Mortal Kombat II (SNES and SEGA Genesis) Turning 30 and Christmas!

Ah the middle of December, the time when you anticipate getting out of school for that long winter break. Thirty years ago, I was doing the same thing myself; the fourth grade was a time when those long breaks would equal going over to a friend’s house to spend a night or hang out. Almost always that time would be spent playing video games. There was a lot to choose from in 1994 both in games and in systems, but 1994 was really the year of the fighting game. And that Christmas break in particular, I was introduced to what would become one of my (if not my absolute) favorite.

I was spending a night over at my friend Ben’s house, and during those years, we’d usually make our way to the video store that Friday night to rent a movie or a game. Well that December we decided that we would rent a brand new fighting game, Mortal Kombat II, on SNES. Where I grew up, we didn’t have a Blockbuster Video, so our rentals came from a local place called Finklea’s Movies. The game was relatively new, and it included the instruction manual in with it when you rented it. I remember when we fired the game up and started playing. Little did I know that Ben had rented the game previously, and when we played our versus matches, he destroyed me.

This wasn’t my first fighting game experience, but it was the first time that I really played a Mortal Kombat game. I had played a little bit of the first Mortal Kombat on the Sega Genesis at a friend’s house earlier that year, but never the second game. The second game was something else, especially on the Super Nintendo. The sound and music were amazing, as well as the visuals. I think playing it that first time, my friend knew one fatality, and we kept trying to figure out the other ones with no luck. After renting that game the first time, I was hooked. It was a little too late for me to get that game for Christmas, but I have an early birthday in the year, so it immediately was my first choice for the birthday game.

Now obviously, the Mortal Kombat series of games did come with some controversy, as the game’s violence level along with other titles around the same time (DOOM comes to mind) caused the ESRB to become a thing. When my birthday week came around, my mom got the game from Toys R Us, and she remarked, “They had to check my ID to buy this game, I’ve never had that happen before”…I kind of just acted like I didn’t know why they would do that. Of course, in retrospect the amount of cartoonish violence in Mortal Kombat II pales in comparison to things that are in modern games, but at the time it was something that was unheard of.

Edgy violence aside, the game was a great fighting game, and Mortal Kombat II was everywhere at the time. It was in the arcades and nearly every kid at school had a copy at home. Compared to Street Fighter II and Street Fighter II Turbo, the main difference was the way you entered special moves and the way that you blocked. There is a block button in Mortal Kombat, whereas in Street Fighter you have to hold the back button. The special moves in Mortal Kombat are way more complicated to execute than in Street Fighter games. Most Street Fighter moves are a simple quarter-circle motion and a button, or a charge back and forward and a button. Mortal Kombat uses a myriad of button and direction presses depending on the character, and there is a lot of memorization involved. The amount of memorization is so important that I remember making other kids at school players guides for fatalities and moves from just my memory. I can still see those pencil drawn lists of moves on notebook paper in my head. At least the game manual had all the regular moves in it, aside from the finishing moves.

Along with better graphics and sound, Mortal Kombat II was a big step up from the first game with content in game. The first game only has seven selectable characters, two boss characters and one hidden character. Mortal Kombat II has twelve selectable characters, three hidden characters, and two new boss characters. The game is set in the realm of Outworld this time, and the stages you can play in are much more diverse than the first game. Some of the backgrounds are great in Mortal Kombat II, including stages that have stage specific fatalities. The first game only had the Pit as the only stage fatality area, but Mortal Kombat II has the Dead Pool, the Kombat Tomb and a new pit, the aptly named Pit II. A key difference is that in the first Mortal Kombat, you only had to perform an uppercut to do the stage fatality on the Pit. In Mortal Kombat II, each character has a specific stage fatality button input that works on the Kombat Tomb and the Pit II. The Dead Pool has the same combination for every character, so there are really two stage fatality moves sets per character. In addition to all characters having at least two unique fatalities (as compared to only one in the first game), there are two new finishing moves: Friendships and Babailites. The Friendship finishing move basically spares your opponent with something light-hearted like pulling a rabbit out of a hat or asking them to buy a replica doll. The Babality was basically a way to really embarrass your opponent by turning them into a baby. The two new boss characters are Shao Kahn and Kintaro, the latter who is another four-armed humanoid that replaces Goro from the first game. Shang Tsung who was the final boss in the first game also returns as a mini boss before Kintaro in this game. Although, this time Shang Tsung is a playable character in the game. Three hidden characters are also introduced, including a gray ninja that smokes named…Smoke, a green tanned lady ninja with Kitana’s fans named Jade, and a blacked-out ninja named Noob Saibot (Ed Boon and John Tobias’ names backwards). I did always think that Noob Saibot was the most fun to play, as the sound in the arcade and SNES version didn’t have a sample that actually said “Noob Saibot wins”…It was always some variation of “FEEL THE POWER OF …TOASTY!” or “YOU WILL DIE MORTAL! TOASTY!”

