New Update - Mortal Kombat Arcade Edition 1.0c on Sega Mega Drive/Genesis

[@ulysses2162]

Looks awesome! I just wish the health bars were like the arcade version, and had the player names inside them. The Mega Drive versions of MK2 and 3 had the names inside the health bars.

[@MasterThrasher]

One of the things that bothered me about MK2 and MK3 on the SNES.

[@aldolisboa]

Master Linkuei causes national pride.

[@roberto1519]

We all knew these games could had been so much closer and even with extras at the time, but the bean counters were always in the way of greatness.

[@Guitario666]

Yes i agree and extra cartridge size too

[@mushra50]

You got to remember back in the day cartridges with a great amount of memory for incredibly expensive to reproduce

[@unvaxxeddoomerlife6788]

@@mushra50 There is no excuse for MK to not have been on the same size cart as SFII which had been released long before MK and was its main rival.

[@thornstrikesback]

Could the original MK been better than what we got back in 1992? Absolutely! Could it have been this version? Not possible. Edit: 1993, not 1992

[@roberto1519]

@@thornstrikesback I don't think such big carts were available at the time of this release, I think it was released in 1993 while the arcade original is a 1992 game, right? Either way, they went too cheap on the cart and it feels rushed, the plain color backgrounds, the lack of sound samples and cut animation frames show that. MK2 is better than the SNES release as far as sprites detail and animation goes. I still love the music of the original on the MD though, sounds amazing.

[@TheRetroMartin]

Great stuff mate. Loved the side by side comparison. Can't wait to finally try this myself when I get chance.

[@LeftyPem]

One thing to note, the patch doesn’t allow a change to music, but the order the tracks play, as the bgm order on the MD didn’t match the arcade. Either option you choose will still be the MD tracks, and not any kind of remix or redo of the arcade audio.

[@Jankins-v2q]

There is a redone soundtrack, its on KZbin, they have attempted to replace the driver but im not exactly sure why they couldnt pull it off, also some years ago i saw a post somewhere where people said the original code of this game is a complete mess

[@willrobinson7599]

Whilst the original version back in the day was great , as u say this is a huge improvement both graphically and sound wise Hats off the the guys who spent their time doing all the tweaks so we could enjoy the best version possible

[@Ness_and_Sonic]

Sub-Zero's ending has a typo. It should be "a large sum of money" not "a large some of money."

[@tuxedothemagnificent6738]

Maybe he only wanted some money. Sub-Zero is no longer money hungry.

[@Paul07791]

@@tuxedothemagnificent6738 'Sub Zero: "I want a large sum... (sigh) okay, fine, some money"'.

[@tuxedothemagnificent6738]

@@Paul07791 Exactly how I pictured it lol.

[@tuxedothemagnificent6738]

Thank goodness there were no random red arrows or circles in thumbnail. I liked the video.

[@djvoid1]

It seems mad they didn't go for the beefier cart size when they knew it would sell like hotcakes regardless and they needed to outdo the SNES.

[@mushra50]

Midway tried to tell Nintendo to keep the blood in her version of mortal Kombat constantly he didn't even told them if you take out the blood is going to mess up the sales Nintendo didn't want the blood

[@unvaxxeddoomerlife6788]

@@mushra50 The lack of blood wasn't the deal breaker for me on SNES, in fact I prefer Sub Zeros fatality on SNES. The deal breaker is that the SNES version plays horribly and is glitchy as hell. I hope somebody hack fixes that version because it could be almost arcade perfect with a few tweaks.

[@chiefthunderhorse4430]

​@@unvaxxeddoomerlife6788 Indeed, even as a teen at the time that at first though it was awesome, the novelty of the blood did wear off over time, Raiden and Sub-Zero's alternate fatalities were actually pretty cool and Scorpion, Sonya and Lui Kang's fatalities were completely unchanged if I remember correctly, now Johnny and Kano's fatalities were kinda lame like they didn't even try , however it was the controls that made me dislike the SNES port.

[@thornstrikesback]

32 megabit carts on the Genesis didn't exist back in 1993, so a 'beefier cart' was simply not possible. The original MK on Genesis had to be done on a 16 megabit cart so we got what we got, and there was no way we could have gotten anything else. At the end of the day the original arcade MK was 64 megabit, so turning that in to a 16 megabit game was a feat within itself.

