AUTHOR: Probe / Acclaim RELEASE: 1995 TYP: Beat’em Up SPIELER: 2 LEVEL: - SPRACHE: Eng WERT: ~30€

Hol Dir die echte Arcade-Action, die Dir nur die superschnellen 32 Megabytes in der 32-Bit-Verarbeitung liefern können! Schnelleres Gameplay, realistischere Figurenanimationen, perfekte Grafiken sowie die mitreißende Musik und die knallharten Soundeffekte des Spielhallen-Hits erwarten Dich - von „Finish Him“ bis zu „Flawless Victory“. Vielleicht kennst Du das Spiel schon… aber nichts, absolut GAR NICHTS kann Dich auf MKII im 32X-Format vorbereiten!

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The Mortal Kombat fighters, plus several new ones, return for a tournament held by the evil Shang Tsung of the Oddworld. The action is one-on-one as before, and famed for its high level of violence and blood (other than the sanitised Nintendo version). There are 5 difficulty levels and optional credits, as well as the usual two player mode including same character duels. To win the main tournament, the player must beat each of the other human players, before taking on Sheng Tsung, Kintaro and finally Shao Kahn. Players have a range of punches and kicks available, as well as flying kicks, uppercuts, roundhouses, and the special moves, which vary for each player. These include throws, uppercuts, long-distance bullets, bicycle kicks and a teleport feature. www.Mobygames.com

In all honesty, the 32x port of Midway’s quarter-munching arcade favorite is a bit of a letdown. The best 32x fighting game aside from Virtua Fighter, Mortal Kombat II still comes across as being little more than a mildly enhanced version of the Genesis original. After seeing this game, some critics began to refer to the 32x as the “Super Nintendo upgrade”, and it’s easy to see why. The background graphics appear to be the same ones used in the Genesis version, with the same limited color palate and slightly grainy appearance. The characters themselves are more colorful and are very smoothly animated, but they are still smaller than those found in the original arcade game. Everything else is in place… the blood and fatalities, the special moves, the hidden characters, and the tight control. Don’t bother playing this game with the standard 3-button controller; the 6-button pad is the only way to go (why are you still using the 3-button, anyway?) Many people consider Mortal Kombat II to be the best game in the series (we’ll wait and see what happens with MK V), and it’s great fun on the 32x, despite its faults. Recommended, but only if you don't have the Super Nintendo or Saturn versions. The Super Nintendo port of MKII is really quite remarkable considering the hardware, far superior to the original SNES Mortal Kombat (which had all the blood and gore edited out and sold half as well as the gory Genesis port.) The music and sound effects are literally arcade-perfect, courtesy of the wonderful Sony sound chip found in the SNES. When playing SNES MKII, go to Kung Lao's forest stage and listen to the background noises. You'll notice that the faces on the trees are animated, perfectly in sync with the booming bass sound effects. Not an important feature, but a feature missing from the 32x game, detracting from Probe’s claim of an “arcade-perfect port.” Mortal Kombat II is also available for the PC, Genesis, Saturn, Game Gear, Game Boy, and foreign Master System. www.the32xmemorial.com