Mortal Kombat: A Retrospective Evaluation/Suggestion Roundtable

[Kalyx triaD]

MORTAL KOMBAT!!!!

That Jamaican dude in the empty streets yelled it at the top of his lungs, ushering in "Mortal Monday" in '93. His gravely roar would later be sampled in techno music dedicated to the kraze that was Mortal Kombat. MK was the shit, but it wasn't really playable until MK2-3. It was tourny viable with those games, and practice made perfect. But something terrible happened in the late 90's...

Around MK4 I started to notice a certain staleness in the gameplay, but it was still fun. It was a decent alternative to Street Fighter afterall. Then came the rise of Tekken and Soul Calibur, which MK made the grave mistake of being compared to the moment they made the jump to 3D. They didn't stand a chance.

They took a breather for a few years, and came back with Deadly Alliance. There was a buzz about the return of MK, and the game came with some daring and welcome gameplay elements. Jumps were reduced to hops, making your ground game important. Combos were canned, but with the instant use of weapons they looked awesome. Deadly Alliance sparked hope in the beloved series.

Then came Deception. Deception was technically a retread of DA. Yet the gameplay was wearing out quick. I started to get frustrated at the stiff animation in particular. Also the story was getting even sillier, although the MK'ness of all still held up. One thing MK knew how to do was present their game. Midway could make trash look pretty epic at times, but they were running out of steam.

The shit hit the fan by the time MK Armageddon came around. A treasure trove of everything MK for the fan, but the gameplay was a mockery of the older games. It played like a joke, and every other 3D fighter at the time was making serious strides. Stiff animation, stupid moves, dated ideas made MKA little more than a novelty.

Now the final insult; MK vs DC. Midway, fuck you.

Let me atleast say that the gameplay is the best in years, but since the gameplay was immature shit for ages - that says nothing. Under no circumstance should MKvDC play the way it does in today's environment. What? Are you 3D or 2D? Pick one and be done with it. Why am I holding a button to sidestep? Do you know you're the last fighting game to do that?! Why would you have a system that rewards losers with an over-powered mode called "Rage"? And why is the animation STILL shit!? Why?!? Are you trying to make a fighting game, or are you trying to make a fucking fighting game?!? If you're making a fighting game and you're not interested in making it a competitive tourny worthy game, you're wasting your time.

I love Mortal Kombat... I am also a serious fighting game fan. My issues with this are similar to my issues with WWE; I've simply outgrown the product and get insulted at their attempts. MK doesn't have to be like Tekken or Virtua Fighter(ugh), but that's no excuse to suck as a fighting game. Perhaps they wanna be little more than a casual 'party' fighter, but that's what Smash Bros. and DOA are; and even those have deep systems for competitive play. Now I have alot of issues with Midway, chief among them their deconstruction of a great franchise.

Well here I am with a reconstruction. I will drop in ideas that I believe will rebound the gameplay into relevance. Add some if you have some ideas, or maybe counter-ideas. Let's save Mortal Kombat, atleast in fantasy.