Battle of the Ports - Mortal Kombat II モータルコンバット ＩＩ (Show #57) 60fps

[@rorydropkick]

Ah man, I remember the first time I played this was in an arcade on a rougher side of town. I got the SNES version for my birthday and I was pretty obsessed with it being a young teenager at the time. Nowdays? It shows its age but its still fun to play. I type this as I sit next to my MKII cabinet.. :)

[@GZiz84]

I love this game! It will never age 😀

[@wishusknight3009]

@@GZiz84 Naw, it has aged. And not as good as other games. Street Fighter 2 Turbo is a game that has not aged.

[@greensun1334]

I still play the SNES port. It's my favourite MK2 after the arcade original.

[@DJZeeJay]

The SNES port was one of the best ports done for its time. Even Ed Boon, the developer considered the SNES port as the best back when it released.

[@aj_gen_ace]

Yes definitely. It actually got past the Nintendo censorship.

[@relentless4g63t]

A agree

[@davidbermudez7704]

I still remember reading the GamePro magazine and it got a 5.0 I went quickly to buy it at a Game Store

[@cobrakainevereverdies6940]

Only home console port to ALLOW combo fatalities - Something Sega couldn't do worth spit !

[@themetavirus]

Mortal Kombat II is also regarded to be the first arcade game to use the revolutionary Williams-Midway DCS Sound System, hence the reason why it sounds like actual music instead of PCM samples and FM mixing.

[@clarenceboddicker6679]

It's strange that the arcade versions of MK1 and MK2 only had mono sound

[@ronin6199]

I don't remember any slow down on snes version.

[@alexojideagu]

Neither do I. There was a revision made though

[@VOAN]

The revision version wasn't that different from the first, all it does was fix the streak glitch so player could fight Noob Saibot as well as added fight demonstrations during the attract sequence. Everything else were untouch.

[@dlfrsilver]

it has.

[@youtubeadmin1588]

Sane-well balanced Horse it’s there, play other versions like Arcade 32X or Genesis and you’ll notice immediately the slowdown of SNES and overall slower gameplay.

[@zubiac]

I played through the SNES version of MK2 with pretty much every character and I didn't experience any sort of slowdown. and even if there is some it doesn't affect gameplay or otherwise I would have noticed it.

[@jesuszamora6949]

zubiac Maybe an issue with the PAL version?

[@noop9k]

zubiac SNES MK fans believe their version is best until they play other ports

[@needhambunch]

Well, the problem with that theory is, even the arcade developer stated that, at the time, he himself favored the SNES version over all other ports and mentioned it was the closest thing to the arcade at home. SO not just SNES fans!!

[@Clay3613]

@@needhambunch Sources.

[@alexzapf6422]

Here in the states. There was absolutely no issue of slowdown with the SNES version. I even took mine out to see. Must have only been an issue in European version. Always thought the SNES was the best version.

[@alsoknownas875]

I don't remember there being much slowdown for the SNES.

[@captainn2094]

There wasn't as far as I'm concerned. I give it a good second best after the Saturn version.

[@alsoknownas875]

+CaptainN209 I notice there are several other commenters that have said the same thing. I played MKII in the arcade, and I played the hell out of the SNES version as a 12-year-old when it came out; I remember being very impressed with how faithful the port was, especially since MKI was unresponsive and ACTUALLY had slowdown. Seems this guy's emulation was bad?

[@captainn2094]

+Also Known As truly

[@iulianispas8634]

The snes was slow like hell, and is using the original hardware also the music was not very appealing

[@bifftannen1598]

@@iulianispas8634 - perhaps you had a bad copy. Mine plays fine

[@dmer-zy3rb]

i am pretty sure that the arcade hardware was still multiple times as expensive as the 32x+mega drive - so i dont really see why it should be arcade perfect like you said.

[@daveruda]

It should have been much better thou. The music is a straight rip from genesis when it was more than capable of having proper arcade tracks.

[@sloppynyuszi]

daveruda also the background was using the Mega Drive palette, so it was grainy.

[@segat-800]

@@daveruda I'm not sure the 32x hardware sound capabilities were that much better so as to enable arcade perfect sound. I do remember being disappointed in how close it was to the Megadrive version though.

[@samgao]

@@teddym2808 32x + Genesis should've had more power than the Midway T Unit (Arcade powering MK2, Last iterations/revisions of MK, NBA JAM, and a couple more) The main CPU was running at 6.25 MHz compared to the 32x's 2x SH-2 @ 23MHz. The RAM on the T-Unit is still unknown to me, but the 32X had 256K Main RAM + 256K VRAM, + the Genesis 72K Of main, and 64K of Video ram. This is actually even more powerful than the CPS-1 hardware. They could literally use one of the 32x CPU's to process sound, which I believe some developers did. In fact, People could have perfect CPS-1 games, which I believe MK2 should be perfect. 32x uses a 15 bit color palette (32k colors) with all 32K colors simultaneous on screen at once (in best conditions) CPS-1 could do 4K at best, and SNES could do 256 at once at best (probably static image with no motion when I mention at best). Most arcade units could only do 4K colors at once during that period (probably static images, just like 32x's 32k colors at once) MK2 was just an excuse. At least they got the sound samples decent for voices.

