Mortal Kombat II

n/a

Mega Drive 32X Saturn Master System Game Gear
Mortal Kombat II
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Sega 32X, Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear, Sega Saturn
Publisher: Acclaim Entertainment Acclaim Japan (JP)
Developer: Probe Software Probe Entertainment The Gray Team Red Team
Licensor: Midway Manufacturing
Original system(s): Arcade boards
Sound driver: Krisalis sound driver SCSP (1 track)
Peripherals supported: Six Button Control Pad Gear-to-Gear Cable
Genre: Fighting Action/Kakutou Action (格闘アクション), Action/Fighting, Action
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code JP 1994-09-09 ¥8,800 (9,064)8,800e T-81093 US 1994-09-09 $64.9564.95 T-81346 EU 1994-09-09 T-81346-50 PT 199x UK 1994-09-09 £49.9949.99 T-81346-50 GR 199x T-81346-50 AU 199x FMOR01SMC AU (Platinum) 199x FMOR01SMC BR 1994-09 047070 JP 1996-03-29 ¥5,8005,800 T-8107G US 1996-01-23 $54.9554.95 T-8103H EU 1996 T-8103H-50 DE 1996 T-8103H-50 PT 199x UK 1996 £44.9944.99 T-8103H-50 PL 1996 EU 1994-11 MK-29029-50 PT 1994 MS29029 UK 1994-11 MK-29029-50 AU 1994-11 $79.9579.95 FMOR01SEC BR 1994 028530 JP 1994-09-09 ¥4,800 (4,944)4,800e T-81107 US 1994 $44.9544.95 T-81278 EU 1994-09-09 T-81278-50 UK 1994-09-09 £34.9934.99 T-81278-50 JP 1995-05-19 ¥9,8009,800 T-8104A US 1995-03 T-8101B EU 1995-03 T-8101B-50 PT 1994 UK 1995-03 £54.9954.99 T-8101B-50 BR 1995 153010
Non-Sega versions No results

Mortal Kombat II, called Mortal Kombat II: Kyuukyoku Shinken (モータルコンバットII 究極神拳) in Japan, is the sequel to the critically acclaimed Mortal Kombat. It was originally released in 1993 as an arcade game before being ported to numerous platforms. It is considered by many to be the best fighter of the series. It sports a cast of twelve characters with numerous special moves including new finishers and new kinds of finishers.

It's the last game of the series to be officially released in Japan for a Sega console. Mortal Kombat 3, which was the final Mortal Kombat game to be released in Japan, was only released in that region for the PlayStation.

Gameplay

The game plays almost identically to its prequel, Mortal Kombat. The game consists of fourteen fights that start against the other characters of the game, before moving onto one of two secret characters if certain conditions are met. From there, the player battles the monstrous Kintaro before fighting the game's final boss, Shao Kahn.

Controls are still the same as the first game. With a standard control pad, using the D-Pad moves your character, is for low punch, pressing either with or does a high punch, and are for low and high kicks respectively, and  START  blocks. With a Six-Button Control Pad is for low punch, is for high punch, is low kick, is high kick, and or blocks.

All characters share the same basic range of attacks, such as uppercuts, foot sweeps, and throws, although these moves vary in speed and power from character and character. When using a three button controller, not all of these moves will be available. What differentiates each character are several special moves that are performed by entering certain button combinations.

Fatalities can be performed like in the original game, and each character now has two of each. Two other kinds of finishing moves appeared in this game, Friendships, where instead of the winning character killing off the opponent, they would do something friendly, and Babalities, where the surviving character would transform the loser into an infant. These were put into the original arcade version of the game to poke fun at those who felt the original Mortal Kombat was too violent.

Unlike the Mega Drive version of its prequel, the game is completely uncensored from the start and no code is needed to uncensor the game.

Characters

Playable

	Liu Kang
	Kung Lao
	Johnny Cage
	Reptile
	Sub-Zero
	Shang Tsung
	Kitana
	Jax
	Mileena
	Baraka
	Scorpion
	Rayden

Non-Playable

	Kintaro
	Shao Kahn
	Jade
	Noob Saibot
	Smoke

Versions

Mega Drive version

The Mega Drive version was developed by Probe Entertainment. Differences from the Arcade version include a limited color palette, reduced voice samples, and original game music. Gameplay speed is slightly increased. In the place of Goro's Lair is a slightly modified portal stage, which replaces the reds and oranges with blue. The game endings have also been reduced to text which scrolls across the screen as the winning player poses in Shao Kahns Arena. There are some easter eggs that are exclusive to this version such as the "Oooh Nasty" debug option which replaces the Dan Forden Toasty image with a kids drawing and gives Raiden a "Fergality" special move.

32X version

Mortal Kombat II (known as Mortal Kombat II: Kyuukyoku Shinken in Japan) was ported to the 32X by Probe Entertainment, the same company behind the Mega Drive version of the same game. The original port was first released in the United States on December 4, 1994 in time for the Christmas season. A revision fixing minor programming issues and bugs that were most likely not addressed due to the Christmas deadline was released in January 1995. The game was released in Europe and Japan in 1995.

