30 Years of Mortal Kombat: A Retrospective Thread

[M-A-G]

So 30 years ago today, we were introduced to the phenomenon that is Mortal Kombat. From humble beginnings to congressional hearings to reboots and everything in between, this franchise has been a staple of the gaming world. That being said, I figured we use this thread to share our stories, memories, rants, praises, and whatever else comes to mind regarding the Mortal Kombat series. What were the highs and lows in your mind? Was there a particular moment in time while playing one of the games that was so memorable that it stuck with you all these years? How would you rank each title? How did you even get involved with the series? Let's honor these 30 years here and now with a bit of reflection, shall we?

[Helmsphere]

The first time I played Mortal Kombat was inside a food lion. I usually would play wrestlefest but they removed it to put Mortal Kombat in. I played as Johnny Cage and eon a few matches despite not knowing what I was doing. Wouldn't have much experience with it until it hit home consoles and a friend had it on Sega Genesis and put the blood code in. I remember being amazed and laughing at Kane fatality because it looked like he took a bite of the Heart he just ripped out and threw it on the ground.

My mom somehow managed to get me MK2 about 2 weeks before the game released. The funny story about this was we had some kid who was full of shit saying he was working on the third game himself which you know couldn't be real and that he has MK2 at home like 2 months before release. I walked into my second grade class that day and threw the instruction booklet on his desk.

[Helmsphere]

The movie had it own special memory as well. The night the movie released I made my dad take me to see it. I didn't live with him and generally would see him every other weekend. He hated the movie, the next morning there was a creek where a friend and his cousin was playing, there was another girl who lived in that complex. I started yelling all the Johnny Cage one liners, but kind of failed to the experience of seeing my first real life naked girl as she decided to skinny dip in that creek.

I never own Three and instead got Trilogy, I remember cleaning the bathroom so they would get me the steregy guide for it. Was so worth it to learn all those fatalities and friendships.

[Helmsphere]

Never owned 4 or Mythologies despite playing them. This would be kind of around the time that I got out of the series and began to focus on wrestling games, for most this was the down years of the series and kind of lost fans.

Deadly Alliance came out which I hardly knew about before hand because that came out around the time of Vice City, WWE Smackdown Shut your mouth and Resident Evil Zero releasing that had my attention so Deadly Alliance threw under the radar. I think I really only knew about this one because my then girlfriend favorite band was Adema and they did the song Immortal for th game. It was a step back in the right direction for the series. Still shook that they literally killed the Chosen One Liu Kang in the intro for this one.

[Helmsphere]

Deception I loved and despite it's weird and weak roster was a great game, definitely the best of the original Xbox/PS2/GameCube era of games. I ended up getting the hard cover version that had Sub Zero on it from Toy R Us before going to see Blade Trinity. The Blade series might of died with that movie but this series was still going.

[Helmsphere]

Also totally realized I forgot to mention Mortal Kombat Annihilation. I hope you can forgive me for that. I try to forget it exists.

[Lock Jaw]

Think the first one I played was MKII, then I heard Shang Tsung was the boss of the first game and was all like "Oh really?" and got "drawn into the story" a bit.... played the first at a friend's house but didn't like it as much due to the lack of characters and simplicity compared to the second.....

Then had the third one and enjoyed it too..... and that's all that I have played.

Really enjoyed the movie as a kid too. I got Robin Shou's (Liu Kang) autograph at some trade show thing.

As much as Helmsphere wants to forget it, I also remember enjoying Mortal Kombat Annihilation as a kid.... not as much as the first, but I still watched it a bunch of times.

[Helmsphere]

But lock jaw we don't want to remember it.

Lock Jaw: Too bad for you, you will die.

[Helmsphere]

Also lock jaw.

I remember that movie and IT WAS GLORIOUS!

[screech]

One time my best friend was playing against his neighbor and somehow got to the Reptile fight (I don't remember how to do it) and told the kid not to touch anything. Of course he did so my friend said "you won't land another hit" and proceeded to rack up double flawless victories on every stage and wound up fighting Reptile anyway.

[screech]

Love the movies too. So fun.

[screech]

(I'm really bad at mortal kombat but I love one of them I had for PS3 - MK 9 maybe?)

[Destor]

Arcade machine of MK2 in a Hucks convenience store. I love the series. The mythology is outstanding. I play every MK because these characters are some of the best in the medium. Mechanically its never be top of the class but its always been about other things.

