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Mortal Kombat
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Console: Sega Genesis
Region:U
Year: 1993
RFG ID #: U-040-S-03680-A
Part #: T-81186
UPC: 734549001081
Developer: Probe
Publisher: Arena Entertainment
Rating:
MA-13 (VRC)

Genre: Fighting
Sub-genre: 2D Vs. Fighter
Players: 1-2
Controller: Standard Controller
Media Format: Cartridge x1
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Collection Stats:

  • 585 of 7627 collectors (7.6%) have this game in their collection
  • 17 of 7627 collectors (0.2%) have this game in their wishlist.
  • 6 of 7627 collectors (0%) have this game for sale or trade.
Overview:

Supports:
  • Standard Controller

The release of Mortal Kombat into the home market was a media and political frenzy, as were subsequent releases of this fighting series. This was a game so violent, evil and immoral it was attacked by certain political figures and organizations as too violent for children to play and was almost locked away forever.

Well I exagerated a little bit... but honestly the back of the box says it all:

PREPARE YOURSELF... The #1 arcade hit is here: from Sub-Zero, Rayden and the rest of the Kombat Warriors to the grueling endurance and intense mirror matches! Execute bone-shattering combos and awesome finishing moves! Defeat the half-human dragon Goro, and destroy the shape-changing Shang Tsung to become the Supreme Kombat Warrior!

Review:

FIGHT!
...and so the game begins. From the moment you hear that word, you are in the middle of a fight to the death.

From the time you hit the power button you are sucked into this fighter. Mood-setting opening music, an interesting and detailed story for each character, and the tournament itself make Mortal Kombat an utterly engrossing experience.

After reading some of the pre-game story, demo fights, and character profiles (assuming you didn't hop right into the game), you will be presented with your choice of seven characters:

Johnny Cage
a movie star who entered the tournament to prove to people who didn't believe he did his own stunts in his martial arts movies.
Kano
the member of the Black Dragon Society, a group of mercenaries and criminals.
Sub-Zero
a member of the ancient Chinese Link Kuei Clan. He has the ability to manipulate moisture in the air to form ice.
Sonya Blade
a Lieutenant in the U.S. Special Forces. She was captured by Shang Tsung's forces while in pursuit of Kano.
Rayden
he is actually the Thunder God who protects the Earth Realm and entered into the tournament after receiving an invitation from Shang Tsung.
Lui Kang
an ex-White Lotus Member who also received training in Shaolin Temples. He is also a descendent of Kung Lao, the last champion before Goro started on a 500 year winning streak.
Scorpion
once a member of the Shirai Ryu Ninja Clan he is now a spectre who searches the realms to exact his revenge against those who wronged his clan, his family and himself when he was still living.

After choosing your fighter you will finally be able to start your first round fight. During the fights you will be able to use a fair amount of attacks against your opponent including some attacks that are character-specific.

You will start battling your way through the first six matches, each increasing in difficulty as you progress. After that you will be pitted against yourself in a Mirror Match. So long as you have become somewhat proficient with the character it will be fairly easy to dodge your "clone's" moves. Mortal Kombat starts to become a real challenge once you finish the mirror match up. Now you will be faced with the Endurance Matches: three matches where you will have to duke it out with two characters you have previously fought. This can be difficult because now you will be fighting them one after another (no pause to rest those weary thumbs and no health bar refill).

Finally making it through the one-on-one matches, the mirror match, and the endurance matches brings the ultimate challenge.... The Dragon Prince Goro.

In my opinion Goro is harder to defeat that Shang Tsung. Expect to lose to him at least once if you're not a veteran to the game. If you're new to the game you've probably lost a few times already, even if you haven't played the game yet. It is likely that beginner players will not even make it past him. (Tip: My advice is to land as many flying punches and kicks as you can. You are going to want to keep a safe distance from Goro - close enough to be able to jump at him and hit him, but far enough away to have time to duck under fireballs he may shoot or react to any other advances he might make. Many of his attacks are two to three times more powerful than the standard warriors' attacks.)

If and when you defeat Goro, you will move on to the final challenge: the soul-stealing Shang Tsung. If you made your way past Goro then he shouldn't be too much of a problem for you. The only thing you really have to worry about is him changing into a character you have trouble against, because he can shape-shift into any character you have fought (with the exception of Goro thankfully) and use any of that character's moves. He is no more powerful than any of the original characters you fought though, so you don't have to worry about getting killed in a few hits like you do with Goro.

Beating the game with each character will give show you a what-if scenario ending. It will let you know what would have happened should your chosen character would have REALLY won the Tournament. Easily one of the best is Rayden's; it also is not the real ending for obvious reasons.

Along the way you may have encountered Reptile who will drop down before a match and leave you a cryptic message on how to find and fight him. To become a great player, it is necessary to learn some of the characters' moves, as well as how to avoid them. Many of the characters' special attacks leave them open for counterattack if dodged properly, so this is an important mechanic in Mortal Kombat. Though not all are visible without entering a special code, the controversial and extremely popular FATALITY ending moves also spice up gameplay and keep replay value high, since each fighter has some interesting surprises and special moves.

Overall, Mortal Kombat has solid fighting, an engrossing story line (perhaps the most in-depth story line of any fighter to date), music that keeps you in the game, and awesome special moves and fatalities to make this game a must play for anyone who is a fan of fighting games.