[@thornstrikesback]

Seems to be a few people asking "Why couldn't Probe just make the original Mortal Kombat on Genesis look and play like this?" This version is a 32 megabit game and 32 megabit games simply didn't exist in 1993 when it was first released on Genesis. The first 24 megabit game released was Earthworm Jim in April 1994. (Edit: it was actually Street Fighter II CE in Sep 93.) (The 40 megabit Genesis version of Super Street Fighter 2 was also released in 1994, but that game used bank switching so calling it a true 40 megabit game is debateable considering the Genesis couldn't read anything over 32 megabit/4MB). Even MK2 on Genesis, released September 1994 was only 24 megabit, so there was just literally no way there could have been a 32 megabit MK game on Genesis in 1993. The original MK on Genesis HAD to be done on a 16 megabit cart so taking a 64 megabit arcade game and putting it on a 16 megabit cart was just the way it had to be done, which is why certain sacrifices had to be made. Hope this clears things up for everyone asking 'why is wasn't like this in 1993'.

[@mashk]

@@thornstrikesback Streetfighter 2 for the Megadrive was released in 93 on a 24 megabit cart. Also, the SNES version of MK1 was released on a 16 megabit cart the same as the Megadrive with far less sacrifices. Sculptured who developed that version were better than Probe.

[@thornstrikesback]

@@mashk You are right, SFIICE was released on a 24 meg cart in Sep 93. But my point is still valid i.e. there were no 32 meg carts in 1993. Comparing MK on Genesis to SNES can't be done at face value. Yes they competed against each other, yes all games that were released on both platforms were compared side by side in all the magazines. But at the end of the day, they are two entirely different platforms that use entirely different hardware. The SNES had higher simultaneous colours, larger maximum sprite size, could do more sprites on screen, 128 KB memory compared to Genesis 64 KB. So of course it was going to look better and have more assets on screen. But even with the better visuals on the SNES (minus the blood), the original Genesis MK played so much better than the SNES version. The SNES version had absolutely atrocious input lag when compared to the Genesis.

[@johnnymack8442]

Now hope they could do a mk2 version.

[@maroon9273]

They have 32x version, but the downside uses genesis background colors. Instead of using the added background colors from the 32x add-on.

[@johnnymack8442]

@maroon9273 I did see that . But they did more on this mk version. And it's cool

[@thelefttechcat]

@@maroon9273 other than the added speech and splash screens i dont think the 32X version was that much more faithful to the coin op than the vanilla megadrive version was. They certainly didnt do much to improve the graphics or bgm and sfx

[@knightshifter2201]

MK2 could absolutely be better on the Genesis probe was just a lazy ass developer back then.

[@thelefttechcat]

@@knightshifter2201 i think part of the problem is in those days was the devs had tight deadlines imposed on them by the publishers.

[@maroon9273]

I wish they added flashing fight/finish him fonts, arcade like smooth animation frames, moving cloud/paralax scrolling at the palace gate stage, sega cd ground/background floor for goro's lair and arcade like lifebar.

[@Chemical_Ali]

Yeah, I wish they had decided to do the Arcade Edition on the SEGA CD version rather than Genesis. It has many things over the Genesis version. The number of animation frames and sound quality being the biggest 2. But then there's also smaller things like the life bar and zooming "Finish Him" and "Fight" text etc.

[@Jankins-v2q]

2.1 has some extra improvements which is only available on romhacking and romhackplaza

[@maroon9273]

​​@@Chemical_Alior added create a audio enhancement chip or patch for sound effects and svp chip with more ram.

[@Crono_Triggered]

So cool! I wish they'd do this for the SNES version too and add blood/fatalities, and fix the lousy control!!!

[@WWammyy]

I think the game would need to be remade from the ground up is my guess. The way new versions of MK1 and MK2 have been made on the Atari Jaguar and 3DO respectively

[@Coolremac]

If this existed 31 years ago, it would blew my mind and sold even more copies.

[@dbnpoldermans4120]

Thanks for all the updates. Hopefully there will be more!!!!!

[@KenMasters.]

Whoever made this should also do a Double Dragon: Arcade Edition for the Sega Genesis.

[@Paul07791]

Right On!. I think the guy who made it did do a Double Dragon colour improvement, but (imho) the main issue is sounds. Maybe throw in a few optional combos and moves from DD Advance.

[@Reprogrammed_By_SEGA]

Playable Goro and Shang Tsung would be fun. Maybe it is just me or does Sub Zero's new stance look a bit soft like the SNES version?

