Fighting Games

[Dirty Duck]

I'm slowly getting back into Mortal Kombat. When did they make the leap back to 2D? I have MK XL, 11, and 1 as all three were on sale last week at a hefty discount for the definitive editions . I prefer 11, so far, but I've only played like 2/3 hours split between the latter two, and I only bought XL because I knew that Predator and Alien were two of the guests. I've landed on Scorpion as my main so far, but I'm eyeing Noob Saibot as well.

Also dipped my toe into the two Injustice games. I actually got help boosting the Injustice 1 online trophies, haha.

Mortal Kombat (2011), which is often referred to as MK9, was a soft reboot of the series that returned to the 2D. It's a great game, feels a lot more 'classic' than what followed, and quite purposefully. It brought a lot of people back on board after the series got a reputation for being kind of janky and weird on the PS2. The story mainly follows the first three games but it branches off and starts doing its own things which are pretty cool. It was also the start of Netherrealm's very successful story modes that are one of the biggest draws of the series these days.

MK11 is great! It feels a little bit forgotten about now but the slower, more footsies focused gameplay was really rewarding imo. I played it SO much with my childhood best mate when I moved home after uni. I also thought the story was really good in that one with a sick finale, and it had a great cast. It also has my personal favourite show-off unlockable of any game, but it's a story spoiler so I won't ruin it!

MKX is the most nuts entry once you get into it. I liked how effectively it forged its path as the "new" Mortal Kombat after MK9 played it quite safe and went back to basics. New characters like Kotal Kahn, Erron Black, and D'vorah fit in great, and while the "Kombat Kids" got some flack from certain people I thought they were good ways to add sort of modern twists on certain old characters' gimmicks and keep the story linked to the older games without being SO concerned with the original cast. It has this very cool Mad Max wasteland inspired visual style and worldbuilding and the guest characters are far and away the most well suited. MK11's were still mostly cool, but MK1's were just kinda stupid. Homelander, AND Omniman, AND Peacemaker in a Mortal Kombat game...as opposed to Netherrealm's COMIC BOOK fighting game series?

MK1's gameplay is so good and I think the Kameo system adds so much to it but the story really let me down, and the game dropped the ball MASSIVELY on single player content which is something the MK series has always been so far ahead of the competition on. It was cool to see some of the 3D era fighters come back though. Nitara was the character I was trying to main and I was having a blast with her before I deleted the game due to the never-ending issue of PS5 storage space.