It was really complicated for a Arcade / Bar owner to invest in MKII in the freshness of its launch since the rumors about the game put away players most than bringing them to spent their cents in it. Every guy, after buying a credit and start the Single Player, road to the title of "Supreme Champion of Mortal Kombat II", had a great chance of being frustrated more than having fun. Because? Well... Ending the game without get upset was just for "Pro" players and the most "Professional" guys.

Unlike MK1 You had to have (and still must have!) an "ability "Level Sonic Fox 5000" (the new legendary MK player and undefeated champion of Mortal Kombat X tournaments) or be more "miserable" than the scrotal CPU which is in MKII since You had to know how to use the CPU's ridiculous habits to counter it! This is no exaggeration, seriously: MKII is not for a casual player to finish in a good way. Mental health in fine condition and decent reflexes with fighting games are more than needed skills to beat the game or try to!

If You have not played MK2 at NO TIME OF YOUR LIFE stop reading here! Download an Arcade emulator and play in the normal difficulty mode, you do not have to be in the Hard setings... After half an hour playing, come back and continue reading...

For those who know what the MK2 difficulty is all about... You know, CPU works style "Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories "(of the Playstation One) guessing absolutely everything in a way that it seems to always have a "Card In The Sleeve", at the right time, without mistake and without mercy against You!

So: CPU jumps when You jump and, before You hit, beats you in the air! It sweeps flawlessly all Your high blows and after the 4th fighter defeated in the tower... The "Uppercut Counter Show" starts to happen (in a divine way!) since 70% of Your jumping kicks (even "safe") will be deflected with a good upper delivered in the character foot with no fail! Not to mention the fact that CPU tends to ignore hit boxes, of all attacks, and grabs You even if the character You're using are unleashing a fierce sequence of punches!

More? It do Fatalities at lightning speed, Friendships & Babalities even after blocking the whole round, Fatalities that do not exist in the game (YES!) as the classic "Vacuum Uppercut" and combos with transformations with a "PRECISION LEVEL KRATOS" when (and IF YOU arrive) fighting VS Shang Tsung. If You were up to defeat Shang the fight against Kintaro... Let's not talk about it and avoid depression post review.

However, as a popular saying goes, "there are evils that come to good" and indifferent to all this frustration that was the MKII Single Player, Multiplayer mode came to be used with great force, focus and faith by the players. For these and other things that this version of MK was the second holy grail of versus mode in the history of the franchise: There was no way to have decent fun in the Single Player mode and this led all 90's guys to play among themselves as if there's no tomorrow.

What We did not had in MK1 We had in the MKII, in terms of versus, with all the speed the game gained. The said to be one of the "problems" that drove away users (as seen before, in the vision of those who repaired the machines) became something loved for having led to the elaboration of the famous fast and damaging kombos!

Take note on this one from Jhonny: Jump with kick, Split Punch, High Kick (to throw the foe up) and Shadow Kick! Yeah, that's awesome! After done the first combo people did not wanted to stop learning more destructive sequences.

Jax and his jump kick followed by "Gotcha!" in the air born in MKII, Kung Lao and his "infinite spin" with Teleport, causing the opponent to "bounce" from one side to other til' the end of its Lifebar, Scorpion and the Teleport Punch after the jump kick and "get over here" follow by uppercut... Man the basic and the good kombos, all of them, were all consolidated in this version, no doubt! And, of course, the "Master Certificate of Mortal Addict II": To do kombos with Shang Tsung using metamorphosis! You think You're good with Sub Zero? You know nothing innocent!

All this "Versus Feeling" made the joy of the Arcade Owners who ventured, bet and caught the MK2 fever in the beginning. It was beauty! MK2 made by the owners of Arcade Centers and Bars what only The King Of Fighters '95 would repeat: It filled their pockets in a very, very strong way with the money of all the class skippers (including mine! Hehehehe!)

