Mortal Kombat

Not really? Understandable. After all, Mortal Kombat is a digitized fighting game that once took arcades by storm 27 year ago. How to follow up on this smash arcade success? Mortal Monday{1} saw the release of four home ports, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, GameGear, and GameBoy, on September 13, 1993 , which makes the home versions nearly 26 years old. Wow! The Sega CD received a port not quite a year later in the summer of 1994 . There were also ports to DOS PCs, Amiga, and even the Sega Master System (!!!) but I am unsure of the release dates of that trio (purportedly sometime in 1993). While it was nice of Midway to grace that many systems with the killer app of 1993 {2}, the biggest competition was between the SNES and Sega Genesis, at least here in the USA. Should Sega-centric gamers of the day snatch up the much heralded Sega Genesis version at launch or was it wiser to hold off for the Sega CD version? The answer is simply, definitively, maybe…

As a reminder for our cherished audience, the Sega CD had two main problems:

Far too many FMV games!
- Or non FMV games with really poor FMV tacked on (multimedia was once the big buzzword for compact discs).
Far too many Genesis ports with redbook audio as the biggest and sometimes sole addition to its cartridge counterpart.
- A game was certainly not worse for having a CD quality soundtrack added, but if that was the only difference… hard to convince the public why they needed to purchased the Sega CD add-on.

Good news! Wait, no, bad news… the cynical take on Mortal Kombat for the Sega CD is largely #2 with a small pinch of #1's subpoint thrown into the recipe. How did that effect the admittedly small cross section of consumers, who:

Were Mortal Kombat fans.
Had not purchased a version of Mortal Kombat in the previous year.
Owned a Sega CD.

Initial exposure might might have elicited a response similar to:

"We waited nearly a year for the superior Sega CD version and all it adds is better music and a really bad FMV intro?!!?"

Again, that point would be not only a cynical view, but also an incomplete view, as the actual answer is surprisingly nuanced and will depend on how you choose to experience Mortal Kombat. The truth is the Sega CD made several key additions, but also suffered from additional complications, largely caused by the nature of the differences between CDs and cartridges coupled with a smattering of inexplicable changes.

{1} No seriously, not making this up, the launch of Mortal Kombat for home (and portable) consoles was called Mortal Monday.

{2} Maybe overstating things, but Mortal Kombat was a big deal, enough to draw the ire of a grandstanding Congress who should have better things to attend to, yet…

So just how did Mortal Kombat differ on the Sega CD versus its sibling release on the Sega Genesis?

Unlike some games I have covered lately (that would be all three of the current reviews, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, Time Gal, and Castle of Illusion), I was lucky to have played the Genesis and Sega CD ports of Mortal Kombat during the original release time frame. While I needed to play through both games again to get a feel for the differences between the two, my memories were largely intact. Except now I have a better appreciation for how each game compares. 25-26 years ago, my viewpoint was definitely of the "Genesis game with better audio experience, but… " for I never had both games in my possession at the same time to do a deep dive. Perhaps getting older does allow for one to become wiser? Then again, expending so much energy into attempting to discern the differences between 26 and 25 year old ports, Genesis and Sega CD respectively, of a 27 year old arcade game. Perhaps not, eh?

