Ah Mortal Kombat II... here we go.

Meu primeiro contato com a franquia foi o MK: Trilogy de PS1 seguido pelo incrível (pro meu eu de 7 anos) MK: Mythologies Sub-Zero, acredito que esse seja o motivo de eu ser tão fã do personagem, inclusive preciso pegar algum dia pra zerar essa pérola, já que eu só apanhavakk, então apesar do meu primeiro videogame ter sido o Mega Drive, eu não joguei nem vivenciei o auge desse jogo, já que nem era nascido ainda. A estética edgy e violenta é o que tornou a franquia famosa, e muito da memória afetiva vem da violência e do fato dele ser um sucesso nos arcades, seja jogando com os colegas ou só vendo o sangue jorrar na tela e ficando encantado. Muita gente tem a nostalgia e memória afetiva dos primeiros jogos da franquia baseados nisso, porque esse rapaz aqui no single-player... meu Jesus Cristo, é uma experiência pra dizer no mínimo.

O gameplay é extremamente datado e obviamente não flui bem, sendo bem travado, e hahaha é uma pena que o MK II tenha uma IA que prevê cada movimento seu. O bizarro é que as vezes ela simplesmente desliga, você acerta uns 3 golpes e acha que vai vencer o round e do nada ela vira, desviando e bloqueando de tudo com uma precisão e reflexos que só uma máquina poderia ter, mas assim que você aprende a lidar com ela na base da maldade... fica mais fácil. A luta com o Kintaro...ficou facil depois do cheese, Shao Kahn idem. Não é como se existissem combos e ainda contando com uma IA acertando e desviando de tudo com uma precisão pixel perfect, o que resta é abusar dela. Mesmo com esses contras, até que gostei mais do que esperava, as lutas do meio da torre pra frente viram literalmente um Dark Souls de luta, saber a hora de pular e acertar o chute forte com pulo e queijar a IA, ou congelar com o Sub-Zero quando ela não desviar de todos os seus projéteis. O bizarro é que mesmo no easy parece que a dificuldade é resetada passada algumas lutas, então no fim a dificuldade é redundante. Eu testei as versões de Mega Drive (a que zerei), SNES, Sega 32X e uma versão de PlayStation que só foi lançada no Japão da qual eu não sabia da existência, graficamente a de PS1 é melhor, mas tanto ela quanto a de SNES só oferecem 5 continues pro jogo todo, enquanto a do Mega é bem generosa com seus 30, e já que eu sou bem orgulhoso pra usar save states salvo casos extremos, zerei nela.

MK II é mais um fenômeno cultural do que um jogo bom em si, os cenários, personagens e trilha sonora são incríveis então vale a conferida, seja por curiosidade histórica ou pra zoar com os amigos.

El mejor de la era 2D
Encima era muy difícil, recién con una computadora y con un "save" pude terminarlo.
Tenía unas vibes muy oscuras

The best of the 2D era
On top of that it was very difficult, it was only with a computer and a "save" that I was able to finish it.
It had some very dark vibes.

Como nos demais jogos competitivos que eu tinha, apanhava demais pros meus primos mais velhos e nunca tinha absolutamente chance alguma de aprender o jogo porque tava sempre de próximo vendo eles jogarem e quando era minha vez eu só morria instantaneamente.

Ironicamente jogar contra a IA dessa merda é literalmente a mesma experiência. A IA mais injusta que já tive o desprazer de jogar contra. Ela comba você na primeira frame da luta, lê seus movimentos e sempre reage da melhor forma, constantemente para exatamente fora da sua range e executa os golpes que fecham o gap. Até engraçado ver que realmente não era eu ser criança o problema, o jogo só é extrema bullshit feito pra farmar moedas no arcade.

Eu ainda entendo porque tanta gente se apaixonou por ele e como x1 pode ser divertido, mas como alguém que não curte jogos de luta e o interesse principal é "modo história", esse jogo é uma das coisas mais nojentas que eu já toquei na vida.

Mortal Kombat II is an enhancement of the original MK in every way possible.

