Capcom's Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight is not a typical Street Fighter game. If you go into this relatively obscure NES action title knowing you won't hear "Hadouken!" shouted once, you may be able to enjoy the experience. However, Street Fighter 2010's depth and surprisingly intricate gameplay will likely be lost on all but the most patient of gamers, thanks to a punishing difficulty level that rivals any of the toughest NES games ever created.
Taking place in the "distant future" of 2010, Street Fighter icon Ken is now a hardened bionically enhanced space explorer who sets off on a journey to save his friend Troy. It should be said that the story — which is not very detailed and makes little sense — is different from the original Japanese version, which doesn't feature Ken. Capcom changed the main character to Ken for its western release to connect the title to the Street Fighter franchise, if only in a cursory way.
But the story doesn't detract or add to Street Fighter 2010. The gameplay is what makes the experience unique. Ken goes from planet to planet, taking out all sorts of aliens and enemies along the way; each stage tasks the player with targeting a specific enemy or group of enemies. While Ken doesn't have his move set from the main series, he can shoot in several different directions — in addition to left and right, Ken can shoot vertically and horizontally, as well as on a slant. The agile character can also climb walls and do backwards flips. While the surprisingly complex controls are quite impressive for an NES title, they don't work flawlessly; Ken will latch onto a wall or pole when jumping or running, ruining the player's plan to jump or shoot. His energy projectile weapon (which comes from his fist) can be upgraded by collecting power-ups — these are absolutely crucial to defeating enemies.
After the objective is complete, Ken has a limited amount of time to get to a portal and end the stage. The excruciatingly difficult first stage will be the deciding factor for many players. The game doesn't try to teach players the mechanics, instead expecting them to learn as they go. While it's satisfying to finally master the controls, some will be very frustrated to see the "Game Over" screen so soon into their playtime. The difficulty can sometimes feel cheap, too, thanks to the sticky walls and poles.
Street Fighter 2010's dark colour palette suits the space-themed game well, but Street Fighter fans will miss the bright, cartoony graphics they're used to. The sound design, while competent, is not up to Capcom's lofty standards, especially when heard through the tinny 3DS speakers. Finally, the Ken sprite is disappointingly generic, leaving players to control a rather typical "space marine" for the duration of the adventure.
Conclusion
For fans of extremely tough titles, Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight will probably be a lot of fun, yet those looking for a traditional fighting game — or a game with the "Street Fighter" personality — should look elsewhere. Street Fighter 2010 is best looked at as a relic, an interesting experiment in a beloved series that tries to do something different and doesn't entirely succeed in execution.
Comments 28
How did this score higher than X3?
@AdmiralThrawn Different reviewers I guess
I hope Capcom releases Trojan (NES) game soon.
This game looks fantastic, hope it gets released on the Wii U soon!
Should have just made a Final Fight crossover
I'll admit it looks cool and sounds good on paper, but from what I've seen, it has some really bad decisions that make it more frustrating than fun. It might be worth it with save states, though.
I remember having a whole lot of fun back when this was originally released. I may have to pick it up to see how well my skills have aged decades later. I don't think I even connected it to the Street Fighter series at the time.
Interesting. I may have to get this after Nintendos Super Smashing sale is over.
Man, 2010 sure was crazy, eh?
Played this on the original NES way back when it was originally released. Vaguely remembering thinking that the game was very good but had tough controls and a very high difficulty level. Expect that it will appeal to a very limited crowd today... but curious enough about reliving the experience that I'm considering giving a shot.
Interestingly when this game first came out, my knowledge of Street Fighter was non-existence. Since Street Fighter II came out after this I always thought this game was the first Street Fighter and Street Fighter II being the sequel. It wasn't until the GameCube era that I realize there's an actual Street Fighter I (which wasn't very good imo).
This game was reviewed in AVGN.
I remember seeing this reviewed by AVGN. Scary stuff.
@Kaze_Memaryu I laughed.
lol I remmeber this game from a weird 148 in 1 GBA game. This one was the best NES game out of the bunch (along with bionic commando) so I decided to play and was not dissapointed, but its really difficult (that plant stage...)
Li'l trivia: The reason it's not much like a "Street Fighter" game, is because it ISN'T! They just added "Street Fighter" to the english title to get people interested in the game.
When did Duke Nukem become part of the Street Fighter Franchise?
@Beau_Skunk
That's what I'm thinking. They just slapped the Street Fighter in the title. I may get this when it comes to the Wii U.
@Gridatttack Yea i also found out about this game from a GBA cart like that!
What an oddball game Doesn't look like Ken at all but hey, gotta sell those games right?
A 3ds sequel could be pretty cool
There's absolutely NO way this game is 10% better than Mega Man X3.
Something is very, very wrong here...
@Eisenbolan I actually remember seeing that in an issue of Nintendo Power 4 years ago. I thought it looked interesting and I'd very much like to play it.
I will agree with the AVGN on this one.
I was initially planning to get the Nintendo e-shop rerelease of this game until I found out it retains the "Nintendo hard" difficulty and didn't include save states.
I actually really like this game...
I'd give it either a 7 or 8.
The reason it's not much like a "Street Fighter" game, is because it ISN'T! They just added "Street Fighter" to the english title to get people interested in the game.
Bear in mind that Street Fighter II didn't exist when this game was released.
I was scrolling through the eshop today and had to buy this because, what the hell? Ken in the future? I’m sure this is just a novelty, but I doubt this will be easy to find after the eshop closes so why not? Hope it’s decent lol
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