Most MK fans hate this one because it's accessible.

The gameplay is almost the same as previous games, but with actual AI that doesn't read your inputs and a few cool gimmicks, like picking up and throwing items or pulling out a weapon. But unlike the previous games, you can actually play this one without having to memorize all the moves and getting triggered when they don't work.

It does have less content than its predecessors and the presentation definitely took a dive, but that was pretty common for franchises transitioning into 3D. I think it's more important that it managed to not only retain, but improve its core gameplay. Plus, it's really cool to see some of the old arenas remastered in 3D.

In addition, there's now a proper practice mode and each character has a sort of story with a cutscene finale, so there's a motivation to play through all of them.

I think this was a solid entry for the time. Personally, I don't remember anyone complaining about it back in the day. Everyone thought it was really cool to play MK in 3D. You could often find people playing it in Playstation clubs, and we got a PC version at some point and played hot-seat with friends and relatives. Didn't even know this game was hated until I got internet.

Otro título de la reconocida saga de peleas llega a la N64 para llenarla de sangre y fatalities. A grandes rasgos MK4 es un juego entretenido que logra su cometido aún con las limitantes de control de la consola de Nintendo. No hay muchas novedades en cuanto a sus predecesores salvo el hecho que fue el primer título de la franquicia en incorporar modelados 3D para sus personajes y la posibilidad de utilizar armas en combate lo que agregó ciertas características únicas, aunque no tan innovadoras. Por todo lo demás es un juego que se disfruta mucho más en su versión original de Arcade, aunque sus ports como el de N64 también pueden ser disfrutados por aquellas personas que aprecien los buenos juegos de peleas de antaño.

Un desastre, y eso que lo jugué un montón.
El cambio a la era 3D por lo menos en la generación PS1, PS2 no fue muy positivo.

A disaster, and I played it a lot.
The change to the 3D era at least in the PS1, PS2 generation was not very positive.

Mortal Kombat 4 was probably the most carefully watched game in the series due to abandoning the 2D root and going for 3D. No one knew what was going to happen to the series, and a lot of fans lost hope thinking the silky smooth controls, and excellent digitized graphics would go by the wayside in 3D. However, the game featured excellent visuals (for the time) and the silky smooth controls stayed despite some slippery and awkward animations. The fourth game also introduced some new characters who I thought were some of the weakest in the series. So despite the weaker roster, we got some pretty good Fatalities, and excellent stages to fight in.



The new characters like Kai, Jarek, Fujin (a weak attempt at making another Raiden), and Tanya were pretty “blah”. They didn’t have that impact that the classic characters did, but some returned like Scorpion and Sub-Zero, Sonya, and Johnny Cage came back for the first time since MK2. The run button and combos were carried over into 3D which were smooth as well as a first stab at moving in a 3D environment. You would hit a button to kind of strafe to the side to avoid attacks and this added a whole new level of strategy. Weapons were introduced in free form now and every character had one. Get hit though and you lose the weapon until you can pick it back up.


The fatalities were extremely brutal and some of the best the series has seen and looked even better in 3D. This leads to a new level of detail and creativity that can’t be done in 2D. This was also the slow departure from other “-alities” and the series stuck with just Fatalities. A new boss was introduced as Shinnok and Goro returned as the mini-boss. The game carries over a lot of elements that make it still feel classic but then injects some new stuff as well. I really felt the game was well balanced and was exactly what the first MK in 3D should be. Overall MK4 is a classic and did an amazing job of transferring over to 3D which was very difficult. This, of course, paved a path for all future MK games, but we can always look back on MK4 as the child.

This was the first Mortal Kombat I owned so there's obviously nostalgia going on. I love the fully rendered endings Tekken style.

I think that if it had come out fully developed from the beginning (And including all the characters and stages from Gold) it could have been very succesful, but sadly it was a mess on launch. Reptile's main costume sucks and he was my favourite.

I would have died to know the secret codes as a kid. I never knew about the alternative costumes (Especially Reptile's), and being able to play as "Meat," Noob and Goro.