This port is built off of the Mega Drive version, and much of the game still relies on the Mega Drive hardware, with most of the backgrounds and menu graphics being rendered by the 16-bit hardware. The 32X side is used to give character sprites more colours and render more advanced shadows, which in turn frees up some more palette entries for the backgrounds on the Mega Drive side.

The 32X version enhances the sound effects to bring them more in-line with the arcade version, and adds many voice clips that were missing in its Mega Drive counterpart, namely Shao Kahn's announcing of the rounds and various screaming noises. Due to the game's tight release schedule, however, it retains the Mega Drive version's soundtrack.

The port received many lukewarm reviews due to its inferior soundtrack, but is preferred by some over the SNES version for it's tight controls.

Master System and Game Gear

Like other Sega Console versions, it was developed by Probe Entertainment. The Game Gear and Master System versions are identical aside from the screen size. Eight characters and Shao Kahn are present but several were removed such as Raiden, Baraka, Johnny Cage, Kung Lao, Noob Saibot, and Kintaro. Several levels are also missing and the only level with a stage fatality is the Kombat Tomb. Each character has one fatality removed along with friendships. As expected, the graphics and sound take a hit and voice samples are nonexistent.

Virtually all the graphics are rendered through the use of background tiles rather than sprites, leading to a choppier (if less flickery) appearance than its rivals.

Saturn version

This port is essentially a conversion of the Probe Entertainment-developed DOS port. A later PlayStation version was released only in Japan (it is thought it went unreleased in western territories because of a possible conflict with the Sony-published PlayStation version of Mortal Kombat 3). Based on the Sega Saturn version, the PlayStation port includes an option to enable Shao Kahn's dialogue (such as his announcing of the rounds) and several voice samples like Kitana's death screams have been restored. This is assumed to be missing on the Sega Saturn version to benefit slightly better load times. The Sega Saturn version does have, however, the ability to pre-load morphs for Shang Tsung (much like Mortal Kombat Trilogy).

Both of these ports, however, have been received negatively by many gamers. They're widely considered to be inferior to the 16-bit ports for their lack of certain sound effects, poor load times, and occasional slowdown. The Saturn version was also released almost 2.5 years after the original arcade version, so many found there to be no excuse for these issues.

In Japan this version is known as Mortal Kombat II Kanzenban (モータルコンバットII 完全版).

Release in Germany

Like the first game, MK2 was banned in Germany. The only available version was the one for Game Boy. The game was unbanned in 2005.

Screenshots

Main article: Mortal Kombat II/Comparisons.

Production credits

Mega Drive version

Midway Mortal Kombat Team

• Ed Boon, John Tobias, Tony Goskie, Dan Forden, John Vogel

For Probe Software

• Programmed by: David Leitch with the kind assistance of Paul Carruthers
• Graphics by: Terry Ford
• Music and SFX by: Matt Furniss, S. Hollingworth (Krisalis Software)
• Graphics Utilities: Gary Liddon, Carl Muller, Bob Armour
• Compression Programming: Nick Pelling, Greg Michael
• QA Manager: Tim Bradstock
• QA Engineers: James Stewart, Ben O'Reilly, Nick McGee
• Creative Director: Joe Bonar
• Produced by: Rob O'Farrel (Barg)
• Special Thanks to: Tiny 'Bubbles' Beckwith
• Mr Leitch's Portrait by: Alan Seagrave

Acclaim Development by The Gray Team

• Producer: Rob Leingang
• Associate Producer: Stacy Hendrickson
• Analysts: John Cirabisi, James Johnson, Joe Libertella
• Special Thanks to: Alex De Lucia, Billy Pidgeon, Diane Cambria, Eric Weiner, Steffan Levine, Shawn Rosen, Eric Kuby, Mark Mermelstein, Mike Hong, Eric Samulski

Source:

In-game credits

32X version

Midway Mortal Kombat Team

• Ed Boon, John Tobias, Tony Goskie, Dan Forden, John Vogel

For Probe Entertainment Limited

• Programmed by: Cameron Sheppard, David Leitch
• Graphics by: Terry Ford
• Music and SFX by: Matt Furniss, S. Hollingworth (Krisalis Software)
• Samples by: PC Music
• Samples Driver by: Ed Haynes
• Compression Programming: Nick Pelling, Cameron Sheppard
• QA Engineers: James Stewart, Nick McGee, Clifford Ramsey, Mark Viccary
• QA Manager: Tim Bradstock
• Produced by: Rob O'Farrel (Barg)
• Executive Producer: Tony Porter

Acclaim Development by The Gray Team

• Producer: Rob Leingang
• Associate Producer: Alex De Lucia
• Analysts: Joey Libertella, Eric Weiner, Mark Hermelstein, Steffan Levine
• Special Thanks to: Billy Pidgeon, Diane Cambria, Eric Kuby, David Sanchez, Eric Samulski

Thanks again Stacy. We'll miss you!!

