre when it was released in 1989. The previous beat em' up king Double Dragon was improved upon in almost every way. Final Fight had better graphics, better music, more fighters, more fighting moves, better locales, better enemies and the list goes on and on.
The 3 fighters in Final Fight had personality which was something Billy and Jimmy Lee from Double Dragon didn't have. The 3 Fighters consisted of Cody (boyfriend of Haggar's kidnapped daughter) , Guy (Cody's friend), and Haggar (Mayor of Metro city). Each fighter had a unique fighting style and strengths(another improvement over DD). My personal fave was Cody. I once beat the whole game with Cody without losing a single life.
Guy's advantage is his foot and hand speed.
Haggar's advantage is his powerful attacks and wrestling holds.
Cody's advantage is his equal combination of speed and power, though he isn't quite as fast as Guy or as strong as Haggar. His greatest advantage is his skill with knives and is the only fighter who can stab repeatedly with one. The other 2 fighter's just throw the knives. I've cleared a whole level of thugs with just a knife alone.
BEST HOME VERSION OF FINAL FIGHT: (FINAL FIGHT CD (japanese import) for Sega CD):
The best home version of this classic is for the Sega CD and it's called "Final Fight CD" (the japanese version). You'll need a japanese convertor cartridge to play it though. Final Fight CD has everything the arcade had and better music. There is a USA version but the Blood, liquor bottles, some graffiti and scantily clad women have been edited or taken out completely. Blood is replaced by sweat, Liquor bottles are replaced by milk bottles, Some Graffiti is covered up, and the scantily clad women have been given less revealing clothes. Not to mention the english voice acting is horrible. The japanese version has japanese voices but the actors put more feeling into their acting. Trust me. Get the Japanese version only. Overall Final Fight CD (japanese) for Sega CD is actually better than the arcade.