Story time. It was 1998-99, Pokémon was fresh in video games and Pokémon fever was at an the rise at this point. I used to go to a store and get myself those lollipops that had Pokémon stickers in them to collect and I remember getting a bulbasaur and beedrill, nidoking also I think. At the corner of my eye I saw a game that was like nothing I’ve ever seen. This was my first exposure to video games if I could recall, before a console was introduced in the household. This game was not something I’ve seen in my life and I went up to it pretending that I was playing it. Little did I know this game was 3 or 4 titles in and it’s popular among the crowd, even controversial. Eventually I was exposed to it again around near 1999 early 2000s with its sequel on the Super Nintendo. Another few years, 2004, I played the original on the Super Nintendo and Trilogy on the PlayStation. I didn’t play the actual arcade version until the Xbox 360 release. Though we’re not going into that. I had to use emulation to play this game for this review so. This is Mortal Kombat for Arcade (yes this was my exposure to video games)

Story: 8 

500 years undefeated, Goro seizes control of the tournament under the command of the sorcerer Shang Tsung. One more win and Earthrealm will be under attack by the Outworld. Earthrealm is on the verge of doom but seven fighters enter the tournament with their own purpose and agendas. Will Earthrealm be able to defeat Goro and ruin Shang Tsung’s plans or will he be able to let Outworld take over Earthrealm? 

The story is neat, a bunch of random people entering a tournament knowing the fate of the world is in the hands of these fighters. A sorcerer ruling the tournament and having a henchman to defeat the opponents is done before. 

Decent story though. 8 out of 10

Graphics: 7

The graphics look great at that time. Digitized sprites was all the rage with stiff animations and tanky movement. The stages look great for its time and has some lively animations during or after the fight. The use of day and night was a good addition to the game where it gives a sense of “passing” with the time. 

Not much to say. Overall a 7 out of 10. Stages and characters looked great for its time, but movement and frame rate makes it tanky and stiff

Sound: 7

The sound of the game is somewhat static. The music, I don’t know if it was my emulation or just like the arcade, was kind of quiet and the sound effects sounded a bit compressed. The music is pretty good, a bit of an ancient times kind of music. The attraction mode is loud and dramatic when showing Goro and the character select music is one of the most memorable video game music in the series. It’s a start but right now 

The sound rating is a 7 out of 10. 

Depth: 7

The depth of the game is obviously lacking due to it being an arcade. What makes up for the lack of content is the character. Characters have their own special moves and stories. Ranging from a Hollywood hot shot to a thunder god, kung fu monk, two ninjas…. A black market gang member… special forces gym exercise workout videos woman… they do have some wacky variety but it works. 

Instead of a traditional 6 button scheme most fighting games adopted, they used a 5 button. One high/low kick or punch buttons and a block button. Yes, there’s a button that uses block and it can either be important in a fight or ignored, depending how often you use blocking. This is easily adaptable and still be able to play the game easily. 

Tho with special moves and attacks come with health depletion. It’s the same as most fighting games, deplete the opponent’s health to zero or run the time to zero and whoever has less health loses. What makes this special is that if you beat your opponent twice, you have a chance to “FINISH HIM!” It can be a final hit, a throw, you can do nothing or press a combination of buttons to cause a “fatality”. From decapitation, heart ripped or burned to death, this was made the game different from the other fighting games. This was the appeal. The blood, the gore, the fatalities. Heck even one stage has a fatality of its own. This made the game more appealing and more controversial when it came out. Every character has one fatality that is unique. 

Hidden messages are often popped up during the arcade about fighting a secret character, reptile. How do you find this secret character? Only you have to find out through the hints. 

A mini game is also present on the game with a test your strength. Starting off with planks of wood, each successive attempt makes you test your strength with stronger items, with at the end be a diamond. 

The content is lacking but characters make up with fatalities and stories. A 7 out of 10. 

Difficulty : 8

The game isn’t easy. This is before the infamous sequels, but the game is a tad hard. With tanky characters and stiff animations, sometimes inputs aren’t read and moves aren’t coming out. Opponents always block most of the fight and start countering you whenever they have the chance. The higher the ladder, the worse the chances of winning. Heck even fatalies don’t read when you try to input the command. It is a bit of annoyance. 

What makes the game have a bit of longevity, is the endurance battles. These are one of the most difficult fights since you have to fight two opponents (defeat one opponent and the other pops out) while having the same health throughout the round. Some fights you have to use some cheap tactics but it’s not as bad as later titles that come by. Don’t get me started on Goro. It’s whack when the sub-boss is more difficult than the actual boss and I felt like it’s underwhelming. 

Difficulty is an 8 out of a 10

Addictive : 6

The game has its appeal. Wacky characters, gruesome fatalities and a story for each character. Though after that you tend to get either annoyed by the bad inputs or opponents. The addictive loses its appeal when playing arcade and such, only to have enjoyment with friends or other people against each other. I can see how back the. It’s popular but now it’s just… meh

A 6 out of 10

The game was the start of a franchise and its controversy was one of the reason for the ESRB decision. This was the game that exposed me to video games at a young age and I haven’t seen it again until the snes version which has its own perks and cons. Then I haven’t seen the original arcade until “Mortal Kombat Kollection” for Xbox 360. I’ve been exposed to 2 and 3 later on in life and I enjoyed every bit of it. This was the one I remembered fondly as a kid and I still play it from time to time for nostalgia. Here are my ratings and review rating 

My rating : 9.0 out of 10. 

Review rating : 7.2 out of 10

becerra95: This was the game that started it all for the Mortal Kombat franchise. It was quickly put on Sega and SNES systems. This game is sometimes known as Mortal Kombat I. Soon we got Mortal Kombat 2, 3 and one of my favorites Trilogy.

I agree with your review. I remember when this game came out and it was something new. I played it mostly as Sub-Zero and Scorpion. Finding Reptile in the game was also fun.

The game was difficult when I played it though. That is awesome that you have fond memories of this game and it introduced you to classic games. Also awesome review as well.