Source:

In-game credits

Master System and Game Gear versions

Midway Mortal Kombat Design Team:

• Ed Boon, John Tobias, Tony Goskie, Dan Forden, John Vogel
• Programming by: Keith Burkhill
• Backgrounds by: Terry Ford
• Other Graphics by: Keith Burkhill
• Music by: Matt Furniss
• Produced by: Rob O'Farrell (Barg)
• Creative Director: Jo Bonar
• Quality Assurance Manager: Tim Bradstock
• Quality Assurance Engineers: James Stewart, Ben O'Reilly, Nick McGee

Acclaim Development by The Gray Team

• Producer: Rob Leingang
• Associate Producer: Stacy Hendrickson
• Analysts: Joe Libertella, John Cirabisi, Alex de Lucia, James Johnson
• Special Thanks to: Diane Cambria, Eric Weiner, Mark Mermelstein, Eric Samulski, Billy Pidgeon, Steffan Levine, Shawn Rosen

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Mortal Kombat II/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Mortal Kombat II/Promotional material.

Physical scans

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 80 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 70 Consoles + (FR) 92 Cool Gamer (RU) 90 Computer & Video Games (UK) 97 Edge (UK) 80 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 73 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU) 80 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 10 (RU) 100 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 73 Game Players (US) 92 Game Players (US) NTSC-U 92 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 88 GamePro (DE) PAL 67 GamesMaster (UK) PAL 94 Games World: The Magazine (UK) PAL 91 Game Informer (US) NTSC-U 78 Joker (SI) 94 Joypad (FR) PAL 88 MAN!AC (DE) PAL 80 Mega (UK) PAL 88 Mega Force (FR) PAL 91 Megazin (SI) 91 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 94 Player One (FR) 94 Power Up! (UK) 93 Score (CZ) 78 Sega Magazine (UK) PAL 96 Sega Power (UK) PAL 94 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 97 Sega Mega Drive Review (RU) 92 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 80 Todo Sega (ES) 92 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 96 Video Games (DE) PAL 73 VideoGames (US) NTSC-U 70

	87
Based on 36 reviews

Mortal Kombat II

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual PCB

Mega Drive, PT
Cover

Mega Drive, SE (Rental)
Cover

Mega Drive, GR
<div style="margin:auto; max-width:px"> 320x120px Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, AU
Cover

Mega Drive, AU (alt)
Cover

Mega Drive, AU (Sega Platinum Collection)
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, ZA
Cover
Cart

32X version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source GamesMaster (UK) 88

	88
Based on 1 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score CD Consoles (FR) PAL 48 Consoles + (FR) 93 Computer & Video Games (UK) PAL 93 Digitiser (UK) 90 Electronic Games (1992-1995) (US) NTSC-U 100 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 55 GameFan (US) NTSC-U 91 Game Players (US) NTSC-U 76 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 58 Games World: The Magazine (UK) PAL 91 Game Informer (US) NTSC-U 89 HiTech (ES) PAL 70 Mega (UK) PAL 84 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 92 Next Generation (US) NTSC-U 50 Player One (FR) 92 Saturn Fan (JP) NTSC-J 65 Sega Magazine (UK) PAL 93 Sega Power (UK) PAL 90 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 95 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 92 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 70 Todo Sega (ES) 93 Top Consoles (FR) 80 Ultimate Future Games (UK) PAL 81 VideoGames (US) 90

	82
Based on 26 reviews

Mortal Kombat II

32X, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

32X, US
Cover
Cart Manual

32X, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

32X, PT

32X, AU

32X, BR
Cover
Cart Manual

Saturn version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score CD Consoles (FR) 60 Consoles + (FR) 75 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 58 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 48 GameFan (US) 46 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 75 GamePro (UK) 82 Game Informer (US) NTSC-U 67 Hobby Consolas (ES) PAL 82 Intelligent Gamer's Fusion (US) NTSC-U 67 Joypad (FR) 83 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 88 Next Generation (US) NTSC-U 50 Saturn Fan (JP) NTSC-J 64 Saturn+ (UK) PAL 90 Sega Power (UK) PAL 89 Sega Saturn Magazine (UK) PAL 93 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 63 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 58 Todo Sega (ES) 85 Ultimate Gamer (US) 80 Última Generación (ES) 76 VideoGames (US) NTSC-U 60

	71
Based on 23 reviews

Mortal Kombat II

Saturn, JP
Cover
Spinecard Disc

Saturn, US
Cover
Disc Manual

Saturn, EU
Cover
Disc

Saturn, PT
Cover
Disc

Master System version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score

	N/A
Based on 0 reviews

Mortal Kombat II

Master System, EU
Cover
Cart

Master System, PT
Cover

Master System, AU
Cover
Cart

Master System, AU (OFLC stickers)
Cover

Master System, BR
Cover
Cart Manual Poster

Game Gear version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score

	N/A
Based on 0 reviews

Mortal Kombat II

Game Gear, JP
Cover
Cart

Game Gear, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Game Gear, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Game Gear, PT

Game Gear, GR
<div style="margin:auto; max-width:px"> 320x120px Cover
Cart

Game Gear, AU

Technical information

Main article: Mortal Kombat II/Technical information.