Mortal Kombat
Released: 1992
Platforms: Arcade, SNES, Sega Mega Drive, Sega CD, PC, MAC, Game Boy, Game Gear
The first Mortal Kombat title appeared first in the arcades and was instantaneously a classic. Featuring addictive gameplay and more violence than we’d ever seen before Mortal Kombat quickly became an arcade favourite. The first Mortal Kombat featured eight characters and Shang Tsung was the boss character. Goro also made his first appearance.
Mortal Kombat introduced the idea of fatalities, final moves which destroyed your opposition and looked great. Each character in Mortal Kombat had one fatality. Later on SNES versions and Mega drive titles were released. Nintendo changed the fatalities too and removed the blood. The Mega drive version was unchanged.
Mortal Kombat II
Released: 1993
Platforms: Arcade, SNES, Sega Mega Drive, Sega 32x, Sega Saturn, PC, MAC, Game Gear, Game Boy
After the phenomenal success of Mortal Kombat it didn’t take Midway long to capitalize and release a sequel. Mortal Kombat II introduced friendships and babalities as finishers. This meant the violence could be toned down a little if required.
Midway improved upon the complaints of gamers and the game was faster, had new moves, more characters (taking the total up to fifteen characters) and more stages. Shao Kahn was the final level boss and Kintaro was introduced.
Mortal Kombat 3
Released: 1995
Platforms: Arcade, PlayStation, SNES, Sega Mega Drive, PC, MAC, Game Boy, Game Gear
After many people had thought Mortal Kombat 2 was the pinnacle of fighting it was always going to be hard for Midway to impress everyone with the third Mortal Kombat incarnation. Midway made drastic changes to Mortal Kombat 3 and introduced bigger combos and Kombat Kodes. Kombat Kodes were codes which were keyed in at the beginning of a battle and would affect the fight.
Fifteen characters were included and Shao Kahn was once again the final boss. A run button was included and animalities were added to the list of finishing moves. These moves turned the character into an animal and they would kill your opposition this way.
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Released: 1995
Platforms: Arcade, SNES, Sega Mega Drive, Sega Saturn
Midway released an ultimate update to Mortal Kombat 3 and it featured a ton of new fighters and levels. Twenty three characters featured and the bosses were the same as in Mortal Kombat 3. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is probably one of the least distributed Mortal Kombat titles.
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Released: 1996
Platforms: Nintendo 64, Sony PlayStation, PC, Sega Saturn
Mortal Kombat trilogy took what everyone loved about the previous three Mortal Kombat titles and combined them all together. Mortal Kombat Trilogy featured every level, every finishing move and every character from the three titles.
For the first time in a Mortal Kombat title players were also allowed to play as a boss. However, the actual gameplay of Mortal Kombat Trilogy didn’t vary from that of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.
Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero
Released: 1997
Platforms: Sony PlayStation, Nintendo 64
Sub-Zero was one of the most loved characters in the Mortal Kombat series and Midway took this and gave Sub-Zero his own title. Mortal Kombat: Mythologies was an adventure game and was a prequel to the events that happened in the first Mortal Kombat.
This title helped expand the storyline of Sub-Zero. It wasn’t the greatest game around at the time and no other Mortal Kombat Mythologies titles have been released.
Mortal Kombat 4
Released: 1997
Platforms: Arcade, Nintendo 64, Sony PlayStation, PC, Game Boy Color
Mortal Kombat 4 was one of the biggest advances for the Mortal Kombat series, taking the series from 2D to 3D. Like many of the first 3D games Mortal Kombat 4 had its fair share of camera problems.
Mortal Kombat 4 also introduced weapon based combat and every player had a weapon that they could bring out and battle against. Mortal Kombat 4 featured 14 characters and the boss was Shinnock.
Mortal Kombat Gold
Released: 1999
Platforms: Sega Dreamcast
Mortal Kombat Gold was essentially Mortal Kombat 4 with extra characters and harnessing the power of the Sega Dreamcast. Five new characters were added to the roster and there wasn’t a change to the gameplay of Mortal Kombat 4.
Mortal Kombat Special Forces
Released: 2000
Platforms: PlayStation
Obviously not content with Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, Midway took a second attempt at the action-adventure genre. The storyline this time focused around Jax and Sonya.
Mortal Kombat Special Forces was set in a 3D environment and featured a third-person view behind the player. In 1999 the main developers of Mortal Kombat Special Forces left Midway and Mortal Kombat Special Forces is now considered one of the worst titles in the Mortal Kombat franchise.
Mortal Kombat Advance
Released: 2002
Platforms: Game Boy Advance
Mortal Kombat advance is basically Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 dumbed down for the Gameboy Advance. Finishing moves were toned down, the blood can be turned off and each of the 26 characters only features one fatality.
The actual Gameplay in Mortal Kombat Advance is atrocious and feels nothing like Mortal Kombat. Many people blame the power of the Gameboy Advance for this problem but personally I think it was just bad development and laziness.
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
Released: 2003
Platforms: GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance was the complete overhaul for Mortal Kombat that was needed. The game started by killing off a series favourite Lui Kang and was renowned for being different to its predecessors.
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance featured new characters, fully 3D worlds with no camera problems, new fatalities, new weapons and three different fighting styles for each character. The control system was completely overhauled and added a new way of unlocking characters, arenas and arts. The Krypt.
The Krypt contained a series of coffins that included bonuses and players had to work hard to get enough Koins required to open each coffin. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is easily one of the best Mortal Kombat titles released and is probably the best Mortal Kombat title since Mortal Kombat 2.
Mortal Kombat: Deception
Released: 2004
Platforms: GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance
Mortal Kombat: Deception is set for release at the end of this year and is set to improve upon the Mortal Kombat franchise. Mortal Kombat: Deception will feature multi-tiered environments, multiple fatalities and extra characters.
Mortal Kombat: Deception will look better than ever before and will be the first fully online fighter ever released, for both the Xbox and the Playstation 2. Mortal Kombat: Deception will be available in Quarter 4, 2004 and is set to be one of the best titles in the franchise yet.
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