RF Generation Review Score


90%

Extra Media:

Comic Book Ad 1
Comic Book Ad 2
Variations:

Console Reg. Type Title Publisher Year Genre
Sega Mega Drive E S Mortal Kombat Arena Entertainment 1993 Fighting
Sega Mega Drive Portugal S Mortal Kombat Arena Entertainment 1993 Fighting
Sega Mega Drive J S Mortal Kombat: Shinken Kourin Densetsu Acclaim 1994 Fighting
Related Games:

Console Reg. Type Title Publisher Year Genre
Sega Genesis U S Mortal Kombat 3 Williams 1995 Fighting
Sega Genesis U S Mortal Kombat II Acclaim 1994 Fighting
Sony PlayStation 2 U S Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance Midway 2002 Fighting
Microsoft Xbox U S Mortal Kombat: Deception Midway Home Entertainment 2004 Fighting
Sega Genesis U S Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Williams 1996 Fighting
Game Trivia:

  • Distributed by Acclaim.
  • The game was released on September 13. The day was nicknamed "Mortal Monday".
  • There is some dispute as to whether or not Ermac is in this game. Well the truth is....he is! The only thing is he is an error, an Er(ror) Mac(ro) to be exact. The error occured when a fight with Scorpion was supposed to happen. The health bar would display ERMAC instead of Scorpion, and Scorpion's sprite would be colored all red. The chances of this happening are supposed to be more than 1 in 10,000.
  • The Genesis version was considered more violent because it contained "blood" while the SNES version had "sweat"
  • Sub-Zero, Scorpion and Reptile are all the same image used with a different color scheme in order to stretch the memory and allow for more characters. This is something that becomes a bit of a pattern with the Mortal Kombat series.
  • Referenced in the movie Billy Madison: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112508/quotes?qt0403099
Instructions:

Basic Moves
D-PAD Left, Right
Move Forward and Backwards
D-PAD Down
Crouch
D-PAD Up
Jump
D-PAD Up/Toward, Up/Away,
Front Flip Toward, Back Flip Away
A
Low Punch
B
Low Kick
C
High Kick
Away/A
High Punch
Start
Block


Close Quarters
A
Head-Blow
B
Knee
C
Throw


Crouching Moves
Crouch/Left, Crouch/Right
Move Weight Forward or Backwards
Crouch/A
Uppercut
Crouch/B
Crouched Kick
Crouch/Block
Crouched Block


Spinning Moves
Away/B
Foot Sweep
Away/C
Roundhouse Kick


Aerial Moves
Jump/A
Flying Punch
Jump/B
Flying Kick
Jump/C
Flying Kick
Easter Eggs:

  • Blood Code
    On the "Code Screen" press the buttons A,B,A,C,A,B,B to confirm the codes activation the screen will look like this and you will hear Scorpion say "Get over here!". This code enables all the glorious 16bit blood splatter that was supposed to be left out. It also allows you to see all of the Fatalities some of which are censored without the cheat in place.


  • Cheat Menu
    When you reach the main menu press Down, Up, Left, Left, A, Right, Down (D,U,L,L,A,R,D) to gain access to the Cheat Menu which has a bunch of options; which include choosing your "chop chop" item, enabling and disabling the blood code(again), and if you activate the right flags it can increase your chances of seeing and fighting Reptile among other things.


  • Fight Reptile
    In order to fight Reptile you will have to be on "The Pit" stage and fight both rounds without being hit once, you will recieve bonus points for a "Flawless Victory" in the first match and a "Double Flawless" after the second. The catch is you are not allowed to block at any point.
  • Reptile is just a hidden character meant to catch peoples interest. He is basically a combination of Sub-Zero and Scorpion.
Game Credits:

Cast
Johnny Cage: Daniel Pesina
Scorpion: Daniel Pesina
Sub-Zero: Daniel Pesina
Kano: Richard Divisio
Rayden: Carlos Pesina
Lui Kang: Ho Sung Pak
Shang Tsung: Ho Sung Pak
Sonya Blade: Elizabeth Malecki
Goro Character Design: John Tobias
Probe Software
Software: Paul Carruthers
Additional Software: Richard Costello
Graphics: Lee Ames
Producer: Gary Liddon
Music and Sound Effects: Matt Furniss, Shuan Hollingworth
Testing: James Simon, Barg and Tim
Special Thanks: Dave Spangle
Acclaim Developement
Producer: Robert Leingang
Associate Producer: Stacy Allyn Hendrickson
Analysts: Tyrone Miller, Joe Libertella, Tom Rademacher, James Fink
Special Thanks: Eric, Alex and Tony, Ed Boon, John Tobias
Page Credits:

Michael Collins: Page design, HTML code.
Eddie Herrmann: Perl script.
Anthony Terzi: Game Trivia, Related Games, Misc, Instructions, scans, screenshots, Easter Eggs, Overview, Review, Game Credits, Part Number., UPC, Media Format, Game Rating, Game Trivia, Misc, Release Type
ApolloBoy: Publisher & Year corrections
NES_Rules: Game Rating Correction
blcklblskt: game rating
techwizard: Part Number, Scans
Fragems: Scans
Flee: Photos

Last Updated: 2021-03-25 18:03:43
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