When one game is a success, it’s not uncommon for a lot of games to come out copying the successful game with developers hoping their game would be just as successful as the game they copied. Final Fight came out in September of 1991 for the Super Nintendo and Rival Turf came out in April of 1992. Was Rival Turf a good game or just a cash grab hoping to capitalize on the popularity of Final Fight?
Rival Turf is a side-scrolling beat ’em up where one or two players take on a gang that has kidnapped the girlfriend of one of the protagonists. One advantage over Final Fight is that two players can play cooperatively in this game while Final Fight did not include a cooperative mode. In addition to the main game, two players can take control of the protagonists and fight each other if they want to take a break from the main game.
When it comes to the challenge of the game, I think this game presents a harder challenge than Final Fight. One thing that helps you is when your character loses about three-quarters of his health, he goes into an anger mode where his attacks are stronger and he is invincible for a brief moment. Final Fight is hard enough to complete in my opinion but if you think Final Fight is too easy then you should see how you feel about the challenge presented in Rival Turf.
When it comes to the controls, I wouldn’t change anything about the controls. You can punch, kick, and can grab or lunge at your enemies. Some weapons appear less frequently but the controls to pull off these moves are not complicated and never failed me.
The story of the game is there is none. At least if you are playing the American release, for some reason, the decision was made to scrap the entire story from the American release but keep it in the Japanese release.
The graphics of the game are great. The areas change up so you don’t get sick from looking at the same background and the enemies look different so there is nothing I would change about the graphics.
When it comes to the music and sound effects, there is nothing I would change. The music is fine to listen to during levels and the sound effects didn’t bother me so there is nothing I would change about the sound.
Another place where this game fails is replayability. Once you complete the game, there is no reason to go back and play it again unless you have a friend who wants to play cooperatively with you who hasn’t already. Besides that, once you beat the game, there is no reason to play this game again.
The gameplay is fun but it is a challenging game. There is nothing I would change about the controls. There is no story explained at all. I have no problems with the graphics or sound but there is also no replayability so I give Rival Turf on the Super Nintendo an 8 out of 10. If you like sidescrolling beat ’em ups like Final Fight then there is no reason to not play Rival Turf.
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