"Mortal Kombat II at it's best."

Mortal Kombat II is pretty much widely accepted as the best old school MK game made. Mortal Kombat II kept Arcades packed but when it was time for the game to come home, things got a little iffy. MKII was ported to the Genesis and SNES most notably at first. The Genesis version is known to be the most inferior console version, lacking detail in stages and poorer sound quality a few removed sound clips etc. The SNES version was better and even included the blood in it…big deal back then. Later on however, two other versions of this game emerged being a lot better than their elder counterparts.

The Sega Saturn version, some say that this version is the best. I'd say no to this since there are load times, nothing is arcade perfect if there are load times. Most people seem to conveniently forget about the 32X version of MKII. I would go as far as saying that this version is the arcade perfect version, but how does it stand anyway? Is it worth getting? Read on.

Presentation

Anybody who is anybody has played MKII back in the day. You should remember what it looks like for the home versions, the big dragon emblem menu, climbing the mountain to the top to face Shao Kahn all that stuff. I will say that they were able to add some things that weren't even in the SNES version such as certain sound clips and of course there was more overall detail in everything compared to the Genesis version.

Score : 8.1 – Great

Gameplay

Here is where MK especially gets iffy. A lot of the fighting game zealots, gurus and anything else you can put in that list don't really like Mortal Kombat at all. Saying things such as it's not as deep or technical as Street Fighter 2, or any of the SNK games. While that is true that doesn't mean that Mortal Kombat is garbage. Sure there really aren't things like mix up games, poking, or super moves, but MK was meant for a whole other type of gamer I'd say. MK is like any other fighting game mostly. You've got your punches, kicks, blocking, special moves and fatalities etc. This game is really more comical than serious though.

The stiffness of the MK series was something that has always bugged me, nothing ever really seems to flow, and it all looks forced and stiff most of the time. I'll admit, I'm one of those fighting game gurus or nuts, if you're one of those this will simply not be as fulfilling as something else, in spite of that though it's still enjoyable to me.

Score : 6.4 – Decent

Controls

You have the option of using a three button controller, which is not recommended at all, or you could switch to a 6-button pad if you have one which is highly recommended. Using the 6-button set up is almost like how it was in the Arcade so I doubt anyone would want to change it, you really can't anyway. I will say this, having Y and B as block is a tad annoying, and I've always found it annoying how you have to perform fatalities and stuff. Other than all this though, the controls are fine.

Score : 8.0 – Good

Graphics

Most of the backgrounds got a lot more detail attention than they did in the Genesis version, like the chains hanging in the Dead Pool among other things. The characters look good generally, a whole lot better than they did in the original MK. I have found that some stages aren't nearly as impressive as some others, their names escape me but I'm sure you'll know what I'm talking about. The stiffness of the characters affects things a bit for me as well.

Score : 7.8 – Good

Sound

Well, there are some pretty nice hit sounds. Some of the character's voice samples are more hilarious than awesome, and for the most part the music is very forgettable except for the Dead Pool and Character Select tracks. Fear Liu Kang the chicken man!

Score : 7.0 – Decent

Replay

What is there to do after an initial play time? Well, you could strive to fight Smoke or Jade if you wanted. Better yet, you could get some friends over and have a blast from the past. That is the best part of having any copy of MK, that and it provides laughs for an hour or two, a good break from more serious games.

Score : 5.9 – Banal

Overview

If you're looking into getting a 32X, or you already have and you're a fan of MK. You should look into getting this, unless you have some already superior version. Just bear in mind though, MK is more of a nostalgia trip than anything else for the most part.

Overall Score : 7.2 – Good

Modified to 7/10 for Gamefaqs.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/24/06