[@solarflare9078]

@@daveruda And I think the Mega Drive music is better than the arcade thanks to Matt Furniss, so I guess there's a plus to that?

[@rafaellima83]

About the Amiga version: The original game had just 3 disks. The one that floats the internet is the cracked version that had an extra disk. Because of this files were spread among the disks in a different way than the developers wanted... I bet you played the 4 disks version, which does a LOT more of disk swaps than the original one (Some fatalites, like the Jax one, asks to change disks JUST FOR THE FATALITY ANIMATION! ) - but this happens only on the cracked version. I find weird you praise MK1 controls on Amiga but then complain about them on MK2 since the controls are very similar on both games (ported by the same guys anyway, the same guys who made the Mega-Drive versions). I actually played the hell out of this with friends back at the time, since for me it was cheaper to own the Amiga version than the Mega-Drive one. :)

[@Lordani66]

USA (NTSC) version of MK II on amiga also had 4 disks. But here's a catch, it was most likely the same cracked version, only later released on the american market as original (it only had the crack intro turned off LOL).

[@beezle1976]

His ideas and opinions on the Amiga version are moot and not worth listening to anyway. He completely omitted the fact that it plays better, smoother, has less loading, is hdd installable, etc., etc. when running on hardware other than a crappy bog standard 1MB a500 with 1 floppy drive anyway. Going by most of his videos I suspect it's by design,... its the trend in his videos to misrepresent.

[@chunkybeats79]

Yeah if he played it on an A1200 like I had done and with the original disks it runs a breeze plus it's faster and more speech samples as well

[@yukatoshi]

chunkybeats79 Was the “faster” NTSC mode?

[@1xWertzui]

@@beezle1976 It's not just him, all comparison channels I know just go for the face value. At least Retro Core talks about how the games control.

[@losalfajoresok]

these videos are my addiction! I love to compare versions and find the little details of each one.

[@fernandocollazo8705]

The Amiga version can be installed into hard drive and there are more speech if your Amiga has a memory expansion...

[@Frikinautas]

The MD version was my first MK game. I guess I got lucky I got my start with this one, when Midway started filling the game with easter eggs, and self aware jokes like ending the matches on Friendship and the “Toasty!” guy, creating a way more entertaining and satisfying game experience than the first part, which took itself too seriously.

[@SoulFunkRetro]

Awesome video as always. I really look forward to finding out what your going to compare next. Been watching your channel for years. Fantastic stuff mate. I appreciate all the effort you put into every video :-) All the best :-D

[@RetroCore]

Thanks! The next game to be covered wil be from Japan. It could be classed as a cute game.

[@marioghernandez4960]

Retro Core I saw it. It's The New Zealand Story.

[@TheGoatPC]

I don't agree, I think there is a night and day difference between the Mega Drive and 32x version. The sounds being the biggest one. Very clear announcer line (muffled in the snes). Just listen to scorpion scream when knocked into the spikes, or the BOOM of Raiden's victory pose. The full grunts from being uppercutted. Gotta give the 32x more credit. I found it to be the best home port on the cartridge systems.

[@bifftannen1598]

I agree. I don't know why some people can't see that the 32x version is a way more complete game than the MD. Just with the addition of the 30-40 more sound effects directly from the arcade gave the game a lot more exciting atmosphere. The only reason the voices were muffled (only a bit) in the SNES version was because they had to compress them to get them in the game as they used a 24 meg cart compared to the 32x version, which used 32 megs. The SNES still has Sub-Zero's correct arcade ice sounds & Probe did not correct it for the 32x version. There were several other sound effects the SNES had that the 32x didn't, which makes no sense. I like both SNES & 32x versions about the same. They each have things that are a bit better than the other, which kind of balances it out.

[@GreatHealer.]

The music for the PC port sounds better through soundblaster 32

[@knightshifter2201]

The characters on the Genesis looked good just not the backgrounds.

[@solarflare9078]

I honestly think the other way around. They look close to the arcade, but the animation is a little slow and jerky. It looks like the MD port is an Amiga port, which is to be expected from Probe software.

[@BlockABoots]

Where did the SNES version have slowdown, i dont ever recall noticing that? You sure its not the emulator you were using??

[@RetroCore]

When Baraka does his slashing attack the game slows down a bit. Ithink there's one or two other points as well.

