Introduction
As you will see in this Noob’s History of Mortal Kombat, I’m old enough to remember the original game in the arcades. And, I lived long enough to see arcades grow up in to barcades. My favorite to visit in the area, The Quarters, has an MKII machine. Every time we visit, I make a beeline for the game to perform Liu Kang’s Dragon fatality and Shang Tsung’s Kintaro fatality. The ritual complete, I can move on to other things like Tetris and Dig Dug. Join me as I close out Mortal Kombat month.
Mortal Kombat
While on vacation with my high school friend at his father’s place in Maryland, we lived our best lives up to that point. Newly graduated, not a care in the world, money from our part time jobs, and the freedom of being young adults, we extended the trip twice until we wore out our welcome and his dad sent us back home. This is the summer of the Death of Superman. I know that nostalgia lies, but it still ranks up there as one of the most fun summers ever for me. Well, we wandered into an arcade and discovered Mortal Kombat. After playing a few games, a guy says, “Let me show you something.” He proceeds to kick my ass and then did something with the controls after. Sub Zero rips my spine out of my body.
Holy shit.
A life long obsession is born.
Both Nintendo and Sega released home ports of the game. Famously, Nintendo changed the blood for sweat and toned down the fatalities. Sega won even though the graphics weren’t as good, it had all of the bloody goodness from the arcade version.
MKII
We walk into the local arcade. Oh, look, it’s MKII. Wait?! What?! MKII?! Oh damn. The roster expanded. New bosses, stories, endings, and (most importantly) fatalities to learn.
To this day, this is my favorite game in the series.
Nintendo learned from their mistake and kept the blood in this one.
MK3/UMK3
The run button. Chain combos. A step back in terms of graphics for some of the fatalities. Not my least favorite, but up there. Actually, this may be my least favorite. Didn’t even bother with the home versions.
Mortal Kombat 4
The first of the 3D versions. Ant it shows. Never played this one in the arcades, but enjoyed it for what it was. Quan’ Chi’s fatality is still one of my favorites.
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Deception, Armageddon
Until recently, I never played these. But, I see the roots of the more recent games. I will say that the Revenant story line is my least favorite in the series. However, “Liu Kang is dead.” is a line that makes me laugh every single time.
Mortal Kombat 11, X(L), Mortal Kombat (9)
I know that’s in reverse order. I got back into the games when the same friend from high school recommended MK11. The game, mainly the quest game mode, hooked me and I had to complete it 100%. It also had the autoplay mode that gave me more pleasure than it should have. Every time it unlocked a brutality, I stopped for a second to admire it.
I went back to get MKXL and MK (9) on clearance prices. My son and his friend played 9 and XL a ton, bringing back those memories of me and my friend 25 years earlier.
Mortal Kombat 1
I heard all of the negative opinions of the game. I waited until a crazy sale to get the game and the expansion. The two aren’t related. I’m just a cheap ass gamer. While I miss the open world exploration of 11, the story mode is fine and the fatalities are fun as hell.
Epilogue
That briefly sums up Noob’s History with Mortal Kombat. While there are so many more memories, this covers the basics. Watching the movie with my kids, going back to play some of the games again, and taking this trip down memory lane. They all remind me just how much video games can affect a person’s life. What about you? What are some of your favorite memories of the games? Did you enjoy of the new movie? Let me know!