[@SEGAGuys]

The SNES version has Sub Zero’s stance from the arcade version, whereas the Mega Drive (and most of the other home ports) just used a colour swapped Scorpion. Having his proper stance on the Mega Drive is probably my favourite part of this mod! 😂 - James.

[@Reprogrammed_By_SEGA]

@@SEGAGuys Yeah, I like the proper stance but it just looks a little softer compared to the other sprites in game but maybe that is the benefit of modern tools.

[@mashk]

Megadrive owners got screwed with the conversions of MK1 and 2. Sculptured did a better job on the SNES. If you look at the MK3 games you can see what could have been

[@MrTopboy80]

Sound and voices seen greatly improved Great work!!

[@mrburns366]

As i kid I was lucky enough to have a super Nintendo and a Sega Genesis when mortal Kombat came out. I chose the SNES version because the graphics were significantly better. This version seems to have closed the gap

[@waynetemplar2183]

I've patched the rom and it really is a nice upgrade on the Sega mega drive original. However, I have noted that the audio has a noticeable hum to it - anybody else come across this? I'm playing on original hardware using an Everdrive

[@haunteddeandollsuk]

i thought 1.1 was the latest version ? someone made an “improved” version of Master Linkuei's game that fixed things like subzero arms glitching in a fight 😅

[@Shyning77]

Thanks Dan for the update... and the link! ;)

[@Monhamd1000]

It finally supports Third-party 6 button controllers!

[@ADreamPC]

I had this in the 90s and still play them.. I think back then they probably just had limited resources to work with, aswell as deadlines. Making a bigger cartridge for more memory would of cost Sega more money. Only looking at these comparison I can see now why they've took shortcuts in colour, detail and sound to save on cost and resource's.. I think the Devs made a perfect balance of graphics, sound and gameplay into the sega MK 1. I still enjoy the original probe games of Mk1 and 2. But for the ultimate experience of Mk2 I enjoy the Sega 32x version aswell as the Arcade coin up.

[@WWammyy]

It would be good if they released an Arcade edition for MK2. I know there's one called MKII Unlimited but its not a faithful Arcade version although it does have many improvements. But I wasn't much into the addition of random MK1 backgrounds added into MKII Unlimited

[@kinorai]

I hope they improved on the backgrounds...

[@nobodycares9579]

It was lazy for Arena to do this but I kinda like subzero doing scorpions fighting stance.

[@matescel]

Also there is another upgrade to this, with a lot more modded graphics and other fixes, by Rael G.C. its in another channel and Twitter.

[@Tsigarinho]

Thanks for sharing

[@Natureza09-c2s]

Needs Noob Saibot, Reptile, Ermac, Rain and both bosses unlocked. Rain - Noob Saibot = Sub Zero Reptile - Ermac = Scorpion

[@tuxedothemagnificent6738]

Or just have their boss versions playable without changing stats or movesets.

[@GamerGee]

We need a 32x version that has arcade level color sprites.

[@Tolbat]

The fact they gave them a small budget and a small cart was criminal, they knew that game would sell like pancakes. Shame we didnt get a 32mb cart and the actual arcade minus some color and different audio

[@Rocket1377]

That would be impossible. The 32 cart wasn't available until 1994. MK1 was released in 93.

[@tuxedothemagnificent6738]

In my opinion, Midway and Activision made it great but Netherealm Studios ruined Mortal Kombat. But on topic though, I agree that MK was amazing, but I wonder if Ed has an Arcade port of MK Trilogy.

[@ConfusionDistortion]

Whats the difference between this release, and the "Arcade Enhanced" release by Rael G.C?

[@Jankins-v2q]

Quite a few fixes, and a few assets added or redone

[@urbanmidnight1]

Ay some Mega Drive content!

[@SEGAGuys]

We had a Final Fight Mega Drive update earlier in the week too! Lots of great stuff going on in the Mega Drive homebrew scene! - James.

[@heilong79]

I was playing this earler on real hardware and picked Scorpion, For some reason on my 4th or 5th fight I just became Reptile and it even said 'Reptile Wins', I did fight Ermac at the end but he kicked my ass.

[@davidtran9444]

It should have been easier considering most arcades and high end PCs were powered by Motorola 68000s.

[@retromister81]

What is the better version now? This new Arcade Edition or the Enhanced one?

[@thornstrikesback]

This current Arcade Edition.... by far.