Speaking of toasty, the second Mortal Kombat has the best sound of any 2D Mortal Kombat in my opinion. The stage songs are fantastic and usually the arcade machines were turned up loud enough that you could always follow the sound to the MK2 arcade cab. Not only is the sound and music great on the arcade version, it’s also fantastic on the Super Nintendo version, I used to love just hearing the character select music. The game ending outro song is another great banger in a game full of them. Something else that was new was Shao Kahn taunting you as you fought him, which is another great touch in the game.

There are many, many home ports of Mortal Kombat II, but I think for the sake of this post (which is already long-winded for me) we’re only going to compare the two main home versions, the Super Nintendo and the SEGA Genesis version. I am slightly biased, as I had the Super Nintendo version growing up. But I did play the SEGA Genesis version from time to time at my friend’s house. The main key differences between the two are:

-         The Super Nintendo version handily wins in sound and music. The SEGA Genesis lacks a lot of the announcer voices and sound that the Super Nintendo version has.

-         The Super Nintendo also wins in the graphics department. There are a few things that I do like about the Genesis version though, like the names being in the life bars just like the arcade, but overall the SNES one is better, as that version also has full character animations. Certain characters like Baraka and Johnny Cage don’t finish their victory motions in the Genesis version. Hey at least both versions have blood this time without a code.

-         The SEGA Genesis version has tighter controls. It took me a little while of playing to notice it, but the Genesis version plays faster and the controls are great. It’s really the selling point of why you’d want to play the Genesis version over the SNES one, but it’s not THAT noticeable unless you play the game a lot.

So what is the verdict on which one you should play? Well, they are both pretty solid ports of the game. Either one with scratch your itch, but I would say if you like the graphics and sound part, you definitely have to play the SNES version. I find myself playing the Genesis version a lot when I just want to play for 15 minutes and want to make my way up the ladder to Shao Kahn. Both systems have great controllers for the game (make sure you use the 6-button on the Genesis) so it’s hard to pick which one is better there. Some people prefer one over the other, I’d probably side with the SNES controller because that’s what I’m used to, but the Genesis six button is just as great if that’s what you like.

Let’s give the games a score!

Graphics 15% - (SNES – 4.5, Genesis – 4) The 2D sprites in both games have held up with age, the Genesis version is a little worse obviously, especially with some of the animations missing; neither game is arcade perfect, but they’re still both pretty good.

Sound 15% - (SNES – 4.5, Genesis – 3.5) The sound part really hurts the Genesis score, those matches being so quiet really takes away from that arcade experience. Meanwhile the Super Nintendo is blasting away as you play, which really gives it the edge here.

Control 25% - (SNES – 3.8, Genesis – 4.5) The Genesis really shines in the controls. Tight and fast, the Genesis version always feels a little smoother to play. The SNES version can even be a little slow sometimes, but it’s still pretty good.

Fun Factor 45% - (SNES – 4.5, Genesis – 4) Why would the SNES get a higher score on the fun factor? Well the SNES does have some cheats that you can input on the character select screen to quickly go battle the hidden characters or the bosses, whereas the Genesis does not. Getting 25 wins in a row in the Genesis version to get to Noob Saibot is a little better than the 50 on the SNES, but you can just put in the code on the SNES one and get there instantly. Now with that being said, the Genesis does have a test mode to where you can make some weird stuff happen like Fergalities and some weird guy to replace Dan Forden’s Toasty. Both games are great multiplayer too, and they’re both still great to play today.

