OP
OP
Ha wow, very nice job by all involved. And I echo the sentiment that we want a part 2 with MK2, 3 and 4. With how thorough John is that would be a 3 hour video tho haha.
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DF Retro: Mortal Kombat - The Legend, The Arcade Tech, The Console Ports
- Thread starter tapedeck
- Start date
Man, i remember the second game was banned in Germany. It had like one day at release where you could grab it, the day after release the police went into games stores like toys'r'us and took all the games with them.
A friend of mine gladfully grabbed the mega drive version on release day and thus we could play it. Crazy times.
A friend of mine gladfully grabbed the mega drive version on release day and thus we could play it. Crazy times.
Excited to watch this later.
It's obviously for the better the way it is now, but I can't help but be nostalgic for the era when console versions were drastically different. It was exciting to play the versions and note all the pros and cons. It was almost like having entirely different games. MK 1-3 were prime examples of this. I had every one I could get my hands on and played them so much.
It's obviously for the better the way it is now, but I can't help but be nostalgic for the era when console versions were drastically different. It was exciting to play the versions and note all the pros and cons. It was almost like having entirely different games. MK 1-3 were prime examples of this. I had every one I could get my hands on and played them so much.
God this was the worst. I loved MK so much but playing the SNES version at my friends house growing up and realizing this totally broke the game for us.
I know what you mean. I have like 9 versions of Prince of Persia. The Japanese Riverhill/Arsys ports like the X68k and SNES ones were so awesome. Mechner was very impressed by them too iirc.
The Gameboy port looked good but played really bad. I remember being really disappointed with it. Thankfully MK2 got a better port on GB, even if it was still nowhere near as good as the other versions.
Same. It looked so fucking real, lol.
Congrats to Dark1x for another incredible video. We don't deserve you man. The way you are documenting the industry's history is absolutely priceless.
Awesomely thorough video, never even knew about the MK Lynx homebrew port until today
I'd love if they continue this with the other games in the trilogy. MK3 and its upgrades have some of the most unusual conversion choices ever through the R-Zone and Game.com
I'd love if they continue this with the other games in the trilogy. MK3 and its upgrades have some of the most unusual conversion choices ever through the R-Zone and Game.com
Great video. I watched it earlier today. I've never played the Genesis port not the handheld versions so I always wondered how they handled 5 button layout of the original game.
Great vid!
i really liked the dive into the differences between the CD and cartridge ports for SEGA. The CD version actually had notable improvements (Shang Tsung load times aside).
i do wonder what Boon's exact concerns were with the ports before they released. What specifically was he unhappy about that could be fixed?
i really liked the dive into the differences between the CD and cartridge ports for SEGA. The CD version actually had notable improvements (Shang Tsung load times aside).
i do wonder what Boon's exact concerns were with the ports before they released. What specifically was he unhappy about that could be fixed?
Are we? I thought that got cancelled years ago. Was it revived?
There was a PEGI rating or something for PS4, Xbox, Switch, and PC.
Arcade MK1 still looks great, like surprisingly good coming from the MD/SNES ports I'm more familiar with. As always the CRT shots spliced in are much appreciated.
I hope MK2 gets its own video along with one for MK3/Ultimate/Trilogy sometime in the future.
Love DF Retro.
I hope MK2 gets its own video along with one for MK3/Ultimate/Trilogy sometime in the future.
Love DF Retro.
I see what you mean
Would be awesome if it happened. Other than the arcade releases, would love a port of Trilogy with all the arenas and characters (ie all PSX content plus the exclusive n64 stuff like the Noob Saibot arena and Khameleon).
Practically everyone that I knew that had MK or SF2 had a 6-button controller.
On Genesis with the 3-button pad, Start was Block, B was High Kick, and C was Low Kick. A was Low Punch by default, and to do High Punch you had to hold forward while hitting A.
I played MK1 on Genesis with the 3 button pad. I think it worked fine, since MK1 is such a simple game with simple inputs. MK II is horrible though.
The plural of anecdote is not data.
The six button pad had only only just been released in the west at the time MK came out. NO systems came with it, Sega were still releasing consoles in 1995 with the 3 button pad. The only way anyone could have two 6Bs for multiplayer would be to buy two extra controllers on top of those that came with the system. A surely vanishingly small number in 1993.