[@retromister81]

@thornstrikesback how is that? The arcade edition enhanced was built upon the 1.0b and was a massive upgrade graphically.

[@thornstrikesback]

@@retromister81 Tighter timing compared to Enhanced i.e. It plays better

[@clockworkengine]

Your reviews and voice are great. You'd get a lot more viewers and subscribers if you added more cut-ins to show what you're actively describing instead of just letting unrelated gameplay footage play in the background uninterrupted. Feels lazy! Still, enjoyed the vid, thanks.

[@Theycallmeshemp]

The MK rom hack community been having a great year with this & the 3DO version of MK2 (I really hope one day MK4 & MKDA get hacks one day)

[@InfinityCoda69]

Have you seen the Ultimate MK Deception mod? It added a bunch of characters from DA and Armageddon in it, it’s awesome

[@MultiCristian102]

Why couldn't this had been done back then?

[@thornstrikesback]

There are a few reasons but simply put, it just wasn't technically and financially doable back in 1993. The original Genesis MK had to be done on a 16 megabit cart, which meant it had to be a severely cut down version compared to the original arcade version which was 64 Meg. This version is 32 Meg and 32 Meg Genesis games simply didn't exist in 1993.

[@Freakazoid-k7i]

The latest patch is 2.1

[@Freakazoid-k7i]

Blood splats are missing.

[@mrnicktoyou]

It's a shame they can't add all the extra animation of the characters that the Sega/Mega CD has. That would really complete it.

[@mitohnenamen8205]

Mega!

[@frankfortfcgoc]

Dude i cant really see the diff apart from a few added background bits and the extra sound it looks exactly the same even still has the terrible energy bars without the names inside them i only played the genesis version recent so im not using rose tinted glasses feels like so much more could be done within the hardware restrictions this is just kinda meh

[@FZuloaga]

Why the arcade edition looks all blurry? I also like the OG colors better.

[@Scorpiove]

I noticed that too. It's like they are trying to dither the pixels or something. I like the original sharpness and also the original colors better too.

[@PeaceArt1]

How do you play as Noob saibot or reptile in this hack?

[@apollosungod2819]

The ROM hack effort is nice and all but a much closer to the arcade version Mortal Kombat 1 is possible with Sega MegaDrive hardware if only a fan hobbyist programmer stepped to the plate to attempt it as long as he has plenty of experience coding on MegaDrive hardware... same with the chip tunes as the MegaDrive Z80+PSG+YM2612 is extremely versatile and powerful when properly arranged and composed for. Also that is the only way to basically do remakes of old bad ports of games that really needed a boost like this original Genesis Mortal Kombat which was made under a short schedule and ship date resulting in sloppy programmed and rushed game that gives people the wrong impression of just what the Sega MegaDrive 1988 hardware was capable of. So far the hobbyist efforts of Mega R-Type and Mega Final Fight have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that when properly programmed the hardware can do more than what was believed as per the hardware limitations which are still there but the point I'd getting closer to running MegaDrive hardware at full tilt.

[@Jankins-v2q]

Well theres a few engines to use if you want to port a game to genesis like scorpion editor, sgdk, ive wanted to learn since scorpion uses unity and its pretty easy to figure out

[@apollosungod2819]

@@Jankins-v2q yeah iirc SGDK is more specific to the Sega MegaDrive hardware and probably more appropriate for performance...

[@AllenJohn]

The animation looks a bit jittery from the original Sega game

[@trevorphilips2090]

While this is cool, still feels somewhat redundant compared to the original Mega CD version. Actually, that should be ported to Mega Drive without the cheesy intro video.

[@apollosungod2819]

You have no clue what you're talking about. SegaCD MK1 came months later and the extras were a selling point to get Genesis owners to buy a SegaCD. Also the developer of the MegaDrive Genesis version of MK1 was rushed in a short schedule and they were also fairly mediocre in terms of knowing how to develop on MegaDrive Genesis hardware. The ROM hack by fans adds a bunch of features not found in the original game and the only way for you to notice this is to actually play both versions Further a much closer to the arcade version is possible if a hobbyist programmer were to attempt it from scratch like those who did the recent Atari Jaguar MK1 and 3DO MK2 (both made by different unrelated hobbyist programmers)

[@trevorphilips2090]

@@apollosungod2819 Dial back dude. All I said is that as storage is not a limiting factor perhaps a cut-back Sega CD port would be more interesting than a souped-up Mega Drive version. I can immediately spot the difference as the base stance animation on the CD version is complete and not just a few frames.

