Arcade,
Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, 32X, Game Boy, Game Gear, Sega Saturn, PC, Amiga, PSP (featured in Midway Collection),
Xbox 360 (XBLA), PS3 (PSN)
Release Date(s):
June
25th, 1993
(Arcade)
May 16th, 1994 (
PC)
September 1994 (SNES/Game Gear/Game Boy)
October 27th, 1994 (
Game Boy)
November 11th, 1994 (
Game Boy)
December 5th, 1994 (
Mega Drive/Genesis)
1994 (32X/Sega Master System/Amiga)
March 28th, 1996 (
Saturn)
March 29th, 1996 (
Saturn)
August 30th, 2011 (PSN - in MK: Arcade Kollection)
August 31st, 2011 (XBLA - in MK: Arcade Kollection)
Mortal Kombat 2
was an incredibly successful
sequel in arcades and on home consoles. MK2 really marks
the MK's series "heyday"... as many of the following sequels
to come would fail to live up to it. There was a lot to like about this game,
considering some of the other crap that was floating around in the early-mid
90s. Indeed, many 2D fighting games in the mid 90's were attempting to mooch off
of the success of Mortal Kombat (and Street Fighter).
Personally, I must've put over 200 hours into MK2 on my SNES and in the
arcade. I was always a fan of the "hard-hitting moves"... and uppercutting
your opponent off the stage for the win, or doing Katana's badass fan combos just never seemed to get old.
Like many other 90's kids, I had so many fatalities memorized. I'm pretty sure I
knew how to do every move in the game (and 20 years later, I've forgotten nearly
all of it). ~TFG
Webmaster
STORY:
Following
his defeat to Liu Kang, Shang Tsung begs his master, Shao Kahn, to spare
his life. He tells Shao Kahn that the invitation for Mortal Kombat
cannot be turned down, and if they hold it in Outworld, the Earthrealm
warriors must attend. Kahn agrees to this plan, and restores Tsung's youth.
He extends the invitation to Raiden, who gathers his warriors and takes
them into Outworld. The tournament is dangerous, as Shao Kahn has the "home
field advantage", and an Outworld victory will unbalance the furies and
allow Outworld to subsume Earthrealm.
Epic selection screen for
the time... possibly SSF2's only rival.
REVIEW:
Many
fans still consider Mortal Kombat II to be the best installment out of the entire
early MK series. The MK team at Midway improved on nearly every single aspect
of the original title. MK2 sees the return of most of the original cast,
with the exclusion of Kano, Sonya, and Goro. The boss from the previous game,
Shang Tsung, makes his appearance as a regular playable character, joining
newcomers, such as: Mileena, Baraka, Kung Lau and Jax. In addition, two new boss
characters await players at the end of MK's iconic Arcade Ladder, those being
Kintaro and Shao Kahn. MK2 also includes a variety of "secret"
characters (Jade, Smoke & Noob Saibot) whom players can fight against if
they meet certain conditions in the 1-player mode.
The Pit 2 was one of the
coolest stages... still is.
Along with all new fatalities, MK2 adds
"Friendships" and "Babalities" to the
array of entertaining finishing moves.
These additions were designed to add levity to the game simply because some people
took the violence and gore a little too seriously. Friendships involved
the character performing a "joke" instead of a fatality on the character.
Because of the pure randomness of the Friendship and Babality moves, rumor
spreading become prevalent during the course of MK2... adding even more hype to the franchise.
MK2's gameplay felt very much like the original, but perhaps was a bit more
accessible and even more fun to
play this time around.
Yes... Cage could uppercut
his opponent's head off 3 times. It doesn't need to make sense... it's
Mortal Kombat 2!
Mortal
Kombat II was faster, bloodier, gorier, louder, and even improved quite a
bit in the graphics department. It made just as big a splash, if not a bigger
splash than the original made when it released in arcades. It was hard to make a
case that Mortal Kombat II wasn't "the shit" when it came
out. Nearly everyone I knew was playing it or at least talking about
it... and MK2 sure gave players enough to talk about! Secret characters,
secret fatalities, Easter eggs... you name it.
The new characters introduced in MK2 made for a
more balanced and better-looking roster. The moody new stage environments and
BGMs were also badass
to say the least. Many new combo possibilities were introduced in this
installment, which really made the gameplay. The epic-looking stage
fatalities, multiple traditional fatalities, and the obscurely hilarious
Babalities & Friendships were simply the icing on the cake. One of the only
noticeable flaws of MK2 was that the entertaining "Test Your
Might" mini game from the prequel was nowhere to be found. Besides that, MK2 game
nearly "had it all" in 1993/1994.
PC)
Game Boy)
Game Boy)
