Mortal Kombat II

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Description

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.

Screenshots

Promo Images

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Alternate Titles

• "真人快打2" -- Chinese spelling (simplified)
• "MK 2" -- Common abbreviation
• "モータルコンバットII ～究極神拳～" -- Japanese spelling

Part of the Following Groups

• BPjS / BPjM indexed games
• Games made into movies
• Genre: Versus fighting
• Germany Criminal Code confiscations (§131: Excess Violence)
• Mortal Kombat games
• Visual technique / style: Digitized sprites

User Reviews

Good but horrible in contrast to the Super Nintendo Version	Genesis	Mr. Huh (112)
Acclaims Best Game?	Genesis	Liam Dowds (51)
Good for a 16 Bit Translation	SNES	Tyrone Eugene (7)
Great port of what's probably the pinnacle of the original MK series	DOS	Zovni (10648)
The Greatest Arcade Game...EVER	DOS	Daniel J McKinnon (4)
Superb...	SNES	Stefan Grammer (6)
Worse sequel? Pixelated Graphics? Definetely not!	DOS	IJan (1999)
Street fighter 2 was the spark, Mortal kombat 2 was the gas that set the fire in Beat 'em ups.	Amiga	SonyasFan (4)
The sequel is even worse than the first.	DOS	Tomer Gabel (4645)
Mortal 32X	SEGA 32X	ETJB (450)

Critic Reviews

Coming Soon Magazine	DOS	Mar, 1995	91 out of 100	91
Amiga Joker	Amiga	Jan, 1995	91 out of 100	91
All Game Guide	Arcade	1998		90
Sega Power	SEGA Master System	Nov, 1994	85 out of 100	85
Play Time	Amiga	Feb, 1995	85 out of 100	85
Computer Gaming World (CGW)	DOS	May, 1995		80
GamePro (US)	SEGA Saturn	Apr, 1996	4 out of 5	80
IGN	SEGA 32X	Dec 08, 2008	7.8 out of 10	78
Video Games	Game Gear	Oct, 1994	75 out of 100	75
Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM)	SEGA Saturn	Mar, 1996	23 out of 40	58

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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.

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.

Awards

• 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

Related Web Sites

• 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.)
• Wikipedia: Mortal Kombat II (Information about Mortal Kombat II at Wikipedia)