Mortal Kombat II Arcade Edition - Sega 32X

Let's look at the recent hack that brings the 32X version of MKII a little closer to the coin-op.
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Opening "Sega" jingle is from Astal for the Sega Saturn.
Ending Music during the credits is from Batman for the Sega Genesis.
SLX Logo
By: Jan Neves
KZbin Page - / jan3d
Intro by Evan S.
portfolio.tsestudios.com/
Episode Notes:
1. Most footage here was captured on real hardware. There are a few sections where the option screen and new demo mode are running via Kega Fusion.
2. Here is a direct link to Master LinKuei's video:
• SEGA Genesis 32X - Mor...
3. Here is a list of changes and additions:
Improvements:
-Added more voices and sfx samples:
Scorpion's "Get Over Here"
Liu Kang's Bicycle Kick
Shao Kahn's Laugh
Dan Fordden's "Oh waaa"
Sub-Zero's Ice SFX
& More...
-Added SFX in the backgrounds:
Livin' Forest
The Portal
-Combos restored and improved:
Jax Flying Kick + Grab in the air
Scorpion's Flying kick + Teleport
and more...
-Gameplay and timings improved
-Reset System:Press ABC+MODE to reset or go back to the MEGA ED PRO menu
-Training Mode with an exclusive new music track!
-Deadpool Dan Fordden's "Oh waaa" easter egg restored
-The PIT II fatality improved (sfx, animations and sync)
-32X+ alternate patch with all the Arcade songs (based on the 32X+ code by jvisser)
-Auto 3 Buttons/6 Buttons detection
-Enable or Disable the Timer option
-Color palettes improved and added shadow mode in some screens to look more accurate with the Arcade game.
& a lot of other little improvements...
-AI Nerf (by @BillyTime ):
ON = The difficulty selected will be fixed for every fight of the battleplan (even for the bosses)
OFF = The original AI: after the 3rd fight, the CPU turn into a BEAST lol
-Pause System (by @yosoynacho ):
Press MODE to pause and Start to unpause

[@BrushworkNL]

I got the 32X and MK 2 as a package for my 13th bday, Ill never forget that. Great memory and excellent game ~

[@SeveredLegs]

I didn't know they had a bundle with mk2 as a pack-in!

[@Johnnybomb1]

​@@SeveredLegsNeither did I. My 32x combo came with Doom.

[@BillyTime]

Thank you for the shout out! Master Linkuei, Danillo Dais and Myself have a fun rom hack coming up soon Called Ghostbusters - Special Edition. Normally I only speak for myself but I can assure you, we have quite a lot to give the Genesis community and we will continue to cook up some cool new stuff whether we are working solo or as a group. :D

[@mccribb]

Thank you so much! Music and that DEEP BASS was so good in the arcade, that's the biggest QOL upgrade any version of this could've hoped for. You guys are amazing for putting these together. Also love how you lined up the player sprites' height line to the arcade, to give an illusion of the arcade's sprite size. SUPER job!!

[@juanjoserivasgarcia2336]

Billy, you are the creator,? aawesome work man. I have a question for you, the arcade music seems limited for those ones with expensive everdrive cartridges, so Iwas wondering, There is not a chance to add the option to run the music froma CD, using a SEGA CD? I shared the same idea with The developer of Doom Resurraction , and he Managed to add this option and is awesome cause the performance of the game gets even better. Best Vibes¡ I hope you like the idea :) credits please xD lol

[@apap1586]

That's crazy it been thirty years since Mortal Kombat 2 came out. Doesn't feel like long ago.

[@nexxusty]

Were you there for Mortal Monday? Lol, I was. What a day.

[@j2323j]

Man 25 cents a play

[@mortiz6796]

Haha, wooooo! Time has wings babaaay!⌚🕊️ Means we gettin older 😅

[@outerspaceman7534]

In November it will be thirty years. Still, that’s a long time ago.

[@mattdrake7197]

Hands down the best fighting game of that era in my opinion

[@duckpwnd]

I agree about the acid pool stage. It looks like it went dark the same way it does when you pull off a fatality.

