Mortal Kombat 2 32X

Last year Acclaim released the CD version of Mortal Kombat. Players were expecting it to be a carbon copy of the arcade, but most fans felt it failed miserably. Once again, history repeats itself with the disappointing MKII for the 32X.

Be Prepared

MK's fighting format and look are familiar to everyone by now. This game is virtually identical to previous versions of MK II, with a few slight graphical improvements.

You'll notice the fighters and backgrounds have more colors, but key details and animations from the coin-op game are still missing. Considering that the 32X system should be able to do so much more than is shown here, one can only think that MK II 32X was a rush job.

Some good news: There are more sounds and voices in the game than you heard on the Genesis, but many are still missing compared to the original. Unfortunately, the voices on the 32X are just as muffled and scratchy as they were in the 16-bit version.

The control is also like the control on the Genesis -- imperfect. For instance, some of the two- in-one combos don't come off as easily as they do in the arcades. At least all the moves and combos are here.

32 Why?

The 32X version of MK II has souped-up colors and more voices. That's about the extent of the improvements you'll find here. If you own the 16- bit version, you don't need this one unless you're a glutton for punishment.

Mortal Kombat II is a 1993 arcade game and the second title in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.

Mortal Kombat II is an extension of the previous game. A few normal moves have been added (crouching punch, for example). The roundhouse kick was made more powerful in part II, and like the uppercut, launched opponents into the air. Additionally returning characters gained new special moves. The game also introduced multiple fatalities, as well as additional finishing moves to the franchise. However, each character still shared generic attributes – speed, power, jump height and airtime – and most normal moves were similar between each character (some normal moves, such as the uppercut, varied between characters; this variance was a major part of high-level MKII strategy). As with its predecessor, the only thing differentiating each character were their appearance, special moves, hit detection, and finishing moves. This has also led to the similar criticism of the fighting system being very shallow and lacking any real character depth. However, the game plays slightly faster and much more smoothly than the original.

As with its predecessor, matches are divided into rounds. The first player to win two rounds by fully depleting their opponent's life bar is the winner. At this point the loser's character will become dazed and the winner is given the option of using a finishing move. In addition to the Fatalities of its predecessor, the winner could also use Babalities, Friendships, and stage specific Fatalities. This game also drops the point system from its predecessor, in favor of a win tally.

The characters of Mortal Kombat II have a less digitized and more hand-drawn look to them than in the first game. Both the theme and art style of the game are slightly darker, although with a more vibrant color palette employed. Also, the graphics system now uses a much richer color depth than in the previous game. Mortal Kombat II also strays from the severe oriental theme of its predecessor, though it does retain the original motive in some aspects, as in some of the music. Finally, the nature of the game is slightly less serious with the addition of trivial and 'joke' Fatalities and the addition of alternative finishing moves