Final Average – (SNES – 4.325, Genesis – 4.05) As you can see, there isn’t much between these two versions of the game. They’re both great and still heavily in my playing rotation. If you’ve never played them before and want to go back and check them out, please do; this game is really when Mortal Kombat took off.

eBay outlook – cart alone (December 2024) SNES - $18-22; Genesis - $12-15. Complete in box SNES - $90-150; Genesis - $20-30

Retroachievements (emulation) – SNES – 42 achievements worth 340 (1,107) points; Genesis – 35 achievements worth 490 (1,835) points.

Some comparison screens, the SEGA Genesis is the first screen, SNES the second:

Here is the battle tower:

Finally some win screens:

 Thank you for reading my blog posts and I hope you have a Merry Christmas!

Donkey Kong Country (Super Nintendo) Turning 30...

Thirty years and a few short days ago, Donkey Kong Country was released on the Super Nintendo.  At that time, I was in the fourth grade, and I was a little too young to have played the original Donkey Kong in the arcade.  Although, I may have played the original game, but it would have been at the large beach arcades and it was a long time past its prime in the early 80s.  The first time I really remember hearing about or seeing Donkey Kong was in the game Super Mario Kart.  And the Donkey Kong in the SNES Super Mario Kart is actually Donkey Kong Jr., so really that wasn’t even the original ape.

However, by the time 1994 rolled around, I was at the age where trips to the grocery store with my grandmother and mother always involved me making my way over the magazine section of the store, which was almost always inhabited by video game magazines.  Nintendo Power was my favorite at the time naturally, since I had a SNES.  During the trips to the store, scanning the magazines brought to my attention the upcoming game Donkey Kong Country for the holiday season. One issue in particular, the August 1994 issue, I ended up buying. This particular issue has the “Pak Watch” section of upcoming games with Donkey Kong Country as the lead story (followed by Mortal Kombat II which I will post about later).  Just from seeing the few screenshots in the magazine and the description, it looked like a game that I would enjoy playing.  The biggest thing that I can remember from just seeing the screenshots was the 3D sprites, which at the time looked amazing.

This game became an instant ask for my Christmas list that year. When the game released on November 18, it showed up in the Wal-Mart and Toys R Us displays in store to play.  I remember standing there and playing the new Donkey Kong game in the store.  My mom was very familiar with Donkey Kong, as she had played the original arcade game and I think she also looked forward to playing this one with me when I got it for Christmas.  The biggest thing I remember about playing Donkey Kong Country (other than the stunning visuals and brilliant music) was the difficulty.  Coming from playing Super Mario Bros 3 on NES and Super Mario World on SNES, this game was a completely different animal.  The boss fights were difficult, there were tricky platforming sections, and even my mom had a tough time playing this one with me.  Even though the game was challenging though, it did have the ability to save, which made the struggle a bit more rewarding, since you could just pick back up (roughly) where you left off.

It was a long time as a kid before I actually beat Donkey Kong Country because of the difficulty curve.  But one of the great things about the game is the immersive world that comes with it.  Each area had it’s own personality and I found them all to be as interesting as the game itself.  There were jungles and forests, mountains and caves and even a factory.  I always found myself pondering about what was going on in the background as I played the game.  The brilliant and well-composed music was another feature that made the hard struggle to Candy’s Save Spot less tedious.  Some of the music from the game has found its way into things not even video game related.  Aquatic Ambience is probably the most recognizable song from the game, as it made its way into TikToks and Instagram/YouTube shorts as background music.  I’d imagine there are many kids today that know the song and not the game where it came from.

Donkey Kong Country also added new companions to the classic Donkey Kong style of characters.  The first addition was Donkey Kong’s companion in the game, Diddy Kong.  Diddy Kong was smaller than Donkey Kong, but also faster and had a great new spin attack to use against enemies.  When I was a kid I preferred the slower, larger Donkey Kong; I think it was more to do with me being so used to Mario’s jump mechanic to attack enemies.  As an adult however, I have learned that utilizing Diddy Kong’s spin attacks and speed make the game a little easier to complete in certain sections.  There were also animal companions in the game that make certain sections of levels easier.  The animal companions include Rambi the Rhinoceros, Enguarde the Swordfish, Winky the Frog, Expresso the Ostrich and Squawks the Parrot.  I always found that in general, the levels where animal buddies are located are able to be completed without them, but the buddies make the level significantly easier.

