Mortal Kombat (1992) Review
Played on PC
Developed by Midway
Released 8th October 1992
Mortal Kombat is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, fighting game series alongside arcade classics like Street Fighter and Tekken. Having grown up on these games, more specifically the newer generation of them, I couldn't help but explore the origins of such a fantastically violent franchise. Not only is Mortal Kombat the big ol' grandaddy of the fighting game genre, but it also fathered the concept of "juggling" and brought about an unforgettable innovation of Fatalities. The latter was so popular that not only has it become a staple of the series, but it is also the reason that Mortal Kombat is one of the few games from 1992-1993, alongside Night Trap, Doom and Lethal Enforcers, to scare parents into complaining about the violence being afflicted to characters that resembled actual human beings and for being too gruesome. This fear and panic spread so far out, that it conceived the ESRB Board that now modulates and requires games to be age-rated just like movies. That's right, Mortal Kombat and its pixelated decapitations are the reason that 12-year-olds can't go into GameStop or GAME to buy the newest Call of Duty (though it still won't stop them from playing it). I, as not only a series fan but also a fan of gaming in general, have a lot to owe to this franchise that both brought new concepts to the industry and pointed my interests into the gaming medium.
Mortal Kombat is now a massive title in gaming, but it wasn't always this way. At the very beginning, series creators Ed Boon and John Tobias initially stated that Midway Games tasked them with developing a "combat game for release within a year", which the two believed was intended to compete with the popular Street Fighter II: The World Warrior. Tobias, along with Divizio and the brothers' Daniel and Carlos Pesina, planned to create a ninja-themed fighting game, however, this idea was rejected by Midway's entire management. They continued to go back and forth between their preferred ninja fighting game and Midway's want for a gaming emulation of Jean-Claude Van Damme's film - Universal Soldier. Enough time went on that the idea for a Universal Soldier game was passed on to another studio and Tobias received the greenlight he wanted. The game was then developed in 10 months from 1991 to 1992 with an initial team of 4 (Ed Boon as the programmer, artists John Tobias and John Vogel, and Dan Forden as a sound designer), with a test version seeing limited release halfway through the development cycle. As a demo version of the game, which featured only 6 characters (all male), became internally popular within Midway offices, the team was given more time to work on it, resulting in the addition of Sonya to the roster. With that, the iconic 7 would not only star in a great game but also continue to reappear in the now-30-year-old franchise. Mortal Kombat's release was crazy good, becoming America's second highest-grossing arcade game of 1993 (along with NBA Jam), exceeding the $300M (equivalent to $560M in 2021) domestic box office gross of the film Jurassic Park the same year.
Story
Since it's a 1992 arcade game, the story that this game produces is so minimal I won't factor it into my score, yet it still deserves all the compliments it should be getting. Long story short, there are multiple realms in existence such as Earthrealm, Chaosrealm, Netherrealm, etc., and evil sorcerer Shang Tsung plans on using the infamous Mortal Kombat tournament in order to seize control of Earthrealm with conqueror Shao Khan. Sounds ridiculous and slightly convoluted, however, it's just the right amount of absurdity to fall in love with. I might be heavily biased, especially knowing how far this simple tale develops, but it really is the right level of engagement that an arcade game needs. Why else would a lightning Elder God be fighting with an A-List actor against a champion Shokan?
Gameplay
The gameplay is a fun pastime to partake in with friends. Mortal Kombat is by no means a complex fighting game, especially when compared to its competitors of the time: Street Fighter II and Fatal Fury 2. You have the simple attacks for a heavy punch, light kick, uppercut, etc., but everyone knows that the special abilities of each character are where the gameplay shines, and Mortal Kombat is no exception to this rule. That being said - the abilities are decent. Every character has around 3 unique attacks each, all belonging to the hall of fame for how iconic they are: Kano's Kanoball, Scorpion's "GET OVER HERE!" Spear and many more. From a design perspective, they are all unique enough and very personalised to each character's personality. For example, Johnny Cage has a relatively aggressive playstyle attached to him thanks to his distance-closing Shadow Kick and the ego-infused, 'asshole' energy that is attached to his Nut Cracker feels effectively tuned to the character and that I can appreciate.
Mortal Kombat is also quite different from other fighting games in how, despite having rush-down-focused action, it focuses more on mix-ups and slower inputs compared to something like Street Fighter and its neutral/footsies combat that feels more fluid and focuses more on pressuring your opponent. This mix-up combat that Mortal Kombat has makes sense as it technically invented "juggling", and it should work here fluently, but it doesn't. Only having 3 special attacks per character compared to other games' 5-10 unique moves looks slightly embarrassing for Mortal Kombat, especially how most of the special moves that you can do feel more like combo-enders rather than start-ups.
Despite, the somewhat lacking gameplay compared to other fighting games at the time, none of them had the marvellous match-ending Fatalities. However, a common trope in arcade games is the AI being unnecessarily problematic, even at lower difficulties. While back then it was to drain the player of all their coins so that the arcade cabinets could maximise their profits, when played on PC or with other methods nowadays, it comes across as frustrating or fun-soaking as the AI spam one attack or string you up with combos that you yourself cannot achieve - one of the most poorly aged components of older games.
Characters
Just like the story, the characters won't be an influencing factor on my score of the game, but it feels dishonourable to not mention them. Can we just appreciate how cool these characters are and their backgrounds, motives, etc.? They obviously get fleshed out to a cinematic degree in later games, especially when compared to this serviceable design, but it's hard to disagree that Scorpion's and Sub-Zero's rivalry is one of, if not the most legendary feud in video game history.
Atmosphere
Finally, the atmosphere has just the right amount of nostalgia serum pumping through its veins to win me over. The tense, tetric, dark ambient soundtrack is fantastic and probably one of the best 90s OSTs out there. The pixelated visuals of this game initially are quite decent, but with the energetic music, I'd argue their quality is multiplied tenfold. The reason that the visuals are at most decent and not anything greater is that despite the distinguished designs of the characters, the highly detailed and lively backgrounds and the slick Fatalities, this isn't the best that the franchise has to offer and I feel like even the developers knew this at this stage. If you are planning on playing this game but don't have the right consoles to play it, here's the web browser alternative that I tried and tested: Play Classic Games Online.
Gameplay - 6/10
Atmosphere - 7.5/10
MEDIOCRE
Mortal Kombat doesn't hold up in any regard to today's immense standard for any game, regardless of genre. However, the classic Mortal Kombat is now supposed to be a title you play for enjoyment, to see how well games have aged and even for some casual fun with friends. It's for these reasons that I rated this game quite highly despite its obvious rust.
