The original Mortal Kombat set the world on fire with its focus on violence and gore. Other similar fighting games, such as Street Fighter II, were much more tame by comparison which is really what set this apart from the pack. The popularity of Mortal Kombat paved the way for an endless sea of copycats. There were more one-on-one fighting games featuring blood and finishing moves in this time than you could shake a stick at. As luck would have it the first Mortal Kombat wasn’t just a flash in the pan, and the developers soon set to work on a sequel. This went on to be an even bigger hit forever cementing Mortal Kombat as one of the most popular and instantly recognizable video game franchises of all time. Now, it’s not secret that I’m not a fan of the first title. Like, at all. Mortal Kombat II on the other hand is an amazing title that I will never tire of. I grew up with the Super Nintendo version, but today I’m going to evaluate the Sega Genesis release. Does blast processing make this the better of the two cartridges? Read on to find out.
Part II is a bit of a retread as far as story is concerned, but that’s not a problem. After his defeat at the hands of Liu Kang in the previous Mortal Kombat tournament Shang Tsung reasons with his master, lord of the outworld Shao Kahn. If they were to hold another fighting competition, but this time on their home turf, the warriors from Earth will be unable to turn down their invitations. Thunder god Raiden gathers the strongest Earthrealm fighters available and they travel to the Outworld to compete against one another for a chance at destroying Shao Kahn.
The change in story and setting has several effects on the main game. For starters, the arenas are now more fantastical and the overarching themes significantly more dark by nature. The Asian motif returns, and is more interesting this time around. The roster of characters has been significantly improved since the original. We now have twelve different fighters to choose from by default, and only two from the last installment (Kano and Sonya Blade) didn’t make the cut (though they do both have cameos on Shao Kahn’s Arena stage chained to the ground as his captives which is pretty cool).
Aside from the aforementioned absences everyone else returns. They’re made more interesting with additional special moves added to their line-up. Another improvement is the fact that Sub-Zero and Scorpion are no longer mere palette swaps in appearance and feature different idle animations and poses. The new characters are a perfect fit for the franchise and fit right in with the veterans. Baraka is a freaky looking mutant with blades for arms who uses them for many of his special moves. Jax is Sonya Blade’s partner with the U.S. special forces and is most noteworthy for his bionic arms. Reptile is no longer a hidden character and is available right from the start. Shang Tsung makes his playable debut here as a younger version of his previous self and can still transform into the other characters. With this installment the developers introduce female ninjas Kitana and Mileena to the mix who make use of fans and sai weapons respectively. Lastly we have Kung Lao who is a shaolin monk and descendant of the winner of the Mortal Kombat tournament five hundred years ago.
We also have three hidden characters with the third female ninja Jade, the shadowy Noob Saibot, and another male ninja named Smoke. Lastly we have two new bosses added to the mix. Kintaro is a four armed beast like Goro but has tiger stripes, and the strong man lord of the underworld Shao Kahn himself who is most remembered for his booming taunts.
Mortal Kombat II is a two dimensional one-on-one fighting game like its predecessor, but the gameplay system has been improved quite a bit. Not only is the action a little faster, but there is now a smaller pause in between special moves and attacks. This enhances the combo system thus making it easier to chain together attacks in thoughtful and creative ways. The new special moves are also very cool. I especially like Sub-Zero’s ability to freeze a puddle on the floor causing the opponent to slip toward you opening them up for attack. Reptile’s ability to turn invisible is a very creative move in the realm of fighting games and can be used to turn the tides of battle. The fact that Shang Tsung can transform into any of the other fighters (except for the hidden ones and bosses) is an incredible feat for a 16-bit fighting game. This isn’t always very useful on a competitive level, but it’s neat for sure.
Fatalities return as does the blood and gore but Midway had a sense of humor this time in the face of controversy. After defeating an opponent twice you can perform a finishing move which serves no other purpose than to be violent and impress the players. Each character has two different ones, and another that can be performed on specific stages that make use of the environments. This time around the developers added babalities and friendship moves that can be used in place of fatalities. The first simply transforms the opponent into a crying baby, and the latter is even more comedic in nature and usually involves your character performing a friendly action to the defeated foe (the effect is different for each combatant). These may sound stupid to some, but the stark contrast was, and still is hilarious to me. I like the friendship moves much more than the fatalities.
Mortal Kombat II uses the same graphic engine as the original. This means that all characters are digitized images of real people in costume, and while this technique hasn’t aged particularly well it’s much better here than in the original. Each features more frames of animation, and the idle movements are less erratic. They still don’t look great, but it’s a noticeable improvement. The backgrounds are the biggest upgrade featuring more detail, animation, and many even have parallax scrolling. They’re also much more imaginative here. I especially like the spirit forest with the trees that form faces on their bark. The color palette has been enhanced significantly, and there’s much more depth in this spectrum which makes the game look significantly better. Unfortunately there’s still some pixelation on the characters, and the digitized characters clash a bit with the over the top backgrounds.
The soundtrack is also much better than in the last game. The music retains the Asian motif which gives the whole experience a great deal of personality. What’s disappointing is the fact that the announcer does not speak the names of the combatants. Shao Kahn’s taunts made the cut in this version, but the missing voice samples are still disappointing.
Usually the first follow-up to a popular formula is disappointing, but this is one of the rare cases where the sequel is worlds better than the original. Let’s not stop there; Mortal Kombat II is simply the best game in the entire franchise, and even the modern installments pale in comparison. I’ve never been the biggest fan of this series but the quality here is undeniable. The Sega Genesis port is a worthwhile investment; the developers did a great job bringing the arcade hit over even if this isn’t the best version.
