Description
Five Hundred years ago, an ancient and well respected Shaolin fighting tournament, held every 50 years, was corrupted by an evil and elderly sorcerer by the name of Shang Tsung. Shang was accompanied by Prince Goro, a warrior of the Shokan race (a four armed half-human/half-dragon). Knowing that if ten tournaments in a row were won by the Outworld champion, the Earth Realm would be conquered by evil and fall into darkness, Shang entered Goro in the tournament and had him defeat the great Kung Lao. Goro has been reigning supreme as the undefeated fighting champion for five hundred years now. As the last tournament required draws near, Raiden, Thunder God and protector of the Earth Realm, enacts a plan to tip the scales in the humans favor, Seven fighters step into the arena on Shang Tsung's mysterious island: Shaolin warrior Liu Kang, Special Forces operative Sonya Blade, the mercenary thug Kano, fame-seeking actor Johnny Cage, the ice wielding Lin Kuei warrior Sub-Zero and his undead adversary Scorpion, and Raiden himself.
Mortal Kombat is a side-scrolling 1 on 1 fighting game. Fighting is set as one on one kombat, allowing each player to perform a variety of punches, kicks, and special moves in order to defeat their opponent. When the opponent faces their second round loss, the winner can perform a finishing move called a "Fatality" on the loser. The Fatality is a humiliation move that graphically kills the loser in a blood-soaked finale.
Mortal Kombat began its life as a 2-player arcade title. It is notable for its use of digitized actors to represent the game's fighters, as well as its use of copious amounts of blood during gameplay.
Alternate Titles
- "真人快打" -- Chinese title (simplified)
- "Mortal Kombat Complete" -- Japanese Sega CD title
- "MK" -- Common abbreviation
- "モータルコンバット" -- Japanese spelling
Part of the Following Groups
User Reviews
The Press Says
| Amiga Action |
Amiga |
Jan, 1994 |
91 out of 100 |
91 |
| The One |
Amiga |
Jan, 1994 |
89 out of 100 |
89 |
| Amiga Power |
Amiga |
Jan, 1994 |
86 out of 100 |
86 |
| Amiga Format |
Amiga |
Jan, 1994 |
74 out of 100 |
74 |
| Game Zero |
Genesis |
Aug, 1993 |
70 out of 100 |
70 |
| Just Games Retro |
Genesis |
Jan 05, 2003 |
67 out of 100 |
67 |
| Sega-16.com |
SEGA CD |
Jun 05, 2006 |
6 out of 10 |
60 |
| Digital Press - Classic Video Games |
Game Gear |
Oct 02, 2005 |
5 out of 10 |
50 |
| Defunct Games |
SEGA CD |
May 14, 2005 |
22 out of 100 |
22 |
| GamePro |
SEGA CD |
Jul, 1994 |
1 out of 5 |
20 |
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Trivia
This game specifically is credited for making Nintendo change their no-violence policies and generally "giving some slack" in what regards their strict content control policies. The reason? the SNES port of Mortal Kombat is censored beyond belief, almost to the point of making it a collector's item since the modifications go as far as making completely new finishing moves (Raiden burns his opponent to harmless ashes instead of making his head explode, Sub-zero deep freezes his enemy and then breaks him instead of pulling out his spine, etc.). As a result of this Nintendo lost millions of dollars in what is arguably one of the best-selling videogames ever and missed out on a title that became a certified blockbuster in all its other incarnations (by way of comparison the Genesis port of the game outsold the Snes's port by aprox. 6 to 1).