[@maxrenn7]

Retro Core I never really noticed the slowdown in it. The smaller sprites and the way the characters look painted on, is what I remember. It had a 4-on-4 team battle mode too. Pretty solid port. The Saturn port could have been amazing if they didn't remix the sound. Lightning effects sound like a wet fart in that version. 32x could have been better for sure, same with Mortal Kombat on the sega cd, just laziness.

[@RetroCore]

Wet fart sound effects? Liking the idea of that :) I do like the music in the Saturn version. It sounds far more spaced. Especially when using a good sound system or headphones.maxrenn7

[@maxrenn7]

Retro Core To each their own, I guess. If you're going to have an arranged soundtrack, include the original one too though. SF2 had that. A lot of voice samples were missing too. Replay the Portal stage, put your headphones on, crank it up to 11 and you'll be in wet fart heaven, I assure you :p

[@noop9k]

egg64 SNES has lower resolution character graphics, compared to arcade, 32x and pc port.

[@RichardCraig]

I've had the same audio issues with some of Midway's arcade games... you have to go into the service menu and turn the volume up there.

[@lurewars]

Used to love this game!! Thanks for this battle of the ports!!

[@RetroCore]

You're welcome!

[@MVC2fan1]

You didn't know there are regional differences between the SNES version of MK2 & the SFC version of MK2.

[@RetroCore]

No, I didn't know that.

[@javaykirk2688]

The snes version is awesome. Better than the Saturn and ps1 versions.

[@clarenceboddicker6679]

The CD-ROM version of MS-DOS Mortal Kombat 2 features the music of the arcade version so is virtually an arcade perfect port.

[@samgao]

except the 30 fps cap vs. 60 fps of the arcade

[@samgao]

@@NintendoDude888 MK1 ran @ 60FPS. No excuse for MK2 to be 30FPS. In fact, I think MK1 is arcade perfect, except RAYDEN instead of RAIDEN

[@davecarsley8773]

@@NintendoDude888 No. No it wasn't. That's nonsense. There's no "limitation" that says DOS games can't run at 60fps

[@JuanmaNPI]

Great comparison! I have the 32X version. It maybe better but I think that is the better cartridge version, without loadings. Saturn maybe my second option. The Pc is nice but, those years, playing pc means playing in a small monitor and in a chair and even with keyboard... It's great that today we can play Pc games in the same way that console games: in the sofa, with a TV, a 5.1 and a good pad hehehe

[@ReviewUA-jy7xi]

For the PS1 port was it really neccessary for them to display that annoying "loading" indicator for the half-second loading screens? The port would have been so much better if they just left the screen blank and didn't put those dumb "MK" loading symbols in.

[@Muaito]

The Arcade version has not low sound, you have just to tune up the sound on the test setting in game

[@Tempora158]

Mega Drive version is missing the crouching low punch, so any corner combos that rely on it don't work in this version.

[@RetroCore]

Ity just goes to show how much I know about Mortal Kombat II. thanks for the info.

[@Lightblue2222]

wow, all the years of playing this and never noticed. Guess i never used that move anyway, because i love mk1 & 3 as well.

[@The90sGamingGuy]

The SNES port was the best home version of the game back in the day. I still play it to this day even though near arcade perfect ports of this game MK and UMK3 are available on PS3 and Xb360. Great informative video keep up the good work!

[@valenrn8657]

Mortal Kombat 2 Arcade Edition was running on TMS34010 TIGA. TMS34010 is one of the early APUs that combines CPU and GPU in one chip package. TMS34010 is used on PC as a TIGA add-in board. PC Magazine reported that the fastest boards for regenerating AutoCAD test images were based on the TMS34010. Intel Pentium, VESA SVGA (fast VGA), and Windows DirectDraw/Direct3D/OpenGL (GLQuake, 1997) standards have crushed TIGA.

[@SammyRenard]

I'm surprised you didn't mention that the japanese super famicom version of Mortal Kombat 2 was censored, with green blood and black and white fatalities

[@RetroCore]

Never played the Japanese version. Can't say I care too much for the early Mk games.

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

From coder Kieth Burkhill : I did MK2 on the GG and MS too and was supposed to be doing the Genesis one but for various reasons didn't and lost out on a fortune in royalties - I'd never have had to work again!

[@jauspicios]

This Amiga version mortal lombar 2 is much better than the first game

[@sladekiske]

Programmers were just so familiar with the Motorolla 6800 on the mega drive that if even the games looked and sounded like butt, they generally played a lot better.

[@youtubeadmin1588]

sladekiske 68000 is a much better processor than most home systems had. It doesn’t look that bad. Characters and animation are great as is the music.

