FF 6

It’s been 25 years since the arcade release of video game developer Capcom’s Final Fight. While it wasn’t the first side-scrolling beat ‘em up, at the time of its release it was far and away the best, and the number of sequels Final Fight spawned makes its title almost as ironic as the long-running Final Fantasy’s.

In honor of the classic hitting the quarter-century mark, Capcom’s green-lit a Final Fight CD release. No, it’s not a sequel, nor is it a reissue of the Sega CD version. Instead, it’s a soundtrack collection for practically the entire franchise.

The 6,000-yen (US $55) bundle is being sold through video game soundtrack publisher Clarice Disc. Surprisingly, this is only the second time the Final Fight series has gotten a commercial soundtrack release. You have to go all the way back to the original installment for the first, and it isn’t cheap on the used market.

▼ Current price on Amazon Japan for the arcade Final Fight soundtrack: 8,205 yen ($76)

FF 1

While Clarice Disc has done a pretty thorough job gathering materials for the 5-CD set, it isn’t quite a complete collection, as it’s missing the music from the American-developed Final Fight Streetwise. It’s not entirely sure anyone will miss it, though, considering the lukewarm reception the title received, plus the fact that with no new Final Fight games coming in the eight years since it hit store shelves, it seems to have killed the franchise.

Every other game in the series is represented, though, and even every release. In addition to the arcade original, Clarice Disc’s set includes the soundtracks for the Super Famicom, X68000, and Mega CD/Sega CD home releases of the first Final Fight, as well as the reworked Famicom port Mighty Final Fight and the Gameboy Advance remake Final Fight One.

FF 2

Final Fight had two largely forgotten Super Famicom follow-ups. Final Fight 2 is primarily remembered for a cameo background appearance by Street Fighter’s Chun-Li, and Final Fight Tough wasn’t even able to leave a lasting world-wide impression from its unorthodox title, since it was renamed Final Fight 3 in overseas markets.

▼ Yep, kids, Street Fighter II was so huge at its peak that this was a selling point.

FF 3

The soundtrack collection even has the contents of the 8-centimeter music CDs that were bundled with the X68000 version and the Super Famicom’s Final Fight Guy, where it was still unable to distract disgruntled gamers from the fact that the latter title still didn’t include all three of the arcade original’s main characters. Rounding out the set is the soundtrack for Final Fight Revenge, the 1999 polygon fighter that almost no one remembers from the arcades, and even fewer people played on the Sega Saturn.

▼ Visual proof that this game existed (and included chainsaws)

FF 4

In addition to the five discs, the set also comes with a commemorative DVD of a no-death clear of the original game, so you can recreate the experience of going to the arcade and having to wait around for 20 minutes for your chance to play because someone else is already on the machine. Clarice Disc is also planning to include footage of an upcoming Final Fight Revenge tournament scheduled to be held on November 16 at the Mikado arcade in Tokyo’s Takadanobaba neighborhood.

▼ The event is sure to be packed with retro gamers and students from nearby Waseda University putting off doing their homework.

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Clarice Disc is taking preorders for the set here on its website, with delivery expected in late December or early January.

Source: Clarice Disc, Inside Games, Jin
Top image: Hardcore Gaming 101
Insert images: Amazon Japan (1, 2), Tumblr, Gamefaqs, Magic 3