Do you think the original Mortal Kombat is overrated?

[bikingjahuty]

I spent a good amount of time playing this game for the 52 Games Challenge tonight and I couldn't help, but ask what is so special about this game? And when I say this I'm not judging it by modern standards, but as someone who would be playing the game back in 1992 when it was released. Speaking of when it was released, I was only 5 and remember a local arcade having a cabinet. I remember only playing it once, mostly because there was always a bunch of rough looking teens crowded around it, which made me want to play it even more. By the time I was able to play games like Mortal Kombat, MK3 was out and no one had an original MK cab in my area anymore. It wasn't until recently that several barcades in my area had them to play, and I decided to revisit this game and give it the time I wish I could have given it as a kid.






Sadly I was very underwhelmed. As I said, I have played it before, as well as various console ports of it, but I forgot how basic the first MK game is. I guess to an extent the same can be said for MK2 and MK3 since they utilize the same 5-button layout, with only special moves and finishing moves to differentiate each character's abilities. But MK is so simplistic to the point of just feeling kinda dull honestly. The game has a really nice visual aesthetic, but even back then it wasn't the best looking game in the arcade. The soundtrack compliments the setting well, but it isn't exactly a defining trait of this game. This pretty much leads me to assume that this game's reputation as being an essential fighting game is based more on its controversial reputation rather than it being an extremely well made tournament fighter like Street Fighter II. It is probably because of that notoriety that it was given the success it did, which spawned sequels, films, action figures, and made Mortal Kombat a household name. In a way I feel like Mortal Kombat is the luckiest game ever made in that it managed to blow up despite the game itself being very mediocre overall.


So what is your opinion of the original Mortal Kombat? Is it totally overrated, or do you think it's actually as amazing as the mainstream consider it?

[sworddude]

isn't it just like the first street fighter II

it's not the best version

would i say it is over rated why would it be. it was different compared to the rest nothing was like it. digitized grapics tons of blood. yea sure if you prefer 2d art style more like snk or capcom mortal kombat might be less fun. but digitized grapics is for a ton of people at the time more impressive than 2d sprites

it's succes is mainly thanks to the violence tons of blood and fatalities people loved that. the toasty guy.

earlier mortal kombat games where not good for tournaments but being a competitve fighter does not mean good sales

mortal kombat was fun it was cheesy and it had gore tons of gore people go to the arcade to enjoy themselves and the fatalties where so brutal that they had to introduce a rating system.

If there was no mortal kombat we would not have a rating system that game is the sole reason why games have it today. at the very least it would have been delayed till ps2 game  era I'd say if not for mortal kombat.

is it lucky? not really it's smart it profited on giving people gore and violence to high lvl's wich was unheard of at the time.

in terms of competitive fighters mortal kombat improved on stuff in the newer releases.

considering that mortal kombat as in the current gen releases are some of the biggest tournament scenes in the present it's good as a competitive fighter today aswell

[bikingjahuty]

isn't it just like the first street fighter II

it's not the best version

would i say it is over rated why would it be. it was different compared to the rest nothing was like it. digitized grapics tons of blood. yea sure if you prefer 2d art style more like snk or capcom mortal kombat might be less fun. but digitized grapics is for a ton of people at the time more impressive than 2d sprites

it's succes is mainly thanks to the violence tons of blood and fatalities people loved that. the toasty guy.

earlier mortal kombat games where not good for tournaments but being a competitve fighter does not mean good sales

mortal kombat was fun it was cheesy and it had gore tons of gore people go to the arcade to enjoy themselves and the fatalties where so brutal that they had to introduce a rating system.

If there was no mortal kombat we would not have a rating system that game is the sole reason why games have it today. at the very least it would have been delayed till ps2 game  era I'd say if not for mortal kombat.

is it lucky? not really it's smart it profited on giving people gore and violence to high lvl's wich was unheard of at the time.

in terms of competitive fighters mortal kombat improved on stuff in the newer releases.

considering that mortal kombat as in the current gen releases are some of the biggest tournament scenes in the present it's good as a competitive fighter today aswell

No it isn't like the first Street Fighter II version released. Each fighter in Street Fighter II was unique in how they played, with things like speed, reach, and basic attach strength. Mortal Kombat literally has none of that outside boss characters. Each player is identical until special moves and fatalities are used, which as you pointed out are mostly just for shock and awe.


Yeah, it's gore was its main draw, but that's my point. People flocked to this game, not because it was an incredibly deep fighter, but because they wanted to see blood fly in the air when you uppercut your opponent. Or if you or someone playing the game was talented enough they could pull off a Fatality which was what most people wanted to see while playing this game. I think it's debatable whether the rating system would have ever come into existence without Mortal Kombat, but it certainly was the main catalyst that inspired its creation.