[@the757general2]

Mortal Kombat II was such a huge upgrade over the original. It included the crouch punch, crossover jump kick, pushback, time usage on moves (moves can only be used a certain amount of times before it's disabled to prevent infinities), better hit detection, slightly faster speed, a much improved blocking system and more refined controls. The graphics, sound, and music are better and it looks and sounds more sinister. It's just an all around better game. Also, none of the new MK characters played like anyone else. Not sure what you were on with that.

[@GlenLehane]

TOASTIE!!!! I only ever played the first Mortal Kombat on PC, so I don't really know if you're having sound card issues. The music you had going here sounded like standard Adlib music. Probably wouldn't have bothered me, I did like the first MK on PC, so I probably still would've liked this as well

[@Mahoujanai]

Nice video! The interesting thing is even now there are fans patching the arcade board, making it better and fixing the problems that it had!

[@RetroCore]

True. What I can't stand though is when people say the game was perfect. The A.I. was solid and so on. That's just not true at all.

[@Mahoujanai]

Oh of course, it's far from perfect. It's a guilty pleasure game imo haha.

[@FranciscoCabezasM]

Retro Core yes but is a game where you need some skills, and at least in this video, you show any... almost in every fight you can't pass the first rival without losing. The game is not very appealing to asian audiences, but if you search a little more, you can find very experienced players around the world

[@RetroCore]

Francisco Cabezas Yes, I'm aware of this. Personally I don't like Mortal Kombat's play style. that's not because it's a western made game though. I also don't like the way Teken plays either and that's from Japan. Back in the day I always found more fun with Killer Instinct than I did with Mortal Kombat. I also can't play Mortal Kombat very well these days due to not playing it in many years.

[@Edgereader]

This was the only mortal kombat game i liked, great video thanks.

[@104d_3rr0r_vince]

The Amiga port had great sound. The games was a bit slow, I wish it had elfmanias engine :-/ Missing sounds and anims caused by the lack of chipram because it was designed for A500 and only 4 disks (only?!?!?) Nice vid as always.

[@noop9k]

Vincent GR excuses, excuses. It is laughable how Amiga owners were boasting their MK ports were better, while I actually played the best one on my PC, albeit in low detail (reduced background complexity)

[@chunkybeats79]

If you had more than 1mb ram you got all the sounds. Played this on my A1200 and was great and smooth speed too

[@yukatoshi]

The Amiga version installed to an HDD on an A500 is actually pretty decent by Amiga arcade port standards. No doubt a from the ground up build for the Amiga would be better though. As Elfmania shows, it is absolutely possible to do a thoroughly technically impressive fighter on the platform, parallax and all.

[@yukatoshi]

noop9k To be fair the cost of a PC to run the DOS port maxes were many multiples of even an A1200.

[@coltongamings1239]

The Japanese version of mortal Kombat 2 on super Famicom is censored which sucks

[@SSteelification]

I wonder if the saturn port could take advantage of a RAM cartridge like some Capcom games did. Glad to see a good quality PC port at the time though. MK was never a favourite series but its nice to see it runnins as well as it did.

[@RetroCore]

The Saturn game could easily take advantage of the ram cart but the developers were too lazy I guess.

[@kaihedgie]

Strange, you never mentioned that the Super Famicom version (not the SNES one) was actually censored to turn all the blood green and applied a sepia filter whenever Fatalities were performed. Maybe this is a different revision? I dunno

[@RetroCore]

No idea. I never knew the Japanese version was like that.

[@ThugKnight]

+Retro Core When MK2 came out for the PS3 the first time in 2007 the first game I ever purchased on the PS store from the U.S. at the time. This game was the perfect arcade port.

[@juampi0205]

Megadrive/Genesis version lacked the LP ven with the 6-button controller, so this is a serious strike against its "superior playability". Don't remebember the SNES having any slowdown. Some stages in the SNES version were shorter (The Deadpool, The Wasteland) I had both and I never touched the MD version saving a couple of times. The music...welll I liked the MD music but the SNES was more arcade accurate.

[@vh9network]

Juan Pablo Mancini it's only a strike if you bought the game and not buy the 6 button controller. I always played this on Genesis with the 6 button. Back in the day I could only afford one so second player had to deal with the OG 3 button controller.

[@samgao]

the PC Music came easily be mitigated by having a roland daughter board (SCC-1) for music, but the true problem with the PC Port is the 30 FPS cap. Otherwise, it would've been very close to perfection, this side of emulation! Saturn and PSX are missing a lot of sounds..

[@BlockABoots]

You can go into the service menu on MAME (F2 i believe) and adjust the audio volume, same for all Midway games. Any chance of doing NBA JAM at some point?

[@RetroCore]

Thanks for the hint on changing the sound volume. that will come in handy. Hmm, NBA Jam. I probably won't do that unless I can get a friend to play as well to make it more fun.

[@williamhowe1]

What's with the handhelds not having Johnny Cage? Does he owe them money or something?

