This Week In Retro: Mortal Kombat Trilogy

October 11, 1996: Mortal Kombat counts to 3 thrice

by Diamond Feit

There's not much I miss about the 1990s. The fashion trends did not impress me, much of the music aged terribly, and if I never hear the word "extreme" in advertising again, it'll be too soon. Yet the decade did have one highly specific strong point: It was a golden era for fighting games. Starting with the supernova that was Street Fighter II and running straight through into the new millennium, fans of the genre were absolutely spoiled with choices. Granted, not all are worth remembering decades later, but the sheer number of solid entries made it hard to feel anything less than overwhelmed.

Fighting games dovetailed beautifully into the video game megabit arms race, as the steadily increasing data capacity for game software meant that each new creation could offer more than the last: More moves, more stages, more animation, and of course, more characters. The original arcade release of Street Fighter II had just eight playable characters, as did the first Virtua Fighter and Tekken. Those numbers would balloon to 17 characters in Super Street Fighter II Turbo, 13 in Virtua Fighter 3, and 23 in Tekken 3.

Likewise, Mortal Kombat stormed into arcades in 1992 with only seven playable characters, two of whom were the same guy in different colored masks. The sequel starred a dozen fighters to choose from, and 1995's Mortal Kombat 3 bumped the roster up to 15, later increased to 22 with the arcade follow up Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 released later that year. Ultimate MK3 brought back a number of fan favorites who had not made the cut for the vanilla edition, a smart move considering Mortal Kombat 3's radical roster shakeup is one reason arcade denizens just did not embrace that game as much as the first two.

One year later, in the fall of 1996, Midway made one more attempt at fine-tuning the Mortal Kombat 3 experience. The core team was hard at work on Mortal Kombat 4, a 3D arcade release which would arrive in 1997, so this release would prove to be the final 2D incarnation in the series. As a result, Mortal Kombat Trilogy serves as an omnibus of the entire Mortal Kombat phenomenon, a swan song for the series' infamous usage of real actors playing the on-screen characters.

Even as each MK game expanded the playable roster of kombatants, a few characters invariably ended up on the cutting room floor. Kano and Sonya did not make it to Mortal Kombat II, allegedly because data showed they were the two least-chosen fighters, relegating them to captives seen in the background. They returned in Mortal Kombat 3, but original stars Johnny Cage, Raiden, Scorpion, and Reptile went missing. The ninjas made a comeback in Ultimate, as recording a single masked actor gave the developers enough resources to create six warriors of various colors, but Johnny and Raiden remained on the outs. The official story declared that Raiden simply could not "interfere" in the invasion of Earth, as if a divine referee was holding him back, and Johnny was killed by emperor Shao Khan's army.

Mortal Kombat Trilogy sought to welcome absolutely everyone back to the tournament, regardless of canon or logic. Raiden decides the rules don't matter and fights alongside the forces of Earth, and Johnny gets over his tragic death because his "soul" is trapped between worlds just long enough for him to tag into battle. The series has always allowed players to fight themselves in so-called "mirror matches," but Mortal Kombat Trilogy includes so many duplicates that no one can reasonably explain these showdowns. There are two different versions of Smoke (one human, one cyborg) and three different versions of Sub-Zero: the unmasked hero from MK3, a masked version from Ultimate, and the original MK1 character reborn as Noob Saibot. Furthermore, since each sequel featured all-new footage of the actors, Mortal Kombat Trilogy allows players to select "klassic" versions of Kano, Jax, Kung Lao, and even Raiden in their original garb.

In a series first, all the previously unplayable boss characters become selectable in Mortal Kombat Trilogy, the ultimate gesture of fanservice over common sense. These strongmen, none of whom are human and three of whom have extra limbs, are unbalanced by design and can easily overpower any standard fighter with their huge attacks. Street Fighter II famously let players control the four boss characters in the game's first arcade revision, but they all have their strengths and weaknesses. Mortal Kombat's bosses aren't just oversized, they're overstrong, with simple punches and kicks dealing enough damage to drain a full-quarter of an opponent's life.

Like many "greatest hits" compilations before it, Mortal Kombat Trilogy does contain a few new components. Rain, a purple ninja who only appeared in Ultimate MK3 during the attract mode as a joke, became a full-fledged character in Trilogy, complete with weather-themed special moves. The aforementioned Noob Saibot, an all-black hidden computer character since Mortal Kombat II, also made his playable debut, wielding his own shadow as a partner in battle.

Trilogy gameplay closely follows in the steps of Mortal Kombat 3, expanding on that game's character-specific combo system wherein a set sequence of buttons led to an unbreakable sequence of attacks. A new "Brutality" move lets players end a match with a lengthy combo that hits faster and faster until their hapless, dazed opponent simply explodes. While lacking any "super" moves which many other 2D fighting games had already embraced, Mortal Kombat Trilogy does feature an "Aggressor" meter that increases as the player attacks, granting a speed and damage bonus once it reaches 100%. The mechanic rewards those who take the initiative, as the meter fills even faster when the opponent blocks, discouraging defensive play.

Mortal Kombat Trilogy promised the biggest version of Mortal Kombat possible and delivers on that premise. Though it varies from console to console, the full roster includes at least 30 characters (not counting alternate "klassic" costumes), a staggering amount of fighters for any non Neo-Geo game at that time. Freed from arcade expectations, the game includes a variety of multiplayer modes, including a special 3-on-3 team battle reminiscent of The King of Fighters, except there is no delay between one kombatant losing and the next one entering.

Released first for the PlayStation, one month later Mortal Kombat Trilogy became one of the first games available for the Nintendo 64 (and the first fighter), so I absolutely devoured it. Mortal Kombat appealed to the know-it-all in me, and I strived to be one of those people who knew every special move, every finishing move, and every other possible secret. Thus, Trilogy was my ideal way to consume Mortal Kombat: Unlimited play of the most possible characters in my living room without any chance of a stranger showing me up. Kids, it's great if you love online play, but I must say the fact that I could enjoy a fighting game at home in peace is definitely another thing I miss about the 1990s.

I know when I discussed the arrival of Mortal Kombat 3 in this column last year, I highlighted a number of problems with that game. Nearly all of those problems are present in Trilogy; a vast roster expansion does nothing to address the feeling of franchise fatigue or the memorization-heavy nature of the combos. All the new characters are also overwhelmingly similar, played largely by just two actors with different pigments on their clothes. I am no art snob and I recognize that making games is a costly process, so I would never begrudge a developer for reusing assets, but Mortal Kombat Trilogy stretches my sympathy to its breaking point.

Most of those feelings arrived in hindsight, however, and if we're looking backwards then Mortal Kombat Trilogy must also benefit from its status as the 2D finale for the franchise. MK4 would go full-3D, abandoning the series' distinctive look while doubling-down on lore, and Mortal Kombat would never look back. So if I am reminiscing about the "good old days," the hours I spent practicing Brutalities on my N64 fight stick and committing all of Shang Tsung's shapeshifting commands to memory count as some of my happiest times, as I was blissfully unaware that Mortal Kombat was about to leave me behind.

Diamond Feit lives in Osaka, Japan but is forever online, sharing idle thoughts on Twitter and playing games on Twitch.