Pros

Graphics
1. More animation! (Much of the specifics on animation is sourced from our kindred spirit over at Retro-Sanctuary who likewise compared Mortal Kombat games.)
  - I have seen some estimates of up to 30% more frames added! I have not analyzed the differences on such a detailed technical level, but even playing the game one right after the other, things are noticeable, but watching recorded footage side by side really illustrates this point.
  - Sub Zero formerly used Scorpion's standing animation on the Genesis, but is once again unique to his character.
  - More animation for the backgrounds.
    - Torches flickering.
    - Shang Tsung clapping and moving head during Throne Room kombat.
2. Some character sprites are redrawn or touched up.
  - Kano seems cleaner.
3. More details on some of the arenas.
  - Some of the arenas are redrawn, Goro's Lair looks much better on the Sega CD as the texture of the floor is much nicer and background and foreground details have been added. The Palace Gates now have flickering flames at either end. The Pit is bloodier.
Audio
1. The music, if not arcade perfect, is pretty darn close in quality.
  - While the Genesis version was surprisingly good, the tracks were reinterpreted mixes of the original tunes.
  - Yeah, we have a nit to pick, please see "Peculiarities" section about track order.
  - Because the in game music is redbook audio, you can pop the game in your CD player and listen to the tunes, including three different mixes of the Mortal Kombat theme song.
2. While the Genesis was again surprisingly decent, the Sega CD adds more sound effects, but not all missing samples have been added back. Still, it remains an improvement.
  - Raiden's sorely missed his torpedo scream is back! YourMother'sFromLA!!!!
  - The announcer's voice is deeper.
  - Raiden's lightning sounds less wimpy as well, a proper crackling has been added.
Gameplay is largely the same as the Genesis, which was far superior to the SNES version of the game (again,research from afar as I have only seen people play this game on YouTube), combos were broken, plagued by input lag, and there is a no push back from corners so beware death from corner trap) the Sega CD feels smoother given the added frames of animation. However, load time lag is a concern, which is all covered in the "Cons" section.
Presentation is improved.
1. The Character bios once again have video intros.
  - They are not eye searingly bad either!
2. Blood is enabled by default.
  - No ABACABB code needed to unlock blood. I believe all fatalities are present as well and there is more gore added to some levels (Bottom of Pit and Goro's Layer as mentioned under "Graphics").
3. The Cheat menu now has labels for the different functions.
  - Genesis version previously just resort to "Flag #" labeling.
4. Related to more voice samples under "Audio", names are now spoken at character select screen and after victory congratulations are likewise spoken.
  - Character Name Wins.
  - Fatality
  - Flawless Victory
5. Fighter names are now in the health bar instead of above.
  - Not a huge deal for me, but many people seem to prefer this arrangement.

Cons

Load times occur throughout the game.
1. Which is where how one experiences these retro games will come into play (pun happily unintended this time). Emulation definitely cuts down load time on these old CD based systems because there is no physical disc for an actual laser to try reading. Remember all Sega/Mega CD systems (Model 1, Model 2, CDX/Multi-mega, Wondermega, Wondermega 2/X'Eye) are single speed CD-ROM drives. However, even with emulation, there is still some level of "disc access". If I had to guess, it is based on the way the Sega CD (like pretty much all optical disc systems) have to read the data off the optical disc onto cache. The Sega CD only has 128 Kbit memory for the cache and again, total layman explanation here, between the slow spinning for access of optical data, coupled with the ability to only store 128kbit in cache, makes for a lot of churn.
2. From least to most annoying examples of loading times.
  - After character selection.
  - Between rounds.
  - Slight pause before fatalities
  - Between Endurance rounds.
    - For those not familiar, Mortal Kombat features two later matches, each requiring you to defeat two different opponents, without health recovery, to win the match. The problem? After you defeat your first challenger, the second one "immediately appears", well on the arcade, Genesis, and SNES versions, but on the Sega CD, the system has to slowly read data from the slowly spinning disc and then transfer that data into the limited cache memory. As mentioned, since emulators do not rely on the disc, there is still the matter of needing to write into cache the data for the "new character" that spawns on the fly.
  - For all that is precious and lovingly held Shang Tsung!!!!
    - Remember the endurance rounds? Yes? Good. Now think about how painful it is for Shang Tsung to constantly transform into different characters. If only you can lock him to choosing a single form!
    - This is painful even in emulation. Like so painful. it will be a deal breaker for some.
Cheesy FMV intro.
1. Seems to be from the Mortal Monday marketing campaign. I mean, I already bought the game, right? Why am I watching a commercial for the game as an intro?
2. The quality is incredibly poor. The usual dreadful, grainy, incoherent, muddy mess which makes up the worst examples of FMV on the Sega CD.
Audio
1. Apparently, there are two tracks completely missing.
Presentation
1. While neither version has many options, the Sega CD version is lacking the Sound Test found in the Genesis port, which offers access to all the:
  - Music.
  - Sound FX.
  - Samples .

