Mortal Kombat 3 (Sega Genesis)

1995 could be considered the peak of Mortal Kombat's popularity. After the runaway success of both Mortal Kombat games, a third game was definitely in the works. Not only that, but the franchise saw success outside of the arcade and home gaming worlds, as it would see a feature film in August of that year. Directed by Paul W.S Anderson, it did a great job staying true to the original game's story, and proved what Super Mario Bros and Street Fighter couldn't, that there was a market for video game movies. Mortal Kombat: The Movie made over 122 million dollars at the box office, over 100 million more than it's 18 million dollar budget.

Back in the video game side of things, Mortal Kombat 3's release was a big deal for its time. In fact, it got a massive amount of hype thanks to a strong marketing campaign. So strong in fact that it has a Guinness World Record for it). It hit arcades in April of 1995, and it wouldn't take too long for home console ports to once again come out on almost every major console at the time in October of that year. Including the first big MK release for the Sony Playstation.

However this time around, the once strong bond between Acclaim and Midway was no longer there. It's unclear if it was Midway wanting to branch out from Acclaim, or Acclaim's actions in poor developers like Probe led to the parting of ways, but for the releases of MK3, they were ported by Williams, and both 16-bit versions saw development by Sculptured Software, meaning that for once the Genesis version is on equal ground in terms of graphics and sound (albeit lessened a bit due to the Genesis hardware).

The story for this game continues that of Mortal Kombat II. After being defeated, Shao Kahn decides to fight even more dirty. He brings his bride Sindel back to life in Earthrealm. This gives Kahn the power to start to merge the two realms together, turning Earthrealm into a hellish post-apocalyptic world similar to that of Outworld. Once again you have to choose a fighter and put an end to Kahn's tyranny once and for all.

The roster for Mortal Kombat 3 is now a grand total of fifteen, which includes one hidden character only accessible through a cheat code, as is the norm with Mortal Kombat at this point. Returning to the franchise is Liu Kang, Sub-Zero, Sonya Blade, Kano, Jax, Shang Tsung, and Kung Lao. New to the roster are the cybernetic Lin Kuei ninjas Sektor and Cyrax, the Goro-esque Shokan warrior Sheeva, the street cop Curtis Stryker, the mystic Nightwolf, the masked Kabal, Shao Kahn's bride Sindel, and hidden cyborg Smoke, who was first a hidden character in MK2.

However, while the roster houses plenty of new faces, it takes away some of the franchise's biggest names. No Scorpion. No Rayden. No Johnny Cage. No Kitana, Mileena, Baraka, or Reptile. While the roster added contain some great characters, losing so many established ones does hurt the game.

In terms of the gameplay, Mortal Kombat 3 changes it up considerably. Perhaps in an attempt to compete with the likes of the Street Fighter and Tekken market, the game now puts in a bigger emphasis on speed and combos. The Y button on the Genesis controller now is the run button, which gives a burst of speed to your player in hopes of landing a move faster. Combos have now been added, which require a specific number of buttons pressed to execute a certain heavy hitting multi move. It takes some getting used to in comparison to the easier to pick up and play Mortal Kombats in the past, but doesn't hurt things either. In fact it adds for more strategy to how you fight making it a welcomed addition.

There are tons of new areas to fight in this time around, and they're some of my favorite in the series. I love the apocalyptic urban feel of every level. From subways to bridges, abandoned banks and cathedrals, there's tons of places to battle in. And a neat function to some of the levels is that they're duel tiered. Uppercut someone in the subway to send them flying into the street, where the battle will continue.

On the fatality side, they're back, and crazier than ever. Albeit, while I like a lot of the fatalities here, it does feel like the most cartoonish ones in the series, especially compared to the more gory ones in MK2. Some like Liu Kang setting his foe ablaze make sense, but Jax turning into a giant and crushing his foe? What logic does that make? But then again, trying to make sense of Mortal Kombat is a foolish thing to do.

