So back when I was a young kid, before I was big into fighting games, me and my brothers only had two options of games to play. We had either Street Fighter II, and Mortal Kombat: Deception. And looking back… yeah, Street Fighter II held up way better. But we still loved Mortal Kombat. We loved the characters (That weren’t new to Deception anyway, except Kenshi), we loved the brutal finishers, and we loved the world of Mortal Kombat so much. I just wish it was more refined. And then Netherrealm Studios happened.
Mortal Kombat 9 (I know it’s just called Mortal Kombat, but screw that noise) takes place in an alternate world after the death of all the other Mortal Kombat characters starting from the first three games, with Raiden given a hint, the most vague hint in the world, in order to stop Shao Kahn from taking over Earthrealm through the Mortal Kombat tournament. First off, an actual story mode. In previous games, you had these weird Quest Modes that weren’t really fighting game story modes, just weird exploration mini-games with some fighting game missions there. But here, you get a full story, a goofy one, but fun nonetheless, all mixed with a ton of fighting game challenges for you to complete. The game feels so much nicer to play now. I remember me and my brothers playing the hell out of this game when it got released. My mains were always Ermac, Jax, and Scorpion because hell demons are better than ice ninjas, fucking fight me. Seeing the story unfold as beloved characters died left and right was shocking to see, and seeing what sort of twist would happen as a result of bad hints by future Raiden was both dumb and funny. And then there’s Shao Kahn, the final boss. This son of a bitch bastard was such a pain in the ass for me and my brother, who was way better at this game than I was. Seriously, fuck you Shao Kahn. The game also introduces something new to Mortal Kombat that it seems to have run with since. X-Ray moves, moves that were super satisfying, brutal, and a lot of fun to watch, where you just mess up the character in slow, violent fashion. These could count as fatalities, really. Oh, and this game also had some of the best fatalities in the franchise at the time, even bringing back classic ones from the original games
Mortal Kombat 9 (Still not calling it Mortal Kombat) was a refreshing game to play. It brought back the characters I have nostalgia over from my childhood (I had a weird childhood), and made them better, as well as enhancing the gameplay by a mile. I don’t know about you, but I am damn excited to see what Mortal Kombat 11 has in store.