Another thing a little different about Donkey Kong Country when comparing it to other popular platformers like the Super Mario games, is the fact that Rare games tend to have a lot of collecting and secret areas.  Donkey Kong Country is not as bad about being a collect-a-thon as later titles in the series, but the first one definitely has a lot of collectables per area, including the bananas, 1-up balloons, K-O-N-G letters, and the golden animal buddies.  It does add some replay value to the game, as the game does track if you 100% a level, and 100% on the whole game is very challenging.

So this year, as I’m nearing my 40^th trip around the Sun in just a few short months, I decided that I’d play some Donkey Kong Country the past week or two.  The game of course is every bit as difficult as I remember it being.  And there were spots even early on in the second world that get very frustrating to play.  But one other great thing in addition to the saves is that there are so many bananas and extra lives around each level that it’s easy to stock up as you play and make your way to each save location.  Playing it now is just as fun as playing it back then, and I think the game does hold up really well even though online it tends to get overshadowed by the sequel.  This game is a shining star that appeared at the end of a very jam packed year of great (especially fighting) games.

So how does it score now?

Graphics 15% - (4) I think the graphics at the time were amazing, though in the modern world, early 3D renders tend to get trashed on.  Me personally though, I still think it holds up pretty well.

Sound 15% - (5) I mean, was there going to be any real doubt about the excellence of this game’s soundtrack? It has some of the most recognizable songs from any video game ever made and has songs that appear in random TikToks/Reels.

Control 25% - (3.75) The control in Donkey Kong Country can be ever so slightly jank at times, but I still think it controls pretty well for 30 year old game.

Fun Factor 45% - (4.5) Donkey Kong Country is arguably one of the best games and one of the absolute best platformers on the Super Nintendo. It was good 30 years ago and it’s good today. There is a reason that it has had multiple games on the Wii, Wii U and Switch in the same old format.

Final Average – 4.3125 One of the best games on the Super Nintendo. If for some reason you’ve never played it and you enjoy platforming games, please check this one out. And if it’s been a while since you’ve played it, go back and check it out. I think you’ll find that it does still hold up.

eBay outlook – cart alone (November 2024) - $14-$20; Complete (November 2024) - $70-$100

Retroachivements (emulation) – 71 total achievements worth 675 (2,808) points

1942 (NES) Review

Today's video game review will be about 1942 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. 

1942 originally appeared in the arcades in 1984. It was released by Capcom and is a top-down (vertical scrolling) shooter set in the Pacific theater of World War II. Your character flies a P-38 Lightning fighter against various era Japanese fighters. The game was ported to the NES on November 7th, 1986 in North America. So the game is relatively early in the game library for the NES (which released in North America on October 18, 1985).

The game itself is fairly simple for a shoot em up. You only have one weapon so to speak (though the weapon does get upgraded) and you have a barrel roll move to avoid enemies. There are 32 stages in the game and essentially, you take off from the aircraft carrier, fly through each stage, and land back on the carrier at the end of the stage. 

As you fly through each stage, look for the swarms of brown airplanes that appear. If you shoot them all down they release a "POW" that will upgrade your weapon to the quad shot and later it will upgrade to two planes that fly on your flanks and shoot. 

The game is quite the grind though, as you'll need to make it through the 32 stages...there isn't a password system, but fortunately you can continue where you left off after a game over. At the end of every stage you land on the aircraft carrier and your points and bonus points are tallied.

The good news is that you also get extra lives based off of the points, so it's good to collect points and shoot down as many planes as you can in each level.