All of this fever could be seen on Genesis / Mega Drive in 1994, a year after its release in Arcades in 1993. One of the most played games of that year (and a catalyst for real fights between users who wanted to rent it at weekends). The cartridge and those who wanted to play it in the rental stores for only 10 minutes... But it was never only 10 minutes! Oh Lord, how nostalgic... Hey, Who remembers that EGM with Mileena, Kitana, Baraka, Shang Tsung and Kintaro on the cover? Damn, good times...

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

GREAT FUN IN A HONORABLE KONVERTION:

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

If you were between 7 and 14-16 years old in 1994 and owner of a Sega Genesis with MKII, your childhood was absolutely happy (don't You dare to say "no"). Sega's MKII had a lot that the direct and eternal 16-bit rival (Super Nintendo) did not had! Let's see:

# 1 - The speed was bigger, much bigger! The speed was even faster than in Arcade!

# 2 - The gameplay was less harsh, endless fluidity!

# 3 - The characters were bigger ... Soooo larger!

# 4 - The original HUD was respected: Characters names are "inside" the lifebar and not "over" it, as in the previous conversion, or "under" it and outside as in the SNES. The attempt to maintain originality was a bless!

# 5 - A new Finisher mode: "Fergality" (it's kind of a friendship and only Rayden has, but putz ... It's too funny!).

# 6 - It had the "Blue Portal", exclusive and original of this version, and later reincarnated in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.

# 7 - The banging sounds were less fanciful and more suited to a fighting game (Please!) Every time that You applied a band with a character in the SNES, the blow made a sound similar to that of an anime dash Along with the character exclaiming a weird "chuá!" ... Dude! Very strange, in the moral ...)

# 8 - The difficulty was the IDENTICAL copy of the A.I. escrota Arcadee who was "Pro Player" had nothing to complain about: The game was not for any papaya with pear to finish! Needless to say, with Shang Tsung, Reptile and Liu Kang on SNES, right? Even in Hard, I could finish the game with 3 continues, already in Mega ...

# 9 - The fall of an opponent from above the bridge (in the scenario "The Pit II") does not have loading time or as some say "dramatization" and it's all "in the bush." SNES: Come the ♪ "Tã-dã-dã!" ♫ from the hour of Fatality, You give the hook, the rival falls and the screen turns black ... 1 second later the screen comes back, with the character giving the same redundant cry , In the fall animation, hit the ground and another 1 second loading to finish with "so and so wins!". Face! It's a SNES, holy God! Why did they do that ?!

# 10 - Six Button Control ... And no more talk about it! No arguments: The six-button Mega Drive Joystick was the craze of fighting games, perfection!

W could cite 20 more reasons why the Genesis version, in fun and gameplay is infinitely superior to that of SNES. The content of the work can not be partially analyzed only, but the whole content of the work gives a marvelous bath!

You should be wondering if someone are payin' me to say what I'm saying, no, I just played the two, I have both and I say what I saw and I can see. Anyway there are things that could have been better, things that were good, things that were missing, were removed... So, let's talk about everything in a way that we'll not be impartial!

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

KOMBATE GRAPHICALLY LIMITED:

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Oh yea babe! Yea, I know you were waiting for this! Let's talk about the graphics! And now You must be thinking "I want to see if this sh!##y dude will lie sayin' the graph is top!", calm down young one... No the graph is not "Top" in this version.

And yes: The SNES version is graphically better than the Mega Drive. There is no way to deny that Sega version got into debt with this aspect. For example: In the "Dead Pool" the chains, originally hanging on it, are just one type repeated one or three times around the stage, but in the SNES there are more variations, as in the Arcade, so: SNES wins.

In the same stage, the Dead Pool, the simulation of the green liquid reflection does not exist in Genesis! The reflection "traces" exists "in the water" but do not have any movement. In the SNES one or other moves and in the Arcade... No comments needed: SNES wins again!

In the stage "The Tomb" there are several Dragons, in the Arcade version, that are flying in the background and they appear in the SNES version, only two but there they are... In the Genesis version these Dragons went out to the "Onaga's Holiday Colony" and disappeared being INEXISTENT in the Sega's 16 bit console.

