Good finish. Left all the characters in a good place and had a pretty conclusive feeling to the series. I'm glad that Cody and Jessica are still cool and that Cody returned home. The celebration was justified, it was the least they could do for Lucia after she was framed. The final bits with Dean all alone by himself were the best way to tie up his character, he came seemingly out of nowhere and he leaves the same way although after finding some peace and solace. Feels true to him.

It was a fun ride, you know. Though I regret having taken so long to get off my butt and review. Thank you, bro. Things like this are nice for a change, I'll be looking into some other novelizations too. The Streets of Rage one you mention sounds hella fine.

Well, come to think of it he could be the prisoner Cody we know already but he doesn't show signs of the radical changes yet. I remember that between his dialogues in One and in later SF games he sounds a lot more carefree and loose than in his Metro City days. The rest of the Final Fight crew didn't change so much in contrast.

You know it's badass and they have come far when they can just shove the fodder thugs aside like they're not worth the time. The progress and development felt plausible, with a few good turns like Guy taking the final boss and the callbacks to Rolento, that guy is hilarious. I agree that Guy was due getting a boss fight like that and the prelude felt right, it speaks well of Dean to just give him that fight despite how much he wanted to crush the guy himself, makes his motivations more akin to justice than typical revenge.

The fight was everything I expected and then some, I couldn't help but picture Dutch from Predator screaming "Get to the chopper!" when the damn building was coming down.

Man, all those alternatives and possible outcomes are what keeps us replaying those games, it was a nice feature that added some replay value over the first two, must have driven you crazy to try and choose a single ending.

Dean's goodbye was deserved and well earned, unlike many other characters he only had one game to shine on and so this really has some feels behind it. Lucia giving him her number was super cute, Guy and Haggar's reactions were perfect.

Streets may have been turned into a warzone but even then there's always the optimistic notes from Haggar when he says he'll do something about it. I love that avout his character, he's a hero whose actions go beyond just the strength of his fists and size of his muscles, he can actually do some good for a change from his office and even after retirement you always see him fight the good fight.

So I was right about the Warriors. You sly dog.

With a few chapters left in the tank, I'd say things are tying up nicely. Dean only has one name to check from his revenge list (assuming he doesn't develop a vendetta for the criminal underworld as a whole), Lucia's almost cracked the case and Haggar is slowly taking the streets back.

This was a nice interlude, I can see what you meant. Seeing old faces in cameos to show us they're still cared for without forcing them into the main story is a move I liked, the time zone difference too, such attention to detail. I can dig Carlos and Maki as a couple, them living together on top of that is cute.

I see Cody still hasn't turned into his Alpha version but he seems like he's on his way.

All those baseball bats reminded me of the Warriors, there's this awesome scene where the crew is running from this other gang, the baseball bat furies, then Ajax gets tired of running so he stops and decides to kick their asses, he has one of the best one liners ever. "I'm gonna shove that bat up your ass and turn you into a popsicle."

Dean getting his revenge (half of it anyway) and not feeling automatically better sends a good message and proritizes truth over self fulfillment in this scenario. Stray paid (strong moment since he's so far the only villain other than Belger to get killed) and justice was served but an important part of revenge stories is that killing who wronged you doesn't automatically take away the pain, you still lost something. It goes even deeper than that, I recommend a korean film called Oldboy due to its content and comment on revenge.

Nice of you to give him that section alone and split him from the group. Lucia's reaction was nice, I like that you're showing that whatever feelings she may have for him aren't distracting her from being professionl and go on with her job.

The details like the floppy disks take me back to when the games were made, it's easy to forget they should be like in the 90's or something, can't tell how much older the crew should be in SF games since most of them don't look so different.

The ex-Mad Gears were a pleasant surprise, I won't lie to you. It makes sense and is in line with Street Fighter canon that they just got better and began to clean up their act because most of them weren't really evil by SF standards, they're just too crazy for their own good like Rolento and Sodom or they don't know any better like Andore and Abigail so seeing them, or at least what's left of them aiding the duo was nice. Gotta love Haggar's sentimentalism and morals in preventing even Roxy and Poison from prostitution. It waa always headcanon for me that the two had actually worked as hookers at one point until they moved on from the Mad Gear. I think all this serves a nice purpose by showing how bad the Skull Cross is that even these thugs won't work for them.

