Support NeoGAF

[Creaking]

Let me ask you this. If MKX Reptile was like a horror film villain or fantasy film character, would you dislike the design still? Same storyline. Ancient lizard man race who fights in Mortal Kombat tournaments to the death.

Kind of, yeah. It just looks poorly put together. Some of the textures look stretched or abnormally flat. His eyes often look misaligned, and the hood without the mask looks extremely dopey, like he's wearing a low level helmet from an Elder Scrolls game. And the mouth/lips remind me of a wisened old man with a long face and hollowed cheeks, sans the sharp teeth.

It's too ugly to be cool and too messy/goofy to be intimidating. Maybe it'd look better with a different costume, but as it sits, I'm really not a fan. Whichever way I look at it.

 

[Afrikan]

Mortal Kombat 2 = Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Mortal Kombat 3 = The rest of the Call of Doodies and their extra remote control flying shit.

 

[oatmeal]

MK2 for me. I lost interest in the series after putting countless hours into 2.

That character select for MK2 is also one of the most nostalgic things for me...not sure why. That Baraka photo...

 

[vio]

Looks like a ...snap turtle. SnapturtleNinja!

 

[//ARCANUM]

MK2 all the way.

 

[NoctisVsStar]

Ultimate all day.

 

[teh_J0kerer]

MK2 by far.

The reason is basically just style. MK2 (and also MK1 really) was dark, mysterious and stylish as fuck. The faster, aggressive rhythm of the announcer, the quick beat of the "fatality screen darkening" sound. The generally brutal but not drawn out fatalities. Even just the way the characters stood and moved was cool. The music was fantastic.

After MK2 the series just got lost in self-parody. The fatality screen darkening sound became this cheesy organ-like music in MK3, Sub-Zero and Shang Tsung and Sindel, and the robots, and Stryker and Nightwolf were all cheesy as hell. Fatalities started going more for comedy, the announcer became slower and less aggressive... the list goes on and on.

To this day the series just can't capture the magical style of MK2. The recent MK games try so hard to be violent that it just becomes self parody and cheesy as hell. The announcer sounds like he's trying waay too hard to sound "eeeeviiill mwahahaha".

Funny thing is, I don't think the gameplay of MK2 is particularly good, I'd probably give MK3/UMK3 the edge there... but seriously who's playing MK for gameplay? If you want to play a fighter for gameplay go play SF. MK was for style, and it lost that after MK2.

 

[>:)]

MK2. Not even close. It was an improvement in every way possible. Atmosphere, graphics, frame rate, OST, even the sound cabinets had that 'boom' to it that no other had at the time.

But MK3/Ultimate does have one redeeming factor, in that you can cheese the fuck outta the CPU with Cyber Smoke.

 

[DanielJr82]

I came home running to play MK2. MK3... ehhh... not so much?

 

[SeanR1221]

When I was a kid, my friends and I were all about MK2.

When we got our hands on MK3...it was ok...but none of us really liked it that much.

 

[shinjimimura]

I've always thought old school MKs have been more about atmosphere and gore than actual gameplay. Gameplay wasn't anything to write home about, other fighters in that period were much better in that regard.

So between MKII and 3 (in all its various revisions) it's no match for me: MKII wins hands down. Better fatalities and much more "down-to-earth" violence, which made for a better and more "scary" experience. MK3's finishing moves were both badly conceived (making the whole earth explode? Turning into a giant and stomping the opponent? Seriously?) and executed (no specific frames for dismembered opponents meant ridiculous stuff like floating limbs and torsos, not to mention the multiple skulls/limbs that filled the screen when someone exploded).

MKII also looked a lot more refined and complete than 3, which almost looked amateur (the aforementioned missing frames, audio samples for screams playing even for beheaded fighters and such) and a parody of its predecessors (which may have been by design choice).

To sum it up: MKII. Which was also the first game i got for my Supernintendo back then, so a nostalgia factor may also be playing here.

 

[GnawtyDog]

Mk2 is arguably the better fighting game mechanics wise but I enjoyed MK3 more. Perhaps because I played it more.

Liu Kang's model in MK3 is ace too.

 

[Soodanim]

I want to say 2, but I hate playing that game. The AI is too much of a bastard.

So I'm going to say Mega Drive MK1, because the music is the best of the entire series. The theme itself is so good that it transcends it's category and is better than the gameplay of 2 and 3.

 

[VariantX]

I'd say MK2 even though i've played far less of that than MK3. The game was like MK1 polished further and I kind of wish they didnt have the dial-in combos from MK3 games and just gave people more tools to set up juggles like the current games do now (MK9, MKX). I do like the run feature that MK3 added to speed up the game a bit. I think midway was way more into pushing gimmicks into the game rather than polishing it into something better and it took them until MK9 to get back to basics.

 

[RM8]

I wonder if it's because of nostalgia, but MK2 (AKA my first PC and SNES game) would be my favorite from the original trilogy. I legit think it had good gameplay, and I just love everything about it.

 

[Dereck]

Both

 

[Troubled Bat]

MK2 > MK3

UMK3 >>>>> MK2

 

[pezley]

MK2 > MK3 and UMK3.

