Mortal Kombat

The Good
The graphics are flawless! Considering the hardware's limitations, the colour schemes and pixelation match the arcade original's very well.

Most of the grunts and groans and voices are included here, with the exception of "Flawless Victory" and "Fatality" (renamed Finishing Moves here). The music, while played at a rather subtle volume, is well adapted from the arcade as well.

The controls and pace. while a little slow compared to the arcade or even the Mega Drive version, are responsive and you get accustomed to the game's pacing before long.

The Bad
While the arcade version is famous for its controversial extreme violence and gore, the SNES version is criticised even in 1993 for toning down one of the most fundamental aspects that made the arcade version so addictive: blood. Instead of blood, we see grey sweat that is animated like the blood from the arcade.

Also, half of the game's fatalities were modified: Sub-Zero's spinal rip is changed into a Deep-Freeze and Ice-Breaker (which would be included in subsequent games), Kano's Heart Rip stays the same, save the heart not being visible, Raiden's almost identical except the character turns to dust. But the lamest of changes is Johnny Cage's fatality, which is merely kick to the stomach.

The Bottom Line
Even though it is less violent than the arcade version, The SNES version actually surpasses the Mega Drive version in terms of graphics, sounds and also music (the one in the Mega Drive version sounds like garbage!). The controls maybe a little slow at first, but not to the point that make the game unplayable.

If you're to pick the SNES or Mega Drive, get this one. If you want blood and gore, get the other one.

The Good
In 1993, Mortal Kombat gained a new wave of fighting games to a whole another level: Blood, Gore, and... Sweat? The folks at Nintendo wanted to do a kiddie-friendly version of the arcade classic and what did they get, an unnecessary toned-down bloodless version of Mortal Kombat that left many loyal fans wondering: What are they thinking? Why is Nintendo the only ones who's calling all the shots about censorship?

I really love Mortal Kombat. Even though it has a total of 8 or 9 characters of the roster, but the fatalities were incredible and thanks to Midway's innovative idea to bash the living daylights out of its other rival (Capcom's Street Fighter II), who would've thought that Mortal Kombat's intense physicality is so brutal that parents should be warned to their children not to play this game.

The Bad
I don't wanna be so offended to Nintendo, but the SNES version of Mortal Kombat could be go down as one of the worst games this system has to offer. Thanks to their so-called policy that has garnered for so many years targeting to children, one year later the ESRB stepped it up and make this bloodthirsty game not suitable for all audiences (including children under 17) and thus makes Mortal Kombat the first fighting game franchise to be rated M for Mature. Nintendo knew it was coming and since MKII, they finally ended the policy and decided to make a warning label of their own.

They should've erased the sweat, they should've add more violence, and sure as hell, they should've learned a lesson from the Genesis version.

The Bottom Line
I would rather stick my gums out and play either Killer Instinct or Street Fighter II Turbo instead. I can put this Mortal Kombat SNES version altogether in three different words: tedious, incoherent, and downright terrible. It just goes to show you what Sega Genesis does what Nintendon't.

The Good
The Game at its heart is mortal kombat. Nothing can change the familiar gameplay of it. So lets start off with the good of this port.

Graphics are very faithful to the arcade. The colors are stunning and look great. The game also has great backgrounds just like the arcade.

The voices are also here in most of their glory. A good amount of the voices were captured. If I remember correctrly it's missing a few from the arcade but for the most part it gots them down pat.

The Music is highly reminiscent of the arcade. This is a GOOD Thing. The arcade had quite a few memorable tunes. The Goro fight music is one of the most memorable mortal kombat fight themes ever.

The gameplay is intact. You know. The moves and the combos. If you can do some kombat in the arcade you can kombat on home.

This game pissed off Joe Liebermen

The Bad
NOW for the bad

BUTCHERED GAME PLAY. When I say butchered let me put it where it counts. The blood is replaced with "sweat" and the fatalities are cut out. Sub Zero's spine rip is now a freeze and a highpunch that breaks the ice. Johnny Cage's Uppercut fatality is now a wussy shadow kick that paralyzes them I guess. Raiden just shocks you and you faint. Kano still does his heart removal move but the move shows a grey thing. What is that? His sweat gland?

They censored Fatality to Finishing Move

Gameplay is not as smooth as the genesis or the arcade. Though the graphics are better the smoothness is a bit off compared to genesis or arcade.

