It was a new level of fantasy in terms of fighting games, something unique, still not explored with perfection. The success was so much that it managed to shake the reign of Street Fighter II, at the time, like preference of the fighting gamers. In Brazil we had a real "pandemonium" of people goin' on Arcade Centers and in the weekends were almost unbearable to play due the exorbitant waiting time (if Mr.Manoel, owner of the old pinball in front of the extinct Cine Madureira, in Rio, could give an interview now He would confirm!). In certain game houses there were even password tickets To play it!

Outside the weekends, at 9:30 in the morning, there was a lot of dudes at the door of the Arcade Center. There they are: Full of that cents from the school lunch, planning with which character to play first. Around these guys, the "addicteds", surfaced rumors about secret characters and discussions about which is the best character. Every day it was something like this:

- "That guy called the Green Ninja 3 times yesterday!"

- "Dude, stop lying!"

- "Did You know that We can fight against that Skull, hanging on the wall, in Goro stage?"

- "Nonsense!"

- "Sub-Zero's ice ball! it's over!"

- "Are You nuts? Scorpion appears from behind and has that 'get over here' thing!"

- "I do not like Scorpion, it's very difficult to play with him..."

- "You weakling!"

It was classic to see a lot around a MK1 Arcade Machine to watch some matches of the most addicted guys or waiting to play against them since freeplay were something rare: Either you played Versus or would wait to play alone, but this last option were near impossible! Among these people there was a few ones we could call "Pro Player", these guys, whose ability allowed them to beat the game even with Liu Kang (this is because in MK1 Mr.Kang it's not that "1.000 Wonders" to go against CPU).

Still, We have to mention, that to see MK1 "Pro Players" goin' through the whole Arcade mode were as much appreciated as watching Brazil footbal Team in 1994 World Cup: If them took a blow from Goro, people started to complain, wanting to beat the owner of the Arcade Center (poor Mr.Manoel...), arguing that the difficulty were too high that even The "Pro" couldn't beat the CPU.

And yes: Every round lost, while playing in the endurance, We had that same "gamers with torches" fiercely saying CPU were absurdly cheap and even threatening to boycott the place if the Arcade Owner refuse to tell his technician to drop down the difficulty level of the machine... You get it right: In Brazil these guys served as a parameter to download difficulty and it worked brilliantly!

But time were passing, MK was consolidated and people started to wonder: "Dear lord, when are we going to be able to play this at home?!". Although the answer on the streets were almost the same and pessimistic, with people saying "Impossible! The game is almost real, no video game does that!", in 1993 Mortal Kombat received his port to Sega Genesis and several other systems. It was a real "boom" of conversions for home consoles that Year!

But it was not "just a release": The whole marketing, at the time, came heavy! If the memory of some people do not fail they'll remember that there was a commercial called "Mortal Monday", which the Open TV channels from Brazil banned from here because the "moralist" press falling on the game since its release. Not only in Brazil: A lot of other countries, like Germany and Korea (as always) banned MK.

Even so... We had magazines and magazines doing a free MK merchandising! It was sensational the "Superstar Level" that the game had reached. Oh, good 90's...

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IT WAS NOT A PRIVILEGE, IT WAS A GIFT!

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With so many versions, for many home and portable consoles, comparisons were inevitable since the possibility of an console of that era coming close to an Arcade Perfect version of MK were extremely remote. In any case, each had its own merits.

Sega Genesis were not accessible to everyone in those days of the '90s here in Brazil, yet, ignoring this, Sega's console version of MK1 has sold more times around here as well and WELL MORE than that of its direct competitor (SNES). Genesis game had a Trump Card on its sleeve: The presence of blood!

Due to Nintendo's "faggotry acts" in SNES, as everybody in gaming world knows, there was no Blood! instead of it all SNES users had some strange sweaty splashes coming out the characters faces once a uppercut were done (or a punch hit). MK without blood it's like Final Fantasy VII without Cloud & Sephiroth, very bad!

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BLOOD, DECAPITATIONS & INCINERATIONS ... FLAWLESS?

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Free violence in video games are something really fun and extremely relaxing, however... Some adaptations had to be maded and caused some significant losses, the same way, for home consoles.

So: Only the specialized magazines paided attention to bugs and gave a real value to the attempt to adapt the game. Only them were able to say if it were or not decent and worth buy (when I mention "specialized magazines" I'm saying Game Pro and up, because the other magazines of the time never maded decent reviews about the game here in Brazil...)

-"Why they would do a decent review anyway? My God, this damn Genesis game is a crap!"

No, the Sega Genesis game are not "unplayable" not really! He is very good for its time, for sure! But... To the "more fanatical eyes" of the franchise certain things did not gone unnoticed. And here's the main question: Have You ever played this MK version? If You answer was "Yes" You probably remember all the "sinister things" that Mortal Kombat on Sega Genesis had! If Your answer was "No", well, do not worry: Let's see some things that culminate in huge flaws of Sega Genesis MK and also iconic bugs of the version:

Hey, keep calm: It's not over yet! Let us ask for a moment of your attention (We're not going to knock on your door, relax!) to talk about the game sound! Yes, We need to talk about Shang Tsung and his Voice which, somehow, is... Pretty quiet in this Sega Genesis conversion.

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SONG TRACK: A "FATAL HARAKIRI":

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Yeah, the Soundtrack to Genesis version of MK is good, but at the same time worthy of great rebuke! Well it were, at least, until the release of Revision 01 of the cartridge... We'll get there, but for now let's talk about the original game release first, the one everybody used to rent back in 90's. Ok, yes, all songs are more "upbeat" and much better (yes they are!) than those of the SNES in great part, but some soundtracks are absent!