I still think the game was incredibly lucky; they had no idea how the violence would be perceived, and not only did it hit a note with gamers, but the media as well. It essentially got a ton of free publicity for months as the news and politicians pontificated how obscene and terrible this game was. As I said, I was only in elementary school at the time this game came out and remember how infamous it was. Of course this just got teens and young adults more interested, which drove demand up for the game. I'd say they caught lightening in a bottle, and were absolutely lucky because of all the attention the game got.


Comparing the original MK with MK10 or MK11 is like comparing Pacman to Call of Duty; they are such radically different games, not only in how they look (obviously), but how they play. MK10 for example if a very deep fighting game with each character having various checks and balances that make certain characters very potent in the right hands. the same can not be said for any of characters in the original MK which all handle and play the exact same, except special moves and Fatalities. Fatalities are a bit of a moot point though since by the time you can do one who've already one the match. I'm sure original MK tournaments exist at small scale tournaments held by an arcade or in someone's house, but I can't say I've ever seen it show up in any major esport event, unlike Street Fighter II which has.

[Warmsignal]

I have always recognized that MK is the fighting game for casuals more or less. And that defines me, in terms of fighting games. It is a really basic game, that is more style than substance. I don't think many other fighting games ever had the potential to catch the eye of the GP in the same way, and none probably ever will again. As far as fighting games are concerned, I am the mainstream and so I still think MK is king. Granted I've not played any entry newer than MK3 as of yet so there's a chance I wouldn't like the recent entries.

One on one fighting is not favorite genre by any means, and in fact, I prefer the simplistic button mashing type with minimal use of strategy and combos. I also really prefer the Mortal Kombat universe and the characters over what most other fighting games offer. That's another major factor in whether I'll even want to give a fighting game a try or not. So it probably comes as no surprise that I also enjoy titles like Killer Instinct, and Eternal Champions. However, I'm not very intrigued by titles like King of Fighters, Guilty Gear, or even Tekken to be honest. I just don't get into fighters all that heavily, and so I'm not looking for any kind of steep learning curve or competitive experience from them. To be honest with you, I don't even care to play these games multiplayer. I just want play solo and go up the roster until I'm finished with the game.

[betelgeuse]

I actually liked playing the original Mortal Kombat a lot back in the day. The fatalities and digitized graphics definitely contributed to the games attraction. It was also one of the first games I knew of that got updates to fix the bugs (start of unfinished software?). Some of the glitches never got fixed though. Knocking off two heads with Cage or doing fatalities after opponent is on the ground etc.
They kept that Cage fatality going in MKII but upping it to 3 heads!!!

I don’t remember the version I use to play on (3.1?), but all the characters had a juggle combo. If timed right, you could beat the computer in 7 seconds.
They also had the Reptile fight with the double flawless, fatality, without hitting block, as the character flew past the moon on the pit stage. Extra challenge if done on the endurance matches. If you get hit, just lose on purpose and hopefully you get the flawless in round 3.

I played the Neo Geo fighters, Tekken and even some Primal Rage, but Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter got the majority of my quarters.

[mark1982]

I gotta go with Yes, definitely for the first MK game.

I was in my pre-teens when the first MK hit the arcades and the biggest draw to the game was the violence and fatalities, other than that it was pretty poor technical fighter.

Street Fighter II Turbo roughly came out during the same time at the arcades and SF is light years ahead of MK on a technical standpoint. Combos, timing, move sets, hit boxes, counters, anti-air, chain attacks, etc were all well balanced and thought through. Unlike MK it was just a series Hi and Low attacks with poor hit boxes.

Don't get me wrong, MK is a fantastic fighting game now and the evolution of the series just keeps getting better and I do enjoy their latest installments. Just not the early MK games.

The violence in the early MK games is what made it stand out during that time because no ones else did it. It was the main focus and talking point, kids in school were all talking about the game because of the blood. And don't get me started when the SNES version came out and the blood was replaced with sweat. If you defended that in school you would get eaten alive...

So yeah, the violence of the MK games is what made it popular, not for the actual fighting game imo.

[oldgamerz]

It kicked off a whole new way for fighting video games. But overrated? the original no the 2nd and 3rd one yes in my opinion.

[sworddude]

It kicked off a whole new way for fighting video games. But overrated? the original no the 2nd and 3rd one yes in my opinion.

in terms of old mortal kombat games

ultimate mortal kombat 3 and mortal kombat 2 are considered to be the better games by many.