The characters are digitalized as in the first game, but they were all remade with new visuals, and finished with hand-drawn pixel art over them, giving them a more stylized look. Audio quality is also further improved, making MKII stand out much more than the previous title.

The gameplay is quite similar to the OG Mortal Kombat but slightly faster and more responsive. MKII doesn't shy away from combos like the previous game did, and there is a bit more fluidity to movement, although still retaining a simple and slower paced-gameplay.

The newly implemented characters are all super iconic, and Shang Tsung being playable and being able to actually morph into everyone is insane. The new stages are all beautiful, and the songs are memorable.

Overall, MKII is filled with new content and improved aspects that make this one twice as good as the first game.

Back when it originally released, the original Mortal Kombat was a smash hit, and was extremely successful for not just a new game, but for a new direct competitor for Street Fighter II. The game sold millions, with home versions selling over 6 million copies, and it not only managed to gain a massive fanbase worldwide, but was also a direct contributor to the creation of the ESRB rating system. Not many other games can claim to have changed the industry forever like that, and it was clear from this success that Mortal Kombat was gonna be not just a new mainstay for Midway, but also for the fighting genre as a whole. So, despite them originally planning on making a Star Wars game next, Ed Boon and John Tobias were then put to work on making a sequel almost immediately, and this next game was aiming to be bigger and better than the original in every way, making things even more bloody and fun. Thus, just one year after the first game, the world was then given a second helping of gore and violence with Mortal Kombat II.

Out of all the classic Mortal Kombat games, this is definitely the one I had heard about the most, not only being considered the best of the original trilogy, but also one of the best fighting games of all time. Just like with the original Mortal Kombat, I hadn’t really played too much of MKII before, only playing it in short bursts at barcades, but not really getting anywhere past that. So, I decided to finally tackle it properly, and yeah, I would say that the game definitely deserves the reputation it has. It is better than the original game in every way, being one of the best classic arcade fighters I have ever played, and while it does have its issues, none of that stopped me from having a bloody good time with it.

The story, on the surface, is pretty simple, with Shao Kahn, the true emperor of Outworld, sparing and deaging Shang Tsung while making a brand new fighting tournament to try to take over Earthrealm, and so Liu Kang, along with many other fighters, step up to the plate to try to take down Shao Kahn, with there also being plenty of other separate plot details accompanying it with each characters’ separate story, making the story a simple, yet enjoyable follow-up to the original game, the graphics are very similar to the original game, but it does look better then the first game, having much more detail given to the environments, characters, and fatalities that you can perform, the music is pretty good once again, having plenty of tracks that fit the environments very well, and it gets you pumped up to kick some more ass, the control is still somewhat stiff, but it does feel better to play when compared to the previous game, with more moves that you can pull off this time, and the gameplay takes what was introduced in the previous game, and is expanded upon more and more to make an undeniably superior sequel.

The game is a classic arcade fighting game, where you take control of one of five of the previous games combatants (along with Reptile and Shang Tsung, because why not), as well as five new challengers that would become mainstays in the Mortal Kombat series, take on another opponent in plenty of different stages with the feel of death permeating through them, throw out various punches, hits, and combos to your opponent to beat them down before they even knew what was coming, perform a brutal Fatality to prove that you are the superior fighter and a force to be reckoned with, and climb up the ladder of opponents until you are able to reach Shao Kahn himself. In many ways, a lot of what was introduced in the first game remains unchanged, but again, much like many great sequels, this game takes all of what was great about the original Mortal Kombat, refines many of its best elements, and adds plenty more to it.

If I were to describe this game in one simple sentence, I would just say it was Mortal Kombat but MORE. There are more characters, more stages, more moves you can pull off, more fatalities, more bosses to get your ass kicked by, and more secret characters that you can face off against if you know what you are doing. It may feature the same means of progression as the first game, but with many different characters to use and many different moves to pull off, there is a lot more to see and do in Mortal Kombat II. Not to mention, the game itself plays just as well as the original, if not better. The movement can still be a little stiff, and it definitely as smooth or fast as other fighters, but it does feel a lot more satisfying and quick to control, with plenty of violence to accompany the combat to add to that same feel of satisfaction, along with the sound effects adding a lot to it. I’m sure many of us who have played this game are quite familiar with the many screams and grunts that the characters will let out when they get hit, and even for those who haven’t played any Mortal Kombat game, you may be quite familiar with the phrase “GET OVER HERE!”, which is still one of the most famous video game lines to this day.

