Final Vendetta is a 2022 Retraux Beat 'em Up game, developed by Bitmap Bureau (of Xeno Crisis fame) and featuring music by Utah Saints. It is inspired by similar games such as Final Fight and Streets of Rage.
A ruthless crime syndicate known as "Syndic8" has taken over London and kidnapped the younger sister of Claire Sparks. In response, Claire sets out on her mission to save London and rescue her sister from Syndic8's clutches. She teams up with two of her friends, Miller T. Williams, a former pro-wrestler, and Duke Sancho, a bare-knuckle fighter.
Like Xeno Crisis, an adaptation of the game for Neo Geo is planned.
This game provides examples of:
- Amazonian Beauty: Liu is a muscled up boxer. The twins, Luiza and Luana, are muscular in the shoulders, arms, and abs.
- Ambidextrous Sprite: All characters are mirrored when they face the opposite direction.
- Bad Ass In A Nice Suit: Osric's first phase of the fight has him wearing a piece suit. His second phase has him strip off the top with only his pants remaining and a vest.
- Bald of Evil: Big Frank is the first boss you'll face, and he doesn't have any hair on his head.
- Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: With Claire being the Fragile Speedster, she has the most moves and throws out of the trio. Duke is the Jack of All Stats, and gets the gimmick of having many kick based moves. Miller is the resident Mighty Glacier and has the most health.
- Balance, Speed, Strength Trio:
- Duke is the balance with decent speed, defense and power.
- Claire is the resident speedster with weak, but fast attacks.
- Miller fills the power role with slow speed and powerful attacks.
- Battle in the Rain: The final boss battle. It briefly rains halfway in to the first level as well.
- Blocking Stops All Damage: Subverted. The player characters can block, but too many hits or an unblockable attack will cause them break and take damage. Played straight with Liu mooks, but blocks can be broken with either weapons, or hidden moves.
- Boss Rush: One of the mode in the game is facing all bosses, one at a time. You do recover your health between stages however.
- Boxing Battler:
- Frank, the first boss, uses nothing but punches and haymakers.
- Liu and her variants are dressed in boxer regalia, and only punch, uppercut, or block.
- Oscric's first phase has him mainly use one of his fists, while he keeps the opposite hand in his pocket. He only has one kick attack. In his second phase, he uses nothing but punches and a fireball.
- Big Bad: Osric is the Final Boss and he was close to embark on a helicopter with Claire's sister.
- The Coats Are Off: Frank, the first boss, does this before the fight begins: he takes off his coat and throws it down.
- Combat Pragmatist: The main trio aren't afraid to use weapons nor kick an enemy while they're down. Mooks such as Axl and Clive, are more than happy to bring a Molotov cocktail and guns respectively to a fist fight.
- Cool Shades: Miller wears sunglasses all the time, and they never fall off when he gets hit.
- Damsel in Distress: Claire's sister is abducted by the Syndic8 and needs rescuing from the players.
- Dance Battler:
- Luiza and Luana, the Stage 5 bosses, are practitioners of capoeira.
- Derek and his variants are called dancers (which you can usually see them do before encountering the guys) in the manual, and outright states that they use said skills to lure people into an unsuspecting fight.
- Dark Action Girl: Vixen and Liu are female opponents. The former uses kicks and a stick, while the latter uses boxing. Luiza and Luna are the stage end bosses of Club Tigre, so they count too.
- Dual Boss: Luiza and Luana, the twin capoeira fighters. They are both fought at the same time.
- Expy:
- Claire is an expy of Blaze Fielding, and Duke is a combination of Axel and Adam.
- Cooper is a clone of Galsia/Garcia.
- The Axl mooks are larger and buffer versions of Fog.
- Slasher mooks and their variants are based off El Gado/Hollywood
- Osric is a slicked back, dark Burnette Rugal. His second phase is basically Omega Rugal.
- Elevator Action Sequence: During the middle of Stage 3.
- Excuse Plot: Claire's sister Juliette is kidnapped, and the Syndic8 warned her that she'll be safe in exchange for performing a job for them. There's no other exposition in the game, and the player's only worry is beating thugs for the next six stages.
- Lampshaded by the ending, in which Claire briefly wonders both what the hell was up with Osric's robotic nature and why he wanted Juliette, but promptly decides it doesn't matter, and takes everyone out for burgers. Juliette turns out to likewise be unfazed by the experience.