[@RetroCore]

Maybe his charisma was too big for them 😂

[@williamhowe1]

@@RetroCore Baraka too. Geez the handhelds hate tarkatans don't they.

[@ConfusionDistortion]

Your video of the 32X version, that has to be emulation. The speed is way slower in your video then on normal hardware. The 32X version plays much faster, allowing for combos that could not even be done on the Snes version. The audio on the 32X version's voices is also fairly clear. It is widely regarded as the best port of the game. The Saturn version has issues like loading animation during a match when you do a special move, causing a slight pause in gameplay sometimes. I cant recall if that affects the PS1 version, but it was an issue on the Saturn for sure. There was also a bug that could cause the character sprites to look all pixelated and low res. I forget what triggers it. it's been about 9 years since I last had the game on Saturn.

[@dbnpoldermans4120]

In the video it runs really slow. Good to know that is just the emulation

[@theretroinggamer1630]

No slow down on snes. Amazing port

[@rufnek3124]

all the sleepless nights trying to master the fatalities, babilities and friendships ends up accidentally punching the opponent

[@RetroCore]

I feel your pain. I just gave up in the end.

[@DanielMonteiroNit]

is it me or the Saturn doesn't use texture mapped floors, like even the regular Mega Drive does? Even the Amiga does it! check the floor lines at 20:40 onwards

[@davecarsley8773]

The only drawback you can find in the MSDOS version is the music? How about the massive and distracting screen tearing? Or the fact that the graphic don't look anything like the arcade? Or the missing sound effects?

[@SidOfBee]

I never noticed slow down on the SNES. Are you using an emulator?

[@Imgema]

You can increase the audio volume in the arcade (MAME), press F2 and browse the test menus, you'll find it.

[@RetroCore]

Yep, I know that now :) this is quite an old video.

[@MarioLuigi25]

I never had any slowdown issue with my Super Nintendo copy of MK2.

[@ps-lover8380]

I like the snes version in terms of good audio quality

[@RichardCraig]

Man, Probe must've had some magic voodoo to make the drums in MK1 and MK2 so damn clear on the Gen/MD.

[@WeskerSega]

That magic voodoo was not Probe's, it was Krysalis' which did all the music development for Probe's games and other companies' (mostly Europeans) with a wonderful propietary music engine and the amazing music skills of Matt Furniss.

[@RichardCraig]

Yeah, you can definitely tell when someone's using their own music engine on the Gen/MD cuz it always sounds so much better than the built-in FM patches... well, with the exception of EA and their warbly garbly crap they called music.

[@youtubeadmin1588]

Richard Craig the system is famous for drums and bass so idk what you’re talking about

[@jaredt2590]

The best home port in my opinion is the super/32X. The only thing I noticed was one ending photograph for each character is missing.

[@badcp455]

This is accurate.

[@bobankrsmanovic9398]

I disagree for Amiga comments. The gameplay was very nice, very responsive, and I've never had trouble executing specials, fatalities or anything else. I also played many other ports of MK2. As for swapping 4 disks, that's just one of the option. You could play on hard drive, and in the time when this game is released many Amiga's had HD. On PC, you can ONLY play it on HD drive, on the Amiga you can play it in 2 ways. You do the math. :) Besides that, good video.

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

You needed at least 1.5MB of RAM on the Amiga for the fatalities to be available in memory, rather than loaded from disk, but the 2MB A1200 didn't arrive until after Amiga MKII

[@the757general2]

The 32X port has the be running on an emulator. The actual 32X version is much faster. It was definitely the best console port of the game. The SMS/GG ports aren't that bad given hardware limits. Even the Game Boy port isn't that bad. Also, I don't remember the SNES port having much slowdown.

[@sloppynyuszi]

Vegeta9000 DF retro did a technical breakdown of all the 32X games. I didn’t know how much was running on the base mega dative and some extra bits was running on 32X hardware. As an example, the 3D parts of doom ran on the 32 X while the UI on the bottom was running on Mega Drive. For Mortal Kombat, the UI and Characyers were controlled by the 32X and the backgrounds were pushed by the Mega Drive. And that’s why they were grainy even compared to the SNES version.

[@weegoh8324]

Maybe the slowdown on the snes is due to the emulator? I noticed street fighter for the ax spectrum run slower in your video than in other footage of the game I’ve seen, and I’ve seen emulators slowing down gameplay before.

[@jesuszamora6949]

Can't imagine MK with anything less than the six button Genesis pad (or the SNES pad). Arcade sticks are a bit tougher, given most arcade sticks are laid out for Street Fighter. You COULD get an MK layout stick, but you better REALLY love MK because that's all a stick like that can be used for. How anyone thought porting this game to 2-button systems is baffling as hell to me.

[@antarcticpenguin1151]

slowdown? i dont notice any slowdown when i was playing one.