Also missing in Genesis's MK2 are the "Floating Monk" in the center of the "The Tower" stage, but at least He (actually "They") exists in the "Portal" Stage. The same for the clouds in the "Khan's Arena" Stage: Also do not exist... Oh, yes, almost forgot to say: The color number of ALL Stages are noticeably smaller in Sega Genesis because the 9-bit color palette VS the 15 Bits CP from the SNES. The characters, although larger and more "Arcade Serious Feeling" than the other home conversions of the same time, suffered with the conditions and limitations of Genesis Hardware...

To getting started in this frame cut vibe: Baraka, for example, does not make his Win Pose completely and stays with his arms down without crossing the blades in front of his chest. It seems that He made a Pact with the "Orochi Hellbeast" and went to the "Iori's Way Of Life".

This same frame cut is also seen in Johnny Cage's Win Pose which, after the "kiss to the fans", He reamains with his arms opened to the air in a pose that resembles a fervent and devout christian inside a Church shouting "Hallelujah brother! Oh glory!". By the way: He really seems to do it...

This "animation cut program" are extend through other segments of the game like the lake animation that does not have the reflection of the moving water (being redundant, but to mark!) or the HUD / Bar of Life of the game that despite respect the original layout it is much simpler and does not have the outlines in high relief of Its rival SNES. Without mentioning that the fonts (letters and numbers) used in this adaptation are EQUAL those of the previous MK1 conversion! Type like: "Copy & Paste". (Deep breath) As things just keeps getting better and better, always, the most noticeable vibes about the port limitation have a Top 5 that are:

# 1 - The absence of the introduction telling the story after the victory of Liu Kang in MK1 and the Shao Khan intro in the Mortal Kombat universe.

# 2 - The absence of character biographies between the fight demos when You leave the game at Idle State.

# 3 - The absence of the Versus Screen in two player mode.

# 4 - The absence of the "Goro's Lair" stage, where You face Jade, Smoke and Noob Saibot: It was completely removed from the game and replaced by the "Blue Portal" which, although considered an "exclusive feature", is nothing more than the Common Portal Stage with a Blue Palette Exchange.

# 5 - The absence of the "Endings", the classic "Final Screens" of the characters with pictures showing what happened to that fighter after the tournament in the story of the game. This was replaced by letters only (such those we watch in the ending of any movie credits) slowly climbing the screen, telling what happened after Shao Khan's defeat. This is really the worst part...

This number 5, at first, You even think that You have to finish at the most difficulty level to see the same scenes of the Arcade (of course!) and SNES, but... Even beating the game on Very Hard / Expert the ending are the same! Absolutely sad! The replay factor in Single Player is as frigid as Piccolo Dai Maoh's sense of humor.

The impression We have with this Genesis conversion is that it was "rushed" and did not had the proper time to reach a real good level of quality before they release the product to more satisfaction for the final consumer. If the game really demanded much of the harware to be "great" and the Genesis could not offer this power at that time... Til' today only the old employees from Probe can answer this question.

The interesting thing is that other "heavyweight games", also released on the same year, had conversions above the excellence for the Sega Genesis such as the EXCELLENT Konami's "Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist" (port of the Arcade Game "Turntles In Time"): It had bigger stages, more vibrant colors and MORE FRAMES (how could it be?!) than in the SNES.

Not to mention the awesome "Street Fighter 2' - Special Champion Edition" in 1993: At that time, considering what Genesis could do, the only port flaw was the soundtrack since everything was great in all the cartridge content! Mainly by including the classic opening from the Arcade! Let me tell you this: You know that this opening of Genesis's Street 2 is absolutely non-existent in ALL VERSIONS of SNES right? The rumours are true: "Sega Does What Nintendon't".

Well.. Despite having great graphic loss in in all game items, smaller color palette, reusage of MK1 fonts and frame cut in the characters, in a context of REAL value the graphic from this MK2 port is an "ok" item: Deceives the eyes... But does not convince them!

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

KUTTING THE SOUND IN 3, 2, 1 ... ACTION!