[@terrylodge4846]

me too, the rest looks good, though larger character sprites would have really nailed the arcade feel. i remember the difference from playing the arcade version to that "a little bit disappointed," feeling of the home versions. it was always that way so...

[@shrim1481]

GET OVRR HERE!!

[@legendsflashback]

They really messed up that acid stage

[@duckpwnd]

@@legendsflashback I bet they'll fix it. It looks like something happened that was entirely unintentional (as opposed to just being a bit off on the colors).

[@quinnhofmann5399]

​​@@duckpwnd agree - literally looks like they took the file with the finish him color palette and set the file pathway of both acid pool stage background files as that vs only the finishing blow one

[@MasterLinkuei]

Thanks a LOT for the support!! ❤

[@MasterLinkuei]

​@@user-pm9nb4fg1d i can do that soon

[@stevejennings3960]

It looks great running on my ps4!!! @linkueiBR

[@laughingseal2282]

I always felt the 32x port was underrated. Good to see people showing love to it.

[@chzzyg2698]

The 32X was the best worst Christmas gift ever. It had awesome games, and no future releases planned.

[@liublanka3925]

Mk2 days were awesome. The franchise held so much hope

[@robertdragon9478]

Cheers to you Liu. MORTAL KOMBAT

[@LukeDodge916]

The first time i saw an MKII machine in the arcade is still so ingrained in my memory as the most incredible video game moment of my life. Everything about it just blew my young teenager mind away. I was not ready for that experience, but I feel blessed I have it.

[@ahok1937]

It's still great.

[@RealNathanExplosion]

@@LukeDodge916 I have one grail arcade cabinet - MK2. 3 years ago, one was posted on Craigslist about 30 minutes away, $300 in excellent condition. I called them up, it was an older guy that was cleaning out inventory, someone had just called 20 minutes earlier. I still think about that deal I missed

[@LukeDodge916]

@@RealNathanExplosion i think I may cry. Why would you do that to me...

[@Bant_Panorama]

Love the 32X content, especially the single game reviews, would enjoy your take on Zaxxon, Metalhead, Shadow Squadron etc. keep up the great work man.

[@SegaCDUniverse]

Seconded

[@paulgregoriou6574]

Metalhead was awesome!

[@nathanc6516]

I like how they raised the characters up on the screen so that the height of their head matches the height of the arcade characters'. The sprites are still smaller, but it feels more like the arcade proportionally.

[@quinnhofmann5399]

I was thinking that too. The grade of the ground is a little different so the smaller sprite size looks the same so it's like looking from further away at a slightly higher line of sight. Nice use of forced perspective to create that illusion. Look the same relative to background

[@forrestredd2706]

I've been watching your videos for years at this point, and I'm just now starting to notice there is something strangely familiar about your voice, like, comforting and nostalgic. Which is perfect for your channel.

[@DietBajaBlast]

dude has the voice of an FM DJ

[@xhizornl3204]

As a oldskool Sega fan and owner of all the consoles i love your content!! Your channel should be so much bigger.

[@poopy_fingers3324]

I grew up in the mid 90s. While I love the 8 and 16 bit era I have absolutely zero interest in earlier consoles, such as the Atari 2600. It’s 2023. I think a lot of people now see these 30 year old games as I saw the 2600. This type of content is for niche.

[@Thor-Orion]

@@poopy_fingers3324 I disagree. Sprite art from the 16 but era is still beautiful and the games have depth and are infinitely replayable. World of difference between artistic representations of what they’re depicting. With 2600 and 8 bit stuff there is a ton of interpretation and imagination required, whereas with the 16 and 32 bit stuff it’s clear visually with often timeless music.

[@greenkoopa]

It's slightly larger than the average sized niche retro game channel, our audience doesn't grow in size after all

[@Adamtendo_player_1]

I think it’s because Sega Lord X focuses only on retro Sega games mostly but that’s not a bad thing because Sega Lord X is a passion Sega fan who’s unbiased and fair with his assessments and reviews.