Though it would have been a whole lot cooler if they had fought the Skull Cross alongside Guy and Haggar at least this once, would make for a great scene or even an entire plot point where outclassed and outnumbered by a much bigger gang than before, our heroes and their old foes have to put their differences aside to stop the city from imploding. But well, I'm only saying what I'd do.

Guy's line about Kung Fu, Bushin and being actually japanese was pure badass. Tbh I actually thought he was chinese for the longest time until now, not sure why because come to think of it the final bits of 2 take place in Japan I think, where his master and Rena were.

Anyway, any excuse to see you have Haggar and Andore duke it out like in the old times is welcome, your description of the moves and techniques is rich though I'd advise you to work on the prose and techniques to make it more exciting without spamming words like "also" or "and then" in the same sentence.

You know, I recently developed a great interest in exploitation and grindhouse cinema and that's a plus to this story and Final Fight in itself, all that chopsocky film energy and the neo noir vibes you give are super cool. There was this film I recall named the Wanderers where there's a dude called Emilio who gives the biggest Mike Haggar vibes. I also watched this film Brawl in Cell Block 99 and while a bit hard to watch and stomach it gives you an idea of what Hollywoid could watch and learn to put in better action films like the classics.

Good point on Lucia and Dean's powers, it's true that they seemed like an outlier at the time because while over the top the first two games didn't feature that kind of raw power in characters but my theory is that the SF merge was getting closer and closer or well, they just wanted to add something cool and different for a change, very experimental.

Huh, I thought I had reviewed this chapter. Very well, you delivered on the action segments and bonding of Dean and Lucia. It's a rich dynamic that they share considering that Lucia is a cop and the most law-abiding of the protagonists in the series whereas Dean is arguably on the opposite end as the darkest and most anti-heroic of the lot. It's always a sight seeing you study the levels, their layout and the ways to adapt them, you bring so much the table by minding gameplay as you do.

The author's notes as always shine a lot of light on your artistic choices and creative process and lots of writers could learn from that kind of commentary.

You know, this might just be my favorite chapter so far. It was deeper than usual and such a bold move from you, making an interlude to take a break from the action and focus on characterization and character depth, I think that's awesome. While I haven't read the Streets of Rage saga by Matthew Drury, I'm fascinated by all the aspects I've heard of it, the character exploration, going beyond the arcade segments, cool stuff.

Don't know why you were so worried about pushing the rating though, I didn't see anything pushing the rating, nothing explicit or too mature. My pal DragonlordRynn has done some heavier shit in his Prototype fics and he's never had to go beyond T.

Going back to what I was saying, the interaction between Dean and Lucia was a highlight and one of the highest points of the fic, really fleshes out the two, which is importanr since they're the newcomers. Yeah, dialogue could use some more subtlety but it's still good, so was Edi. E (I wonder how the heck he's still a cop, lol) and the Andores making a cameo, great for continuity.

So yeah, thumbs up from me, I'm excited to see the next chapter and what other great moments you can conjure.

As I was saying, I've learned to manage. The fight with the british guy and the subsequent split of the party were a little treat, the hints at Lucia's attraction to Dean are appreciated, though it's perhaps a one-sided thing since Dean seems to be the least social and talktative out of all the protagonists, for good reason too, the loss of his family must have made him wary of relationships, can't lose someone if you have nobody.

I see your arguments being made for the bus fight, though you can actually make one handily as long as the bus isn't too crowded and with Guy being pretty much an MF'ing Ninja it has potential for maneuverability. I understand the tangle with Caine not being that much of a fight, I thought it was quite refreshing seeing more moral ambiguity and human antagonists who aren't just enemies to stomp, even in the games that aspectis explored through the lore with characters like Abigail, Rolento and Sodom being expanded on later. Plus when you talk about how evil and chaotic the Skull Cross Gang is when compared to Mad Gear you make a good point as to the game changers they are and well, even if you didn't cover 2 your mentions of the time gap, Carlos and Maki serve to show us how far the party has come. Awesome.

Quick question, have you seen the Final Fight fan film in youtube, The Broken Gear? As a fan I found it to be a great experience with an awesome production and fine cast, filled with nods to the games and it's just such a beautiful love letter to the game that I'm puzzled at how it flew under the radar with only around 80K views. Hope a project like that ends up being picked up just like SF: Assassin's Fist was.

