Mortal Kombat II
Description official descriptions
The Mortal Kombat fighters, plus several new ones, return for a tournament held by the evil Shang Tsung of the Outworld. The action is one-on-one as before, and famed for its high level of violence and blood (other than the sanitised Nintendo version). There are 5 difficulty levels and optional credits, as well as the usual two player mode including same character duels.
To win the main tournament, the player must beat each of the other human players, before taking on Shang Tsung, Kintaro and finally Shao Kahn. Players have a range of punches and kicks available, as well as flying kicks, uppercuts, roundhouses, and the special moves, which vary for each player. These include throws, uppercuts, long-distance bullets, bicycle kicks and a teleport feature.
Spellings
- モータルコンバットII ~完全版~ - Saturn Japanese spelling
- モータルコンバットII ~究極神拳~ - Japanese spelling
- 真人快打2 - Chinese spelling (simplified)
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Credits (Arcade version)
49 People (30 developers, 19 thanks) · View all
Mortal Kombat II Cast of Characters |
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Background Graphics | |
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Executive Producers | |
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Hardware Design | |
DCS Sound System | |
[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 85% (based on 57 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 294 ratings with 12 reviews)
Street fighter 2 was the spark, Mortal kombat 2 was the gas that set the fire in Beat 'em ups.
The Good
First of all many chosable characters for it's time (12), moreover it included 2 female fighters (a fetish of mine). The characters were real actors and not drawings.
Furthermore MK2 like MK1 introduced a whole new way of beat 'em up games. It no longer is the traditional game, now it features many different moves for every character, Fatalities, Friendships, secret characters and some story other than "revenge the death of someone you loved".
Graphics were very nice for it's time and the abilities of AMIGA, sound was very nice also, and finally the characters were fantastic.
The Bad
Absence of Sonya was a huge disappointment for me, what the heck, they could have kept the original characters and add some more.
Anyway there are some minor annoying things:
Babalities, they were adding nothing to the game (by the way all of them were the same)
The ugly face appearing after an uppercut and his comment (I understand the need for promotion of themselves - the authors - but this was really annoying)
Finally the one fire button (but AMIGA had only one), Using keyboard if desired would be very nice.
The Bottom Line
Finally to add a point that is evenly good and bad, is the extra game of breaking things, nice for a variety but away from the plot.
I would describe it as the game that really changed Beat 'em up scenery in it's time.
Rates for it's time and AMIGA's capabilities
Amiga · by SonyasFan (3) · 2005
Worse sequel? Pixelated Graphics? Definetely not!
The Good
Although Mr. Gabel said he found the graphics more pixelated in comparison to the first Mortal Kombat, it is definetely the opposite -- in the the first game there were a lot of sharp non anti-aliased edges whereas the sequel features smooth fighter-background interaction. In fact, the strongest aspect of MK2 is its eyecandy graphics. I even thought the graphics were displayed in a square-pixel hi-res tweaked VGA mode when I first saw the game.
Another aspect where MK2 is better than the first is the speed of the game. You can really move very fast. Also the variety and the graphic detail of the finishing moves are totally astounding (especially in the case of Liu Kang).
The Bad
It's really hard even in medium difficulty settings.
The Bottom Line
A worthy sequel to the first Mortal Kombat game.
DOS · by IJan (1971) · 1999
The Good
Mortal Kombat II (1994) for the Sega 32X features improved, compared to the Sega Genesis version, animation and graphics along with tighter controls. It remains the best cartridge version of the ultra violent coin-op game.
The Bad
The music and sound effects do not appear to have been improved much from the Sega Genesis version. It is not quite a perfect arcade translation, even through it probably could have been.
The Bottom Line
Mortal Kombat II (1994) has better graphics then the Super Nintendo version as well as better (with the six button controllers) controls then the Sega Genesis version. Had the game not been rushed, it might have been a perfect translation of the coin-op game.
SEGA 32X · by ETJB (428) · 2010
Trivia
Animalities
There were strong rumours of animal fatalities called animalities. This was untrue but as a result they were included in Mortal Kombat 3.
Baraka
Baraka was at one point going to have a blade spin move, but this was removed to balance him out more. However, this move did eventually get restored for Mortal Kombat Trilogy.
Development
In the original Mortal Kombat, a glitch would allow Johnny Cage to knock off a phantom head off an enemy if the uppercut move had been executed quickly enough, though this only worked on Kano, Scorpion and Sub-Zero. In Mortal Kombat 2 this became an actual fatality, but Cage knocks off 3 heads now instead of one.
ERMAC
In some versions of the game ERMAC flashes onscreen. This is an error message (ERror MACro) that was not removed but many people believed it was a secret character. He was later added as an actual character in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.
Fighters
Kano and Sonya are the only 2 characters not to return from Mortal Kombat, although they can be seen chained in the background of Shao Kahn's stage.
Game Boy version
Missing characters from the Game Boy version: Baraka, Johnny Cage, Kung Lao, Rayden, Kintaro, and Noob Saibot.
