Mortal Kombat for Sega CD Review

[ReddMcKnight]

Remember Mortal Kombat 1? It was originally released as an Arcade Game in 1992, and later, it was ported to many different consoles. One such console it was ported to was the Sega CD, which is a critically panned system from the 90s. Personally, I think that's bullshit, but that's another thread for another day. Mortal Kombat for the Sega CD is one hell of a game. Here's why:

Gameplay: This game is a Fighter. You choose a character to play as, then you fight against all the other characters in a randomly chosen order. Once the fight actually starts, you start on the left side of the screen (This is a 2D Game), and your opponent starts on the right side. To win, you must attack your opponent by punching them, kicking them, throwing them, or by some other (possibly devious) way. You can also perform combo attacks by repetitively pressing one button. This was one of the earlier fighting games, so multi-button combos weren't invented yet. (Just as far as I know). Once you attack your opponent enough, they're health bar on the top-right side of the screen will be drained. Depending on how the fight goes for you, you may have to fight them two or three times. Once you win twice, you will have to "finish them". You can do this by simply punching them, or by inputting a button combo to do a special finishing move. There's only one finishing move per character, but all of them are different. Be sure to try them all to find your favorite.

Graphics: The graphics in this game are real. What do I mean, you ask? Simply put, the "graphics" of the characters aren't graphics at all. All the characters were made using motion capture technology, then put into the game by the programmers. In other words, the characters you see on the screen are actually the motion capture actors. Once you beat the game, the actors are listed. I really don't know if the backgrounds are real or not. It's hard for me to tell.

Music: The music in this game is...alright, I guess. Ah, who am I kidding? The music sucks in this game. The only track I like is the one that plays on the stage with the giant Buddha-Like statue in the background. The music does NOT, and I mean NOT fit the general point of this game. You'd expect a fighting game to have rock music, or something similar to fit the mood, but this game has none of that whatsoever, and before you say anything, no, the opening movie does not count.

Final Word: This is one fine, and a classic among fighting games. The only two problems are the loading times, and the Final Boss. He transforms into other characters, which causes major lags in the game. This can work to your advantage though. Anyway, that's my review of Mortal Kombat for the Sega CD.

Final Score: 8.8/10

[AznKhmerBoi]

I have to disagree about your point on the music. You said it does not fit the MK game. Personally i think the motif of the game is dark,ancient, and chinese/asian type of motif. And the music goes well to put you in that mood.

What do guys think aobut his comment about the music?

[blackmagepwns]

Good brief review, you should make a video review sometime though.

[ReddMcKnight]

Good brief review, you should make a video review sometime though.

As much as I'd love to, my voice sucks on Camera, and I don't have a Video Capture Device.

[sevin0seven]

I have to disagree about your point on the music. You said it does not fit the MK game. Personally i think the motif of the game is dark,ancient, and chinese/asian type of motif. And the music goes well to put you in that mood.

What do guys think aobut his comment about the music?

i actually like the music of mortal kombat 1. then again....it was the snes version (with the blood trick) i was playing back then. so the music probably suck on the gen version a bit. i'm sure the sega cd version music is better than the gen version though.

[Hatta]

The real question is, what does the CD version offer that the Genesis version doesn't? Also, is a blood code still required?

[ReddMcKnight]

The real question is, what does the CD version offer that the Genesis version doesn't? Also, is a blood code still required?

Absolutely not. The Blood is in it by default.

[Ziggy]

What I like about the Sega CD version is that it's definitely the best port of the game. It has the blood by default, along with a T rating. There's also the sprites in the pit, but if I remember correctly there was still some things missing from the original arcade version.

But I hate the Genesis D-pad for Mortal Kombat games, it's the absolute worst. I'll have to find a good 3rd party controller one day, if only for Mortal Kombat.

[Jerkface Killah]

Good brief review, you should make a video review sometime though.

As much as I'd love to, my voice sucks on Camera, and I don't have a Video Capture Device.

After I finish Bioshock 2, I'm going to start a series of video game video reviews. I have been told I have a decent radio voice and I recently successfully tested a video capture system that works.

If you look closely in the photo, you will see that the A/V line goes from the CDX to a coupler, then to the DV camera, then to the iMac into iMovie. Works well. Yes I could have used an Emulator but this is the most authentic way. I'll keep the community posted (no pun intended) on my progress.

http://gallery.me.com/jp.mitchell#10003 ... olor=black
(how do you attach photos if the max is 256KB)?

JFK

[Assman]

This version of MK1 really makes me want to punch Probe square in the nuts (although less so than the Saturn port of MK2 does). Rather than taking advantage of the Sega CD's capabilities, they took an already piss-poor Genesis port, added some missing animations and halfheartedly slapped on the music from the arcade. That is, some of the music from the arcade. For fuck's sake, they had an entire CD worth of space and they still managed not to use all of the original music, or even put the music they did use in the correct places. Hell, for the final battle with Shang Tsung they didn't even bother using an arcade track at all, instead inexplicably opting to remix the Goro's Lair theme (which they apparently achieved by blindly slapping their dicks at a synthesizer).

They made the most half-assed update of an existing port possible and then threw in a music video when it dawned on them that they still had a ton of space left on the disc due to their triumphant lack of effort. Bravo, Probe. It wasn't even until MK3 that we finally got an MK port for a Sega system that made it look like somebody tried, and unsurprisingly, Probe was nowhere near it.

But I hate the Genesis D-pad for Mortal Kombat games, it's the absolute worst. I'll have to find a good 3rd party controller one day, if only for Mortal Kombat.

I'll assume you're talking about the 3-button D-pad, since the D-pad on the official 6-button controller is, like, the best D-pad ever.