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Lttp: Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks - Greatest coop story fighter game of all time

BigEmil

Junior Member
I still don't know what Lttp means but i think it's about where you talk about a game you like? Anyways.
Mortal%20Kombat%20Shaolin%20Monks%20-%20NTSC%20Cover.jpg

This game man i don't think any game has surpassed it still the best game under Netherrealm studios next to MK Deception story mode.

The story mode is just perfect from beginning to end the gameplay and mechanics were sublime, level designs the traps the enemies the bosses the easter eggs the cheats the secrets the special moves are unparalleled. You cannot name a game like this story beat em up genre as nowhere near as good as MK Shaolin Monks or even Deception.

The Versus mode is also really dope. I'd kill for a remaster or a sequel on all current platforms.

I'd like to think not many played this game at all since i rarely hear people mention this game and even this Twitter poll by Ed Boon which put me in shock like...


You people wanted more DLC to an average basic fighter than another masterpiece like MK SHAOLIN MONKS 2? WTF

Yeah it's a short lttp i just wanted to spread awareness of this greatness called MK Shaolin Monks and also vent out my rage for people's poor decision in that Twitter poll RIP Shaolin Monks sequel. If you haven't yet play this masterpiece asap. It's also great as 1 player too but 2 player in this is much better imo.
 

tapedeck

Do I win a prize for talking about my penis on the Internet???
Yep the game is fantastic. An HD remaster would my quickest instabuy ever.
 
In terms of gameplay Sengoku Basara laps it, though that's to be expected considering it came out in the PS2 days.

And did you just call MKXL mediocre? Lmao my dude no.
 

Phloxy

Member
A classic. The unlockables, combat and stage design. The use of the lore, the secrets, the magnum opus of beat em ups.
 

BigEmil

Junior Member
In terms of gameplay Sengoku Basara laps it, though that's to be expected considering it came out in the PS2 days.

And did you just call MKXL mediocre? Lmao my dude no.

The 3D fighting in Shaolin Monks far surpasses any traditional MK 2D fighting games
 

Tenrius

Member
Me & my roomate played it through it a couple years ago. It's generally great, although some battles are not very well designed (the final boss sequence specifically — I think 5 hours of our 20-30-ish hour playthrough were spent solely on that).
 

SpacLock

Member
In terms of gameplay Sengoku Basara laps it, though that's to be expected considering it came out in the PS2 days.

And did you just call MKXL mediocre? Lmao my dude no.

I know I'll be in the minority here, but MKX is one of the greatest fighters of all time.

It's been my go to since Guilty Gear Reload.
 
The 3D fighting in Shaolin Monks far surpasses any traditional MK 2D fighting games

I mean, don't get me wrong. SM is top tier in terms of beat'em up games. It was based on the era of MK games where the gameplay was awful and busted. For them to make something competent outta that is remarkable.

Buuutttttt comparing it to 9 and especially XL is silly. There's no way SM is even close to how deep MKXL is. The only upside of SM is that it "feels" less stiff because the hitboxes are crazy big and it's easier to chain stuff out of the dial-a-combo system. But that's more of a feeling than the reality - SM is pretty shallow compared to MK's later entries.
 
Best beat em' up of all time. The Christmas morning I got this, The Warriors and DBZ Budokai 3 was a good day. Shaolin Monks perfectly blended MK lore with a deep beat em up combat system and perfect local coop. We need a sequel or remaster.
 

opricnik

Banned
Hahaha sucks on you i beat entire game with Reptile and Johnny Cage . Much better experience.

(armax cheat dvd baby). Also it was fun to play Battle mode with Goro,Kintaro,Ermac etc..)


best game of ps2 by far imo
 

Cardon

Member
Prior to MK9 coming out I actually wished the Shaolin Monks formula would've become the default way for the MK franchise moving forward. It had a damn good story, design, and combat.

I'm still hoping we'll see a successor to Shaolin Monks at some point.
 

fernoca

Member
Like always, none of this praise was around when they were giving away to action figures to preorders, when the game was released, and when the game took nearly 2 years to ship 1 million. :p

Which was a great number, but not one to fast track a sequel. They still tried to get a PSP port, an HD release and early work for a sequel, while Boon was telling people to contact Midway...WB...yet ignored.

With all this thing on the internet of making things go viral, even that MK movie reboot tease years ago...and yet, no hashtags or anything around Shaolin Monks. ;)
 

ThEoRy...

Member
Had a blast playing this co-op. A sequel with online would be pretty cool. And I'm not really a mortal kombat fan but I would play the hell outta that.
 
Shaolin Monks port/sequel >>>> 3rd MK movie

Remember the intro cinematic when Sub-Zero bitch slapped Scorpion with a masked guard's spine?
 

Soodanim

Member
I knew it was going to be good when I watched this glorious opening (Kung Lao with the GOAT character reveal there) for the first time, and it lived up. So much fun. And unlockable characters that extended the replayability. The only flaw I remember from the time was not being able to use some characters outside of versus mode. You could do it with cheat devices, so it's not like it wasn't possible from a technical perspective.
 