Peculiarities

There is something wonky with the music. Not a bad thing necessarily, just weird.
1. While arcade quality, the music does not always match the correct arenas. Not remembering the arcade original order, I had to research by listening to the Sega CD music and comparing it to the Arcade OST (Sega CD arena vs Arcade arena music).
  - The Courtyard now has the music from the Pit.
  - Palace Gates now has the music from Goro's Lair.
  - Warrior Shrine now had the music from The Courtyard.he
  - The Pit still has the music from the Pit.
  - Throne Room still has music from the Throne Room.
  - Goro's Lair now has the music from The Courtyard.
The FMV intro depicts gameplay seemingly captured from the SNES port!
- I was tempted to list this under con, but it is understandable given the origins of the intro hearkening back to the original Mortal Monday launch. I get it, the SNES has better color and the sprites definitely look bigger, which makes for a better marketing vehicle for the cross platform launch commercial. The fact the intro for the allegedly "Bigger, Better, Louder, Meaner" Sega CD version happens to depict the game as played on a rival consol; yeah, that is a peculiarity.

Yep, the cover really does state that slogan.

Mortal Kombat Sega CD Redbook Audio

Misc Media

YouTube video comparing difference between Genesis and Sega CD.

Pay close attention to the animation and music. You'll need headphones to properly separate the channels for each platform (left is Mega drive and right is Sega CD). Thank you to the excellent work done by the team over at VCDECIDE!

Screenshots captured during my own playthrough.

Sega CD

Subzero vs Scorpion in Goro's Layer. Notice each warrior has his own idle stance. Also there is increased detail and the floor has improved texturing.

Sega Genesis

Subzero vs Scorpion in Goro's Layer. Idle stances are the same. Also, the floor is not very detailed and there are background and foreground details missing.

Sega CD

Subzero vs Scorpion at the Palace Gates. Sub Zero is no longer a clone! Flames present at either end of stage.

Sega Genesis

Subzero vs Scorpion at the Palace Gates. Idle stances are the same. No flickering flames at either end of stage.

Sega CD

Subzero vs Reptile in The Pit. Notice separate stances and increased detail (blood and bodies) in the background.

Sega Genesis

Subzero vs Reptile in The Pit. Idle stances are the same. The background is missing a good bit of detail as well.

TL;DR

Where does that leave us? Sporting more sound effects, better music (even with missing tracks and weird "music to arena matching"), slightly cleaned up character sprites, more detailed backgrounds, and much improved animation, Mortal Kombat (MK1) for the Sega CD is graphically and aurally superior to the Genesis original, even if the gains are probably more modest in total than otherwise indicated by the list of improvements. The Sega CD port, while not drastically better than the Sega Genesis original, is enough of an improvement to almost live up to the Bigger, Better, Louder, Meaner slogan. This port even plays a bit smoother on account of all that extra animation, but there is one huge sticking point -- the load times. A slight pause before fatality is not a bad trade-off, same with between level loading, even the pause when new enemy jumps in for the Endurance Matches is likewise manageable, but Fighting Shang Tsung is border line deal breaker. Take the Choppy Bus straight to Lag City as the game pauses to load each…new…sprite…for…each…transformation. Even the predictable inclusion of a terrible FMV intro is easy to overlook compared to the character loading issue. After all, you can simply skip the intro when you play.

My verdict? While not a flawless victory (pun sadly intended), the consensus is the Genesis port is superior to the SNES port. Similarly, while not a clear cut winner compared to the Genesis, if one can manage to work around the the crazy lag on the final boss, the other trade-offs are probably worth it to gain a better looking, better sounding, and better playing (mostly) version of Mortal Kombat on Sega CD. Arcade purists are unlikely to find the Genesis or Sega CD port particularly compelling (the SNES is borderline unplayable so I will eliminate it from discussion as well) and while the Sega CD gets my vote, it is not enough of an improvement to merit a system seller. No sir, no ma'am, not at all. If you already have the hardware or are willing to play the game in emulation, it is a decent, if dated, experience.

Now, if you have the chance to play Mortal Kombat II on the SNES, Mortal Kombat II on 32X, or even Mortal Kombat II Unlimited - Enhanced Colors on the Genesis (the Genesis port was playable but my early returns with this ROM hack means you should never bother with the normal Genesis ROM), then I would skip MK1 altogether.

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