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Let's talk about that, that thing your ears receive and can make you happy and sad at the same time: The sound of this MK2 port to Sega Genesis. Yeah... Dude... We already know that Genesis is not the best console when We're talking about sound effects.

Although there were "Legends Of The Sound" (Yuzo Koshiro with Streets Of Rage & Shinobi, Masato Nakamura on Sonic, especially the wonderful music of Aquatic Ruin Zone, Katsuhiro Hayashi & Koichi Namiki with Super Hang On, After Burner, Out Run... ) Probe's crew seemed to be unaware of this wonderful legacy that exists on the Sega console.

To start with: There were Soundtrack Cut here too, Man: Soundtrack Cuts! Again?! As everyone knows every stage in MK2 has its respective soundtrack but this does not occur in the Genesis. The music from "The Portal" and "Tomb" are THE SAME, and that's just an example! They spent Memory RAM on songs that were not even used in the game, but they exist in it! Soooo handy, for sure...

Okay, fact: The songs in this port are more audible, clean and less "muffled" than the SNES, yes they are, besides being more "upbeat" and not mono channel, beautiful! BUT they seem to have used the Genesis's Sound Synthesizer with no effort in getting the best out of it. The result? An unnecessary shame! Few songs save. Please, have ears and you'll realize that in fact only Three songs were really well composed to this port: The one from "Wastelands", the one for the "Forest" and the one for the "Dead Pool". The other songs did not have the same good arrangements (no, they don't!) and were not as good as those mentioned.

As unexplained as the sloppiness with background music is the absence of the MK's classic sound effects: Rayden's insane scream during his Flying Torpedo (back, back, foward), Reptile's "Hmmm" after swallowing opponent's head in his Fatality, the kissing sound of Kitana's kiss of death Fatality... Everything is gone!

And speaking on Fatalities... We do not have (again!) the voice of the announcer (Shao Khan) in 80% of the game. From the name of the characters to the "Flawless Victory" We have nothing to hear. "Fatality", "Friendship" or "Babality" for what? No need! Everything was changed by strange and creepy sounds. "Sub Zero Wins!" Hahah! Will never be on Genesis's MK2, never!

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

THE GAMEPLAY THAT A PORT DESERVES:

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Ooooookaaay! Now We'll see! Little boys and little friends: We have to put our hands to the air and say "amen, cheer and be happy because the gameplay of this MK2 port is great! The combat is more "fast paced" than the Arcade game (believe: it is!) and that's pretty good by the way. Interestingly, the commands are also easier to do, being similar to the "Easy Move Inputs" method of some SNK games (such as The King Of Fighters '97).

A good example of where the input of the moves is best is when We make a ↓ ↘ → + LP (Hadouken Ryu!): Actually we do not have to make the whole move! Just do ↘ + LP and the attack will be dealt as if you had made the full move. Characters such as Baraka and Jax, who were previously less favored in a "Projectile War", due to their "Circle Motion", are now hand in hand against even Shang Tsung and his sinister Skull Fire Balls!

Another good thing about the gameplay is that the physical attacks, when they hit, have a good feeling of damage and "weight", very good, they're not a "splash" with slowdown, as in SNES, no! Each hit it's well applied without drama and the knockdowns are equally fast and strong!

This dynamic vibe in all fights gives a much more serious and aggressive feel to the game being very welcome and is certainly the strongest point of the Genesis version. Undeniably the port is in "turbo mode" being even a improvement in relation to the Arcade (who would say huh?) In regards to the speed with which the game goes on of course...

It's also possible to play with either the classic 3-button or the 6-button control. Here in Brazil, for those who had Genesis's MK2 with a 3-button control, the phrase of order was: "At every fatality a bubble on the finger". Reason? The 6-button joysticks in 1994 were equivalent to the price of a Dual Shock 4 today in 2016 and without them, at that time, You had to be "Zika" (a word from the Slums in Brazil to something / someone that people there considers "Pretty Good" / "Awesome") to play MK2 on Mega Drive!

