Mortal Kombat

Although my experience from this game mainly comes from the Sega genesis version, I will say that the arcade version does still hold up to this day and is the perfect way to troll the Helen Lovejoy’s of our society who think cartoonist depictions of gore have any impact on the youth of society.

Naturally this game’s appeal comes from its fatalities, specifically how over the top the animations are which include gratuitous amounts of blood depending on which version you're playing. Of course, the roster of fighters is also impressive as it has a wide variety of fighters to choose from which adds personality to the battles. There is a story mode, however it's basically you fighting each of the playable characters against the Ai before fighting the final boss, which really makes it a boss rush with a minigame thrown in during each fight to break up the monotony the game would otherwise have.

It's not the most complex fighter out there, however it's a ton of fun with friends that's worth checking out even to this day.

If you would have asked me in 1993 what I thought of Mortal Kombat, I would have given a much more positive opinion of this seminal game. Mortal Kombat was a breath of fresh air, especially given the gore version that presented itself on the Genesis. However, head to head fighting games are the one game genre in my mind that uniformly gets better in time. Playing the original MK now seems constrained and outdated. But before I get to that, a bit of background because the game does have a rich history that spans decades. Mortal Kombat was a major arcade smash in its day. Having funneled a ton of coins at the arcade playing MK, we were all patiently awaiting the game to make its eventual transition to the console. The original MK had seven available characters to play (all classic characters): Kano, Sonja, Liu Kang, Sub Zero, Scorpion, Raiden, and Johnny Cage. This is a very limited selection by today's standards, but at the time, this was an unbelievable game. You have the choice of fighting a friend in head to head mode as well as doing a ladder challenge like in the arcade. In this mode, you have to win a series of battles to make you way to the final test - Goro and then Shang Tsung. As with any fighting game, you have you basic kick, punch, and block. For newcomers, this means button mashing with hopes for victory. Each character has 2-3 unique moves that only they can do as well as a unique fatality.

Almost any retro gamer can identify with "Get Over Here!" and "Finish Him!" There were copious amounts of blood involved in the game (arcade) and the use of fatalities (a way to further beat up your enemy following your win) gained the attention of the US Congress as well as other political bodies across the world. This would eventually lead to the rating system established on all video games today. I have always found it funny how this game received so much attention for its gore. Nowadays, MK is put to shame by games like Manhunt, most of the survival horror games, and even parts of the Grand Theft Auto games.

I have always liked the original MK over other similar games like Street Fighter or Primal Rage. This was largely due to the gore which appealed to my younger self, but also because the characters were just so interesting. You have kung fu experts, half dead magicians, crazed wizards, everything. What makes the Sega Genesis version far superior to the Super Nintendo version is the ability to turn on the blood. For the Sega port, I will say the sound isn't all there. This will only annoy those who spent a lot of time at the arcades playing MK when it came out. As with the arcade, you have the option of finding and fighting Reptile in the Pit stage.

Where MK falters is in its replay value. Even MK II blows MK away and with the exception of a few bumps along the way, I think each new Mortal Kombat game adds to what the previous did not have to create a better game. The fact that each character only has 2-3 unique moves and one unique fatality really limits the depth of each character. At the time it was great but going back, it seems really dated. There still is a bit of nostalgia for me, but for the most part, this game is fair but there are a wealth of better fighting games out there.

I never was a fan of the MK series growing up. MK games always felt slow and clunky compared to their contemporaries, with this one being the clunkiest. Really, the main (only) selling point for me was the violence - I'd take KI or SF 2 Turbo over this any day of the week.

I played this game in “The Arcade Kollection” on the PC which contains the first three games. There’s a few different graphical filters, so you can make it look like it’s running on a CRT screen, or make it look more like a Kartoon. I had played the game in my youth, but don’t remember that much about it.

The games were massively controversial at the time for their violence - which was more shocking due to the motion-captured actors making the game look “real”. Due to their choice of style, I think these games have held up really well.

The fights are best out of 3 rounds. After your second win, you can perform a finishing move. By entering certain combinations, you can perform a brutal “Fatality” move to humiliate your opponent.

The characters have a limited moveset since they only have 2-4 special moves then the usual basic punches and kicks.

You have to go through several 1 vs 1 fights, then there's three 1 vs 2 fights (a defeated opponent switches out for their partner), then two bosses. It's a gruelling and tough journey for sure. Goro is so difficult and he deals 2-3x the damage you do. I’m usually way too fatigued or bored by the time I get close to the Goro stage. If you do reach the end, Shao Khan morphs into all the other characters. In his normal form he has one attack which is to launch souls at you for around 70% damage. It’s tough, but I have managed to defeat him.

Like a lot of fighting games, it does feel a bit unfair at times. The limited moveset may be too basic for modern fighting game fans, but it does hold up surprisingly well.

The realistic render and the bloody horror were so much fun back then, after the amazing SFII we had this one and it was very different, thus a good thing and and a clever concept by Midway. Of course taking Scorpion was to me mandatory.