Mortal Kombat II

The original Mortal Kombat sold based on its novelty factor. It was a poorly controlling, ugly fighting game that had a guilty appeal similar to a Wu Tang movie or those Girls Gone Wild videos. Other games tried this premise, Time Killers, Kasumi Ninja, and others did their best, but ultimately failed. It was with its dark story, silly characters, and over-the-top fatalities that caused Mortal Kombat to be the huge hit it was, despite its crummy controls.

It's for this reason that Mortal Kombat II is so impressive. Mortal Kombat II does something very few sequels have ever done, improved upon every single aspect of the game. No matter what it is, Mortal Kombat II has it in spades. It featured a better written and more interesting story, much better control , improved graphics, some of the best sound in any fighting game, and more secrets than you know what to do with.

Like all hit arcade games, Mortal Kombat II didn't take much time to make the rounds on just about every console. The Super NES, the Sega Genesis, even the Game Boy all got their own version of this fighter, but most gamers were holding out for what promised to be the definitive version of the game, the 32-bit Sega 32x version.

Problem is, at the end of the day, the Super NES looked better, played better, and was a superior arcade port. But that doesn't mean that the 32x version is all bad. In fact, it's actually the best fighter on the system (if you don't count Virtua Fighter). But you know, for a system that you had to pay extra for, you'd think it would look a whole heck of a lot better.

The play control, secrets, and characters are all here, in fact, if you are against owning a Super NES, this is the best version of the game out there. But this version of Mortal Kombat II seems a little rough, unlike the polished arcade counterpart. But it controls well, most of the extras are included, and it's not all that bad of a game.

Years later Acclaim would milk the franchise again with a Saturn version, but you can skip that, this has no load time and just as many extra features. But if you already own the Super NES version, you might as well stick with that. No matter what, at least this isn't Mortal Kombat III.