My Played Video Games Review: Mortal Kombat II for the Super Nintendo

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Mortal Kombat II is a fighting game originally produced by Midway for arcades in 1993. It was ported to multiple home systems, including the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom in 1994. That port was developed by Sculptured Software and published by Acclaim Entertainment (currently distributed by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment). It is the second main installment in the Mortal Kombat franchise and a sequel to 1992's Mortal Kombat, improving gameplay and expanding the original's notorious move sets with more varied finishing moves.

I have also played the Sega Genesis/Mega drive port during the mid-1990s and I can totally agree that this SNES home conversion is the best arcade port between the two.

Japan only box cover art (Image source)

The Story

Following his failure to defeat the hero, Liu Kang, in the previous Mortal Kombat tournament, the evil martial arts sorcerer Shang Tsung begs his master Shao Kahn, supreme ruler of Outworld, to spare his life. Shang Tsung proposes a plan: if they hold the next Mortal Kombat Tournament in Outworld, the Earth realm warriors must travel away from home to attend, giving Kahn the home field advantage. Shao Kahn agrees to this plan, restores Shang Tsung's youth and martial arts magic, and extends the invitation to the thunder god and Earth realm's protector, Raiden. Raiden gathers his combatants and leads them into Outworld.

The new tournament is highly dangerous, with Shao Kahn holding the advantage on his home turf.

Box, manual and cartridge of the game. (Image source)

The Graphics and Sound

The character models in Mortal Kombat II are tremendously improved compared to the original Mortal Kombat. All the fighters look more realistic and are highly detailed, allowing you to distinguish even the tiniest parts of the characters, such as embedded hand blades and a bandana. The new backgrounds are also impressive and far superior to those in the original game. My favorite is the one where the 2 previous game's characters are chained up in the background.

Nintendo finally recognized that gore equals sales and allowed the developer Midway to include blood in the game. This decision greatly enhances the game's realism. The fatalities look amazing, especially the pit fatalities and Baraka's fatality, where he cuts off the fighter's head with his hand blades, causing blood to gush out like crazy.

Gameplay video sample of Mortal Kombat II on the SNES. Watch in 360p for near TV resolution of that time.

The Gameplay

Mortal Kombat II introduced a slightly revamped fighting system. Each fighter now has two fatalities, along with new "Friendship" and "Babality" moves, where you turn your opponent into a baby. The game also features two different pit fatalities: one in the Pit stage, where you uppercut your rival into spikes below, and another in the Kombat Tomb, where you uppercut your opponent into the spikes on the ceiling.

The game offers 12 fighters, plus three hidden ones. Each fighter has their own unique set of moves, which you execute by pressing various button combinations. Finishing moves now require longer sequences of combinations, and the time window for executing them is shorter than in the original game, adding to the challenge. In my opinion, this fighting system is the best among all Mortal Kombat games.

Replay value is very good. Mortal Kombat II is loaded with codes and secrets. When this game was released, the series hadn't introduced Kombat Kodes yet, so you input codes at the character select screen. There are three hidden characters and a hidden 4-on-4 endurance mode. The real fun lies in playing against a friend, providing hours of entertainment as you fight it out for supremacy.

My Verdict

Mortal Kombat II is far from the perfect fighting game, but it is highly entertaining and fun, making it well worth the time to play. It is a shame that it will always carry the stigma of being a Mortal Kombat game because it is significantly better than most of the other games in the series.

Play it on the mighty Super Nintendo/Super Famicom or play it on a decent emulator. Play a match with a friend.

Let's keep on gaming in the free world!