Now back on the story, your author's notes are very insightful and I appreciate them for what they tell us in regards to your creative process. The changes and choices you make compared to the game tend to pay off.

I know it's not very easy writing a consistent and believable fight choreography for a larger group of characters, I myself had a bit of hard time in the All Star Odyssey writing fights for my protagonists since they're over ten (seriously) but I'v

Gotta love these moments of calm right before the storm where you focus on each party member and their drive in the quest. First there's our look at Haggar leaving his office, pretty good since you actually address his leave as mayor and how his secretary deals with it, then Guy reminding us of the ninja he is by sneaking up on Mike all casual, the focus on Lucia's police job (nice of you to explain her outfit choice outside of a standard uniform) and badge and finally Dean's history for wanting revenge on the Skull Cross gang. Basically every character feels true and motivated in the story.

Funny how many members of Mad Gear seemed to have just passed over to the Skull Cross gang, logically one could deduce that it was so that the designers and developers could save time or just out of nostalgia (it doesn't feel that much like Final Fight if you can't fight at least one Andore, lol) but it also shows just how die hard some of the foes in the series are, you have guys like Rolento who straight up frags himself with four grenades upon defeat and still waits for you in the next game.

I do believe the grammar and prose can be improved but it's excusable since these first chapters are kinda old and you have come a long way since then, which is good, constant improvement of oneself is a huge part of writing.

An aspect I found most interesting was the way you carried Dean and even Lucia's powers from the game. You did well by showing Guy and Haggar's reactions to them, though I don't think Haggar would be that shocked, seeing as the main antagonist of his spin-off game Muscle Bombers/Saturday Night Slam Masters, the Scorpion, had lightning powers too. But it's awesome how much talk about the verse and connection between games I can raise with that, are you familiar with the game? It's one of the more obscure gems in the SF/Final Fight shared universe, featuring Haggar as a main character. There's lots of references, such as Jessica jumping into the ring to celebrate in some of Haggar's victories, mentions of Birdie and Zangief, although it's place in the chronology depends on the version, the japanese one places it before Final Fight but the english one says that Haggar is the former mayor of Metro City. Either way it's pretty cool.

Anyway, I enjoyed your work on some of the action, you really made Lucia one kick ass chick and it showed when she beat the snot out of that crook Dave. True that Haggar and Guy had experience with crooks after fighting Edi. E.

Most of your creative choices are on point to me, although I pesonally would have played it nice and slow with Dean's revenge story, an example of this is how in For a Few Dollars More (great western, one of Clint Eastwood's best) we are introduced to the character of Colonel Mortimer, who's after the same bad guy as Eastwood and he's shrouded in mystery with his motivation being very vague, he just carries around a picture of a young girl. It's not until the climax through a series of flashbacks that we're told that the girl was his sister and the bad guy raped her so she killed herself, making the Colonel's motives personal. Sorry I got carried away, I just really love that film.

Definitely should have reviewed this earlier. Hey, man, this is a good start. Even though I haven't played 3 personally, my friend Luis had it and he brought it over to play with me once so I know something about the plot. Interesting additions those two, Dean and Lucia, I recall being rather drawn to the other Final Fight protagonists outside of the original three and I always liked how 3 featured four playable mains instead of the typical three. Funny how baddies like Rolento and Sodom would later become more prominent outside the main series than say, Carlos, Lucia or Dean.

Moving on, I liked how you covered the Skull Cross' rise to power after the fall of Mad Gear. It's scary how accurate it is to real life gang wars, it's like Hydra, cut one head and two more will replace it. It reminds me of a comic I think, where it's said that killing someone like Kingpin would only lead to a power vaccuum where worse guys would replace him.

Guy's return was a nice sight. Was hoping for more references to Final Fight 2 but I think you did enough by mentioning Maki. More on 2, I can see your reasons to want to skip to 3, very practical, though I myself can picture very easily how to get the trio going over the globe, Haggar could have just used political power and favors to secure transport, kinda like how in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure during Stardust Cruzaders arc the protagonists were always travelling over the globe thanks to the Speedwagon foundation. Plus some levels took place in docks so it's implied the team just boarded ships and trains to get around.

I'm also very happy you got back into this story and I hope my answers to your questions have proved helpful in shaping this fic.

It's a good story so far. My brother and I used to play that game on SNES. We beaten the game a few times. Also in the end when Dean said, "My fight is over." Please continue writing.