Nintendo's GameBoy Advance shares many technical similarities with the SNES, and as a result many companies have been milking their cash cow franchises with direct GBA ports of their old SNES games. Nintendo itself is at the forefront of the rehash wave, porting games from its Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario World game lines to the "GamePort Advance". Of course where there is milking to be done, Capcom is never far behind, and the most notorious franchise-milker in the business gets in on the porting fun with Final Fight One, a GBA rendition of the old-school arcade and SNES smash hit Final Fight.

All of the classic side-scrolling, beat-em-up action is faithfully captured in Final Fight One, from the punch-punch-punch combos to the spinning desperation moves to the big, bad boss battles. Playing as Cody, Guy or Haggar, you take to the mean streets of Metro City in an attempt to reclaim the mayors' daughter Jessica from the Mad Gear gang. Each character has canned combos that require simple button mashing, and a unique desperation move that will knock down all opponents when you're surrounded. There are jump attacks and throws as well, but the range of moves is fairly limited compared with later 2D brawlers. Weapons, such as knives, katanas and pipes, can be picked up and used with varying degrees of effectiveness, depending on which character you select. If you have two copies of the game and two GBAs, you can take to the streets in co-op mode, which harkens back to the golden age of side-scrollers where two-player simultaneous action was standard issue.

Visually the game is nearly identical to the SNES version, albeit with a slightly smaller viewing area due to the reduced resolution of the GameBoy Advance. The game features crisp backgrounds with adequate color depth, and the sprites are large and detailed, but the game does look dated and doesn't really stack up to 32-bit side-scrollers like Symphony of the Night. Final Fight is famous for its gigantic sprites, and they look clean and sharp on the GBA screen. All of the colorful enemies are here for your pummeling pleasure, though the female hookers have unfortunately been changed to male prostitutes. *shudder* You'll fight through six distinct and dangerous areas, from the Slums to the Subways to the Bay Area. You can participate in two bonus stages throughout the game, and clearing them perfectly will net you a lot of points. Although high scores are almost nonexistent in modern games, it's still a fun challenge to beat your own point total, and there are lots of opportunities to do so in Final Fight One.

As with most ports of SNES games, the sound effects and music have been translated with less than stellar results. The many voice samples, while not of the highest quality in the first place, sound even more garbled and distorted on the GBA. Punches and kicks sound dull and flat, and the lack of bass response on the GBA results in effects that are more high-pitched than they should be. The music has been remixed completely to work with the more primitive sound capabilities of the GameBoy Advance, and I must admit it sounds appealing. While some of my favorite tracks play at a reduced tempo or with a different instrument set, most of the tracks sound quite good. I found myself checking out the BGM test in the options menu on more than one occasion. This is classic hard-rockin' video game cheese at its finest, and I couldn't be happier.

Capcom has added a few twists to Final Fight One, in a bid to entice you to purchase a game you already bought ten years ago. First of all is a rewards system, in which secrets are unlocked when you reach set milestones for defeated opponents. This essentially gives you incentive to play through the game multiple times to unlock everything, which you probably would have done anyway. In addition to the original versions of Guy, Cody and Haggar, you can unlock playable versions of Cody and Guy from the Street Fighter Alpha series. They seem to be a bit stronger than the normal characters, which is great if you decide to play on the harder difficulties. Playing further you'll unlock a costume color selector, a stage select and a rapid-punch ability for all fighters. The game saves your progress at the beginning of each stage, so you can turn off the game and come back to the same stage later on, which is a useful feature for a handheld game. All told this is a fine set of extras, and will most likely encourage multiple play trips through the games' six short stages.

Overall Final Fight One is a solid package, and the perfect beat-em-up game for on-the-go gamers. The new additions make the game much more suitable for portable gaming, and the simple mechanics feel perfectly adapted to the GameBoy Advance. Whether you're brawling at home or kicking ass on the bus, Final Fight One offers a huge amount of fun. If rehashes make you uneasy you'll likely want to look elsewhere for portable thrills, but fans of the original Final Fight will find a lot to like here.