[Destor]

And the 96 film is the best vg movie ever

[Helmsphere]

Armageddon I got a few days after release, enjoyed the story mode and create a fighter was ok. The lack of unique fatalities made me move past it rather quickly.

I didn't play DC v Mk until like 4 years after it's release.

Mk9 or the Re MaKe was amazing and was a needed addition to the lore of MK. Sindel killing everyone still sneaks into my mind from time to time, just not in the way Cody Lane in pigtails does.

Also looking back Ive spent so much money on MK11.

[ClockShot]

I remember playing the first one. Don't remember how I got my hands on it be it either renting it at a store or playing at a friend's house. We all thought Scorpion's harpoon was the coolest thing ever.

Then 2 came around and I performed my first Fatality. Mileena's Swallow you Whole. It was one of the easier imputs at the time. Had them all memorized except for Liu Kang's Flying Roundhouse Uppercut.

Later on things started getting weird. Sub-Zero became "The Guy" of the franchise and he got his own standalone game. Shaolin Monks was a somewhat nice change.

Now things got back to normal.

[Kalyx triaD]

MK: Good start. Blood is cool. Yo he totally killed that guy, wow.

MK2: New characters are awesome. Story bits are worth reading. This is cool.

MK3: Kinda wacky now, visuals seem weirdly rendered. Plays weird. Who is Williams?

UMK3: Okay this makes sense, gameplay rocks.

MKT: lol what a mess.

MK4: 3D... eh. Target combo system feeling dated now. Hilarious fatalities tho.

MK4G: Pass.

...

...

MKDA: Nice comeback, aight gameplay. Cool new character designs, story.

MKD: Better gameplay. Holy shit Mileena design. Dumb fatalities.

MKA: God awful. Everything God awful.

...

MKvsDC: Stop this.

...

...

MK(9): Will you look at that. Nice. First banger in years, genre kinda left them behind.

MKX: Still not jiving with gameplay but still best for the series. Wild fatalities. Cool story.

MK11: Absolute best MK has ever been. Fan service left and right. No time to play more tho.

[Fignuts]

Best art and character design in the genre, imo. That unique blend of old school kung fu movie, sci-fi, and dark fantasy is wholly it's own, and nothing else looks quite like it.

Obviously the gameplay isn't quite up to par with its peers, but it's made a lot of big strides in recent years, and in MK 11 pretty much the whole roster is fun to mess around with.

[Ruien]

MK2 was the peak for me. Stopped playing after MK4 I think.

Remember playing some weird Sub Zero game one time. Or was that a dream?a

[Destor]

Mythologies: Sub-Zero. N64/PSX. Universally panned....but i played the shit out of it

[M-A-G]

I stumbled across the first game's machine in an H-E-B market. This was the time when any Tom, Dick, and Harry business had some arcade cabinet as a way to keep people busy. It was one of the worst times for my parents because I would always bail on what they were doing just so I could check out what was up. I found lots of games in that fashion, like Street Fighter 2, Ninja Baseball Batman, and Darkstalkers. Smart phones? Oh, no, sweetie. Back then you needed a pocket of quarters to pass the time entertaining yourself.

Obviously the thing that stuck with me after grabbing my attention was the graphics. It looked nothing like the majority of other games, aside from Pit Fighter. Then there was blood and straight up killing your opponent? What red-blooded American young boy wasn't going to be drawn to that?

I became obsessed with the series during those early years. When I discovered a local card shop had managed to get a cabinet of the first game, I freaked out. Normally we had to travel out of town to the big cities for places that had games. Now there was an honest-to-goodness real Mortal Kombat machine in my piss ant backwater hometown?!? I had to get there on my own because no way my parents would take me. I actually walked to it after school, missing the bus home just so I could check it out. Oh, boy, were my parents pissed.

Things just snowballed from the first game as the sequel blew my mind and the third game looked really interesting from all of the first looks I would see in magazines. I'll probably do a game-by-game analysis here in the coming days. I've got some visual aides that I want to track down.

[M-A-G]

MKvsDC: Stop this.



I'm probably in the minority here, but I actually didn't mind this game. :o

[M-A-G]

Also totally realized I forgot to mention Mortal Kombat Annihilation. I hope you can forgive me for that. I try to forget it exists.

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Super Mario Bros., and Batman & Robin were the Unholy Trinity of Movies of my youth that showed me how much Hollywood hates me.