The overall butchering makes it so this game is only mortal kombat in name but not in heart and soul

The Bottom Line
Overall this game is butchered horribly. The gameplay still stands quite a bit but the censorship is so bad that you don't get the full effect. A full 6/10.l I'm being pretty generous too.

The Good
Mortal Kombat is one of the all time classics, so nostalgia is heavily in this games favor. You can't help but enjoy the game simply cause it takes you back to the past.

The sprite animations are very impressive even today. The character movement is great and better then some other fighting titles. The backgrounds not only look cool but some of them have special environmental fatalities (fatalities are post fight beatings that you inflict on your opponent that usually involve dismemberment).

The soundtrack is another one of the better parts of the game. Even though its not quite as good as it once was, you tell why so many people have remixed it. The voice over guy sounds very cool and to hear your name after beating your opponent makes you feel like you accomplished something.

And unlike later Mortal Kombat games, this edition features a 2 player mode instead of a constant tournament. Now you and a friend can challenge each other without having to do the tournament, leading to some nice pick up and play action.

The Bad
Mortal Kombat on the SNES is heavily edited, most likely due to Nintendo's family demographic and how controversial the game was in its debut. Blood has been completely removed from the game, replaced instead by "sweat" (which looks more like dust-- and given how old the game is that would be a pretty accurate statement). The individual fatalities have also been removed from the game, although the bridge/pit level fatality is intact (minus blood and severed heads). While this complaint is merely a cosmetic change, Mortal Kombat has other problems.

Mortal Kombat's gameplay isn't quiet what it once was. Special moves aren't very easy to pull off without looking up how to perform them. There's no jump back button so its easy for people to start whaling on you with the punch button. And like other games of the day, Mortal Kombat treads a fine line between good fighting game and button masher. This version of Mortal Kombat also feels like a straight from the arcade port by not including a pause button, a feature that makes the game very inconvenient since you either have to die when you need to go to the bathroom or you have to hold it in (this can become a real problem when you are in the middle of a tough tournament).

The Bottom Line
While the SNES version of Mortal Kombat is missing blood and fatalities, its still a very solid fighter and well worth having. The game will keep you busy for hours on hours when played with friends and even if you don't have any friends its still pretty cool. After all, very few gaming experiences can compare to beating an opponent without losing a drop of health.

The Good
The good thing about this game, is its graphics(compared to other games in its time). Characters look better than those from Street Fighter. Special mocves are great, and the ending specials are truly amazing.

The Bad
Ok, first, THERE ARENT ENOUGH CHARACTERS. Okay, why couldnt they have put Reptile or something in this game(without needing code)? Surely they could have added someone. Street Fighter wins on this.

The Bottom Line
Overall, MK is a descent game, one earning a 3.5/5

The Good
Mortal Kombat for the Super Nintendo takes advantage of the system's superior (compared to the Sega Genesis) graphics and sound capabilities. It looks and sounds closer to the original arcade game then any of the other adaptions for the home console systems.

The Bad
Nintendo was very much a proponent of censorship, both in terms of games it developed and in the content of games from third party developers. Simply put, if it might possibly offend consumers, especially parents and politicians, it could not be depicted, discussed or alluded to. Very little got past the Big N's censorship rules. When it came to Mortal Kombat, all the blood, gore and graphic violence seen in the coin-op arcade had to be removed. Censorship aside, the game's control mechanics are not as good as they could be. They are not horrible, but they are just not as smooth as in other fighting games for the Super Nintendo, such as "Street Fighter II".

The Bottom Line
Mortal Kombat for the Super Nintendo features great graphics, music and sound effects that, while not as good as the original arcade, are quite impressive for the Super Nintendo. Nintendo's requirement that the game be censored before its release and the less then user-friendly game controls, keep the game from getting a perfect score.

The Good
For this version: Nothing! The SNES version is really weak. Even with nice graphics really next to the arcade, The Mortal Kombat for this platform has no blood and violence. The genesis version you had to make a code to do it.. The best 16-bit version for that game is SEGA CD. the Pc version is ok too.

The Bad
No Blood, No Violence. It lost totally the sense of this game.. SNES version is really bad for this.

The Bottom Line
Play The Genesis version with blood secret code, Sega Cd or DOS. but don't play the snes one