[@TheUpliftingGuy]

So the Steam, GOG, PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game are straight the arcade ports which are good enough to be close or even better?

[@kiwisoup]

except the latency is not very good and there's video filters you can't completely turn off. It just feels a bit sluggish compared to the actual arcade version.

[@cobrakainevereverdies6940]

*DOS HAS THE GREATEST MUSIC, I'VE HEARD IN MY LIFE.........AND I'M NOT A PC VIRGIN BORN IN THE 90'S TO SAY THIS STATEMENT* :)

[@solarflare9078]

I got to play both the Mega Drive and SNES ports on a flashcart on real console. Like you said, the Mega Drive port is better in playability, however, I never got *bad* slowdown in MK2 SNES, though I'd be lying if I said I didn't get any slowdown the whole way through though. Still prefer the Mega Drive port though. (Repost because of a contradictory grammatical error)

[@greensun1334]

SNES has the best and mostly complete port with good SFX and the correct music. When you play the 32X port after the SNES, it's like a step backwards. The only real slowdown in MK2 on SNES sometimes appears when you fight against Kintaro. Is your comparison running at 50hz?

[@therangersrule68]

You didn't mention the option of turning on screen scaling (a la Art of Fighting) in the PSX version.

[@RetroCore]

Screen Scaling? There's no option for that unless it's a cheat of some kind.

[@therangersrule68]

it must require a cheat, but it's there and it's a nice bonus

[@RetroCore]

Oh right, I see. Is that cheat also in other ports such as the Saturn or Dos version?

[@therangersrule68]

I believe it's exclusive to the PSX version

[@fifaworldcup1994]

@Adam Demeter That just makes fighting Smoke a ton easier.

[@Silanda]

The Mega Drive version suffered badly with cuts. Some are understandable, but others have me questioning Probe's priorities. They had enough space for an in-joke (the Fergality) and an alternate "Toasty" guy, but not for two extra frames to complete Johnny Cage's win pose? The SNES version is the better of the two 16-bit console ports, but something always felt "off" about it to me. It doesn't help that despite what some people claim, the sprites took a significant hit in detail and appear lower resolution than the Sega ones. I'd take the 32X version over it any day of the week. Personally I think the Saturn and Playstation versions are on a par. The loading icon highlights the loading on the Playstation, but both versions suffer from it. The Saturn version is missing more speech samples, including some, like Scorpion's "Come Here", clumsily removed. The Playstation version is missing the end of round musical stings, despite them being on the sound test. Both versions appear to largely share the same codebase as they have a lot of the same flaws, and outside of the limits of the hardware both just feel like they lacked care and attention to detail.

[@funbagshosehound7947]

in the arcade emulation u can turn up the sound i found that out when wondering why the sound was so low

[@Littleandr0idman]

In my opinion the genesis/32x has the best sounding music. Every other port sounds like a half assed attempt to emulate the arcade’s music while the genesis feels like it was rearranged to suit that console’s sound chip

[@GuiSantosMUGEN]

SNES version doesn't have slowdowns, it's because of the previous SNES emulators.

[@1xWertzui]

The Amiga version(s) of Mortal Kombat(s) is something that made Amiga users really wanting to buy a hard disk drive.

[@aj_gen_ace]

The Genesis port seems like it has more slowdown than the SNES port.

[@cocacolaholic]

I have to agree the md version isn't as pretty as the snes version but definately plays better without the cheap ai

[@rocker11281]

If you used a Mega Drive-pad, had a second disc drive and 2 Megs of RAM playing MKII on the Amiga wasn't nearly as bad as claimed in the Video. Disc swapping was essentially reduced by a second drive and enough RAM. It's a shame, they never finished the announced AGA/CD32-port though. As the arcade and the Amiga run on the same architecture, it could have been great.

[@karaokehammick5215]

The mega drive version feels smoother and less choppy than the SNES version. Both have their merits.

[@Sh-hg8kf]

Snes alone for the funky fight plan track with drums

[@RaposaCadela]

Man, these ports had some weird sound alterations. The Sega Saturn had stock punching sound-effects, and the Super 32X had an awfully silly sound everytime someone fell down! What's with that??

[@Spolupyo]

I thought that the Saturn PS1 and DOS potrts ran at the same resolution as the arcade but they are not, the charcters sprites are also tinier which causes a loss in detail that is noticeable in some characters more than others, you can clearly tell from this video,

[@RetroArcadeGuy]

Possibly to fix in the future if you decide to re-uploaded with updated sound: You have to get to the in-game configs and set the volume up. It's low by default... or broken emulator like MAME :b

[@RetroCore]

+Min Nohara's Channel Of Fun I'm afraid I won't be doing Mortal Kombat again as it's a Game I really don't enjoy playing much.

