MORTAL KOMBAT II (ARCADE)

At the height of the video game fighting craze of the mid-90s, there were really only two titles. Sure, there were a million imitators, but for the source, look no further than either the Guile/Bison roster of Street Fighter, or the ninja-swap palette fighters of Mortal Kombat. MORTAL KOMBAT II is the first sequel to the arcade juggernaut and impressively ups the ante in almost every way. Twice the amount of fighters, twice the finishing moves, different kinds of finishing moves, levels, hidden characters, and more. They brought back the original real-life martial artists for digitized video…and the sprites have never looked crisper or cleaner. Back to the finishing moves, not only do we get our blood/guts back, we get all new finishing moves in the forms of turning your opponents into babies (babalities), and performing some sort of ‘friendly’ move to mock your opponent (Friendship). These ‘friendship’ moves range from pulling a rabbit out of a hat, to giving out an autograph. They’re completely hilarious and adds some great variety to your finishing moves options. Adding in some fun special moves, great new characters, and even gorier fatalities this second go-round, and you have a sequel that even all these years later still is regarded as one of the best entries in the entire franchise. Would love to see this entry on the new gaming systems for an updated Komeback.

Gaming Score: 10/10