[oldgamerz]

It kicked off a whole new way for fighting video games. But overrated? the original no the 2nd and 3rd one yes in my opinion.

in terms of old mortal kombat games

ultimate mortal kombat 3 and mortal kombat 2 are considered to be the better games by many.

It's just me, i never can't get far in Mortal Kombat 2 or Mortal Kombat 3, because those games reward knowing the combos. and when I want to kick or punch a computer i always sense a delay, and I don't know how to properly play those games.

It's not fun for me, getting stuck in the corner of the level, while the CPU, is all the way on the far side of the stage, trowing fireball after fireball at me. Leaving me no choices but to enter counter fireball. I like to bash them a little bit and get my aggression out and a counter fireball in those games is just too frustrating to pull off.

Ok does anyone want to try a better version of Mortal Kombat? that you can pretty much do anything you want to your opponent? without the CPU doing the same move over and over again.

I highly recommend Mortal Kombat 4 for the PlayStation 1. It may not have as many fighters but, it's great to release some stress aggression, it's AI in my opinion is the best because the game will let you knock up there face more and kicks and punches, do more damage than repeating the same trick over and over again. And there is 10 difficulty settings, in arcade mode. includes a team, and survival mode, as well and a practice with a list of your moves. and endurance mode too.

 you can see and practice all the combos, in a practice mode menu screen.

in Mortal Kombat 4 if the CPU or player starts, casting out fireballs or some other projectile you can just flip-jump into their face and bash the heck out of them,

You can't do that in most of the early Mortal Kombat games but 4 lets you do that.

[Cartagia]

Yes, the original MK is absolutely overrated.  I'ts not a particularly well controlling game, and is way too sluggish to be a great fighter.  It started an incredible trend, but being the first doesn't make it the best.

[tpugmire]

Depends. For it’s time, the graphics (in the arcade) were pretty great. But everyone knows it was all about the over the top violence and blood.  Speaking about it purely as a fighting game, definitely overrated. It hasn’t held up very well either.

[sworddude]

can we truly say that mortal kombat 1 is over rated it's for a more casual audience and it's about the style wich at the time was something that lured people in.

mortal kombat 2 and ultimate mortal kombat 3 are generally considered to be the better games for the classic mortal kombat experience where is the hype for the first mortal kombat game.

and in terms of tournaments and esports it's pretty non existent. how is it over rated when it isn't even considered to be a competitive fighting game no proffesional scene acknowledges that. street fighter and king of fighters capcom vs had an esports scene for the older games mortal kombat, haven't seen it if it does exist it's pretty small.

It's only the recent mortal kombat games that made it a good technical fighter not the old ones.

being the first at something does not make a game the best but street fighter II is also not the best other versions that came along are preferred for tournament setting not the original street fighter II.

and for the people who liked the old mortal kombat games. I'm pretty sure that the a sizable chunk does not like the current gen mortal kombat games it's totally different compared to back in the day.

[oldgamerz]

Well given the fact that Mortal Kombat 1 was not included in the Midway Arcade Treasures 2 for the PlayStation 2 while 2 and 3 were included I'd say you all are not alone in your opinions, 

[droaa]

Well given the fact that Mortal Kombat 1 was not included in the Midway Arcade Treasures 2 for the PlayStation 2 while 2 and 3 were included I'd say you all are not alone in your opinions, 

I mean it was included in the second disc of the Mortal Kombat Deception Premium Edition on its own. Also was in the PSP version of Midway Arcade Treasures.

[vivigamer]

I'm not majorly into fighting games, but I have already thought that Mortal Kombat was one of the better 16-bit era fighters.

Of course it is renown for it's excessive gore, but I really think it should be praised for more than just that alone. I think the mechancis of the combat are striking good, each character has a decent range of moves and also a distinctive personality - Something other fighters like Virtua Fighter can't seem to grasp (That coming from a mega Shenmue fan too!). I think additions like a Fatality systems really do make the experience unique. Not only that though, the games would also feature little secrets like how to fight and unlock Reptile - I don't recall Street Fighter II having such features.

Going beyond the 2D Era, Mortal Kombat like many games had an identity Crisis transitioning into 3D. I think it got a little complex to with the different fighting styles/Weapon set you could choose for each character. I will say I do like the concept of the Quest Mode in Deception/Armageddon - Not many other fighters did that and I think that was a good feature to come out of this experimental period. But once Street Fighter IV pushed the 3D graphics within a 2D plain Mortal Kombat was able to find it's footing again.

I've played a bit of the newer games, I think they're very decent and have a lot of content to explore. One feature I really appreciate is how NeverRealm so far have always released Complete Edition when the DLC roster run is finished (I'm holding out for Mortal Kombat 11 until 2020 for this very reason).