[@gameguy73]

+Min Nohara's Channel Of Fun You have to go to the service menu on the arcade to adjust the volume. The default for most of Midway's arcade games at the time was far too low for some reason.

[@alainazor3990]

can you make battle ports MK3 & UMK3 comparison i wanna see the different for all versions look like

[@RetroCore]

It's on the cards but will not be arriving for a while. I've done 164 battle of the ports videos so far yet the list for future videos is still over a hundred titles strong! Wow, enough to keep this show going for another two years.

[@Mellowdab1983]

Worth every penny too

[@RiddlerOnYutube]

Hey Mark, hope you are well. Do yo know whats happened to segagagadomain? is it over? that was by go to bible for Sega Saturn.

[@RetroCore]

I'm having some problems with my Domain registar. They are saying that my host is the issue why it's off line but my host and I know it's an issue with the domain registar. So I'm trying to get it sorted out at the moment.

[@RiddlerOnYutube]

Retro Core Thats a pain in butt. Sorry to hear that. I hope you get it sorted mate. All the best.

[@bergbjorn]

Still remember my local Arcade «shadowdropped» this one, in a poorly lit corner and the sound beeing «low» so it was there for a while before One night with low attendance I just heard some faint sounds, and went over and saw it and LOST IT 😆

[@PyronsLair]

Nice video! Just one thing, MK1 and 2 for PC have two version, the floppy version that you reviwed and the CD rom version with remixed soundtrack that is awesome and cooler than the arcade version.

[@RetroCore]

Ah, I didn't know there was also a CD release for MKII. Is the actual game just the same or was the CD version of that beefed up too?

[@Tempora158]

Retro Core That person is wrong. There is only one port of Mortal Kombat II to DOS and it was released on CD only. It's not like Mortal Kombat where there was a DOS floppy version and then a re-done DOS CD version.

[@RetroCore]

Pyrons Lair Thanks for the information. I wish I had the CD version to try.

[@PyronsLair]

Cool Retro Core , if one day you gonna do MK III comparison remenber that exists Dos version and windows Version and they are differents from each other too. Thanks and until the next episode.

[@RetroCore]

Maybe I'll do a MKIII episode in the future so that info is most welcome. Thanks.

[@segat-800]

As a Megadrive owner, I used to be so jealous of the SNES version which I played the hell out of round a friends house. Back then, input lag didn't bother a lot of us, we wanted good graphics and sound and it's here that the SNES version appeared to trump all over the Megadrive version. Playing it now, I can see how laggy the SNES game is compared to the MD version and how muffled it sounds 😱. But as a teen, I have the fondest memories of the SNES version.

[@javaykirk2688]

It's not laggy.

[@trifeloco]

I remember the first time I laid eyes on the arcade version at a local comic book shop back in the day. I instantly became obsessed, even more than part one. I almost slipped into a coma when they announced the home console versions. My SNES was ready to go, and my big bro came home with a brand spanking new copy of the SNES version. I played this game incessantly, absolutely loved it. Anyway, In my opinion as far as the 16 bit home console versions go, the best was the SNES version hands down. And I don't know what the narrator meant as far a slow down in the gameplay. The narrator in this video sounds bias and way too critical, the SNES version is superior in sound as well as in graphics all the way. Back then my cousin had the Sega Genesis version and it just didn't cut it for me, I thought the sound quality was poor and the graphics were lacking detail and color. It just sucked and it killed the arcade feel overall. My cousin and I argue all the time as far as which version was better lol. Don't get me wrong, in general the Sega Genesis was an excellent console with countless amazing and memorable games, but when it comes to MK games they all sucked for the Sega Genesis. As far as the 32 bit home consoles go, the best version for me was the Sega Saturn version. It lacked a tad bit on the sound but I think overall the graphics and color were right under the arcade version. Later on I purchased the Midway Arcade Treasures for the PS2, and the MK2 version on that was by far the superior Arcade port version hands down. It was just like popping in that quarter in the arcade and playing the exact version from sound to graphics and gameplay.

[@RetroCore]

Back in the day I also though the SNES version was the best but playing it now it's obvious that it's heavy censored, missing an awful lot of animation, has muffled audio and is slow. I'm not being an ass towards Nintendo here. Many who know my channel and me will fully vouch that I'm a massive Super Famicom / SNES fan. You only need to check my games room video to see that. I've got many of the big expensive titles as well as many other great games for the system. Please take a look at the ports again with an open mind and you will see the floors with the SNES port. On the upper hand, it does food the arcades level design closer than the Mega Drive version.

[@trifeloco]

Retro Core Greetings, I have definitely looked at each port with an open mind and I will add that I owned quite a few of the actual ports presented in your great video. That's why I came to my conclusion, it's based on personal experience. I guess it all depends on whom you ask, but in any case I will say that you have some great vida for battle of the ports, most of the games you review are all time favorites of mine personally. With that being said I might even subscribe to your channel. But to be fair I think all versions apart from the actual arcade version have their flaws without a doubt , but I guess my copy of the SNES version way back when was a pretty good one lol! Kudos anyway my friend, I'll keep watching for sure.

