"The best installment of MK in the series gets a really great port to the 32X..."

I don't think I need to introduce the concept of "Mortal Kombat" to you, because, anyone who hasn't been living under a rock in the last ten years will be able to tell you the basic premise of this game : to beat your opponent into a bloody pulp, and then finish them off brutally and completely.

What many of you may not know is that their IS a better port of this arcade classic out there, that blows both the Sega Genesis and the SNES versions of Mortal Kombat II right out of the water. The main problem? You need Sega's doomed 32X upgrade for the Genesis in order to be able to play this great port, which is extremely close to being arcade-perfect.

So, if you've played the ports of MK II for the SNES and the Genesis, and picking up the 32X version is an option for you, then certainly do it, if for nothing else but collector's reasons. You'll quickly notice the improvements made in the 32X version, and chances are, you'll never touch your SNES/Genesis cart ever again, except to compare.

Sound clips, great music, better character animation and a vast color palette are the main reasons to pick up this 32X cart...so, needless to say, if you're not impressed by these small things in your games, then you really may not want to bother with the trouble of tracking down this fairly rare port. But, if you're a collector like me, then this will definitely be one of the games on the top of your list to own. If you can't manage to get your hands on this 32X port, or any Mortal Kombat II cartridge, then I would definitely recommend picking up MK Trilogy, as it runs right behind MK II in what I believe to be the best of the series as a whole.

On its own, Mortal Kombat II is definitely the best game in the series, although it is missing some of the great elements from the first installment in the series, mainly the score system and the in-betweeny "chop-chop" endurance games. However, a new-found smoothness in controls (especially with a 6-button controller), a bigger selection of characters, a more complex story, better backgrounds and fairly good music help pull Mortal Kombat II above the original game. I should also add that MK II manages to leave both the third and fourth installments of the MK series completely behind in the dust, with its balanced and basic-roots gameplay.

My recommendation? Definitely play this game, regardless of what port it is. The basic gist of the game remains intact in all of the versions (well, excluding the Gameboy version). However, you'll be truly the most impressed with the original arcade version or this incredible 32X port.

--PROS--
1) controls very well, especially with a 6-button controller
2) animations are much smoother than in the 16-bit versions
3) this version is much brighter and vivid, especially compared to the washed out Genesis version
4) sound-clips spice things up!
5) classic gameplay, great with a friend
6) new characters like Baraka and Reptile make things interesting

--CONS--
1) this 32X port (and the actual console) may be hard to find
2) you can't really enjoy this game unless you have a 6-button controller

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/18/04