Friendships and Babalities return, as well as the new Animality. These allow for the player to morph into an animal to defeat their foes. To do so, you must perform a new trick called mercy. Win one match, lose another, and then beat the foe in the third round. Go to the corner, hold run and press down a couple times to allow the foe one last chance. Beat them again, pull of the combo, and enjoy beating someone with Liu Kang's dragon morph, or Cyrax's shark morph.

Gameplay wise, the controls on the genesis feel smooth and responsive. As far as AI in the main single player though is where things get a bit annoying. It feels all over the place, and even on the easiest setting the AI can destroy you in seconds one round, and in the next become simple to beat. It feels like the difficulty in AI could have been tweaked a bit better to feel gradually harder like the other games, but just feel random and spotty in the final version.

Graphically, this game is one of the best looking on the Genesis and comes as close as possible to comparing to the SNES version. No real missing frames on the sprites, every level (except the graveyard on both versions) are intact. All the endings are still in, the font isn't an ugly yellow. Having Sculptured Software work on both versions this time around shows just what could have been done with Mortal Kombat II if Probe wasn't involved. And while a bit washed out color-wise, the fact that they came so close to Arcade perfect in terms of the Sega Genesis is still quite commendable.

Sound wise, every sound bite is intact, all the songs from the arcade are in, emulated as close to the arcade as the Genesis could handle. This game was 32 megs. A pretty big cart for its time. So you can tell that Midway put that cart size to good use, doing everything in their power to come as close to the arcade as possible, and it shows with the sound and graphics in this game.

Mortal Kombat 3, while removing some classic characters in the roster, still is a great video game, especially on the Genesis. it tries to change the game once again with new updates to the overall gameplay, which your taste will vary on. It feels like the most ambitious graphically as well. And while far from perfect in a lot of ways, it's still a must have for any Mortal Kombat fan. It's one of the Genesis' best games.

I will quickly talk about 1996's Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 before finishing this review up. One year later, Midway rereleased MK3 with an updated roster which included the returning Scorpion, Reptile, Kitana, and Mileena, and also added Jade, Noob Saibot, Ermac, Rain, and a classic version of Sub-Zero to the roster. New levels were added, new fatalities, and the new brutalities. However, plenty of things were removed from the game including some of the audio, and the animalities. Despite that, this is the definitive version of MK3 to own, definitely a must-have for any fan of the franchise, and is the last to be released on both the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis.

RATING: A-

Mortal Kombat II (Sega Genesis)

I love the Genesis port of the first Mortal Kombat, as I stated in my previous review. But I hold true in my belief that if it wasn't the only one to feature the all important blood and gore, then the port would be lauded as one of the worst made due to the half assing of Probe software's attempts at bringing the MK experience to the Sega crowd. So, when came time for Mortal Kombat's sequel, would the shortcomings be forgiven again?

Sometime around the big Mortal Monday console releases for Mortal Kombat, the heavily anticipated Mortal Kombat II would be released to massive acclaim, as it delivered on what the fans wanted. More characters, more blood, more fatalities, and better gameplay over the original.

And with Mortal Kombat becoming a hit in almost every household, it didn't take long to port the games once again to almost every conceivable console. In fact, it was almost a year to the day of Mortal Monday, September 9th, 1994. Once again, the most important ports were the Genesis and Super Nintendo. But after getting egg on their face the previous year, Nintendo changed their policies on violent video games, allowing for the port of MK II to retain its violence and gore from the original arcade. And what followed was a port that almost came close to that of the arcade, with amazing graphics, sound, control, and gameplay.

So, how does the Genesis port fare? Well, Nintendo got Scupltured Software for the job, which led to a game that tried to be as close to the original as possible without cutting many corners. Unfortunately for Genesis fans, they got Probe Software, whose track record of ports is usually shoddy and half assed, and as I said before lucked out on the fact that the Genesis port supported the addition of blood.

On the side of story, it continues from where Mortal Kombat 1 left off. Liu Kang defeated Shang Tsung to protect Earthrealm from the invading Outworld. However, it turns out that Shang Tsung's boss, Shao Kahn, ruler of Outworld is none too pleased. He gives Shang Tsung one more shot, restoring him of his youth, and with the aid of Goro's father Kintaro, they manage to kidnap both Sonya Blade and Kano. This leads the kombatants of before into the evil Outworld, where a new tournament is underway and new enemies arise.

