Collection essentials #225: Mortal Kombat II (SNES)

Remember how I said Nintendo didn’t want a violent game like Mortal Kombat on their system, so they tried to have the best of both worlds by having a SNES version of Mortal Kombat 1 that removed the blood and toned down the violence? Yeah, well, after the Sega Genesis version won handily on the sales charts, Nintendo promptly changed their tune. The SNES version of Mortal Kombat II has all the violence of the arcade original intact. I guess money makes a big difference.

Anyways, Mortal Kombat II is a clear example of a typical improved video game sequel. The game doesn’t introduce any radical new gameplay ideas, and the plain basics are roughly the same as the original game. But II is pretty much better in every way, having more content, and polishing what was already there in the original. Just about the only way I could see someone preferring the first game would be if said person really loved playing as one of the two characters that got removed from the roster, but I think most would agree the seven newly-playable characters more than makes up for this. Not only are there more characters, but characters in general have more moves than those from the first game. They also have two fatalities instead of one to finish off matches in style, as well as humorous “Friendships” and “Babalities”. 

Mortal Kombat II also takes great steps in building an intriguing world and cast of characters, something that helped grow the fanbase beyond those simply intrigued by a video game with some blood and gore. The first game had taken place on Earth with some fantastical elements. This one involves a new main villain, Shao Kahn, who resides in another realm called “Outworld”, a dark and dangerous place, and this is where the next Mortal Kombat tournament takes place. This gives the second game a memorable, much-different setting and vibe. Interesting details are given on the canon of the first game and its characters. For example, it is revealed that Sub-Zero is thought to have died in the first game, but is playable anyways, and upon beating the game with him and viewing his character-specific ending, you find out that this game’s Sub-Zero is the younger brother of the original. 

I do have to mention that the SNES version is inferior to the arcade original, which boasted quality 2D graphics and sound at the time that was a little above the paygrade of the console. But they did the best they could, and made a port that I’m sure was satisfactory to the vast majority of players who bought the game back in the day. Nowadays, most people wouldn’t want to revisit this particular version. However, there are some reasons to, as console ports like this often have exclusive cheat codes that help set them apart just a bit. Probably the most significant one with this version is the ability to play a 4-on-4 team battle mode.

As for my personal experience, Mortal Kombat II was a game I was aware of as a kid, but didn’t get much exposure to it at all for years, more often encountering the first game and the later sequels. But then, when I was about 12 and my mom got me that SNES haul from a yard sale, this Mortal Kombat II cartridge shown in the photo is one of the games it came with. And I got really into it. I played by myself the vast majority of the time, but I didn’t mind. We had no internet at home, so I had to discover everything about the game from my own experience. I would practice with characters and try to find the button combinations for their different moves. I enjoyed losing to the computer sometimes when they would perform a new finishing move that I had no realistic way of doing without knowing the button input. I hardly ever actually beat the game without cheats because the second-to-last boss, Kintaro, is extremely cheap and difficult. I feel like he’s even harder in this version than others! I only feel fairly confident using Kitana against him. At least Liu Kang totally owns Shao Kahn since he doesn’t have an answer to the low fireball move at all in this game.

While this isn’t my go-to version, it is one that I played an awful lot, and especially since I still have my original cartridge, it’s a definite essential.