Wow man, Final Vendetta got a raw deal. Granted, it’s rough out there for a lot of titles and the video game industry can be a harsh mistress. But of all the excellent indie games released in recent years, it really feels like Final Vendetta probably had the worst luck of the bunch. And all because they released at basically the exact same time as TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge. It’s just not fair.

You see, Final Vendetta and Shredder’s Revenge are both beat’em ups, both sport a nostalgic 16-bit aesthetic, and both aim to revitalize the genre by delivering fresh new mechanics in a familiar format. It goes without saying that the audience for both games would heavily overlap. Even if both titles were of extremely high quality, releasing them simultaneously would basically pit the games against each other in the race for brawler players’ dollars. Some more devoted players might buy both games at launch, but the most likely outcome was players picking one beat’em up over the other.

The most crucial distinction between Vendetta and Shredder’s is that one of them is an original property while the other is fairly well known. And by fairly well known, I mean that one of them is the revival of an almost universally beloved video game franchise, based on a multimedia juggernaut consisting of a generation-defining Saturday morning cartoon show, a behemoth 80’s toyline, and a wildly successful live-action film trilogy. So one of these games is a new entity you’ve never heard of, and the other is the freakin’ Ninja Turtles.

It didn’t help matters that Shredder’s Revenge was incredibly good, maybe the best TMNT game we’ve ever got. Vendetta would have had a difficult time getting noticed if Shredder’s Revenge was a lousy cashgrab, but the fact that the new Turtles game was so flawless just made matters worse. Basically, Final Vendetta never really had a chance.

I also wasn’t much help in this regard, if I’m being honest, and I feel kind of bad about that. Because this game very much deserved our attention when it released in June 2022; and it still deserves our attention today. Obviously I’m a bit late in saying this—even later than I typically am with these game reviews—but Final Vendetta genuinely rules.

Developed by Bitmap Bureau and published by Numskull Games, Final Vendetta is a belt-scrolling beat’em up with a vibrantly colorful artstyle and refined pixel aesthetic set in the UK. Bitmap Bureau is a UK-based studio, so the British setting is particularly fitting. In fact, I personally like to think of Final Vendetta as essentially being Final Fight: London.

You see, FV feels very much like a Final Fight game. The opening cinematic shows our main character receiving a phone call from a local criminal organization who reveals they’ve kidnapped a close female relative. Our main character then recruits two allies to go after the criminals. You have three playable heroes, each with differing attributes and their own unique fighting style. One is quicker and more nimble but doesn’t hit as hard (Claire), one is a hulking grappler (Miller), and one is the all-rounder in between those two extremes (Duke).

FV features big and colorful character sprites, with a diverse roster of punks and ruffians to beat up. Pressing the Jump and Attack buttons simultaneously does a crowd control supermove which can consume a bit of health if it connects (Extra Joy?). You can grab enemies just by walking up on them. The game is comprised of six stages, beginning in the gritty streets, moving on to a subway level, a nightclub, and ending in some rich dude’s expensive-looking home. There’s even a ‘break the car’ bonus stage. Honestly, it’d be hard to make this feel more like a Final Fight without including actual FF characters.

And yet, unlike Capcom’s flagship brawler, FV is actually a Neo Geo game. As in, this game was made compatible with Neo Geo consoles and there is actually an “unofficial and unlicensed release” available for the Neo Geo AES. Apparently releasing games for legacy consoles is something Bitmap Bureau has done in the past, like putting their game Xeno Crisis on everything from the Sega Mega Drive and Super Famicom to the Game Boy Advance and GameCube.

In terms of the playable cast, I like what the devs have done here. Claire Sparks, Miller T. Williams, Damion ‘Duke’ Sancho are all quite distinct and each one is fun to play in their own right. Their names aren’t great, sure, but their designs are. Also, a minor detail I love is that ex-pro wrestler Miller is Canadian. Since Claire plays the Guy role in this game (quick & nimble)—and I am probably Guy’s biggest fan on the internet—you might assume that Claire would be my go-to character for this game. But no. When it comes to FV, my favorite character is definitely Duke.

Every beat’em up must have an elevator fight.