It was a good 10-11 years after I had last seen it when it was released before I watched it again with a friend who had never seen it before. He was the one to point out that they re-used footage of a guy falling into a flame pit that I hadn't noticed before. He was incredulous when I told him that but I countered with the fact that my brain was so fried by that point in the movie that it could've been 4 big breasted blondes riding a giant banana split float nude and I wouldn't have noticed.

And don't even get me started on the climax with Liu Kang and Shao Kahn turning into dragons. The feeling I had at that moment was repeated about 15 years later with the second Silent Hill movie when that film's final battle started. Before that moment, my brain is telling me, "OK, things have been shit so far but look at this way: it's almost over and it can't possibly get any worse!" But then it DOES GET WORSE and my brain didn't know how to cope with that so I'm just left sitting and staring blankly wondering what the fuck is taking the aliens so long to come and obliterate us.

[drave]

I remember reading about MK I in magazines. It was first at a local Marsh grocery store. Played it all the time. Beat a kid once, and he and his two goons followed me outside after and wanted to fight. I walked away, they pursued. Chased me home only to get met by one of my older brothers who took the three of them down with minimal effort. Turns out one had a knife, the one who wanted to fight me.....


Ended up saving money doing chores to buy MK I on SNES. Got it for myself for my bday. Always saw people doing cool shit with Scorpion, so played him mainly. Amazing game. Remember the Reptile fight being insanely difficult, not sure if I ever beat him. Remember a friend having a Genesis and seeing the blood code for the first time. Then felt a bit slighted that I didn't see blood in my SNES version :(



MK II was something else man. I studied the sheet outta this game. I knew every move for every character, seriously. I wrote down everyone's complete move list to give to my oldest brother as he set off to Purdue. He would go on to win a few hundred dollars because he would use that list and practice. Liu Kang was his go to. Also remember a hidden "start menu" where Shao Khan and Kintaro would beat the shit out of the Accliamed logo. Think you had to hold in L+R and Start before turning on the power. I remember the Toasty dude, and trying to time uppercuts to get to the secret Ermac (?) fight.


Wasn't Noob Siabot, Smoke and Jade all in this one too, as secret characters?? Good lord MK II was legendary at the time.


Stepped away from the franchise for a bit after UMK III, which I recall being alright, but not enjoying as much as MK II.


MK 11 has been insane. I never get to the point, on any fighting game, where I am good enough to go against other players, but this game almost got me there with how long I played.

[Destor]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I actually didn't mind this game. :o
Def are. Game did so poorly it caused Midway to fold after all :lol:

[Fignuts]

Given the renewed success of MK and Injustice, I wouldn't be against another attempt at it.

[Destor]

As long as it isnt T

[Lock Jaw]

Just dropping this in here

<iframe width="932" height="699" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EAwWPadFsOA" title="Mortal Kombat Theme Song" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[M-A-G]

Def are. Game did so poorly it caused Midway to fold after all :lol:

I mean, granted the concept is so WTF out there and the finishing moves, such as they were, are lame as hell, but the gameplay itself actually works. It's got a good look to it and some of the designs of the characters are pretty great. If nothing else, it had the framework of what the reboot would end up becoming, with the cinematic story and all. No question, though, there are a shit ton of other entries in the series that kick its ass.

[Destor]

The issue was the rating. T-rated MK doesn't work. It would be like a PG-13 slasher flick. No one wants that. DC however wasn't going to let you disembowel Superman. Couple that with how expensive the DC licensing was and you have a situation where you must succeed but also absolutely cant. It was doomed conceptually.

[M-A-G]

I must say everyone's doing me proud by not mentioning the trainwreck that was Mortal Kombat: Special Forces. I don't think I ever met anyone who played that sucker.

[DAMN iNATOR]

WCUtXD27UyQ

ldC4hw8AJ2c

[DAMN iNATOR]

Mythologies: Sub-Zero. N64/PSX. Universally panned....but i played the shit out of it

If this ⬇️ doesn’t make you rue the day you popped that abomination into your N64 and powered it on for the first time, nothing will.

zCRDLccnYFo

[M-A-G]

MK II was something else man. I studied the sheet outta this game. I knew every move for every character, seriously. I wrote down everyone's complete move list to give to my oldest brother as he set off to Purdue. He would go on to win a few hundred dollars because he would use that list and practice. Liu Kang was his go to. Also remember a hidden "start menu" where Shao Khan and Kintaro would beat the shit out of the Accliamed logo. Think you had to hold in L+R and Start before turning on the power. I remember the Toasty dude, and trying to time uppercuts to get to the secret Ermac (?) fight.