Now let's break down the scores for this game:

Graphics 15% - (3.5) The graphics are nothing bad for the time period. In fact I'd say it looks better than a similar NES game like Xevious. So I'm going to give it a slightly above average score of 3.5

Sound 15% - (1) The absolute worst thing about this game is the sound. The sound effects for the planes and stuff aren't so bad. But the music...if you can call it that...is horrible. It's just a constant high-pitched ring the entire time. This is a game that you'd probably want to turn the volume down for and maybe play some of your own music. It gets a score of 1

Control 25% - (4) Solid, simple, accurate. That's how I can describe the controls in this game. Input is solid and each button only does one thing. The simplicity is part of what makes this a great shoot em up. It's a formula that is found in most popular scrolling shooters. For this, it gets a 4

Fun Factor 45% - (3) Good, solid shoot em up is the best way to describe this game. In fact, I'd say if you were going to play your first shoot em up on the NES, this would be the one to try. It's paced well for a beginner and is a pretty fun game. However, the enemies don't change much and the game can seem repetitive as you go along for 32 levels. I still enjoy it a lot though, so it gets a 3

Final Average - 3.025 Average game, average score. Worth a look if you like shooters or want to get into the shoot em up genre.

eBay outlook - Cart alone (June 2020) - price ranges from $12-$20; Complete (June 2020) - $140-$250

Retroachievements (emulation) - 19 achievements worth 140 points (as of June 2020)

Rant: Why you should be down with the Nintendo Virtual Console

So if you own or have owned a Nintendo Wii, Wii U, 3DS or new 3DS, then you're probably familiar with the Virtual Console service. It originally appeared on the Wii shortly after the system launched, and it was a big deal for Wii owners during that time. I remember being able to buy and download a ton of ordinarily expensive SNES and NES games when it debuted. To start with, it seemed like every Monday was a new awesome title being released on the Virtual Console...but then it seemed like there started being some "meh" titles released with the great titles released here and there. Most people, including myself, seemed to fall out of following it after about 2009 or 2010.

That's why I decided to bring up this topic now. You can still buy games on the Nintendo Store on the original Wii, and there are a TON of games there to download now. The highlights are the TurboGrafx 16 (which is awfully expensive to collect for if you don't have one) and a lot of more expensive SNES, SEGA and NES games.  The Virtual Console on the Wii also has NEO GEO AES and Arcade titles, as well as Nintendo 64 and Sega Master System titles. The NEO GEO titles are worth it alone, as a lot of AES titles sell for well over $100 USD on eBay.  It really is a good cheap way to collect a lot of classic games without just downloading sketchy ROMs...not to mention the emulation on the Wii is perfect.

The Wii U also has a virtual console, and if you didn't have a Wii (or at least, didn't buy Virtual Console games on the Wii), you can go to the Wii channel on the Wii U and still have access to all the old Wii Virtual Console titles. In addition to the original, the Wii U has a Virtual Console too, but the systems on there include the NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy Advance, Wii and Nintendo DS. Notably you can buy EarthBound on the Wii U Virtual Console, as well as Mother (EarthBound Beginnings).

The New 3DS virtual console includes NES, SEGA Game Gear, and Game Boy games. A large host of classic Game Boy titles are on there, as well as the 3D remasters of SEGA Genesis games. You should pick up the 3D remaster of Fantasy Zone if you like shm'ups and Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins.

Also if you don't own a Wii, Wii U or a 3DS...do you even play video games? There are a ton of great titles on all three systems. So if you get tired of playing your blockbuster title games on the XBONE or the PS4 (or PC if you're like me)...go get one of the Nintendo systems. I'll probably talk about a lot of the great games on them as the blog goes on.

Rant: Genesis does what Nintendon't

The old SEGA slogan from the late 80s / early 90s used to strike fear into Nintendo fans everywhere...right? Well maybe to a certain extent...I have to admit my bias, I'm a bit of a Nintendo fanboy when it comes to video games, but I'm a bit more open-minded as an adult.

I wanted to discuss the SEGA Genesis in particular, because I was in a local used video game store the other weekend, and I overheard a guy (who was probably a few years older than I was) talking about how he just picked up a Genesis, but he wasn't finding a lot of games he was interested in to buy for it. I'm a late-adopter of the SEGA Genesis myself, but over the years I've done some research and discovered how great the library of the system that I wasn't a fan of as a kid was.