Once again you take control of a fighter, and work your way against all the kombatants until you make it to the final bosses.  The roster is now boosted from seven to twelve, and despite the lack of Sonya and Kano, the newcomers are some of the best and most beloved in the franchise. Returning for round two are Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, Rayden, Sub-Zero, and Scorpion, while for the first time non-playable characters like Shang Tsung and the hidden ninja Reptile join in the fight. As for newcomers, Sonya's partner Jax, Kung Lao, princess Kitana, her twin Mileena, and the fierce Baraka all make for iconic characters, each with new gameplay styles and abilities.

Control wise the game is about the same as last time, but everything feels a lot more balanced. At times in the original MK the controls never felt as tight as they could have been. That doesn't feel the case here as everything does feel much more fluid offering for some of the best fighting on the Genesis. Which is good since the game offers tons more moves to pull off, as well as the returning fatalities. Each character gets two finishers, and they're now upped in the gore quality. From Kung Lao slicing his foe in half, Sub Zero freezing his foe to throw an ice grenade, and Liu Kang morphing into a dragon to chomp down on his opponent, Mortal Kombat has some of the best and most iconic fatalities.

But that's not all, as added to the game are friendships and babalities, which are done if the player literally "pulls their punches" in the finishing round. Babalities turn the foe into a baby, as you'd expect, while Friendships have you do wacky things like disco dance with Liu Kang, or sign an autograph for your biggest fan if you're Johnny Cage. There's also more pit levels. The acid filled dead pool, the spike ceiling tomb, and the classic pit where the opponent falls to a rather brutal death.

On the gameplay side, the AI in this game can be borderline brutal, even on the easiest setting (which is also the default setting oddly enough). By the time you're facing Shang Tsung, it becomes a test of not only your skill, but the ability to exploit an AI that can seemingly pinpoint your moves to pull a counter for almost everything. You do get plenty of continues, up to a possible 30, but you'll need them to survive a most challenging fight. So on the gameplay side, everything is pretty decent. It plays like Mortal Kombat II should with some exception to a cheaper difficulty...

It's everywhere else though that this game drops the ball.

I mentioned earlier on that I feel Probe is a lackluster company when it comes to their Genesis ports, and this is no exception. The graphics here take a massive step backwards with washed out colors, everything feeling like it's just a mix of grey and yellow, levels missing plenty of detail, and sprites lacking plenty of frames, making them feel a lot less fluid in animation. When you look at the gameplay for this, and then compare to the SNES, there's no denying that this was a massive drop of the ball. There's even things that bug me like the win text looking like the most generic simple yellow text ever.

It just looks generic. Thrown into the game at almost the last second instead of trying to make it look cooler and cleaner.

In the audio department, the game suffers majorly. Once again a lot of audio is missing. From characters missing sound effects to missing audio like "Finish Him/Her", it again feels like Probe rushed this game out in an unfinished state, or at least didn't use the Genesis to its full capabilities. On the soundtrack side, it's all original music for the most part. And while it's not the same as the soundtrack in the arcade and other ports, it still is pretty good to be honest. Though maybe my love for these tracks comes from growing up with them over the years. I especially prefer the tomb and forest levels.

Overall, Mortal Kombat II for the Genesis is an inferior port in graphics, sound, and overall presentation. It's unclear if it's just a real case of the capabilities of the Genesis at the time, or the fact that Probe provided an otherwise lackluster attempt. Despite that though, Mortal Kombat II would destroy expectations, and be one of the best selling games on the Genesis, with 1.78 million copies sold, making it the 5th best selling game in the console's lifespan.

The following year would see another port of Mortal Kombat II on the ill-fated Sega 32X add-on. And despite keeping the same music from the previous port, it does improve on almost everything else, leading to what is actually one of the better games on the forgettable device. So, if you absolutely must have your MK II on Sega, but really need decent graphics, hunt that one out. If you're just looking for a fun, yet flawed game, I'd say give the Genesis port a play. It may lack where it counts in the graphics and sound, but it's still a fun play.