Wasn't Noob Siabot, Smoke and Jade all in this one too, as secret characters?? Good lord MK II was legendary at the time.



Ermac wasn't in the second game, but Noob, Smoke, and Jade certainly were. Like I bemoaned in Rate the Game, I miss the days of secret characters and the mystique surrounding them instead of things being available at the swipe of a credit card. Deception got back to that, somewhat, with the insane steps you had to take to get Liu Kang as part of the roster.

[M-A-G]

Mortal Kombat: Personal Thoughts and Review

OK, so I already spoke on how I came across the first game and thus my introduction to the whole series. The game itself doesn't really hold up after all these years, but at the time, it was life itself. Sadly, I was never really good at it, and it was years before I was able to finish the arcade ladder. To this day I have never fought Reptile. All of that never really mattered to me, though. I was just having the time of my life being engrossed in what the game was giving me. The characters seemed cool and the story, while fairly generic and obviously influenced by martial arts films of old, was enough of a hook.

Gameplay wise, pretty much everyone controls the same. It's just a question of their special moves. It doesn't work as well as Street Fighter 2 and a combo system is almost non-existent. The aesthetic, though, is top notch. The backgrounds look great and it's amplified with some appropriate music. Compared to what was to come, the first game kind of sits below the middle of the road. It's a time capsule, in a way; a curious conversation piece to show someone who's unaware of the beginnings.

My main character: The thing is none of the characters were really fleshed out at this point. If I had to take a stab at who I used the most, it'd probably be Scorpion, as a lot of his stuff was simple to pull off.

Best Fatality: Sub-Zero's Spine Rip, of course. I don't think anything else really compares in that game.

Worst Fatality: Liu Kang's Cartwheel Uppercut. I mean, I know the story behind it but it's still fucking lame.

[drave]

Kano ripping out a beating heart was kinda cool

[M-A-G]

Mortal Kombat 2: Personal Thoughts and Review

OK, this is where shit got real for me as far as being into Mortal Kombat. I put in my Personal Top 10 over in the Rate the Game retrospective thread and for good reason. Virtually everything from the first game takes a huge leap forward. The visuals, the combos, the atmosphere, the roster, the finishing moves, and the story. That last one is especially key as a lot of the lore of the series comes from this game. The curtain is pulled back a bit and we're shown the malevolent forces bent on conquering us that were mere hushed whispers in the first game. Future fan favorites and mainstays like Kitana, Kung Lao, and Mileena debuted here. And then, of course, the main motherfucker himself, Shao Kahn.

I first caught wind of the sequel when a classmate had an issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly where it was the main feature. It had a few of the new characters (the actual actors in the photos) showcased on the cover and the article, like Kung Lao and Baraka. It looked so fucking cool and so mysterious.

Then this bad boy dropped and it was a whole new ballgame. It was the talk of the lunch table and everyone had their own ideas of what some of the secrets were and how to get them unlocked and what relation each character had to another. I'm not sure what spawned the whole Nudality and Animality nonsense but with the expanded number of ways to end a match, it's not surprising. I'm almost positive I spotted this machine in more establishments than any other. It was a God damn juggernaut and I still think it holds up as one of the better entries.

My main character: Oh, man, this one's tough. Kitana was insane with the shit you could pull off with her. I dug the backstories of the newbies like Jax and Kung Lao and of course it was cool to see Reptile as a playable character. Overall, though, with things getting more robust as far as character development went, this was the first game where I was beginning to lean more towards Sub-Zero.

Best Fatality: Kung Lao's Hat Slice. Come on, the fucker splits a bitch down the fucking middle. That's just all kinds of awesome.

Best Friendship: Kung Lao gets the nod here again. His Rabbit Out of the Hat Friendship is still funny to this day.

Worst Fatality: Liu Kang's Cartwheel Uppercut: Because the people demanded it, I suppose. Seriously, was there any good reason to bring it back?

