Collection essentials #457: Mortal Kombat Gold (DC)

What we have here is an enhanced port of Mortal Kombat 4, a game that had hit arcades over two years prior. For more info on MK4, check out my previous post about the Nintendo 64 version.


This version was exclusive to the Dreamcast, and as of this writing it has never been ported to any other system. What’s new in Gold? Most notably, several new characters, all of whom return from previous Mortal Kombat games. They all have their own brand new endings too, complete with cheesy voice acting that I find a little charming. There’s also a few new stages, a much smaller addition but a nice touch regardless. There’s also the ability to select what weapon you’d like to have. In regular MK4, each character has their own unique weapon, but now you can choose weapon and character separately. Weapons don’t really play that big a role in gameplay, but that’s still nice. 


Mortal Kombat Gold was met with lukewarm reception upon release. Two years doesn’t sound like a real long time, but in the 1990s video game world, it really was. This is a game that was very clearly two years old compared to other things coming out on the Dreamcast at the time. There were many other better-looking and better-playing fighting games coming out for the system at the same time, so it’s understandable that people didn’t get excited about this game. 


Is Mortal Kombat Gold worth your attention in modern times? Despite what the back of the case says, it’s not the best Mortal Kombat ever, and never was at any point. And if you’ve never played Mortal Kombat, I wouldn’t recommend starting with this one. However, if you’re a big fan of the series, especially the other retro titles, then you ought to try this game, just don’t expect it to blow you away.


As I’ve mentioned before, I went through a period of major Mortal Kombat fandom in my preteen-to-early-teen years. I believe I first heard of Mortal Kombat Gold by seeing cheats for it listed in a video game code book. I didn’t have easy internet access back then, so I wasn’t able to learn much about it. Some extras in a future Mortal Kombat game had a little info about the game that got me excited, as I saw some characters I liked were added to the roster in Gold. After I got a Dreamcast, stores I visited didn’t have the game in stock, which was disappointing. But my family finally got the internet just before the calendar turned over to 2004. When we got set up on eBay shortly after, Mortal Kombat Gold was the first game I bought, the very same copy shown in the photo.


I managed to discover a bizarre graphical glitch for the game at some point which I made a YouTube video about many years back. You can watch it here.


I don’t go back to Mortal Kombat Gold all that often, but as someone with a soft spot for klassic Mortal Kombat, this is one I want to have. Plus, it’s kinda neat that I still have the very first thing I ever bought on eBay!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Collection essentials #390: Valkyrie Profile (PS1)

Image
Here we have a truly marvelous and totally unique RPG from developer “tri-Ace”, whose founders first worked on Tales of Phantasia on the Super Famicom and then went on to form their own studio. Valkyrie Profile probably technically qualifies as a JRPG, but it’s so incredibly unique that saying so doesn’t give you a good idea at all of what the game is actually like, and even future games in its own series don’t even truly resemble it.  As you may guess, this game is loosely based on Norse mythology. The main character Lenneth is a valkyrie, who serves Odin and recruits newly-deceased warriors to fight in a war waged by the gods with the ultimate goal of saving their home Asgard from destruction.  The basic gameplay loop of Valkyrie Profile involves a limited schedule. There are a limited number of “Periods” in the game until the final battle (something the game makes very clear), and performing certain actions such as entering a dungeon or recruiting a warrior take up one or m...
Read more

Collection essentials #411: The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (N64)

Image
Sometimes Nintendo consoles are only graced with a single Zelda game. But after the success of Ocarina of Time, Nintendo decided that the Nintendo 64 needed a second one, to be developed in much less time, under two years. To help save time, many assets from Ocarina of Time were reused. The basic gameplay elements and physics are all the same, too. And so, at a brief glance, this game may seem like an Ocarina of Time clone. But guess what? Majora’s Mask is actually one of the most unique and creatively-designed games in the series.  The story begins not long after the events of Ocarina of Time. Link is ambushed by a Skull Kid, a type of forest-dwelling humanoid first introduced in the previous game. This Skull Kid is wearing a strange mask. This mask grants special powers, and the Skull Kid places a curse on Link, turning him into a creature called a Deku Scrub. Link then travels to the game’s central location, Clock Town in the land of Termina, and meets a mask salesman there who ...
Read more

Intro

Image
  I'm about to start a long-term personal project relating to my video game collection. It's actually something I'm doing mostly for myself, but sharing it with others is certainly a nice little side perk. As you probably already know, I have a large video game collection that would make many nerds jealous! I did the bulk of my collecting from roughly 2012-2018. Now I don't buy nearly as many games as I used to. In fact, in 2021 my collection actually had a net shrinkage because I sold more than I bought. Does that mean I've just been a hoarder all this time and I'm slowly growing to regret my life decisions? HECK no. I feel quite satisfied and vindicated with the legion of games into which I've invested time, energy and resources to assemble and I've merely reached a point of satiation. I scratched all the most important stuff from my bucket list. I purposefully was liberal in my choice of buying stuff because I knew how to find deals and I knew that th...
Read more