Duke has a kickboxer moveset with a great-looking mix of punches and kicks. His special moves are sick, like a dashing elbow that leads into an uppercut, his backflip kick, or his Flaming Fist punches. I particularly enjoy his textbook backkick—because a good hard-hitting sidekick is always my favorite attack in video games—and his special roundhouse would make Ken Masters proud. Clothing-wise, Duke sports a red jacket with the sleeves rolled up, over a t-shirt and jeans, and green & white sneakers; that’s just perfect. Honestly, if the jacket were green too, this would be the exact outfit I would choose for my own fighting game/beat’em up character. 10/10, no notes.

Speaking about how the characters look, I need to praise the absolutely stunning pixel art in Final Vendetta. The animation is so incredibly fluid throughout this game, not just for the playable roster, but all character sprites across the board. And it’s worth noting that the animation looks particularly good in motion. So good that still images do not really do the game justice. Looking at screenshots of FV, you might get the impression that these sprites look kind of pillowy soft, excessively cartoony, or just a wee bit off. However, I assure you, it all looks exponentially more impressive in motion, so you really need to see the game in action.

Audiowise, the soundtrack absolutely slaps. Interestingly, FV’s music sounds much more like Streets of Rage than Final Fight. Given that his game takes place in the UK, this style of Eurotrance/Dance/Techno feels entirely appropriate. Some of these tunes sound almost like they could be lost Propellerheads tracks and I am here for it. Apparently the soundtrack features English electronic music duo Utah Saints, so perhaps that contributed to the authenticity. However, Utah Saints only provided four tracks (out of 30), so most of the credit goes to Bitmap Bureau’s regular music composer, Featurecast. In any case, the soundtrack is just crazy good stuff.

FV’s beat’em up gameplay is immensely satisfying. I love that this game has Final Fight-style grabs, where you can just walk right up on an enemy and grab them. I don’t know why more brawlers don’t copy this element, because it’s a big part of what makes FF an all-time classic. You also have an Extra Joy-like supermove to use in desperate situations. But FV has a super bar which fills up as you dish out punishment. So if the super bar is full when you use your supermove, it will simply drain the super bar. However, using your supermove when the bar isn’t full will deplete your health like in FF. This game also allows you to block and perform a back attack to hit enemies behind you. FV has one Attack button and one Special button, which is often used for alternate attacks. For example, pressing the Special button while standing over a foe on the ground will make you kick them while they’re down.

Double-tapping Left or Right causes your character to dash/run and of course this means you can use dash attacks. What’s more, double-tapping Up or Down makes you sidestep in that direction to dodge, giving you an extremely useful maneuver to avoid taking hits. FV’s dodge is a very similar idea to the dodge button used in Shredder’s Revenge, but the sidestep here is a bit more elegant in its execution.

Overall there is an excellent rhythm to FV’s combat. It feels great to mix up standard attacks, grabs & throws, dashing attacks, juggles, back attacks, etc., all while using dodges to sidestep danger and avoid taking hits. Maintaining a combo gets more and more thrilling the higher your chain counter gets, and the wide variety of enemy types keeps things interesting. My personal favorite enemies are Karen and Liu, the badass lady boxers. They know how to block, so you can’t just wail on them like other enemies.

Oh right—and of course there are weapons you can pick up and use for a limited time, like the classic knife, iron pipe, and katana. Oh hey, there’s also a cricket bat?!

Cricket?! Nobody understands cricket. You gotta know what a crumpet is to understand cricket.

That brings me to perhaps my favorite element of FV, its distinctly British touches. For example, not including a baseball bat as a bludgeoning weapon, but using a cricket bat instead. Among the destructible elements like metal drums and crates are the UK’s signature red telephone boxes. The Dockside stage features a clear piece of British iconography with the London Bridge looming in the background. And sometimes, before an enemy jumps into the fight, they can be spotted sipping on a cup of tea. Sure, they have places to go and skulls to crack, but first they’re gonna enjoy a cuppa.

One interesting choice they made with FV is that the game has no continues. You have a set number of lives, but if they run out on you, that’s it; game over. While that might seem unduly harsh, the game does have variable difficulty levels and gives you the option to begin at any stage you wish. This means that you are able to see everything on offer right off the bat, even if it might take a lot of practice to truly clear the game from start to finish.

All in all, Final Vendetta is an excellent beat’em up and I wholeheartedly recommend it. Especially if you’re a fan of Final Fight or Streets of Rage, you can’t go wrong here. It’s a shame that FV has been so thoroughly overshadowed by TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, because it deserved much more attention when it was released. It still deserves more attention now. This is an absolute hidden gem and brawler fans need to play it. … Oh yeah, you can finish your tea first, I’ll wait.