RATING: B-

Mortal Kombat (Sega Genesis)

1993 was an important year for video gaming, as it was the year that violence in video games became a hot button issue. And one of the games that spearheaded that concern was Mortal Kombat, an arcade fighting game that had earned massive popularity for its depictions of blood and gore. The fighting game was a clear competitor to the smash hit Street Fighter II, and tried to up the ante with not just the heavier focus on gore, but also with digitized characters, adding for the most realism possible for 1992.

Despite the heat from parental groups and even the government getting involved, Mortal Kombat was still due for its release on nearly every console under the sun in 1993. Specifically on September 13th, 1993 which was labeled "Mortal Monday". Both Nintendo's Super Nintendo and Sega's Genesis were the biggest consoles to benefit from ports of the arcade classic. But in an act of both sticking to their kid friendly guns and a little bit of cowardice, Nintendo opted to heavily censor the game, changing the blood to sweat, and heavily editing fatalities.

Sega embraced the idea of gore, and hid the option with a blood code that could be accessed in a text crawl before the title screen. With the news that Sega wasn't going to wuss out on the gore, it helped sell tons of Sega Genesis consoles that year, and in the end Mortal Kombat would be one of the best selling games on the console in 1993. The Genesis port was published by Acclaim and developed by their mostly genesis only developer Probe.

The plot of the game goes as follows. You play as one of seven different fighters in a tournament to the death run by the evil Shang Tsung. The fate of the entire Earthrealm relies on you as if Shang Tsung wins this tournament, it will be ten in a row, and will allow him the ability to take over the realm in the name of Outworld. You have to beat the rest of your foes in order to get a battle with Shang Tsung, as well as his heavy in the four armed beast Goro.

Mortal Kombat can be played with a three button controller, but it is far more useful with a six button controller, to differentiate the high and low attacks that each character can use. You can punch, kick, block, uppercut, sweep, and jump attack your way to a victory.

Your cast of characters is as follows. The Shaolin monk Liu Kang, the special forces member Sonya Blade, the god of thunder Raiden, the movie star Johnny Cage, the criminal Kano, and the two rival ninjas Sub-Zero and Scorpion. Each has their own special moves and unique fatalities. Those special moves can be done through different button combinations, usually a certain direction and a certain letter button.

The variety of moves range from the Scorpion's harpoon pull attack, Sub-Zero's freeze attack, Raiden's lightning shots, Johnny Cage's shadow kick, and more. But for as cool as the main moves are, the fatalties are still the best part of the game. Win two matches, and you'll have the chance to finish your opponent with gory ends like ripping their heart out with Kano, blowing their head up with Raiden, ripping their head off with Sub-Zero, or... that weak looking uppercut move with Liu Kang.

In between every three rounds in the main game, you'll have the option to "test your might". You have to tap the A and C buttons to raise your stamina, then press start to chop the item, be it wood, stone or steel. It's not important to complete, but does add to the frivolous score in the game. As for main game options, you fight the other six kombatants before facing yourself in a mirror match. After that it's three endurance matches which pit you against two opponents, and finally it's the last two fights between Goro and Shang Tsung.

Graphically the game looks pretty good, save for losing a lot of detail that the arcade and even the SNES ports had. I mostly attribute that less in the ability of the Genesis, and more to the half assed approach that Probe would often take with ports. Sprites also lose plenty of frames so they don't look as fluid as other versions. But despite that, you get every level in the game, from the courtyard to the pit, to Goro's lair, and despite some missing items, the sprites still look very detailed, coming close to replicating the motion captured look of the arcade version.

The audio side is also a mixed bag. Probe at the helm caused a lot of audio from the arcade version to be omitted from the port, even the legendary "Finish Him/Her" audio. The other noticeable thing is that the game is made up entirely of new music tracks instead of trying to just emulate the arcade originals. I know some people dislike the new tunes, but since I've grown up with this game they are the ones I easily recognize. In the end, it's not the worst handling of the audio, but the glaring omissions are far too noticeable to ignore.