Agreed with a couple of posts back, after MK2 it became a complete cheese fest. I would love a MK2 roster and art remake on MKX engine and mechanics. X has one a good job of returning to pure fighting and mental fatalities, it doesnt tick the joke fest boxes that previous iterations have

 

[Noisepurge]

Out of the classic trilogy, these two were the ones most people knew about, owned, and played. The biggest differences between MK2 and MK3 were the roster and the setting - 2 took place mostly in Outworld and had dark, fantasy-esque locations, such as The Dead Pool and The Living Forest,

Biggest difference easily was the combo system. MK2 was still the game i like to play more. But that's just a personal preference

Look at the difference, why the hell would they ruin it?

they went the cheap route and when needed to do animalities for the whole cast, used a simplified colour palette makes it faster and cheaper

 

[Gono]

MK2 > MK3
Ninjas > Cyborgs
Best Sub Zero Ninja ever > Unmasked Sub Zero
Johnny Cage > Stryker
Kitana & Mileena > Sindel
Baraka > All other new characters from Mk3 and UMK3
Kintaro > Stupid Motaro & Sheeva
Raiden > Nightwolf


Though it was nice to have Sonya and Kano back. And Kabal was kinda cool.

Oh I forgot:

Reptile & Scorpion > No Reptile & Scorpion

I could do without Reptile, even if it is my favorite ninja, but no fucking Scorpion?

 

[Metalmarc]

Back in the day i never owned mk2

I had the first one on the megadrive (genesis) after playing it with my uncle, i was 11 years old, i begged, scrimped and saved and paid half, my mum paid the other half and i got it for my 12th birthday.

I was hooked and super obssesed. When the second one was due i was hyped, i'd continously buy magazines related to mk2 , but when it came out i dunno i just didnt feel it, i never asked for it, i did borrow it from a friend and i did enjoy it but never felt like owning it.

Then the third came out and there was something i liked about it, it felt more like the first, and i got it for my birthday just like the first.


I never played the ultimate version until years later

For some unknown reason my favourite Mortal Kombat games are the odd numbered ones apart from 7 (never played it, because i was burnt out from videogames)

Mk 1, mk3, mk 5 deadly alliance, mk9

 

[Murkas]

Preferred MK2 by far, didn't enjoy MK3 for the reasons that have been stated during the thread.

I didn't play much of UMK3 and MKTrilogy, what did UMK3 fix/improve over vanilla MK3 bar the extra characters? What is the difference between UMK3 and Trilogy because on the face of it, it looked like the same game, I think Trilogy had playable boss characters and UMK3 didn't?

 

[Cleve]

UMK doesn't count eh, OP?

It's easily 2 then. 2 was a polished complete package, 3 was a sloppy mess of hot shit. UMK3 fixed a lot of the issues 3 had, but I was mostly done with the series by that point.

 

[TheDarkBites]

2. Johnny Cage.

 

[Trojan X]

That always brings a tear to my eye. Speaking of MUGEN, can't wait until this project comes out;

Fuck. Never imagine graphics like for MK. Can't wait to see what they would do the environments and gameplay. Please go for realism.

 

[SkylineRKR]

MK3 is better. It has much better gameplay and pace than MK2.

If you look past the gameplay, then MK2 has better atmosphere, characters, fatalities, sound etc. But it just plays like shit imo, as I found out during Kollection. MK3 fatalities were a huge let down, they looked like shit. But those things aren't the most important to me (MKX plays so well, that I tend to forget about them). I just loved using Kano in that game, juggling with buffered cannonballs.

MK3 itself however had been made redundant by UMK3, which is the best classic MK imo.

 

[TheSpoiler]

Preferred MK2 by far, didn't enjoy MK3 for the reasons that have been stated during the thread.

I didn't play much of UMK3 and MKTrilogy, what did UMK3 fix/improve over vanilla MK3 bar the extra characters? What is the difference between UMK3 and Trilogy because on the face of it, it looked like the same game, I think Trilogy had playable boss characters and UMK3 didn't?

UMK3 is far, far more balanced than MK3 and just more balanced than MK2. Like more than 1/4 of the cast is viable at top tiers, which speaks volumes. I think Human Smoke is still kinda bullshit though.

Trilogy is straight up MUGEN level.

 

[Oneself]

Mortal Kombat 2, by far. With MK3, they destroyed the gameplay balance with cheap moves and overpowered/underpowered characters... And that run button, please no.

Faith was restored later with MK Trilogy (PS version) and Shaolin Monks ... Now, I don't care much about MK.

 

[jbortz78]

All MK2 for me!

Played the crap out of it at the arcades and even more so at home on the Snes (wonderful port btw).

Never really felt the same with MK3, liked the setting and some of the characters (NOT Sub Zero...!). But regret I never play Ultimate MK3.

 

[Gordon Shumway]

MKII is still played by my friends and I yearly. It's just better, IMO..

 

[SkylineRKR]

Mortal Kombat 2, by far. With MK3, they destroyed the gameplay balance with cheap moves and overpowered/underpowered characters... And that run button, please no.