[DAMN iNATOR]

My favorite thing about Mortal Kombat II ⬇️:

https://gifrun.com/programs/temp/ad0d1960a49149e891d0fe9b98ece34b.gif

Unfortunately it could only be done on Sega Genesis/Sega Mega Drive, and only as Raiden (spelled “Rayden” in his HP bar) on the Armory stage, and you have to go under Options from the main menu screen and while highlighting “Done!”, input ⬅️, ⬇️, ⬅️, ➡️, ⬇️, ➡️, ⬅️, ⬅️, ➡️, ➡️, then go into the hidden “Test Modes” menu and go to the third page and select and toggle on “Oooh, Nasty!” and then select Raiden, wait to fight on the Armory stage and when given the “FINISH HIM!!” screen, press back, back, back, block, and then you will see the funny little Easter egg known as the Fergality. It’s a nice acknowledgement of Probe Ltd. employee Fergus McGovern, who worked on the Genesis/Mega Drive port.

[M-A-G]

Of course, we all know that there's only one -ality that's really important....:shifty:

https://i.imgur.com/PW1WEAS.jpg

[rez]

My favorite thing about Mortal Kombat II ⬇️:

https://gifrun.com/programs/temp/ad0d1960a49149e891d0fe9b98ece34b.gif

Unfortunately it could only be done on Sega Genesis/Sega Mega Drive, and only as Raiden (spelled “Rayden” in his HP bar) on the Armory stage, and you have to go under Options from the main menu screen and while highlighting “Done!”, input ⬅️, ⬇️, ⬅️, ➡️, ⬇️, ➡️, ⬅️, ⬅️, ➡️, ➡️, then go into the hidden “Test Modes” menu and go to the third page and select and toggle on “Oooh, Nasty!” and then select Raiden, wait to fight on the Armory stage and when given the “FINISH HIM!!” screen, press back, back, back, block, and then you will see the funny little Easter egg known as the Fergality. It’s a nice acknowledgement of Probe Ltd. employee Fergus McGovern, who worked on the Genesis/Mega Drive port.

<iframe width="951" height="713" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mpVvu4vQj8o" title="Mortal Kombat II - Rayden Fergality" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[DAMN iNATOR]

Yes that is the video I used to create an animated gif with some “yt to animated gif” thing, for that post, which it has now disappeared from. 😡💢

[M-A-G]

Continuing to speak on Mortal Kombat 2, these always peaked my interest but no way in hell were my parents going to order them or even allow me to do it. Did anyone have these or did you know someone who did?

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HVKZA1Lj1_A/Vx5QOrjntCI/AAAAAAAAG_I/JHRv7LMQ_RcAGtijErbk_dlqV4QJF62NACLcB/s1600/mk2%2Bcomic%2B-%2Bcd.JPGhttps://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D1v1dwFwTT4/Vx5Pqo4Rd-I/AAAAAAAAG_A/cGHWq4caChE4O9AfNr8gaIzxYgaHp5IugCLcB/s1600/mk%2Bcomic.JPG

[DAMN iNATOR]

Nope.

Also, on the topic of MK3/UMK3/MK Trilogy , I have to wonder if Midway saw the trend set by the 68,742,935,104,831 different versions of Street Fighter II and decided to mimick that to see how it went over. Also, if you think about it, that concept of releasing improvements, albeit on updated physical versions of games that you had to pay for the update, it was kind of the prototype for what would become DLC/patches via online

[Danny Electric]

Remember owning MK3 for the SNES the week it came out and then that weekend my SNES broke. Tears were had.

[M-A-G]

Mortal Kombat 3/Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3/Mortal Kombat Trilogy Thoughts and Review

I decided to just lump these all together as they follow the same story and, aside from a few tweaks here and there, are essentially the same game throughout.

To say I was pumped for this game is an understatement. The second game was such a hit that the thought of the third game being even better was too much to bear. I had issue after issue of GamePro previewing it, each article doing its part to get me excited for the eventual release. The few screenshots and details put out at the time were very intriguing. Unlike a lot of people, the exclusion of characters like Raiden and Scorpion didn't really bother me. There was a lot of new stuff being announced that allowed me to forget about their omission. The dial-a-combo system. Sub-Zero was going to be unmasked! Who is that dude with the weird gas mask thing? Robot ninjas? Jax has metal arms now? A run button? Sonya is back?!? OK, that last one wasn't really new but it got me excited...in more ways than one. :shifty: 1995 had A LOT of things for gamers to get pumped about and Mortal Kombat 3 was probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest. Surely it was going to live up to expectations, no?