The original Mortal Kombat game is still one of my favorites on the Sega Genesis. While yes, there are more definitive ports of the Arcade out there, and the franchise moved on to bigger and better titles (Like the one that followed in Mortal Kombat II), I still find fun in grabbing the controller and giving this one a play. It's an important title that led to a ratings system for the industry, and even forced Nintendo to change their own policies with titles. While not a flawless victory, it's still a true great in the fighting game genre.

RATING: A-

QuackShot: Starring Donald Duck (Sega Genesis)

Disney and video gaming have been a great partnership for the most part, especially for the Nintendo Entertainment System. When it came time to bring the mouse house to the age of 16-bit, it was a bit of a shaky start with some lackluster games like The Little Mermaid, Fantasia, and TaleSpin. However, one the flip side were some top notch titles much like Castle of Illusion, World of Illusion, and this game QuackShot: Starring Donald Duck, released in 1991 for the Sega Genesis.

Plot to QuackShot is almost akin to an episode of Ducktales, only lacking in the out and out greed of Scrooge McDuck. Donald finds information about the mysterious King Garuzia's treasure, and with Indy fedora and his trusty plunger gun, he embarks on a worldwide trip to pretty much find something nice for Daisy. However,  the always scheming Pete learns about the treasure and sets out to stop Donald in his tracks.

You move Donald with the D-pad,  can run with the A button, shoot with the B button, and jump with the C button. The game is your standard action platformer as you'll have to run and gun your way everywhere from Duckburg to Transylvania, Mexico the the Maharajah, and the North Pole to a viking ship as you find the treasures needed to get you closer to finding the location of the treasure. Donald is equipped with his plunger gun that can stun most enemies, and with later upgrades can stick to walls to ensure an easier climb over seemingly impassable walls.

Donald can also use popcorn ammo that offers a three way shot, but for the most part isn't as useful as the tried and true plunger. Another item you'll earn is the bubble gum ammo which gets rid of blocks to help advance in certain areas like Transylvania. But the best weapon is the chili peppers, which after eating five sends Donald into a fit of rage which acts as the game's invincibility.

Most of the levels start you off having to battle your way through most of the level's enemies, be they Pete's goons, ghosts, turtles with boxing gloves, or other baddies. When you make it to a certain point, you'll place a checkpoint flag that will allow you to call Huey, Dewey, and Louie to take the plane and allow you to go to another place. This is essential as you'll be backtracking through the different areas to find items to help you advance further along.

For example, you'll need a red plunger upgrade to go further in Duckburg, but you'll need to go to Mexico first. The item is in the temple (being held by Goofy, who is just there), but you'll need the key, which is back in Duckburg. I like this concept of having to constantly search for where you need the next item to advance as it does add to the game's treasure hunt feel.

The game has several bosses, each which can be taken down with several plunger shots. There's Dracula Duck, a tiger, a viking skeleton, Pete, and finally the guard of the treasure. The difficulty in the battles can be tricky, especially the Pete fight, but don't feel impossible. Which fits the game's difficulty in general, a fun challenge. Not a cakewalk, but you'll definitely lose a lot of lives in the trip. The game has good controls, but the jump does feel a bit flighty at times, mainly in the game's two mine cart sections where you have to jump from cart to cart.

Graphically the game looks great for a Genesis title. All the characters look like their animated counterparts, especially Donald, who has been given a lot of the personality that the fowl favorite is known for.The game is definitely a loving tribute to Indiana Jones. From Donald's attire to the final level almost coming straight from the Last Crusade. It's definitely the best Indiana Jones game ever made, and it doesn't even feature Harrison Ford.

On the sound level, another fantastic soundtrack can be found here. Every tune sounds great, and fits the area. From the hustle and bustle of Duckburg, to the Egyptian beats, and especially the game's best track, the haunting Transylvania. The game's composer was Shigenori Kamiya, whose other project was Castle of Illusion, so he brings the great music quality of that game to this awesome Disney game.

QuackShot is a game often overlooked when you think of the greatest Disney games of all time. We remember Ducktales, Rescue Rangers, Aladdin, Kingdom Hearts, and even Castle of Illusion, but often leave such a solid title like QuackShot to be forgotten, and that's definitely not fair. It's easily one of the finest titles on the Genesis, with great graphics, sound, and gameplay. If you're building a Genesis collection, pick this one up. This game is certainly not fowl.

