Review by UnholyTancred

"The best version of Mortal Kombat 2 on a home console..."

The first 2 Mortal Kombat games were ported to almost every single system possible at the time. Hell, the first Mortal Kombat was ported to the Sega Master System. It was also ported to the Sega CD which didn't make any sense. If they did it earlier, I'd understand but Mortal Kombat 2 was already in arcades and was already in the process of being ported to the home consoles. Really stupid. It didn't make any sense.

Many people claim the Super Nintendo version of Mortal Kombat 2 is the best. Well those guys didn't seem to play the 32x port.

Graphics - 10/10
Almost arcade perfect. Unlike the SNES and Genesis counterparts, there are no missing frames of animation here. The sprites are bigger and move much more fluidly. Also because the 32x enhanced the amount of colors that could be on screen, it's much better looking than the muddy colors of the Genesis port. Also, all the little tidbits that were removed from the Genesis version (mostly background stuff like flying dragons) are all present here. This port has the 2nd best graphics on any home console. The Sega Saturn version is the only one with better graphics as the sprites are much bigger.

Sound - 6/10
Probably the only area that this port lacks. The 32x had a poor sound chip and the music in this game is almost identical to the Genesis tunes. They are slightly enhanced however but it's only slightly. But, all the missing screams and sound effects from the Genesis port are all present here.

Story - 10/10
The Mortal Kombat series had a pretty solid story in my opinion until Mortal Kombat: Deception when stuff just turned stupid. The plot here is summed up with the short introduction before the game starts. All the characters have their own short reasons for participating in this tournament and each characters has an ending. It's simple but pretty good for a fighting game.

Gameplay - 7/10
It's Mortal Kombat. You either love it for it's absurd amount of gore and it's digitized realistic looking characters or you hate it because the fighting engine is complete nonsense compared to the more combo oriented fighting games. I, for one, always loved the Mortal Kombat games. Much of the previous year I started getting into more fighting games and I simply fell in love with the likes of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo for the 3DO and the King Of Fighters series. The fighting engine in those games is very complex and in depth. Yet, after playing the likes of all them fancy games, I still love Mortal Kombat. The only reason that I made the score only a 7 in this area is because I have a huge complaint about Kintaro the sub boss and Shao Kahn the main boss. Very goddamn cheap. At least you're given the option of having a maximum of 30 credits and after much frustration you probably will beat the game.

Overall - 10/10
Simply fantastic. However, there is not much of a reason to own this game if you have it on a different console. If you have a SNES, then stick to that version. It's a very solid port and is only slightly inferior to the 32x version. If you have the Genesis version, same thing really. The graphics are worse and the sound is lacking but you still have a solid game. The 32x has very few good games for it and is a pretty expensive add-on even today. And it doesn't help considering the fact that most people who sell the 32x online are pretty ignorant and don't even realize that they don't have the cable you need to connect the 32x to the Genesis. That cable alone could run you about $20. Luckily I got a complete boxed 32x for around $40 with all the cables and those worthless metal clips.

Unless you're a Mortal Kombat fanatic or you have a Genesis and a 32x but don't have Mortal Kombat for the Genesis, then there isn't really much of a point of owning this game. There is no reason for anyone to go through all the trouble of getting this game when there is a wide variety of slightly downgraded versions available everywhere.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10 | Originally Posted: 02/13/07


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