Faith was restored later with MK Trilogy (PS version) and Shaolin Monks ... Now, I don't care much about MK.

Trilogy is like the most unbalanced fighter I have ever played. I don't think I ever lost with Noob, but you could also use Kintaro.

It was a great idea with shit execution and the shitty MK3 fatalaties ruined the classic characters. I greatly prefer UMK3 over it though its Saturn port was incredibly poor (Saturn missed out on MK3, but they did get the best MK though) still better than MK3 on PSX. Had to wait till the XBLA version, or MAME.

 

[DryvBy]

I played UMK3 on XBLA when it hit and I forgot how much I hated MK3 until then. That game is just awful in comparison to MK2.

 

[RSP]

MK2 looks so bad-ass when playing on an arcade cabinet.

 

[klee123]

MK2.

It's not even close. MK3 onwards was when the series went stupid.

 

[TheSpoiler]

MK2.

It's not even close. MK3 onwards was when the series went stupid.

In terms of what?

I mean, fighting game wise, nope. UK3, 9, and X are completely legit.

As for the rest of the games? You are correct.

 

[Oneself]

Trilogy is like the most unbalanced fighter I have ever played. I don't think I ever lost with Noob, but you could also use Kintaro.

It was a great idea with shit execution and the shitty MK3 fatalaties ruined the classic characters. I greatly prefer UMK3 over it though its Saturn port was incredibly poor (Saturn missed out on MK3, but they did get the best MK though) still better than MK3 on PSX. Had to wait till the XBLA version, or MAME.

I totally agree about Trilogy being really unbalanced, I wasn't really precise about "why" it gave me faith in some kind of a MK2-ish comeback that never came... Trilogy embraced the past games and was kind of a big "thank you" to MK fans. It felt great at the time.

 

[RAIDEN1]

Netherealms or W.B missed a BIG opportunity on the Kombat Kollection version for PS3 and Xbox 360, they could have done so much more with it...but it was a game that had bare-bones features to it if anything...

 

[Rymuth]

MK2 because fuck Motaro

 

[giancarlo123x]

Netherealms or W.B missed a BIG opportunity on the Kombat Kollection version for PS3 and Xbox 360, they could have done so much more with it...but it was a game that had bare-bones features to it if anything...

It was supposed to be a full on remake but that got can cancelled and they took this lazy route. The pictures looked awesome.

 

[MrCookiepants]

Hahahaha, I had completely forgotten about this one. So terrible.

What are you talking about? That was the best thing ever.

Bring back Animalities.

 

[TGO]

Just booted both up, I take it back
MK3 plays better, but MK owns for its time.

 

[RangerX]

Ultimate MK3 is where its at man. The roster was huge. I have great memories playing with friends back in the day. MK2 is great too though.

 

[CaptainofIndustry]

MK2. No question.

 

[Stiflers Mom]

MK2 by far.

The reason is basically just style. MK2 (and also MK1 really) was dark, mysterious and stylish as fuck. The faster, aggressive rhythm of the announcer, the quick beat of the "fatality screen darkening" sound. The generally brutal but not drawn out fatalities. Even just the way the characters stood and moved was cool. The music was fantastic.

After MK2 the series just got lost in self-parody. The fatality screen darkening sound became this cheesy organ-like music in MK3, Sub-Zero and Shang Tsung and Sindel, and the robots, and Stryker and Nightwolf were all cheesy as hell. Fatalities started going more for comedy, the announcer became slower and less aggressive... the list goes on and on.

To this day the series just can't capture the magical style of MK2. The recent MK games try so hard to be violent that it just becomes self parody and cheesy as hell. The announcer sounds like he's trying waay too hard to sound "eeeeviiill mwahahaha".

Funny thing is, I don't think the gameplay of MK2 is particularly good, I'd probably give MK3/UMK3 the edge there... but seriously who's playing MK for gameplay? If you want to play a fighter for gameplay go play SF. MK was for style, and it lost that after MK2.

This is basically what I wanted to write...

After MK2 the series got too cheesy and spandex.

 

[kencey]

MK2 wins by far.
I dare say is the best MK ever.
What a classic.

 

[Give War A Chance]

MK2 is infinitely better than 3.

Bang! Nailed it.

 

[hooijdonk17]

I prefer... MK1.

 

[kencey]

It's too ugly to be cool and too messy/goofy to be intimidating. Maybe it'd look better with a different costume, but as it sits, I'm really not a fan. Whichever way I look at it.

The MKX Reptile is dumb as hell.
They went too far with the idea of making him more "reptile". Now he just looks stupid.

Edit: THIS is what reptile should look like.

 

[gelf]

I prefer MK2 by a long way but it amuses me that MK3 is getting criticised for being too goofy. As if MK2 was all dark and serious.

MK2 has a better cast, a better overall look, less lazy looking fatalities and none of those dial a combos I hate but like MK3 it still had it tongue firmly in cheek, and I love it for it. MK9&10 should have had Friendships.

 

[kyubajin]

MKII. My brother and I used to go to this place where you could rent consoles for hours (in Latin America) and play MK2 all day long until our thumbs were blistered.