- Faceless Goons: Axl mooks. They all wear face-concealing headgears.
- Fat Bastard: Geoff is a large mook. He is still capable of charging you, so beware.
- Falling Chandelier of Doom: During the last level, a chandelier can fall on the players, so beware.
- Flash Step: The third boss, The Scientist and the Final Boss, Osric are capable of doing this, forcing players to guess where they'll reappear.
- Gas Mask Mooks: Kane mooks wear filter mouth style gas masks. Diesel, who is a boss, wears a full gas mask.
- Giant Mook: Axl mooks are at least one head taller than the other opponents in the game.
- The Goomba: Cooper is the first enemy you'll face, and he's quite unremarkable: slow, weak and little to no fighting ability. Being an Expy of Galsia probably didn't do any favors to him.
- Guns Are Worthless: Averted big time. If Clive manages to shoot you, say good-bye to half of your health.
- Hyperactive Metabolism: As disgusting as it may sound, eating food found on the ground will restore your lost health.
- I Have Your Wife: Claire's sister is held hostage and was told to perform a job for the Syndic8 in exchange for her safety. Claire decides on an alternate plan to get her back.
- Ki Attacks: Each character has a hidden move: Claire does a Kikosho, Duke breaks out the flaming Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs, and Miller punches out a gust of wind.
- Kick Chick: Vixen uses kick attacks when not using her stick. Luiza and Luana are a more straight example due to their Capoeira skills.
- Kick Them While They Are Down: Each character has a button dedicated to kicking gang members on the ground. Miller's ground kick is more of a curb stomp.
- Mana Meter: Using a full bar Super Meter allows the player(s) to use a desperation attack without losing health.
- Martial Arts Headband: Claire has a headband and do martial arts, but it's slightly covered behind her hair.
- Neck Lift: Van can grab you by the neck and throw you down on the ground.
- The '90s: The game's setting is the '90s, just like Final Fight.
-
Nintendo Hard: More like a cross between SNK and Sega Hard. The developers admitted the game was built with old-school arcade challenge in mind. - Pink Means Feminine:
- Karen has a pink tank top with matching pink shorts. She's however a female boxer and isn't exactly a typical feminine woman.
- Same for Birdi who wears a pink shirt and is a female thug with black leather boots, a tank-top and a g-string.
- Primary-Color Champion: Duke has them all: a red jacket, a yellow shirt and a pair of blue jeans.
- Psycho Knife Nut: Slashers mooks and their variants use knives.
- Rewarding Vandalism: You get points for destroying those phone booths. You might even find some food or valuables inside the wreck. There's also the car you have to destroy during the bonus stage.
- Riddle for the Ages: What was the job the Syndic8 wanted Claire to perform for them? We never found out as it was never disclosed and Claire refused before they got a chance to tell her.
- Robotic Reveal: Osric, after killing him. It borders on Giant Space Flea from Nowhere, as there are never any hints about this throughout the entire story. Up until this point, you've been fighting an all human street gang.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: Stage 3 Boss, The Scientist. He wears a pair of glasses and his eyes can't be seen.
- Shout-Out: The gas-masked bosses are named Diesel and Van.
- Supermodel Strut: Vixen walks like this whenever coming out of the background or a door.
- The Quincy Punk: Kane mooks, and the level two boss, Diesel. They have Delinquent Hair and are hostile to our heroes.
- The Smurfette Principle: Claire is the only available female character on the player's side.
- The Spiny: Billy mooks can't be grabbed, and will automatically counter punch the player for trying.
- Thong of Shielding: Vixen and all of her variants are wearing a g-string. Only visible when they have their back turned.
- Turns Red: Oscric, during the latter end of his second phase, attacks and evades more often and faster.
- Villains Out Shopping: Syndic8 members can be seen either hanging out and sleeping in subway trains. In Club Tigre, the guys are lounging, and the Vixen mooks are either dancing, or sitting back drinking wine.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Stage 4 boss, The Gentleman. He doesn't have a shirt on and exposes his chest.
- Wrestler in All of Us: All the protagonists have a suplex of some kind, but it makes the most sense for Miller, being a former pro-wrestler.
- Zero-Effort Boss: Believe it or not, the car in the bonus stage count as one. It also show-up in the Boss Rush mode. It has lots of health like the other bosses, but can't move or attack making it easy to beat in any difficulties.
