Vs. Battle – Mortal Kombat

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(Sega Genesis)

(SNES)

Genre	(Fighting)
Players	(Single/Multiplayer)

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Tale Of The Tapes

Mortal Kombat is a 1 on 1 fighting game where the goal is to simply out-duel whoever stands in your way by utilizing your characters arsenal of punches, kicks and special attacks. While this convention had been duplicated with great fruition many times before (especially in the arcades), Mortal Kombat stood out by incorporating the perfect ingredient to this already successful formula- BLOOD! Now players could revel in their opponents failures by slopping loads of crimson plasma all over the screen after wailing them with a landed blow and even better… could perform a killing “fatality” maneuver on their defeated enemy at the end of the fight for extra unnecessary emphasis. FINISH HIM!!!

After reaching a nearly unrivaled pinnacle of popularity in the arcades, it was no surprise to see this murder-fest make its way to home consoles though there were inhibitions due to the uproar of angry and protective parents at the time. Some versions required special codes to unlock the gory blood to keep kids from accessing it too easily while other’s omitted it altogether greatly altering the game’s spirit from its arcade counterpart. Enter the SNES and Sega Genesis versions of the game- 2 entirely different perspectives of an insanely charismatic arcade-style fighter which drew the dividing lines in the fascinating 16-bit wars straight down the middle. Will Nintendo’s usual polish of superior aesthetic quality give their edition the advantage or will Sega’s edgy demeanor provide the perfect home for Liu Kang and co.? Prepare yourself! 

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The Battle

While the gameplay is essentially the same in both versions, there’s absolutely no denying the difference in presentation between these 2 with blood being showcased in the Genesis edition (accessible through entering a code) and censored in the SNES edition (blood changed to “sweat” and many fatalities are altered). Right or wrong, this single decision by Nintendo showed an unwillingness to budge from their rigid standards which soured the difficult-to-satisfy gaming community into looking for alternatives to get their Mortal Kombat fix right-off-the-bat. Sega capitalized on this by providing players with a much more arcade-authentic gameplay experience complete with spine-ripping fatalities and all the blood that you could ask for inside the comfort of your own home which made their version the much more coveted one for the time. Regardless of its lack of direct effect on the fighting mechanics overall, the absence of blood gave gamers pause to question the developers knowledge of the source material (or lack thereof) which severely crippled the optics of Nintendo advertisers who just couldn’t compete with the much more true-to-form Genesis version. Controller-wise, I actually prefer the SNES with its 4 face buttons aligned beautifully with the punches and kicks and the shoulder buttons for blocking (marginally better than the Genesis 6-button controller but WAY better than the 3-button controller) but there’s no way they’re winning this round when they don’t even know how to draw blood in the first place!  

Round 1 Analysis

Gameplay
Controls

Round 1 winner

Sega Genesis version The SNES version manages to land an uppercut (complete with “TOASTY!!!”) in round 1 with the superior controller but the Genesis rallies to take the win by providing the bloodletting gameplay that players clamored for after running out of quarters in the arcade.

Things certainly get interesting in round 2 as the SNES version shines with its usual standing in the graphics and music category. Visually, the Super Nintendo wins easily with sharper looking sprites and backgrounds as well as more animations which makes the characters move with much more fluidity while the Genesis version looks noticeably grainier and less life-like. Musically, both versions sound great and opinions could go either way as both represent well with the Super Nintendo edition sounding crisp and refined and the Genesis edition sounding throaty and deep so it’s a tie for me here. The final Johnny Cage crotch punch that ends this round however is the sound effects where the Super Nintendo stands tall over the vastly inferior Genesis. The characters grunts and yells sound much closer to the arcade but even more discerning is the “FINISH HIM” announcer who you hear with much more regularity on the SNES (like when you choose your character for example) than you do on the Genesis giving them the win in round 2 and setting up for a dramatic final round between these 2 16-bit titans.

Round 2 Analysis

Music/Sound
Graphics

Round 2 winner

SNES version Both versions exchanged blows early in the round with comparably good music but the SNES takes the victory with higher quality graphics and sound effects which was customary for the time.

While it’s been a serviceable fight up to this point, the Genesis version obtains the flawless victory in the final round by simple virtue of authenticity to its roots which not only gives it a better ‘tude reading for being the “cooler” edition but also the edge against a counterpart with superior graphical and sound quality. It’s interesting that the SNES edition would win in a landslide if it had simply conformed to gamers wants however this example of censored development helped to showcase the growing trend of ‘tude within the cultural landscape and how important it was to the freedom of video games as a whole. I mean, why should Mortal Kombat be censored anyways? Parents would have had a hard enough time keeping their kids from seeing it around the food court of their local mall or hearing about it from fellow classmates at school anyways not to mention the more critical point… IT’S STILL A FIGHTING GAME INVOLVING FINISHING MOVES THAT TURN PEOPLE INTO SKELETONS SO EVEN WITHOUT THE BLOOD THE EXACT SAME IMPLICATION OF DEATH REMAINS YOU IGNOR&*% #&!@^ ($%! (*wipes brow*…takes a moment to compose himself)! Simply put, we as gamers had been compromising quality in home versions of arcade counterparts for years but this stung even worse as Mortal Kombat’s ridiculous nature felt like a breath of fresh air in a too-uptight world which could not (or at least would not) translate to the soccer-mom loving SNES yet paired perfectly with the hardcore Genesis, laying out beautifully the character traits of both consoles during the peak of the 16-bit wars. 

Final Round Analysis

‘Tude/Console-Specific Options/Personal Slant

Final round winner

Sega Genesis version The SNES edition simply cannot stand up to the Genesis version in terms of ‘tude as it compromised too much to fit within Nintendo’s happy-go-lucky guidelines which turned out to be the biggest fuel to Sega’s fire to-date in the fiercely fought 16-bit wars.

Overall winner

Sega Genesis version There’s no question that the novelty of gore in video games was exponentially greater during the ‘tude era, marking the Genesis version as the more sought after title of the two back in the day but would that same sentiment hold up without the blood-tinted nostalgia glasses? The answer is quite simple really… YES! Everyone knows the name of the game when it comes to Mortal Kombat and it’s not the combo system or special attacks, it’s the visual parade of rated-r fun which sets this fighter apart from the rest of the pack meaning that censoring it any way only served to further enlighten the gaming communities growing fears of control within an infinitely-expanding entertainment universe. It’s an interesting comparison too because the Super Nintendo version outshines the Genesis one in most of the categories that matter (graphics, sound effects, controls, etc.) however the lack of the essential element that breathes life (…or death) into the series alters too much of itself to be as recognizable and faithful as the Genesis edition. It would be like Street Fighter II not having special moves on the SNES while being fully present on the Genesis (…yuck). It’s a compromise no one wanted to make! Luckily, Nintendo moved quickly to repair their totalitarian image by incorporating just as much blood as the Genesis for future releases in the Mortal Kombat series showcasing the importance of balancing fan-service with quality control while at the same time ingratiating themselves to a soured gaming community.

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