[@stephenschenider4007]

The people that put the work in on these mods are rockstars!

[@johnv7317]

I hope fan-modders will make a Mortal Kombat Arcade Edition for the SNES that brings back the blood and gore that the original SNES lacked.

[@mccribb]

Came here to say EXACTLY this. 💯

[@dad7275]

Agreed! It already had awesome graphics and sound. The rest needed major work though.

[@maroon9273]

And the sega cd. Also, arcade edition for the MK2 snes, saturn and ps1 ports.

[@VOAN]

Lots of coding skills could make that happen, the only thing is re-coloring the sweat to red just doesn't feel the same cause when you pit fatality an opponent, no sweat are seen and in the arcade the blood were suppose to fly when an opponent hit the spikes.

[@Mankey619]

I really love the Mod community. They always do these incredible Rom hacks of old games, and tweak it to make the gaming experience more fun than the original.

[@spaceghostcqc2137]

awesome, mk2 32x was always strong, but this elevates it to a champion.

[@AllCoolThingsStoneMountain]

First! OH, why aren't there more 32X games included in compilations, minis, and hacks?

[@dhi1145]

Veterans like you are crucial for the space of video game discourse. Love your stuff, man.

[@brandonfarfan1978]

Nice. Those retro dudes are the best. Nice praise at the end dude. They really do great work.👍

[@lo1bo2]

I'm re-reading some comic books from the early 90's, and smile whenever I come across the iconic ads for either MK or MKII home ports.

[@yousefslimani99]

I love your contents so much! keep up the good work!

[@oldskoolpaul77]

Awesome! I had no idea this existed. I really enjoyed this video. Thanks

[@thompsonpatrick79]

I prefer the og color palate on the 32x original

[@ghost085]

Yeah, in terms of color this hack is hit or miss, mostly miss.

[@RyuAkiga]

Awesome video! Great Hack guys! This was really awesome to see! Great episode SLX!

[@kibakim]

Imagine this in that time in your house, SICK

[@donkeyparadise9276]

Say no to the great reset

[@mscottjohnson3424]

8:09 SFII:SCE and SSFII got this upgrade. For SCE, you can add the arcade or 3DO soundtrack to the Remastered edition. You can also add either soundtrack to a patched version of SSFII with better colors. While I still can't think of a good reason to play this over Super Turbo on the Saturn, it's nice to have.

[@SeveredLegs]

I think SSF2:TNC is a better overall game than Super Turbo. ST is so wacky and unpredictable.... Practically gimmicky. TNC is a more balanced traditional fighting game.

[@mscottjohnson3424]

@@SeveredLegs hard disagree on that. I play SF2 competitively, and it's a general consensus that it's New Challengers is the unbalanced one. Super Turbo was a fix for all the problems in New Challengers

[@SeveredLegs]

@@mscottjohnson3424 in which ways is TNC unbalanced? I've seen ST rounds end with combos that destroy an entire damage meter in 4 seconds out of nowhere.

[@gloriab702]

You can also use the X68000 ost if you like the FM style.

[@VOAN]

@@mscottjohnson3424 I believe Super Turbo is just being flashy, the New Challengers is a more balance game especially if you play the Super NES and Sega Genesis versions which got the Turbo speeds added. Both versions are practically Super Turbo just without the flashy super moves and Akuma.

[@BigSnipp]

2 new SLX videos for the weekend. Nice.

[@Captain-Eymen]

Sir, very nice video, thank you for your work

[@NewportBox100s]

Love to see stuff like this! MK is so epic.

[@GYTCommnts]

There are so many excellent MK hacks out there! And a lot of them are for the Sega ports. One of the best (for me) is an UMK3 one that requires it's own emulator for all the stuff in there. It's almost an MK Armageddon of all the MKs for Mega Drive, and is glorious. There are many versions and names, but the main one was "Ultimate Mortal Kombat Trilogy". I think that later the code was even polished so it would fit a real cartridge. Just amazing!