General gameplay trivia
- In every version of the game (apart from the Amiga) in order to perform Babalities and Friendships it is required to meet special demands. For Babalities the player is not allowed to use High Punch in the second or third round. The same goes for Friendship but also Low Punch is not allowed. The Amiga version does not have these requirements.
- The Super Uppercut move (different move combination for each character) can be used either in the Kombat Tomb or The Pit sceneries. In the former it can be additionally extended by holding the "Down" button making the opponent fall from the spikes. The Super Uppercut move in the Dead Pool scenery was based on the same combination for each character.
- In order to fight Jade, the player has to win the first round in the last match before the question mark. In this round the player should use only Low Kick moves and directional movements (in the Amiga, GameBoy, Game Gear and Master System versions only kicks should be performed).
- In order to fight Smoke, the player has to be on the Portal scenery. As the fight goes, sometimes Dan Forden's head appears in the bottom right corner of the screen. In the time when his head is on the screen, the player has to hold "Down" and press F1 (DOS version) or Start (consoles) or Fire (Amiga version).
- In order to fight Noob Saibot, the player has to win 50 matches in a row in two-player mode. The Amiga, DOS and Sega Genesis versions require only 25 matches.
- After winning 250 matches in a row the player can play a "Pong" game (confirmed in DOS and Arcade versions).
German index
On September 30, 1994, Mortal Kombat II, with the exception of the Game Boy version, was put on the infamous German index by the BPjS. For more information about what this means and to see a list of games sharing the same fate, take a look here: BPjS/BPjM indexed games.
In addition to the indexing, on February 8, 1995, all versions except Game Boy were also confiscated for violating §131 of Germany's penal code (for showing gruel violence against humans etc.). But due to the 10 year limitation for confiscations, all versions are no longer confiscated since February 8, 2005.
Jax
Jax was originally going to be named Stryker, a name that would later be used for a whole other character in Mortal Kombat 3.
Johnny Cage
In the early arcade test versions of the game, the word "Otomix" appeared on Johnny Cage's pants (worn by actor Daniel Pesina during the filming), but the sign was removed in subsequent upgrades. Otomix is an established supplier of athletic and martial arts wear.
Lawsuit
Three of the cast members for Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat 2 filed a lawsuit against Midway shortly after the game was released. The claim? The physical instructors/martial artists Elizabeth Malecki (Sonya Blade), Catalin Zamiar (Kitana/Milenna) and Philip Ahn were under the impression that they were hired under typical acting contracts and were entitled to a small modicum of benefits including royalties of title sales, etc. The plaintiffs banded together against Midway, who took the case to court.
Eventually the judge failed on Midway's behalf, citing that the work done by the plaintiffs for Midway was done strictly as a "work-for-hire" and Midway owned all the property and benefits on the characters/titles/etc.
As a side note, it has always been rumored that this lawsuit was what prompted Midway to take Kitana and it's variations from Mortal Kombat 3.
References
- Noob Saibot, a secret character, spelled backwards is Tobias Boon, the last names of the two game creators.
- The "Toasty!" face is sound designer
Dan Forden .
SNES version
Unlike the predecessor, the SNES version kept the blood and fatalities. However, in Japan all blood was coloured green and the screen goes black and white during a fatality.
Sub-Zero
Sub-Zero's ending in this game reveals him to be the younger brother of the original Sub-Zero from the original Mortal Kombat. It was five years later that this plot point was adapted into the 1997 film Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.
Awards
- EGM
- 1995 Buyer's Guide - Bloodiest Game
- 1995 Buyer's Guide - Most Anticipated Release
- Game Informer
- August 2001 (Issue #100) - #97 in the "Top 100 Games of All Time" poll
- Game Players
- January 1995 - Best SNES Game in 1994
- January 1995 - Best SNES Fighting Game in 1994
- January 1995 - Best Genesis Fighting Game in 1994
- VideoGames
- March 1995 - Best Fighting Game
Information also contributed by Big John WV, MegaMegaMan, NightKid32, PCGamer77, quizzley7, Xoleras and Zovni
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Related Sites +
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MORTAL KOMBAT I I information site
FAQ guide and character moves/strategies site for Mortal Kombat I I (1993). -
Video memories of Mortal Kombat
The Angry Video Game Nerd, James Rolfe, talks about his memories of the Mortal Kombat series. Mostly the arcade versions but he also discusses how the U.S. version on the SNES was not changed.
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by IJan.
PlayStation 3 added by Corn Popper. SEGA Saturn added by Exodia85. SEGA 32X added by Kartanym. Game Gear added by Ryodek. Amiga added by Martin Smith. PlayStation, SEGA Master System added by Freeman. Genesis added by Satoshi Kunsai. Arcade added by The cranky hermit. Game Boy added by quizzley7. SNES added by phlux.
Additional contributors: Matthew Bailey, Daniel J McKinnon, Unicorn Lynx, chirinea, Alaka, ~~, Martin Smith, LepricahnsGold, Medicine Man, Patrick Bregger, mailmanppa, Bart Smith, Skippy_Chipskunk, Ognimod Zeta.
Game added December 19, 1999. Last modified April 26, 2024.