30 Years of Mortal Kombat: A Retrospective Thread - Page 2

**DAMN iNATOR** · 10-20-2022, 12:31 AM

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** · 10-22-2022, 03:16 AM

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?

**DAMN iNATOR** · 10-23-2022, 08:53 AM

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** · 10-23-2022, 08:56 AM

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

**M-A-G** · 10-26-2022, 08:50 PM

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.

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** · 10-26-2022, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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

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** · 10-28-2022, 07:41 PM

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.

**M-A-G** · 10-29-2022, 08:54 PM

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** · 10-31-2022, 10:12 AM

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

**Evil Vito** · 10-31-2022, 10:14 AM

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** · 10-31-2022, 11:23 AM

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** · 11-01-2022, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

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

**M-A-G** · 11-01-2022, 11:08 PM

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

10-22-2022, 03:16 AM	#42
M-A-G Higher. Further. Faster. Posts: 20,865	This post is sponsored by Ranger Joe 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?

10-26-2022, 08:50 PM	#45
M-A-G Higher. Further. Faster. Posts: 20,865	This post is sponsored by the Fortress of Solitude 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. 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.

10-28-2022, 07:41 PM	#47
M-A-G Higher. Further. Faster. Posts: 20,865	This post is sponsored by Duncan McLeod 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.

10-29-2022, 08:54 PM	#48
M-A-G Higher. Further. Faster. Posts: 20,865	This post is sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund 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?

10-31-2022, 11:23 AM	#51
M-A-G Higher. Further. Faster. Posts: 20,865	This post is sponsored by the Tanooki Suit 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.

10-20-2022, 12:31 AM	#41
DAMN iNATOR Rigged from the start Posts: 35,417	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. 😡💢

10-23-2022, 08:53 AM	#43
DAMN iNATOR Rigged from the start Posts: 35,417	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

10-23-2022, 08:56 AM	#44
Danny Electric dirty irani Posts: 11,955	Remember owning MK3 for the SNES the week it came out and then that weekend my SNES broke. Tears were had.

10-31-2022, 10:12 AM	#49
Evil Vito President of Freedonia Posts: 58,167	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

10-31-2022, 10:14 AM	#50
Evil Vito President of Freedonia Posts: 58,167	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

11-01-2022, 11:08 PM	#53
M-A-G Higher. Further. Faster. Posts: 20,865	This post is sponsored by Glacius Friendships were at least funny and unique to each character. Every Brutality was just an explosion of a ludicrous amount of body parts.