[@cliffchampion5501]

I wish the episodes where longer I can watch this for at least an hour.

[@robertdragon9478]

Create hour-long playlists, by subject matter. Sega Lord X's material goes back awhile.

[@RalonsoF1]

Very Impressive improvements!

[@JoeBuk724]

This looks really cool I’ll have to try it out. I’ve always loved the Arcade intro, especially the music. I have it for Saturn (which i know ur not a fan of) and i’d let the intro play a couple of times sometimes. The MK music in general is good tho, it’s nice to hear all the old tunes in their Arcade glory. I agree too, variety is always a good thing. The player having choice will always be better than none.

[@seanfroelich4528]

this is cool, thanks for the breakdown

[@1sodom1]

Отличная работа Sega Lord! Ты красавчик!!!

[@l1uchill]

It looks good! I enjoyed the Genesis version so I bet this is pretty awesome! Thanks SLX!

[@jenisia3600]

Bless you all involved in this. Acid pool needs to be less dark

[@Charlie-eq3dj]

What would be great is if they made an arcade+ version where they ripped modern quality sound effects and voice files from newer consoles and inserted them into the games, now that Everdrives allow practically infinite storage.

[@jasonz7788]

Great work Sir thank you

[@justanish6966]

ABACABB

[@Marc_Araujo]

Great...now I can't get Liu Kang's bicycle kick sound out of my head.

[@jessragan6714]

"Hey-you-keep-your-hands-off-of-my-Cocoa-Puffs!"

[@thisisnotachannel]

The 32X was always my favorite console port of MK II back then... it was as close to the arcade version as you could get without owning the PC version. And my family didn't even have a PC! Pretty awesome to see it getting some love in the form of hacks! This one looks like it still needs some tweaking... but quite well done so far!

[@Oysterblade84]

Love the video SLX! Really enjoyed it and I agree about the Deadpool looking too dark, also The Wasteland stage looks too blue and not enough purple like in the Arcade original. Don't know why they keep adding the line ''Winners don't sell free ROM hacks'' that's exactly what circulates within the Chinese pirating community of reproduction hacks and I have MK1 Arcade Edition on the Mega Drive 2022 patch release to prove it.

[@maroon9273]

Hopefully scrolling test demo mk2 will be turned into a game. Looks much better than the 32x version (even the arcade edition).

[@Oysterblade84]

@Felicia The Casual Oh yeah I forgot about that guy. Valintino or something? It's not a good look at all when you're charging people just for a download llink and nothing more.

[@dannybursace9151]

I’ve never played a Sega game besides Bloodlines but love to hear Sega Lord X’s passion in his vids …must see vids in my book

[@ajsingh4545]

You missed out on lot of greats

[@cruzin1383]

They have a mod for Castlevania bloodlines that also fixes a lot of the colors and makes things better.

[@Gatorade69]

What !? Really ? Not even Sonic ? You need to play Gunstar Heroes, Sonic 2/3 & Knuckles, Streets of Rage 2, Castle of Illusion and Shinobi III.

[@dannybursace9151]

I should…I grew up with Nintendo then switched to PS…games look great 👍

[@StRoRo]

I just got a 32x and I'm looking forward to trying these hacks.

[@happyspaceinvader508]

The original seems closer in color palette to the arcade than the hack!

[@ikenosis8160]

I owned a legit Mortal Kombat 2 arcade machine with a friend of mine back in the early 2000's. It wasn't the huge expensive top shelf cabinet, but it was a full size machine and we loved it. I could kill with Katana in 7 seconds. To this day I am a mean problem at MK2 and can easily lose friends if the game is being played. 😅 After Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Mortal Kombat 2 is probably my favorite game of all time. A gem from my childhood. A blessing of blood and bone. Thank you for jogging my memory. Great work as always. Liked and shared.

[@stingyringpiece]

awesome as always

[@SegaLordX]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@dad7275]

Its being sold in cartridge form on ebay. I like the original 32x cart so much I don't really know about shelling out another $50 to get a minor upgrade. Somthing to think about though. Id definitely be interested in it if I didn't have the original 32x release already.