[@apollosungod2819]

@@trevorphilips2090 I always gotta wonder if your ignorance is because you never owned a "SegaCD or MegaCD" back then to know anything... First of all these are hobbyist fan programmers, not back in the day industry programmers...THAT is why most of these efforts are "ROM hacks" unless it's a more dedicated programmer attempting a full reprogrammed conversion that does not use any pre-existing code because they are making the game from scratch... a big difference. There is NO REASON to bother with the MegaCD Mortal Kombat because the MegaCD cannot do Mortal Kombat justice... if anyone with half a brain was to make an attempt for CD-ROM on "SEGA" it is just a no brainer to do all that work on the Sega Saturn and 4MB RAM Cartridge instead... ROM Cartridge size in also kind of important to understand here.. iirc the arcade MK1 ROM was not that big... a full reprogrammed from scratch effort using a larger as logical ROM size is more than enough to get closer to the arcade using the Sega MegaDrive instead of the MegaCD... that "no ROM limitation" seems to go over your head when the CD drive has the cost of load times... Go see the 3DO fan hobbyist programmer who is making MK2 from scratch on the 3DO... he isn't done and he is going above and beyond in effort to get as close to the arcade as possible but he will still have to contend with CD-ROM load times... where neither the 3DO nor the Sony PlayStation nor the stock Sega Saturn had enough RAM for an accurate conversion. But YOU are welcome to do your own "port" on the SegaCD since you know so much more than everyone else.

[@itchyisvegeta]

This mod is amazing and what the retail game should have been, or closer to it. I always hated the retail MK1 on Genesis, and thought it was a garbage port. Especially when you look at how much better quality MK2 was on Genesis.

[@marcorinfret9147]

I appreciate all the work done on this, but to be honest, I'd still rather play the original. A lot of the appeal for old console games like this is the nostalgia factor. I have a lot of nostalgia for the original, but can't say the same for this mod. If the goal is to get closer to the arcade original, why not just boot MAME, and play the arcade original? Everyone can do that nowadays.

[@unvaxxeddoomerlife6788]

It's just cool to see what is actually possible on the original hardware when you unleash its full potential. I do also still prefer to play the original most of the time though. I still play it on Master System too, that was the first MK game I ever played and I mastered it.

[@WWammyy]

I never played this game in the Arcades. It was too difficult I put like 50p in and it gobbled it up quick. Both MK1 + 2 I only managed to enjoy the game once it came home. I much prefer the Mega Drive soundtrack to the Arcades personally. MK2 is the same deal I much prefer the Megadrive soundtrack and 32x version is my favourite. We have the option these days to play the Arcade version yes but personally I'm choosing the ones I spent the most time with. Despite the Arcade having better graphics by far. Nostalgia powerful. Its different for you if you played the Arcade version first though you would see all console versions as a downgrade.

[@tuxedothemagnificent6738]

​@@WWammyy Except MK4 on PS1 was an upgrade. Also, I felt the SNES version of MK1 and 2 were better due to not having to waste money trying to beat it.

[@jameslockwood1958]

In some instances, it looks worse

[@dakeda2024]

Man the music is o frkn brutal to listen to on sega .so abnoxious...way to much like road rash.... omgoodness smh .hurts the head to be battered with it while getting ur tale whipped.smh.

[@Shyning77]

What are you talking about? Matt Furniss improved on the arcade tunes with the Mega Drive version!

[@heilong79]

Thank god you are a minority as many think they tunes are better than the Arcade.

[@unvaxxeddoomerlife6788]

Obvious Nintendo soyboy fangirling.

[@damin9913]

The original still tops the hack version i see why they changed everything it doesn't look right i'm sticking with the original

[@SEGAGuys]

@@damin9913 the modded version is worth it for Sub Zero’s correct stance alone in my opinion, was the same on the Amiga version too and it pissed me off at the time. 😂 - James.

[@damin9913]

@SEGAGuys I don't care about his stance I didn't play the game to complain about his stance or sound of the names of the characters I just wanted to have fun playing the original game it is great too play why people always keep nick picking on the original game like it wasn't fun at all.😒

[@unvaxxeddoomerlife6788]

@@damin9913 I still play the original. That is my MK. Couldn't go to the arcade because would get beaten up by bloody Maoris.

[@unvaxxeddoomerlife6788]

@@SEGAGuys Even Master System had correct stance.