One thing I will say about the Genesis is, that faster processor makes a difference, especially when you compare shoot 'em ups on it versus the Super Nintendo. Going back as an adult and playing SNES, you tend to notice the slowdown when there are a lot of onscreen objects (Just go play Super R-Type and see what I mean).  The Genesis tends to plow right along and doesn't suffer from much slowdown at all, which means the cream of the crop on the Genesis tends to be shoot 'em ups and beat 'em ups. The Genesis has some real gems when it comes to these genres as well, in later blog posts I'll be reviewing a few of those games.

Some of my Genesis collection

Back to what the gentleman in the store was complaining about, a lot of the really good titles to get on the Genesis are a little harder to come by. This may just be due to the lack of popularity of the Genesis versus the Nintendo systems, or just the fact that a lot of the great titles didn't get the attention that other titles did. As a kid, especially from circa 1990-1999, I read a lot of Nintendo Power magazine. The only bad thing about Nintendo Power is that it was quite obviously, biased.  A lot of these great Genesis titles I ended up missing out on as a kid, and I think a lot of people that were strictly Nintendo fans did as well.

I think I finally bought my Sega Genesis around 2004 on eBay for pretty cheap. I have a model 2 Genesis, and the first game I got for it was Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Now, don't get me wrong, Sonic is no Mario, but it is a pretty good platformer with a slightly different dynamic than Mario. Sonic is built around blazing through a level along multiple paths versus Mario, which is basically a little more based on exploring.  Over the years I picked up more excellent titles, such as Gunstar Heroes, Truxton and Contra Hard Corps.  In fact, if you like Contra, Contra Hard Corps is probably the best non-NES Contra to play, and probably the hardest in difficulty.

Here is my model 2 Genesis hooked up in the living room

So what I think someone like the gentleman in Matt's Game Exchange needs, is a good solid list of titles to get on the system, and here are a few I would recommend:

-Sonic the Hedgehog

-Sonic the Hedgehog 2

-Sonic the Hedgehog 3

-Space Harrier II

-Super Thunder Blade

-Altered Beast

-Ghouls'n Ghosts

-Phantasy Star II

-Phantasy Star III

-Phantasy Star IV

-Thunder Force II

-Thunder Force III

-Thunder Force IV

-Truxton

-After Burner II

-Columns

-ESWAT: City Under Siege

-Gaiares

-Ghostbusters

-M.U.S.H.A.

-Marble Madness

-OutRun

-Paperboy

-Space Invaders '91

-Star Control

-Streets of Rage

-ToeJam & Earl

-Zero Wing

-Battletoads

-Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf

-Double Dragon

-Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine

-Ecco the Dolphin

-Kid Chameleon

-Paperboy 2

-Streets of Rage 2

-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist

-Disney's Aladdin

-Fatal Fury

-Gunstar Heroes

-Jungle Strike

-Jurassic Park

-Mortal Kombat

-Shining Force

-Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition

-Super Battleship

-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters

-Contra: Hard Corps

-Earthworm Jim

-Ecco: The Tides of Time

-Fatal Fury 2

-Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition

-Mega Man: The Wily Wars (in the USA, this is available on repro carts)

-Mortal Kombat II

-NBA Jam Tournament Edition

-Samurai Showdown

-Shining Force II

-Sonic & Knuckles

-Steel Empire

-Streets of Rage 3

-Super Street Fighter II

-Vectorman

-Vectorman 2

-The Lost World: Jurassic Park

-Frogger

And of course, there are many more, but I tried to list the ones that stand out to me. As you can see, there is quite a selection to collect.  If you don't want to grab these on the Genesis due to cost, you can pick a lot of these titles up on the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console, and they also released the Sega Genesis Mega Collection on the Playstation 3 and the XBOX 360.  These are much less expensive ways of collecting great Genesis titles, but being the nostalgia person that I am, I try to get them on the original console.

Also if you are playing the fighting games on the Genesis, I recommend finding a SEGA Genesis 6-button controller, it makes quite the difference.

That pretty much sums up my rant on why the Genesis is a great system and a good one to collect for, even as a Nintendo fan. I'm sure there are many other titles that people enjoy that I missed, and I encourage anyone to comment and include your favorites too.

My next blog entry should be a game review, I think I'm going to discuss Rare Replay on the XBOX One and perhaps some more retro titles...but until then Play it Loud...er...I mean SEGA!