[@R1SKbreaker]

Would love to have more coverage on ROM hacks/improvement hacks. Nice video and good work by the hackers.

[@c331hunt]

I had it on the 32x after owning the regular genesis and snes versions and the 32x was my favourite

[@sjftech]

To me, a lot of the stages look closer to the arcade on the original 32x version, but the rest of the changes are great.

[@julianocs87]

Great work from these guys, specially the AI nerf. But the acid pool stage is too dark now.

[@aceofhearts573]

When I was a kid every rundown pizza shop in the 90s had Mortal Kombat II. My dad would take me to eat pizza after school and I would get 50 cents to play while the pizza cooled down. I need a time machine to go back. We don't even have run down pizza shops or crackhead streets in downtown. It is all clean with rich college kids

[@mccribb]

Music and that *DEEP BASS* was so good in the arcade, that's the biggest QOL upgrade any version of this could've hoped for. Anyone else order the OST CD from the arcade attract mode? I did! 🐉🐉🐉🐉

[@alexan2930]

Thanks for the vid SLX! One thing I'll never understand is why people often choose an inferior port of an arcade game. The SNES version of Street Fighter 2 Turbo was often chosen over the arcade version even before the hacks.

[@cruzin1383]

Probably because of nostalgia they probably played the game on that console more then they could have on an arcade

[@zanegandini5350]

SFII in particular is a bit more forgiving on consoles, the arcade's AI is more relentless.

[@chzzyg2698]

Yes! This version was my jam! I played the hell out of this game and Doom.

[@doomdoomerson6524]

RITE THERE NEXT TO YA ,BUDDY!!

[@olschoolTonyCarter]

My favorite game of all time.

[@EricSega-pe8fl]

I recently saw this game for sale on ebay and didn't know what to make of it. Thanks for the review.

[@AllardRT]

Here's hoping we'll see a similar upgrade for the stock Genesis version.

[@FingerBreakerWu]

Finally…the punches and kicks have sounds.

[@tommy516]

Sega needs to release a 32X add-on for the minis. With 10 or so games, This game, Star Wars, some of the CD games, etc.

[@mtshark7]

That's pretty neat!

[@mercster]

Thanks buddy!

[@denraimei32]

I wanna see a hack of Fatal Fury 2 converted to Special, with the Golden Axe 32X conversion in mind, .

[@djbrotherson]

This is pretty dope if you have the og console. There's an arcade rom hack in the same spirit called "Mortal Kombat II Plus beta" - IMO is the most definitive version to date. They've also made MK1+ and UMK3+

[@VillageofShadows765]

Looks pretty fun 😁😁

[@l11l1venom1l11l]

Somehow this still falls short of the SNES version. The background colors really need a lot of clever, tricky work before they even come close to the SNES and the arcade ending slides need to be added. Might as well make an 8v8 tournament mode as well. That being said, what's here is good. I just hope they keep adding to it and improving on it. I'd love to see more mind-blowing efforts on the 32x like Doom Resurrection.

[@entertainmentwizard2703]

Impressive!

[@strikefirst3404]

It was really cool to see MK2 in The Last of Us series in The Left Behind episode. Ellie loves the game, the guys spent 2 rounds, I thought it was amazing to dedicate to this

[@tacutn6]

@linkueiBR are you finish tweaking mk2 or do you feel you can get a little more out of it? And do you plan on porting mk3 ultimate to the 32x? Thanks for your efforts you've made many happy including me... this is what was wishing would've gotten back in the day. I knew the 32x was very capable

[@jagergerg9771]

Love the arcade music

[@MrMartellSincere]

Sega Lord X forever 🤠

[@preamstrikbiz0]

We need that street fighter alpha on Genesis to come out at this point

[@Greybush46322]

I MUST FIND THIS!

[@BillyBob-5556]

I can’t get the cd audio working in retro arch or kega fusion. Can someone help please?

[@CyprienCole]

I agree, The acid could been more bright while keeping the stage dark..

