Mortal Kombat: Flawed Failure

Mortal Kombat has been around for almost thirty years, which is a factoid that already makes my bones creak just typing it out. September 13th, 1993 can't be understated for how big a day that was. One of the first major important dates for a video game's home console release. Midway and publisher Acclaim went all out, porting the game to practically every available console. This included the obvious places, the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, but also taking advantage of the handheld systems at the time, the Game Gear and the version we're covering, the Game Boy. Did the GB port end up a hit? You see the blog title, right? Let's cover Mortal Kombat

Year of release: 1993

Developer: Midway & Probe Software
Publisher: Acclaim

I'll get the good out of the way early before we get into the major issues with this game. Graphically, it looks decent. They did their best in trying to emulate the look of the digitized sprites from the original title. And the audio sounds fine, Probe taking much of the soundtrack from the Genesis port. Oh, and if you can actually beat the game, you get the ability to play as Goro, the secondary boss in the game. That's something that neither of the major ports had without cheat codes, so that's a neat incentive. And that's kind of really it, because this game is bad. Like, actually bad. 

Fighting games are tricky to get working on a console with limited buttons, that's more than understandable, but with Mortal Kombat, it's an example of just how badly it can be done. Because this game is a laggy, slow mess. Movement feels like wading through jell-o just to get one attack in. Due to the slowness, the lag in the game makes things even trickier as trying to time your special moves is near impossible to execute. Even when you think you have the flow to do the attack, it'll be a crapshoot to see if the game will read your move correctly. I honestly have no clue what happened here. Is it the larger sprites that caused this, or was this game always a case of trying to look good and focusing on gameplay later, only for it to be so late that they never got back to it by the time the game was ready to be shipped.

I'll elaborate further on what I mean by laggy controls. Say for example, you use Scorpion. One of Scorpion's most iconic moves is the harpoon. For this port, it's back, back and B to do. If you just fast tap the inputs, it won't register as it's so busy trying to do the first input. So you have to do it on sort of a timed fashion, which can be tricky to execute, and even on most occasions the lag will be so bad that that won't even register at times. Also, jump kicks and punches simply do not work. It doesn't matter how perfectly placed I am, I neve connect with the AI. Another unfortunate example of bad hit detection in the game. Speaking of, the AI is a mixed bag as well. Most often they just hang around, waiting for you to attack first. They can be smart at times, easily countering close range attacks, but often acting as sponges to take any kind of move. The best way to actually win matches is more a focus on close combat instead of actually using your special moves. There are also fatalities but damned if I could properly execute them. 

The roster is almost the same as Mortal Kombat with only one omitted character in Johnny Cage. Part of me wonders if this is why Goro is playable. As sort of an apology for the omission. The "Test Your Might" section is missing too, there was likely no way to make that work fluidly either. There are also three backgrounds in the game, which is a small amount, but they do look fine for a Game Boy release, so minor props there. Other than that, there really isn't much to say about this game when it comes to the gameplay itself. 

I really tried to make a blog here that would make the usual thousand word quota that I try with these games, but there really isn't that much to say about this game other than it's really bad. An example of how not to port a game. It feels more like a cash grab than anything with actual passion put into it, which is a shame because the presentation of the game feels good, coming almost as close as possible to the arcade original for the handheld. But when a game feels almost unplayable from a performance standpoint, I don't know what else can really be said. It feels like hyperbole, but I do think this game could be looked at on a Batman Forever, Superman 64 level as one of the worst games of all time. But, Probe would persist with a second attempt. One year later, Mortal Kombat II would hit all major systems, including the Game Boy. Would a second attempt show effort, or remain another failed mess? We'll soon see. F.