since it’s something of another highly guarded community secret how to prepare roms for Final Fight 30th Anniversary Edition, I decided to share how I did it. this applies to both CPS1 and CPS2 versions of the game. also you must be using Windows, no Macs or Linux. special shout-out to Arcade Projects and the endorsement of one person that I post this. 🙂
to my understanding you can reprogram roms for use on authentic arcade hardware, but it’s not something I have or probably ever will try. I procured these rom sets for my own use in HBMAME and hopefully one day Darksoft CPS2. to the best of my knowledge my instructions are accurate because I noted the steps as I was doing them. for the time being unless a permanent download solution is arrived at for the key file, please ask for it in the Arcade Projects thread linked below.
good luck, and read on…
Final Fight AE CPS1:
step 1: even though Java is apparently obsolete and it’s frowned upon that you have it installed, you must download Java for Windows.
step 2: download Final Fight AE Installer Master. (if you don’t speak GitHub, click the green Code button at the top and select Download Zip)
step 3: for legality reasons, you must own an actual Final Fight board and have MAME rom set ffight.zip (Final Fight World Set 1).
step 4: with Java installed and FFAE Installer Master unzipped, run ffae_installer.jar.
step 5: click the Select Zip button, point to ffight.zip, then click Patch.
step 6: the installer will tell you where ffightae.zip is saved.
step 7: you need ffightae.key, the installer does not generate this and The Internet(tm) will make it virtually impossible to find the file. therefore, register at Arcade Projects and ask for help in this thread.
step 8: find a supported emulator to play with, I used HBMAME. or if you have a MiSTer FPGA or Darksoft something, which I do not, you’ll have to find a way to interface ffightae.zip with those yourself.
Final Fight AE CPS2:
step 1: even though Java is obsolete and it’s frowned upon that you have it installed, you must download Java for Windows.
step 2: FFAE CPS2 also requires Java JDK 17, download Windows x64 Installer from here.
step 3: download Final Fight AE CPS2 Installer Master. (if you don’t speak GitHub, click the green Code button at the top and select Download Zip)
step 4: for legality reasons, you must own actual Final Fight and Street Fighter Alpha(/Zero) 3 boards and have MAME rom sets ffight.zip (Final Fight World Set 1) and sfa3.zip (Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Euro 980904))
step 5: with Java/Java JDK 17 installed and FFAE CPS2 Installer Master unzipped, run FinalFightAE-CPS2-Installer.jar.
step 6: there are 2 buttons, Select FF Zip and Select SFA3 Zip, click Select FF Zip and point to ffight.zip, then click Select SFA3 Zip and point to sfa3.zip, then click Patch.
step 7: the installer will save the output files in a subfolder /results, separate folders for darksoft, mame, and mister will contain rom sets for respective platforms.
step 8: if you intend on playing in HBMAME, you must rename ffightae_cps2.zip to ffightaec2.zip and place in /roms subfolder
step 9: you need ffightae.key, the installer does not generate this and The Internet(tm) will make it virtually impossible to find the file. therefore, register at Arcade Projects and ask for help in this thread.
step 10: if you got the key and attempt to run the game in MAME, you will get errors saying dl-1425.bin and c78.q2 are missing. dl-1425.bin is contained in MAME set qsound_hle.zip (QSound (HLE)), c78.q2 you source from sfa3.zip/sz3.12m, rename sz3.12m to c78.q2 and place in /roms/ffightaec2.
step 11: one last note, in HBMAME, Final Fight AE CPS2 is actually named Fight Fight Anniversary Edition (CPS2 Hardware), in case you have difficulty finding it.
image art shamelessly borrowed from @CapcelArt