Because? In a 3-button Joystick to do a HP (High Punch) you need to press forward or back + punch button and the same to a HK (High Kick). Are you aware of the level of juggling that is needed, for example, to pull a Fatality with Sub-Zero? Considering that you need to press directional + button, to perform a specific basic attack, oh boy, You have no idea...

Except for the "Challenge" that was to play with a three button Joystick the six buttons was the best existing experience at the time in terms of control and everything for the home ports of MK2: It was sure perfection to play this game with the 6 Pad! Punches to the left, block in the center and kicks to the right, nothing better!

The directional, God... It was SEN-SA-TI-ONAL! All with the Plus of the "Easy Move" there were no competition at the same time on another console that would even scratch the MK2 magnificence when it comes to playing with that Joystick in the Genesis port.

A curiosity: You can control the characters of the game through the "Activator" accessory. This accessory was like a "Kinect" or "PS4 Camera" of the time. Genesis's MK2 has been optimized for this accessory and the experience is, well... Funny! Yes, because an ordinary user, when trying the activator thing, does not even get the character out of the place! Hahahahah! Oh boy... The Activator was indeed a good idea, even front of its time, but realistically it's too complicated to use. Anyway, it works in the game so, at least, it's interesting try to perform "The Scorpion's Show: Live At Your House".

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

FINISH HIM!

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

This game can make a Sega fan to hate and love, both, the Sega Genesis more. It's something that revolts and at the same time has the power to make You catch Yourself saying "Hey, it's cool" You know?

Yes, of course: It's TOTALLY unacceptable the sloppiness with the graphic part of the game, the numerous animation cuts and features "must have" from the original game that are absent. As well as the big emptiness in the SFX part of the game, yes, undeniably yes... But even limited, the port can keep up with its own features and, why not say, "exclusives" within' so many losses compared to its competitor SNES.

Recapping the top points: We have the Blue Portal, Easy Moves, Dan Forden's Toasty! Variation and Fergality (activated after Cheat of course), the biggest Sprites of the same era and a much, much faster gameplay, more than the original Arcade game. In the big scheme of things the bet with this port was more about fun with the Versus Mode than anything else it might turn out to be.

True lovers of fighting games, who always had the "feel" of a game of this segment and lived the era, felt very comfortable playing the Sega Genesis's MK2 for the combat that it offered with faster and ferocious dynamics in counterpart of the slow paced fight but graphically more beautiful vision of this game in SNES.

So it's like this: It's not a port for everyone to play! Currently, if it were to be indicated, it is wise to say that 90% of people will prefer the SNES Version given the explosion of "Graphic Whores" among the current video game players (Graphic = Content).

If You are part of this generation, that cannot get rid of a beautiful graphic in favor of more refined gameplay in a fighting game, then do not even come close to this conversion! It will not be good, it will not be cool, it will not even be interesting. You will not be able to see the good qualities that exists amid the losses of the port mainly due to the notorious fact that this game IS NOT INDICATED FOR SINGLE PLAY! To Call a brother / sister / friend to play with You is the real thing here.

Now... If You DO understand that at that time having "two controls and a ring partner" was the best thing that existed, that graphic never was (and never will be) 100% guarantee of fun in a fighting game and a sharp gameplay really decides Who's good and Who's all talk... Go for broke with the Genesis's MK2, because it will make Your life be a lot happier!

On time: Do not think, never, that this game was a sales failure (FLOP) because of its limitations, no sir, do not embark on this fallacy of these fanatics and sensationalist gamers (if I can call them "gamers"). This was one of the best-selling games in Genesis history! In the United States: It sold almost Two Million copies of the cartridge, surpassing the beloved SNES that sold 1.51 million (You do not have to go far to find the sources of this information, Wikipedia that has more than enough base).

One more, and last, thing: Sega Genesis's MK2 is the fifth on this console's best-selling list of games throughout its lifecycle. In the end, Brothers and Sisters, play it for pure fun and leave the visual enjoyment for the Super Nintendo, this version is for those who like a good fight in a limitless Versus Mode with everything that a Mortal Kombat is with its essence of fighting game!