Graphics: When Mortal Kombat hit the arcades motion capture was still brand new. To see sprites that looked like real people was something that alot of kids had not seen. Once it got ported to home consoles there was a quite a dropoff in quality. Still, both the SNES and Genesis look pretty damn good and all of the sprites retain alot of detail. Now everyone probably knows the SNES lacks the violence and the Genesis requires the blood code. So if you want to see some blood, go with the Genesis version.
Sound: The sound is very different depending on which console you are playing. The SNES attempts to adapt the arcade sound and has some issues with the quality of the music. The sounds effects are all there and are better than the Genesis. The Genesis attempts a few adaptations but also creates their own tracks for the game. The Genesis has better quality music, but lacks the sound effects. Either way the sound is not the strong point of this game.
Control: The control is interesting for the time. Most kids were use to the Street Fighter 2 layout of fighting games. Mortal Kombat introduces a few tweaks to that style which include; a dedicated button for blocking, the juggling mechanics and pulling off special moves using only the d-pad. As with most digitized graphics there seems to be a slight delay in the input vs what you see on screen. If you spend enough time with the game you will get use to it. The arcades were able to overcome this, but for these two home ports the controls still feel a bit sluggish.
Gameplay: Like any other fighting game Mortal Kombat has single exhibition matches, endurance matches, tournament and multiplayer. Sprinkled into the tournament you have test your might mini games. What sets Mortal Kombat apart from all other fighting games are the fatalities, the best way to truly embarrass your defeated enemies is to rip there heads off. The only major thing missing from this game is a true combo system, likely due to the digitized graphics. To compensate you have the juggling system I mentioned above. Mortal Kombat 1 is just a simple fighting game with alot of violence and some cool finishers.
Originality: Alot of the basic aspects of this game are similar to most fighting games. High and low punches and kicks, blocking, tournaments, etc. But with the inclusion of fatalities, extra violence and the idea of a secret easter egg were all new to this genre. Unlocking Reptile is still one of the most annoying tasks to attempt and then trying to beat him is damn near impossible. Still, this was something extra for kids to try and every game after would always include some kind of easter egg like it. So for the time when there were a ton of Street Fighter 2 clones, this stood out.
Replayability: With 7 characters available you have at least 7 playthroughs to see the ending for each one. You have multiplayer which always drives the replayability of a game and of course as I just mentioned there is Reptile. So the replayability is pretty high here.
Overall: Overall we love Mortal Kombat, but even we see the flaws in this first title, especially for these home ports. The control is one area that really hampers this game from being truly great, but still this is a must play for any fighting game fan.
Beer Pairing: When it comes to beer pairing I decided to go with one of my favorite stouts the New Holland Brewing Dragon’s Milk. Clearly I was influenced by the dragon but this is a delicious oak aged stout that has a ton of flavor and is a nice compliment to the violence you will be shown in this classic game. So grab as many as you can find and enjoy!
Watch our video review!