The Kombat Keeps On Kontinuing

The new Mortal Kombat came out a few days back. Getting some good reviews. The general consensus is that it's a "return to form," although I seem to remember that being the general consensus around the release of Deadly Alliance, so I'm interested in seeing how this one's reputation holds up. I, personally, don't see the need to buy it right now, because they released a free demo that let's you play as Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Rounding up, that's the entire game.

There's something about Mortal Kombat. I don't think it gets the respect it deserves. I mean, gameplay-wise, it absolutely gets the fun-but-flawed respect it deserves, but when it comes to its historical impact and influence, it generally gets shrugged off as "popular because of the gore." Pardon my french, but that is utter bullshit. In it's 19 years of existence, Mortal Kombat has spawned 9 games, at least twice that many updates and spin-offs, a slew of comics and soundtracks, a stadium show, an animated series, a live-action series, an animated film, two theatrical films, and more covers of EGM than can be counted. Two TV series and two theatrical films people; on that basis you can make a claim that Mortal Kombat is the most successful game franchise of all time.

And it keeps going! There's the new game. And that kickass new web series. Despite gamers tending to look down their noses at it, Mortal Kombat is a huge franchise with staying power, and there is no way that it's maintained that kind of momentum based solely on the nostalgia for some badly-rendered gore from 1992. Something about its mythology, or gameplay, or characters is stuck in the collective gamer hive mind at a meaningful level, and to claim otherwise is ridiculous.

Personally, I think it's due to its place in the post-Street Fighter II fighting landscape and it's memorable character design. After Street Fighter II you saw clones, clones, clones, all with the same hand-drawn animated characters and basically the same gameplay. And they (almost) all totally sucked. Then Mortal Kombat came around. It's characters and backgrounds were live action and looked completely different. It's stylings and mythology were completely different. It's command motions were completely different. It's DNA has been significantly altered from the SF2 mold.

Most importantly, it had a viscerality that Street Fighter lacked. Street Fighter was slower-paced, floaty. When you threw someone, they slowly flew two dozen feet and took damage before they hit the ground. Not so in Mortal Kombat. When you kicked a guy, he would go flying quickly across the screen with a loud crack and a spray of blood. It had a sense of weight and physics to it, the blows had a real sense of the physical. You can still see it today; uppercutting somebody in Mortal Kombat is inherently satisfying. It was designed to stimulate us at an R-brain level. In short, it was both different and great, which were the two ingredients needed to have a shot at dethroning the reigning champion.

Also, unlike the other SF2 clones on the market, the characters were well-designed and interesting. Scorpion and Sub-Zero have a legitimate claim in the pantheon of some of the best game characters ever created, and Johnny Cage, his nut punch, and the rest aren't shabby either. It's a good cast, something that's weirdly getting harder to come by in fighting games today. Look at Super Street Fighter 4. Amazingly good game, but the new characters are pretty damned mediocre in design.

Also note that there were violent games before Mortal Kombat, and there were even more violent games after, none of which had the impact MK did on the world. Face it folks; the fatalities were just icing on the cake. Mortal Kombat was, at the time, an innovative, well-designed, entertaining game. That is why it has the staying power it has, making bags and bags of money to this day.

Also, apparently, the strategy guide sucks. This guide is subject to updates. SUBJECT TO UPDATES.