[@scaleitback1055]

From what I remember, the original port is the only one that had the Shang Tsung laugh victory pose

[@esnc954]

It's very nice and refreshing to see the 32x recieve this new kind of attention from hackers, despite it never being that famous (From what I know at least).

[@jahdorose8659]

Nice

[@observer.b_e_l_l_i_s]

Could never go back to any port after *A1UP.* Pretty cool to see never the less especially for any who dont have a full cab or A1UP.

[@joshuacampbell289]

When MK2 came out we were talking about Shao Kahn vs M. Bison

[@kennethd4958]

I used the hack version on my Mister FPGA and I did not notice the acid pool stage looking that dark... maybe they fixed it already? But it does not look nearly as dark.

[@iKevinF]

Makes me wish I bought an Everdrive Pro instead of the Everdrive X5, specifically for the music. But I have a 32x and Sega CD attached to my Genesis and there are too many limitations that make the Everdrive Pro not worth it for me with that set up. Good video though!

[@rBrad4D]

It's everything we wanted the Genesis version to be

[@thetrashpanda9085]

This hack looks absolutely amazing! I loved the original and this upgrades it to how it should have been. I agree the acid stage looks a bit too dark. My only other minor complaint would be the characters are set further back than the original. I like the larger sprites closer up. Once again it's only a minor complaint

[@maroon9273]

Rom size probe used, is too small to improve any huge changes. 6 MB or more storage would've been much better for mk2 and mk1.

[@joesaiditstrue]

the sprites aren't further back, it's just that the arcade uses larger sprites. they had to be dialed down in size for the consoles

[@thetrashpanda9085]

@@joesaiditstrue That makes a lot of sense

[@The_Badseed]

Behold the mighty 32X

[@user-cz2xl1ck1y]

MK2 is the real GOAT 👏👏

[@robmadrigal714]

Everything is bigger with the arcade version:)

[@38kob]

pretty weird. i figured they called it “arcade edition” because they had found a way to bring the 32X version markedly closer to the arcade original, minimizing the compromises the console port had to make at the time. instead it looks more like they just made…different compromises

[@MrHentaiLord]

I hope that work on the Sega Saturn for Mortal Kombat 2 cuz it needs it when it comes to the sound effects and the music

[@maroon9273]

Including the ps1 port. Both port need to be bug free.

[@Klawpaw]

I like the hack acid stage much better but yeah personal preference.

[@itchyisvegeta]

I agree with the acid pit stage. I prefer it looking closer to the arcade. But everything else is great. Great project over all. Hoping to see an SNES MK1 Arcade Edition sometime in the future.

[@maroon9273]

The walls is too dark and very grainy as the genesis version. Plus, the tower walls look smoother than the hack version.

[@balaam_7087]

@5:00 Shang Tsung keeping the beat on the drums while Kitana sweeps the floor

[@quinnhofmann5399]

I think the tree growling is coming from multiple faces and not necessarily the one on screen at the time when you hear one.

[@kennethshaw8890]

An Arcade edition for Primal Rage would be great!

[@MikeDeeJackson]

Adding a pause button is incredible! I completely forgot you couldn't pause the old MK games! That was the worst!

[@mattb6522]

This hack looks toasty! I never played much Mortal Kombat II back in the day, but always appreciate the hacking community efforts to enhance classic games. Hope Sega Lord X highlights more hacks available as there are some great ones available and they just keep coming!

[@gamebred88]

Had mk2 on snes. Maaaaan I couldn’t be shao khan .. was the dagger in my heart everytime as a 10 year old trying to beat the game 😆

[@registereduser]

Is that your best?

[@Gatorade69]

At least it wasn't as hard as the Arcade version.

[@Thor-Orion]

On Sega Genesis my brother and I just cheesed Shao Khan with Jax’s uppercut.

[@bobbynick5358]

You know what's funny? I kinda like to see gameboy demake ports of the Mortal Kombat games get the treatment like Street fighter alpha on game boy color, like a MK DX port but plays and function like it was ported by Crawfish Interactive.