Game: Mortal Kombat
Console: Sega Master System
Developer: Probe Entertainment
Release Date: 1993
It's no great secret that I don't really like Mortal Kombat as a fighting game. Revered more for its gore than its gameplay, most versions seem to reward button mashing over calculated attacks, and there's no end of lazy palette swaps instead of an interesting roster of characters. A big chunk of the Master System library is made up of games which came out on the Mega Drive and were ported back a generation as an afterthought, Mortal Kombat is one of these games.
With just two buttons on the Master System controller, attacks are limited though movement is fairly fluid with the d-pad. Hit detection is essentially random chance as your attacks sometimes damage the opponent and other times go straight through them. There's no weight to kicks or punches, they just sort of happen until one fighter falls over. Gameplay is a bore, as is Mortal Kombat's progression in general.
Graphically the digitized sprites don't look too bad rendered in 8-bit, the lack of detail almost fits. The fact that the game features a tiny roster of 6 playable characters and just 2 stages to fight on is a disappointment. Obviously there's only so much space on a Master System cartridge, but the soundtrack sounds almost passable and could easily be described as one of the best parts of the game.
Overall Mortal Kombat on the Master System was never going to be amazing, but even so it's let down by many issues, some of which recur through all versions of the game. Luckily this version is a little better than the Game Boy release, but then again things can't get much worse.
Rating: 32/100
Grade: E
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