Well, kind of. Sure, the story took an interesting turn and the gameplay was solid with excellent control, but it wasn't much of an improvement over the second game as that game was over the first. Other than the environments, the game didn't really look that much graphically impressive and some of the character designs weren't particularly interesting. Like, why does Sonya STILL not look like a military officer? Plus, the A.I. seemed ludicrously unfair, especially in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Don't get me wrong, I still had some fun with it, as some of the new characters were good enough. Kabal was the first character I ever played as when the game hit the arcade at the mall.

Of course, things didn't stop there as later in the year we got the "Ultimate" edition and then later got Mortal Kombat Trilogy on the home consoles. People rejoiced at the return of favorites like Kitana, Scorpion, and Reptile. Jade was made a playable character and was given an actual identity. Trilogy took up A LOT of my time in high school as the novelty of having so many God damn characters to pick from was great. Characters that were shrouded in mystery got brought into the light as Noob Saibot and Rain and Ermac were thrown into the mix. Of course, this is probably where everyone started poking fun at the ninja rainbow spectrum, and let's be honest, it was kind of getting out of hand. I actually had the strategy guide for Trilogy but I lost it somewhere along the way. Neither of the two upgrades did much to really push the whole Mortal Kombat 3 package into the same realm as Mortal Kombat 2, in my opinion, as the gameplay was mostly the same and even though we were getting more characters, we still didn't know enough about them. Also, a lot of the fatalities were kind of lame, even more so with the introduction of the whole Animality concept. Why did anyone think this was appealing in any sort of way?

Now, do I hate this collection? No, not in the slightest. It's still Mortal Kombat and it serves as a snapshot of a moment of time in my life that I'll always look back on fondly. It checked off some boxes, just not a significant majority of them. With the way the story was presented and with new technology and more in-depth fighting games in the arena, the speculation was on as to whether or not Midway was going to end the series here. Well, it certainly ended as we knew it but that's another story for another time.

My main character: I loved unmasked Sub-Zero but Kabal takes the prize here.

Best Fatality: Oof, this is a tough one. The animations on a lot of them are pretty bad and don't make a lot of sense. If I had to think of one that would be incredibly gruesome in real life, I'd go with Sheeva's Skin Rip.

Best Friendship: Johnny Cage's Autograph. Yes, it was in Mortal Kombat 2 also but it got overshadowed by Kung Lao's. That it made its way into the first movie was a fucking bonus.

Worst Fatality: Oh, sweet Lzzy, where to start? There is a lot to pick from. Liu Kang's Arcade Drop, Jax's Giant Stomp, Kabal's Face Scare, Smoke's Teleport Decapitation, Rain's Disassembling Uppercut. After thinking about it long and hard, though, they all get trumped by the whole Animality aspect. It's just really dumb and unnecessary and not really worth the effort.

[M-A-G]

Nope.

Also, on the topic of MK3/UMK3/MK Trilogy , I have to wonder if Midway saw the trend set by the 68,742,935,104,831 different versions of Street Fighter II and decided to mimick that to see how it went over. Also, if you think about it, that concept of releasing improvements, albeit on updated physical versions of games that you had to pay for the update, it was kind of the prototype for what would become DLC/patches via online

The thing is vanilla Mortal Kombat 3 kind of needed Ultimate. The backlash of not having some of the more popular characters on the roster was pretty bad and some of the characters were pretty broken. Sub-Zero and Cyrax had ridiculous combos that made things unbalanced. They had to nerf Sub-Zero's Ice Clone because it would freeze even if you were blocking.

[M-A-G]

I figured with the next game on my to-do list being Mortal Kombat 4 and all, it'd be nice to share this gem I've kept all these years. To say that I freaked the fuck out at the news of a fourth entry AND that it was going to be in 3D would be an understatement.

https://i.imgur.com/OsaPpGr.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/cF5VFDP.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/IqxVHCf.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/6hWeeDM.jpg

[M-A-G]

Mortal Kombat 4 Thoughts and Review

So as the nineties moved towards the later end of their existence, it seemed like Mortal Kombat had reached it zenith. The third game's story seemed to wrap up the major conflict of the series, that being making sure Outworld and Shao Kahn did not claim Earth. A fourth game was speculated but what would it even be about if such a game were to be released? Not to mention more advanced fighting games were starting to be produced and the 2D digitized sprites of the Mortal Kombat franchise seemed dated. It looked like Mortal Kombat had done all it needed to do.