Rating: A-

Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (Sega Genesis)

The Sega Genesis is probably my favorite video game console of all time. It's usually a toss up between it and the NES. But I think my heart yearns more for the black box with blast processing tucked lovingly inside. So, while building up my Genesis collection, I looked for both games that I've played before and loved, and games I've never played for one reason or another. One of the latter is Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, based on the 1992 sequel to the hit Macaulay Culkin classic.

The main reason I didn't buy this game? Because first off, the track record of Home Alone games is particularly horrible, mainly those for the Nintendo consoles, as they were published by THQ, and for all the flack LJN gets, I think THQ is the worst official licensed company for the early Nintendo consoles. For Home Alone 2 however, these were made by Sega and Interactive Designs, who worked previously on TaleSpin and Greendog: The Beached Surfer Dude. So, despite neither game being a massive hit, does that make this one a dud?

Plot of the game follows that of the movie. Kevin McCallister once again ends up separated from his family at Christmas time. However this time while his family is in Florida, he (as the title suggests) is lost in New York. But it turns out that his foes Marv and Harry of the formerly named Wet Bandits (now Sticky Bandits) are plotting to rob a toy store named Duncan's Toy Chest. So it's up to Kevin to stop the two bumbling bandits, while surviving the harsh New York streets.

You control Kevin with the D-Pad, can push items with A, shoot or throw the current weapon with B, and jump with C. Gameplay is the linear point a to point b style side scroller, although some stages will be a bit more maze like. And the game follows the film pretty decent for the most part. You start at the airport, battle through the streets, through Duncan's Toy Chest, through Kevin's uncle's apartment, and finally at the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center to get help from the Pigeon Lady. So in terms of actually following the film, it does well. Though no level in the Plaza Hotel does feel out of place.

The game works with a specific weapon mechanic. You start with a basic item, be it a baseball, a football, or snowballs. You'll also see another weapon at the bottom that needs to be built like a slingshot, a bazooka that shoots what appears to be ink balls, and an icicle crossbow. To get it, you need to actually find the pieces scattered through the stage. And there are sometimes multiple weapons to find that can prove stronger than the previous. And they're definitely needed against Marv and Harry, as they can do a lot of damage to your health bar. But they have health bars too, and when fully lowered, they're gone from a level, leaving the challenge of the stage itself to be the real issue.

Control wise, the game is fluid and responsive. Kevin can shoot an item diagonally upward or downward to help in sticky situations, and can even do a slide when in full speed. Kevin's jump is a bit tricky to get the hang of at times, and can definitely be your enemy in certain areas. The worst case of this was at Duncan's Toy Chest, where if you don't time this annoying jump, you get sucked back to the top of the area and have to narrowly navigate your way back down to try again.

Another annoyance is some of the enemies. You have Marv and Harry of course, but the game throws in businessmen who throw their briefcase at you should you hit them, crows that never stop spawning, rats that can be hard to see at times, and can lead to a cheap hit, and the weirdest of all, street ninjas. Must be that weird ninja epidemic in the early 90's.

On the sound side, the soundtrack to Home Alone 2 is surprisingly good, especially for a Genesis game (though I feel that the hatred on the Genesis sound chip is massively undeserved). Especially with the streets and old building level theme being the best. It has a great urban street vibe that really fits the New York setting this game is based in. Graphically the game looks pretty solid for a Genesis game. Characters like Kevin and the bandits look like how they do in the film, and levels are pretty well designed and detailed. I also like the cutscenes between each level that see Marv and Harry fail in somewhat hilarious ways.

So, in the end, despite some notable hatred I see for this game, I was pleasantly surprised with Home Alone 2. I figured it would be a horrible purchase, but got a game that while not perfectly polished in certain areas, was pretty easy to pick up and play, follows the source material pretty well, and overall was more fun than I had though when I nabbed it for five dollars. It's definitely not a game you'll see on any "greatest Genesis games of all time" list, but it's definitely at least worth a play.

RATING: B+