Of course, the fatalities are brought back in this game, and they are without a doubt a MASSIVE improvement over the original game. The original fatalities were still pretty good, but the ones we get in Mortal Kombat II are much better and bloodier, with some of my personal favorites being one where Kung Lao uses his hat to slice an opponent in half, showing broken ribs and all, and one where Liu Kang straight up turns into a MOTHERFUCKING DRAGON, and he then chomps off the top half of the opponent's body. How can you not love something like that? Not to mention, in this game, you could now perform multiple fatalities per character rather then just being limited to just one. For example, with Mileena, you can either use your sai to constantly stab through your opponent in one violent burst of fury, or you can take off your mask and suck up your opponent into your big-teethed mouth, only to then spit out their bones all onto the ground next to you. The choice is yours! And finally, there are more stage fatalities that you can perform as well, such as knocking your opponent into the pit of acid surrounding you in a level, knocking them into the spikes hanging on the ceiling in a level, or just knocking them off to where they slam on the ground far below you. They may be simple, but they are still satisfying to pull off.

But if you think that the Fatalities are all this game has to offer in terms of finishers, then you would be wrong! Two new different types of finishers were introduced in this game, which aren’t as violent as fatalities, but they are still just as fun to see and pull off. The first of these new finishers are the Babalities, where you turn your opponent into…. a baby. Yeah. Not exactly sure how this kind of finisher came into existence, but again, it is still one that is hilarious to pull off, and extremely satisfying, turning your opponent into a big ol’ crying baby, literally. In addition to this, there are now also Friendships, where instead of killing your opponent or turning them into a baby, you perform an act of friendship that is also funny and charming to see in action, such as with Shang Tsung creating a rainbow out of thin air to show how friendly and pro-equality he is, Baraka offering his opponent a gift rather then his blades of fury, and Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Reptile each advertising their own doll versions of themselves that you can now buy at your local Wal-Mart or Outworld store. They may be stupid, but they are incredibly enjoyable to see, and are some of my favorite finishers in any fighting game that I have ever seen.

Now, with all of that out of the way, I can’t pretend that Mortal Kombat II is a perfect sequel, even though it is very close to being so. Once again, just like with the original game, this game has a severe case of fighting game syndrome, where many of the opponents you will face will be incredibly overpowered compared to you, and will make sure to kick your ass all around the arena and leave you as a bloody corpse at any chance they get. Of course, it is still doable, but you are gonna need to bring your A-game if you wanna even stand a chance against these opponents. In addition, while I do love a lot of the fatalities that are present in this game, a lot of them do feel repetitive when you compare them all. A lot of them either involve you either slicing or punching someone’s head off, and slicing or chomping their body in half. I may be a simple man who claps when limbs go flying and blood goes pitter patter, but I also would like a touch more variety in these fatalities, or at least, a little more then what we already got in this game. Then again, those things I previously mentioned are merely just minor complaints, as this is still a pretty solid follow-up all around.

Overall, despite a somewhat repetitive nature with some fatalities and fighting game syndrome still very much being a thing, Mortal Kombat II is a fantastic follow-up to its bloody predecessor, and one of the best classic arcade fighting games that I have ever played. It is clear why many regard this to be the best of the original MK games, and it will definitely be one I come back to if I am in the mood to beat someone’s face in for a half-hour. I would definitely recommend it for those who are big Mortal Kombat fans, as well as those who are fans of fighting games in general, because while it may not be as content-packed or creative as future installments, it still provides a great, bloody spectacle that will provide fun for plenty of time, and that’s all that matters at the end of the day. Man, now that I have gotten through this game, I can’t wait until we get to Mortal Kombat 3! I’m sure that game will be even better than this one, and have plenty of new stuff to introduce to the series as well…………. Right?

Game #431