Well, leave it to Midway to throw us a curveball. Not only were we getting a fourth entry but it's going to be in 3D?!? Let the speculating begin!

The article in the above screenshots gave just enough to let us know what we were getting into, but left enough to the imagination to get us all talking. Who would be returning? Who would be among the new crop of fighters? How would it continue the mythology of the series? The other wrinkle was that the Sub-Zero game was being developed at the same time. It looked like Mortal Kombat was going to get a nice little jump start to silence the talk that the series was getting stale.

Personally, I love this game. Again, I didn't concern myself with who was being excluded and I was more interested in what was being brought to the table as far as new features went. Thankfully, the game played more like the older titles and didn't handle like some other 3D games like Tekken or Battle Arena Toshinden. Things felt smooth and the only new things to get a handle on were the sidestepping and the weapon mechanics. Getting to use weapons was pretty cool but a lot of them don't make sense. Why does Sonya use a bladed pinwheel? How come Scorpion's sword isn't a katana? Raiden using a hammer and Noob Saibot rocking a scythe was pretty awesome, though.

Graphically, things looked great. I love how Sonya FINALLY looks a fucking military officer. Reptile was looking more and more like he should. Getting to see fatalities in 3D glory was also a bonus, Scorpion's fatalities in particular. I don't think the environments were as memorable as the other games. They just seemed kind of "meh". I also can't really recall as many tunes as I can with the older games. Shinnok's status as the main antagonist wasn't really taken as far as it could've gone. Thankfully, they fixed that years later with Mortal Kombat X. Nonetheless, none of the drawbacks stopped me from playing this fucker almost endlessly. I remember taking the Nintendo 64 version to school with me and any time we would have a free period, I hooked that sucker up and would pass the controllers around. I had a 90+ win streak this one time. I seemed to have a better grasp on this game than any of the other titles.

I know this game didn't hit bullseyes with a lot of people and most see it as either a bridge into the titles we got in the early 2000s or an example of how the franchise was losing its luster. Mortal Kombat: Annihilation certainly didn't help matters. The main conflict of the game didn't really mean much in the overall scheme of things, either. Only the stuff with Quan Chi and Scorpion really seemed to matter as Deadly Alliance kind of picked up on that thread. It's still an interesting curiosity as the last mainline entry of the 90s.

My main character: Quan Chi takes the mantle here, although Sub-Zero and Reiko weren't that far behind.

Best Fatality: Quan Chi's Leg Rip. I mean, come on, it's hilarious as fuck. Imagine being in the afterlife and everyone's swapping stories about how they ended up there and you have to be poor fuck who tells everyone you got beaten to death with your own leg.

Worst Fatality: There are some really nonsensical ones like both Tanya's and Sonya's respective Kisses of Death but I have to give this "award" to Jarek's Eye Laser. I was never a fan of turning Kano's eye thing into a cybernetic weapon but it would've at least made sense if Kano was the one doing it in this game. It's never explained why Jarek has this ability and on top of it, when it's all over he just does his stupid pose and the lasers are still on. Like, WTF?

[Evil Vito]

I was never good enough to pull off most of the fatality combos so 8-year old me marveled watching this for the first time

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[Evil Vito]

also remember not knowing that some stages had automatic fatalities for doing an uppercut

sending someone to get run over by the subway was a real "mark out" moment for me early in my gaming career

[M-A-G]

Oh, thanks for reminding me about something that always pissed me off about Trilogy and Ultimate. The God damn Brutalities. I didn't know a single person who was able to pull them off. I had the input commands from my guide book but I might as well have been shoving it up my ass for all the good that did. Plus, like the Animalities, the payoff wasn't worth the trouble. Thankfully it got somewhat fixed in Mortal Kombat X.

[DAMN iNATOR]

Oh, thanks for reminding me about something that always pissed me off about Trilogy and Ultimate. The God damn Brutalities. I didn't know a single person who was able to pull them off. I had the input commands from my guide book but I might as well have been shoving it up my ass for all the good that did. Plus, like the Animalities, the payoff wasn't worth the trouble. Thankfully it got somewhat fixed in Mortal Kombat X.

You could say the same about the uselessness of Friendships. Like what even was the point?

[M-A-G]

Friendships were at least funny and unique to each character. Every Brutality was just an explosion of a ludicrous amount of body parts.