One example is the one of "Palace Gates" and another one are the music from "Goro's Lair". By the way: Where's the announcer's voice? No "Scorpion Wins!" and neither the sarcastic laugh of the Shang when your life bar arrives the near death (Danger Zone). No "Fatality!" pronounced too and after incinerating some character without lose a single life percentage You got no "Flawless Victory!" coming from Shang's mouth.

Various other sound effects, that existed as well, such as the screaming by falling from the Bridge to the Pit Bottom, Sonya's screams, the sound of Shang Tsung's flaming skulls, Goro's roars, the screams of the characters before hitting objects in the "Test Your Might" mini-game... All absent! To finish this paragraph: Male characters, all of them, just yell "Uhr!" and Sonya just shouts "Ohr!" (TWO FUCKIN 'SOUNDS ONLY!).

In Arcade and other consoles there was the iconic "dramatic sound" just before the character lost his head or before they are cremated (the classic fatality sound), but... What happens here is that such "dramatization sound" does not exist! The worst is: It's a classic item of the franchise! C'mon Man, really? it's an affront to have it off!

During the Fatality the song keeps rolling and then... It's over and done! Goofy man! Too bad! To close this music business: There's no specific song for the Versus Screen as well. As in the Fatality time the sound here keep going straight, from the character select to the start of the fight.

I will leave, below here, the playlist with songs of the game. There are even some songs without use which could have been cut for a greater good in the first few cartridges revisions.

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BUT WAIT! WE CAN BETTER!

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Although possessing great losses in relation to the SNES and Arcades... It was nothing: When the game was released it quickly took the shelves of our missing video rental stores and absolutely NOBODY gave a damn, LITERALLY, that they disappeared with the sound of the uppercut hit, if the iconic song for the Fatality time was not there, if certain blows failed, my brother: People didn't care and didn't wanted to know nothing of this! A thing that in part are in absent in the new generation of gamers: The "Gamer Feeling" itself.

The hunger to rent the cartridge was fed only by the feeling of satisfaction to being able to give a Fatality in the comfort of their homes and that was all. However, trying to fix the bugs of the game and some other "baddies", Probe and Arena did a review of it and a version 1.0 was released. Little by little it took the market to the detriment of the previous one.

The fact is that there was no difference between the revision of the cartridges to be explained in the package / box fo them. Of course it was the 90's and beside that, cartridge recall were not viable at all. The word, to resume, was "Let's stay in discipline and fix some things on the sly" And... They corrected for sure the content!

Do you have the cartridge? How to know if your version is "good", the 1.0 one? Well... Some "MK Geeks", in the United States, say the improved version is the one that have a golden quality stamp on the cartridge. Here in Brazil such a thing is non existent since all the cartridges tend to be the standard Tec Toy box (Tec Toy used to distribute all Sega games in Brazil), the one that takes the red stripe of the left side, the silver name "Mega Drive" on it and the photo of the game. So, uh... It's a matter of luck!

These attempts to improve the game are commendable and earn points, yes, considering that these things We only came to see nowadays with patches, DLC's and derivatives. Still, it is VERY likely that such act would only have occurred because of the immense sales of the product and the success it had, otherwise it would be "leave that shit right there as it is!"

Speaking of uppercuts, considering what the picture above shows: They put the SFX of hit back on it! After a upper, before, the screen just trembled when an upper get his destiny. Oh yes, one thing to note, still in relation to the uppercut: In this version, 1.0, every time you give a clear uppercut You'll hear Shang says "Excellent!". Very cool addiction, but We must remember that this, in the Arcade was random, but point to Probe and Arena guys anyway!

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AH CARA ... WHY SHOULD I PLAY?

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-"What ?! It can not be!"

Vegita, from Dragon Ball Z, would say this if You were reading this question above (yes, I like DBZ...). So that means it's absurd You have not played the Genesis version of MK in your emulator! Well... It's rally oldie game and can be played in his current M.A.M.E.emulation, Arcade Perfect, so... Why are You going to play the Genesis's game instead? Because if you play the M.A.M.E. You will lose all the "fun factor" that only the Genesis version have!

-"Okay, convince me to at least take a look, since you say I'm going to have some kind of fun with what you call 'a game'..."

Very well! I'll list a few things that are "insane" and you should check by yourself while playing in the peace and quiet of your genesis emulator. Only on Mega Drive You'll be able to:

Okay, You may not even be dying of excitement to play for now, but You how about curious? Come on, I know you are... Don't lie! Mainly on the part of Noob Saibot, heheh! Don't You want to know what the hell is that "Trembling Head" or the "Devil Sonya" Huh? Huh? Well fif You do not want to play, but still want to see some of these things watch our gameplay that features a supreme demonstration of all fatalities and the fight against "Devil Sonya".

To finish and important to say: This game is from the 90's, to a 16-bit console without many of its original features in some points. Do not try to disqualify the game by comparing it with the ones We can currently see nowadays on PS3, PS4, XBox 360 or One. Remember: What's in the past can only be compared to things of the same era and level!

For the nostalgics, it's a game that have a lot of value and that marked a generation. It's worth of stopping for at least 10 minutes, with your cartridge or emulator, to remember that even with all the hardware limitations the Sega Genesis did what it could do (and made it pretty good). Of course: Later We would welcome other titles from the MK series very, very, very well worked out, yes! But only because the trigger and the shot was accurate with this first one. It deserves to be respected for his enormous contribution to the console, So... Point to Sega and his Sega Genesis!