[@greensun1334]

@@RetroCore SNES MK2 heavily censored? In the Megadrive and 32X versions the bones and guts are disappering after a fatality. I really don't know what you played here, maybe another revision or at 50hz? it's a quite flawless port and the best and most complete MK2 after the arcade original. And yes, I've played also the other ports.

[@Bloodreign1]

I'm sorry, neither PS1, nor Saturn versions of MK2 were very good. PS1 had an extra option to turn the announcer on, I noticed that option was missing in the Saturn port. In the end, doesn't matter, both ports were awful. I'd place the SNES, 32X, and Genesis versions far above them.

[@darthsynchronic]

Where is the Sega Genesis and SNES versions?

[@RetroCore]

Only in America is it called a Genesis. The rest of the world call it a Mega Drive :p Both of those games are on this video at 07:22 - Super Famicom / SNES 09:09 - Mega Drive

[@GDLenter]

Man, just block when you're getting hit by flurry punches!! Thanks for putting this together! I love the Saturn more than any system, but the Saturn port is garbage. The sounds are not correct in many places, and the gameplay is choppy and off. I actually prefer the 32X version out of all these, despite the nature of the lazy port. The DOS version is great, but you really needed the perfect PC config for it to run well, which was really difficult at the time. I wouldn't accuse the SNES ver of having "bad" slowdown, but the gameplay speed is a bit slower. If that's all you played on you wouldn't notice. It's a really great port.

[@Ballowax]

So what was it with the Amiga and it's piss poor arcade conversions

[@yukatoshi]

Mostly US Gold lol, The Amiga just got flooded with shit arcade ports by UK software houses who had like 1 programmer per platform, often with no source code or assets.

[@Ballowax]

@@yukatoshi That's fucking lazy and it's sounds like something the dude behind these videos tends to see with arcade ports for the commodore 64 and Atari ST. Both of those platforms tended to get arcade ports that made it seem that the developers were a buch of lazy fuckheads who wanted to steal the hard earned cash of kids and adults at the time

[@RetroCore]

Yep, it was a dark time indeed for western gamers. Japan had the right idea though. Just a shame many Arcade ports didntg make it to Japanese systems.

[@yukatoshi]

@@Ballowax Well he sees it because it's very true. Try the games in an emilator.

[@MrNightshade2010]

actually if i remember correctly in the console only versions they actually took away tsungs ability to shift in universe until Mk x because the home systems couldn't handle it .....

[@ravengaming4143]

Saturn version could have been the best port but the loading times and bugs prevent that. I find the SNES version was the best way to play the game back then without breaking the bank (same with SFII), but today settling for anything less than the Arcade version may not make much sense. My first version was the GB one and I liked it, despite the lack of colours, gore, characters, stages and simplified control.

[@joseagripino8664]

Heh, I recall the PS1 port and the weird transformation loading. I never played the sequels, how did they handle it in sequels? I recall how disappointed I was to see Shang Tsung transformations required a loading pause every time you used them.

[@doktoroptimo]

the dos port may sound a lot better depending on what soundcard you have. in this video gravis ultrasound is used by the dosbox emulator: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHnHhIxupd1-nJY

[@SomeOrangeCat]

As with MK 1 I think the DOS port is my favorite. The gameplay is just so smooth.

[@javaykirk2688]

Understandable, the snes and pc versions were the best.

[@skins4thewin]

I actually had the DOS port growing up and it was quite good. Then again, I never was much of a Mortal Kombat fan, was MUCH more into Street Fighter and the like. Too bad we never got a decent Street Fighter 2 port for DOS.

[@yukatoshi]

Yeah, MK is so stiff.

[@Sakf504]

The Sega Saturn port is very disappointing in my opinion. Is better than the PlayStation port, but not too much, only has a better controller, quicker loading times, slightly better music and slightly higher resolution, but still is very flawed and unpolished like the PlayStation port. It could have been a perfect port, but instead, Probe did a flawed port :(

[@heilong79]

I was big into fighting games back then especially Capcom fighters but Mortal Kombat felt like there was no balance and it had broken mechanics however the world and lore are what I appreciated from it, I did not care about the blood at all.

[@jeromepoggi9126]

Where is the atari lynx version

[@eds2011]

I know in many times Mega drive port and are combined with mega cd or 32x, is Very interesting. But the version of SNES is amazing considering the limitations of the hardware. I am a sega fan but in this comparison Nintendo wins! For home computer, ms dos with gravis ultrasound is fantastic.

[@EnzoTestarossa740]

I like the first,second and third arcade versions in my opinion.