There's a reason the 3 button pad came with the mini in most places. That was the nostalgia controller that everyone had.
Start to block was super awkward.
(even worse if you had a cheap third party 'little brother' pad where start was even further away from ABC lol)
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I hear this in John's voice!
Cant watch the video now, but certainly will over lunch.
DF Retro is amazing and I have been in love with MK since '92.
Looks great but I wish they shot the interviews in a more compelling way. They look not good.
I agree with MK1. In fact, MK1 Genesis soundtrack is probably better than arcade. Genesis Pit is AWESOME.
No bootleg NES port? Not interested.
EDIT: I'll be damned, they are there. 🤣
I played the Yoko version if my memory serves me right.
Just kidding, I'm enjoying the video so far, it's very insightful! I only played the Genesis version, and a bootleg one on the NES before that.
Great job as always John!
Great job as always John!
EDIT: I'll be damned, they are there. 🤣
I played the Yoko version if my memory serves me right.
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Honestly, aside from the fact that you can't do one of Kung Lao's fatalities in MKII with the three-button controller, I prefer using the three-button controller for pretty much all of the Mortal Kombat games on Genesis. In hindsight, I do wish they'd taken the MK3/UMK3 approach by mapping the A, B and C buttons as follows:
A = Low Punch
B = Block
C = Low Kick
A + B = High Punch
B + C = High Kick
With the A, B and C buttons being so large and in such close proximity to one another, I think this approach worked really well in MK3 and UMK3.
That said, I think the control scheme they decided on for MK and MKII works fine, as I don't think the crouching low punch was very useful to most people.
Yeah, I'll never pass on an opportunity to mention the music in the Genesis versions of MK and MKII. I wish they'd include the Genesis soundtrack as an option for an updated release of MK and MKII.
I realized that after I watched it a 2nd time (got distracted at work). Forgot to update my comment, thanks for the reminder!
Whew, that was even more comprehensive than the Doom video. Great video Dark1x
I had the Mega Drive version of Mortal Kombat but ended up selling it. For how graphically awesome Mortal Kombat was, i can't stand the graphics of this version, at least on a flat panel
I've been wanting my classic Mortal Kombat fix lately. Seems like the DOS version is pretty decent and i have the whole trilogy in GOG. Now, making it work with a controller is another whole story.
I had the Mega Drive version of Mortal Kombat but ended up selling it. For how graphically awesome Mortal Kombat was, i can't stand the graphics of this version, at least on a flat panel
I've been wanting my classic Mortal Kombat fix lately. Seems like the DOS version is pretty decent and i have the whole trilogy in GOG. Now, making it work with a controller is another whole story.
That was a fantastic detailed video. Thanks for the huge effort Dark1x
As a kid I didn't get to play MK until the 3rd one so missed the whole thing about the SNES one here. The fact that it got all the way to a US congressional hearing is nuts.
Edit: The Arcade version looks so much better and it's not even funny.
As a kid I didn't get to play MK until the 3rd one so missed the whole thing about the SNES one here. The fact that it got all the way to a US congressional hearing is nuts.
Edit: The Arcade version looks so much better and it's not even funny.
He's an accomplished director too. He directed Rocket Man, Bohemian Rhapsody (at least finished it when Bryan Singer Bryan Singered), Sunshine on Leith, and now doing the third RDJ Sherlock Holmes.
I still think of him as the guy from GamesMaster, which makes it all very weird.
This was really cool! I never got super into Mortal Kombat (or fighting games in general), but it was a huge deal when I was a kid so I can't exactly deny its impact. This made for a fascinating watch.
I just have a vague memory as a child (like, five years old or so) of renting the first game on Genesis from Blockbuster and somehow getting into some attract mode where it played all the characters' fatalities, and it creeped me out to the point where I shut the game off and didn't play it for the rest of the rental period. I did have fun playing it before that, though!
I just have a vague memory as a child (like, five years old or so) of renting the first game on Genesis from Blockbuster and somehow getting into some attract mode where it played all the characters' fatalities, and it creeped me out to the point where I shut the game off and didn't play it for the rest of the rental period. I did have fun playing it before that, though!