In terms of retrogaming, Final Fight 3 represents a singularity game due to various factors that seem to combine together in a single unique game whose features cannot be found elsewhere. For the main highlight, Final Fight 3 is the one and only retro game where the players have "special moves" at their disposal that can be made using various controller combinations very similar to a Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat game whilst at the same time Final Fight 3 being seemingly just a brawler game.

In short, Final Fight 3 is the closest to the concept of a PvE Street Fighter game. The only other game that is at a distance but might have had the same idea is Streets of Rage 3 but with the important remark that the moves are made by waiting for an ultimate bar to fill. Similarly, there's the Dungeons and Dragons arcade series that even contains classes, yet all the interaction or attacks are performed by using the game menu and not using the controller.

A short practical rundown of characters.

Guy is the easiest character to play and Guy's special move is the easiest to perform using any controller (quarter circle). This character is perhaps the most recommended and as default as a Ryu or Ken in Street Fighter, along with the Hadouken and the rest of the typical Street Fighter attacks.

This is the bulkiest of characters, easy to play but can be tiresome if you like speed. On the other hand, Haggar has a very powerful grab attack that is guaranteed to deal massive AoE to all surrounding mobs and without dealing any friendly fire.

The most difficult character to play from the perspective of special movies. All other characters make special moves by first grabbing the enemy and then making the move using the controller and by contrast, Lucia perform the special moves in freeform mode without any grabbing. This makes timing the special move very difficult and requires lots of expertise if the player wishes to plant the special move onto something useful such as a boss.

Dean is a balanced to easy character to play but also moderately broken due to his overextended electrical attacks that deal friendly fire across the entire screen. If an inexperienced player uses Dean, then the session can end up in a nightmare where the other player has to put up with a bunch of friendly fire.

There are various pathways through Final Fight 3, some of them leading to shorter gameplay whilst others make the game more interesting. The following section is a rundown of known shortcuts and what they can provide the player with.

The Callman shortcut is taken by breaking the door down at the very first fence scene during the starter levels. In doing so, the player will fight a boss, namely Callman, inside a bar. Without breaking the door down and taking the Callman shortcut, the player ends up fighting the Callman boss on the street in the next screen after automatically breaking down the fence.

The Callman shortcut is helpful in case the player wants to avoid Caine (another boss, fighting with a wrench in its hand) along with some intermediate levels.

Not really an avenue to explore but there is one hidden 1up in the game that is located inside a room to be found right before a glass showcase very late in the game. Entering the room will reveal a corridor with a dead-end and with a watercooler next to the wall that, when smashed, will reveal a 1up item that will increase the player's life by 1.

The room can be accessed by smashing the door open, for example, by using a grab attack on an enemy and throwing them towards the door.

Items are sometimes hidden on the various levels most of the time by having decor occluding them such that they cannot be seen. However, being in the right spot and pressing the attack button will make the player pick up the item. This section contains somesuch locations within the game.

At the second vertical beam on the floor.

If the Callman shortcut is not taken, then during the scene on the bus, right at the start, there is a diamond hidden next to one of the seats.

Sometimes a BBQ spawns hidden behind the graphics of what seems to be a roasted chicken but not all the time. It is worth checking out.

Here is a collection of strategies to be used against some of the more patterned bosses within the game.

Dave is the first boss that the player must defeat. Dave is not a difficult boss to get into limbo and then easily suppress. Typically, Dave will lash out at the player, then the player will knock Dave down at which point, Dave will jump into the sky and fall onto the player that knocked him down. Regardless of whether Dave manages to hit the player after falling, Dave will ricochet across the floor and bounce a few times, toppling down any players in front of him.

Simply:

• knock Dave over with any attack,
• Dave jumps into the air,
• remember in which direction Dave was facing when Dave jumped and circle around the back of his shadow cast upon the floor,
• when Dave lands, ensure you are behind him and then knock Dave over again with any attack,
• repeat

The boss will land facing the direction he was facing when he jumped such that it is easy to tell where to stand in order to be behind him when he lands. In case the player finds themselves in front of Dave when he lands, the player will be knocked over by Dave's bouncing on the floor. This rinse and repeat algorithm can be performed flawlessly without any life lost at all.

The boss Wong in the kitchen is perhaps the easiest boss to defeat due to the boss maintaining one clear pattern throughout the whole session. In many ways, Wong is even easier than Dave because Wong's jump-roll does not ricochet. Here is the algorithm:

• score hits on the boss until the boss falls over,
• before the boss gets up, move to a distant corner of the screen and wait for the boss to get up,
• when the boss gets up, he will jump-roll towards the player that knocked him down so tap the ultimate button to make the ultimate move and use the invinciframes so the boss does not score hits on the player with the jump roll,
• repeat by hitting the boss

The algorithm is pretty straightforward with very little opportunity to fail. Note that in case the boss happens to slide off the screen due to player movement after the boss was knocked down, the boss will not jump-roll towards any player but will instead get up and walk normally towards the nearest player. Whilst the former does break the pattern, it is a non-vital mistake, and the algorithm can just be resumed from the start by hitting the boss again.