Final Fight 3 had the tricky job of sustaining momentum at a moment when the beat ’em up’s mainstream appeal was waning. Unlike the original Final Fight, which had an arcade release before being ported to consoles, both Final Fight 2 and Final Fight 3 never saw coin-op cabinets. A strong ad campaign wasn’t enough to excite an audience that’d grown tired of beat ‘em ups. By the time it shipped, gamers’ appetites for traditional beat ’em ups had faded. It may not have become a household name, but it distilled the essence of classic beat ’em ups while nudging the formula forward.