Geeky

Member
I remember this coming out a few months after the first God of War and thought it would be a nice continuing series that could run on as the hand to hand alternative of God of War, but unfortunately it kind of just stopped after one game.

It is amazing this game is as good as it was considering Special Forces was a few years earlier.

Maybe they didn't want to completely redo the entirely of the MK series story since Shaolin Monks was a retelling of MK 1 and 2 which they redid again with MK9.

It would have been cool to see Liu Kang and Kung Lao going through MK3 and 4.

I also remember this being one of the most glitch ridden games I had played on the PS2.

Sometimes the black background that you got when doing a fatality wouldn't revert back to normal so you would continue fighting on the stage without knowing what the environment looked like. It froze on me more times than I liked. And there was other stuff I cannot recall off the top of my head.
 

Dlent

Member
This might be the first time I've ever seen anyone speak positively of the Deception story mode. It was awful; Shaolin Monks and even MK9 are on a different level.
 
Probably one of the best beat 'em ups imo, I had a blast playing co-op with my bro in law in this. The combat system was fun as hell with all the juggles and also the VS mode was pretty great as well since you could play as some of the characters you fought in the main story. Would love to have a sequel!
 

BigEmil

Junior Member
Having never played Shaolin Monks, can you explain how this is? Because I'm having trouble visualizing it.
Without getting into fighter technicalities which im not good at explaining at but overall the combat and gameplay is much more satisfying and fun to play then a 2d fighter though that's just my opinion

Hahaha sucks on you i beat entire game with Reptile and Johnny Cage . Much better experience.

(armax cheat dvd baby). Also it was fun to play Battle mode with Goro,Kintaro,Ermac etc..)


best game of ps2 by far imo

Not sure if this is directed to me but been there done that played with those but went back to the originals which is still my fave way to play.
Anyone who wants to do it can just do it with a modified save file tutorials here it's pretty cool and you don't need the armax cheat dvd, forgot about this thanks for the reminder:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9MnYc0Ewd8

This might be the first time I've ever seen anyone speak positively of the Deception story mode. It was awful; Shaolin Monks and even MK9 are on a different level.

MK Deception story mode is really good i never heard anyone speak bad of it
 

dickroach

Member
such a cool, cool, game. it's a shame they never made another one.

+ I love Deception's story mode. it got me so into the MK lore.

the two games that solidified Mortal Kombat as one of the greatest franchises ever IMO.
 
This one of my all time favorites (played a lot with friends in co-op) and I really want a sequel or at least wish sony add this in PS2 classics for PS4.
 

Mugy

Member
Any local co-op game for me its to be accepted and appreciated. Shaolin Monks its not the best game in the genre by any means, but it is a good game.
 

BigEmil

Junior Member
Have you ever played a fighting game?
Yes but i don't play it much since i find traditional fighting games boring imo
Any local co-op game for me its to be accepted and appreciated. Shaolin Monks its not the best game in the genre by any means, but it is a good game.
Any recommendations in this genre that you think are good? Would love to play a game as good as this
 

ChouGoku

Member
I remember my friend and I played this all night on PS2. Such a fun game, I hope for a sequel or rerelease with online multiplayer
 

brian!

Member
Great game
Liu kang thinking kung lao is shao khan and jumpkicking him in the back is def a top 5 mk moment
As is kung lao running up to a dude that has been eviscerated and asking really earnestly "are you ok???"
 

Reset

Member
Yeah, it's the best MK game and the best in its genre. I'd rather have a sequel to this then another fighter, but that'll never happen so I'll even be happy with a HD remaster.
 
I know I'll be in the minority here, but MKX is one of the greatest fighters of all time.

It's been my go to since Guilty Gear Reload.

I agree. At least in terms of the modern games. I actually didn't like MK9 at all, but MKX fixed the issues I had. I put it right there with UMK3.
 

RAIDEN1

Member
This is a no-brainer to get a backward compatible version on the PS4...not as if there is an extensive PS2 library on there anyway...

Highly unlikely to happen though.... : (
 

ArjanN

Member
The 3D fighting in Shaolin Monks far surpasses any traditional MK 2D fighting games

Nah. But it's an entirely different genre anyway so the comparison doesn't make that much sense.

Shaolin Monks is probably one of the best takes on the classic beat 'em up genre in 3D though.
 
I remember playing this on the original Xbox with a friend in two player co-op, and the game was just stupidly fun. It is a surprisingly competent beat-em-up and a good use of the MK license. I would love to see a remake or a sequel.
 
I was just telling my friend about how good of a co-op game this is yesterday

The way they keep special moves as the same button inputs is really neat imo
 

Gen X

Trust no one. Eat steaks.
Disappointed I missed this when it came out after hearing all these praises, maybe because I ignored all MK games after 3 as I thought #3 was kack. Only owned 2 MK games since then, one on OG Xbox that had heaps of cool mini games like Kombat Chess and the introduction to the Krypt. Also that one last gen that came bundled with the arcade stick. Both great games.
 
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