MK II on the GameBoy was my first MK game, and it prompted me to try it on the more powerful systems, as a kid. Had MK I or MK III been my first, I'm sure that wouldn't have happened and I would have missed out on one of my favorite gaming franchises.
The main reason how the MK3 port ended up the way it did was because Probe Software, the developers of the first two GB MK ports, did not develop the third one. Probe Software was acquired by Acclaim Studios shortly after the release of the MK2 port, so were unable to come back for the MK3 port. Instead, Software Creations were the developers of the third game, but since they lacked the experience of making the first two, it was essentially back to square one similar to how Probe Software developed the MK1 port.
I remember exactly where I was when Chris showed me MK3 on Gameboy. I have Ultimate on DS. Keeping it as still as I can while rattling out a combo. Trying not to get cramp is another game.
The MK2 GB port is genuinely good, provided me tons of entertainment way back in the day and was a major step up from the MK1 before it. MK3/4 though? Well... yeah.
I remember up to MK2 for the Gameboy but I had to ask myself these questions about the past: 1.) Which senior designer gave the "ok" for these games? They were AWFUL! Yes the system was limited but it seems like they were rushed just to meet deadlines and for a quick cash grab! 2.) People actually paid something along the lines of $29.99- $39.99 back in the day for these cartridges? Translate it the dollars of today and you're looking at $60-$80! 3.) If you had "rich" friends, you could fight each other with the connecting cord. GAWD, that's nothing but smashing 3 buttons! The directional button and the A and B button. AND, AND! Even more money for Nintendo! I also coulda sworn that there was an MK3 cartridge for the "R-zone" system (manufactured by Tiger electronics = 100% junk) with the head band and small screen?
Oh man I remember buying one of those GBA cartridge with 100+ games and MK for gameboy was one of them. It was my first MK game experience (I only mostly knew about it due to the movies) and it sucked!
Oh trust me, the jump kick spam is very much workable in the Game Gear and Master System versions of MK3 that Software Creations always developed. Which is good as they play no better. Very sloppy efforts with that game all around the 8-bit systems.
I remenber playing a lot the MK2 game boy it was really fun and just want to say that the video was really good but why you dont talk about the MK4 gameboy? I know dont gonna be much difference because that version is horrible but it would have been interesting and funny to hear what they would say about that one
I think new generations will never get the appeal of these modest ports; back in the day they were all the rage, considering the gameboy had the power of a potato. Kudos to the mk2 team, that game was a blast!
Nah even at the time MK1 and MK3 were considered awful games. Game Boy owners knew they could get decent games. Thankfully MK2 ended up being a standout.
Admittedly, they have far better versions these days. I don't think that diminishes the absolute hype of being that kid at the playground with MK in his pocket.
I dunno about the new generations not getting the appeal of these modest ports.... MK1 on Switch is a "modest port" afterall. It's like nothing's changed.
@THENAMEISQUICKMAN at the time the gamegear port of mk3 was literally destroyed by everyone, it's way worse than the gb port but you never hear people making videos about that one for some reason 🤷🏻♂️
The Game Gear ports of OG MK is similar but much better with better visuals, better framerate, more responsive controls , uncensored violence (with blood code like the Genesis port), and had Johnny Cage instead of Kano. Even the much improved Game Boy MK2 was still worse than Game Gear MK2 which looked better, ran a bit better, and actually had Kintaro. Game Gear was a stronger handheld so I'm not surprised.
UMK3 for DS FTW! My fav handheld MK by far but the classic GB ones were fun in their own way. MK4 on GB and Tournament Edition on GBA go for money online new!
Back in the day the first Mortal Kombat was one of the first Game Boy games i bought. And it was horrible. It was so slow and ugly to look at. So I accepted that MK games on the system didn't worth the money. But then I saw a kid playing MK2 at a local park and it looked WAY better. The video here doesn't make it apparent but compared to the first one, MK2 felt like you were playing SF2 Turbo by comparison. So I thought if MK2 was such a huge improvement, then the 3rd one would've been amazing. Unfortunately, 3 was as bad if not worse than the first one. So basically I managed to avoid the one good MK game on the handheld. At least Killer Instinct and Raging Fighter were better all things considered.
I am so glad you love the OST of KI GB as much as I do! I don't really see it talked about as often considering the other versions, but it's really fantastic!
I had a Sega Game Gear and played the heck out of MK1 (my first game for it, my dad and I were blown away by it) and 2. I remember getting 2 and playing it for the first time in a hotel overseas, picking my fave Reptile! But 3… ugh… terrible, terrible! The music is nonexistent in matches and so sounds are just awful garbled messes. Projectile sprites are tiny and it just controls badly. Like you said, 2 is the best all-round. Great video!
Speaking of MK2, can you please do an MK Meta video of MK2? It's my favorite of the Arcade era games. I know I've asked this before but I really wanna know.
I didn't get many gameboy games as a child and only one of them was a fighting game. I got really lucky that I chose Killer Instinct out of all of them 😂
have you ever played the java version of ultimate MK3? published by EA and Warner Brothers the game is really really fun even for today! if haven't play it before you should play it seriously!
The handheld port I'd actually really like you to revisit is UMK3 on Mobile Java, it's not the iOS version, but rather a much older, more rare version that was sprite based, it was surprisingly decent from what I remember.
If this helps, I grew with that MK3 port, and the move list works... funny. So for example, for a move you have to press (forward... forward... then punch), like, slowly, Fatalities as well feel like that. Of course I could do it as a kid, but now as a grown up adult, these 2 ports are very bad lol, MK2 is absolutely the best out of the 3, I think it even had link cable support? Which if true, very cool. Killer Instinct on the Game Boy is bar none, the best fighter in the system, I will agree on that.
We survived 8-bit GameBoy , , , ,the kid gamers of today with their Switch and their Steamdecks have zero clue how spoiled they truly are , , , ,even SEGA GameGear was a royal pain , , portable Samurai Shodown , , ,🤔🤔
Believe it or not the Sega Game Gear versions of The Original 3 Mortal Kombat were WAY BETTER in my personal opinion! Especially the Sega Gear version of Mortal Kombat II!! I played that game like crazy when I was on the road with my family as a kid! I would even sneak my Sega Game Gear in my backpack to school with me! Lol I even played it on the bus!! To me personally growing up playing the Game Gear was better than playing the Game Boy! Because in my personal opinion the Sega Game Gear was WAY ahead of it's time! It had better graphics, a built in light, and it was a in color! And just like the first MK was on the Sega Genesis version compared to The Super Nintendo version of MK I, The Sega Game Gear version had blood!!
You wanna know something these Game Boy Games DON'T have , but MK1 does have? Micro Transactions! MK1 has disgusting Micro Transactions that rip off the MK Kommunity. WB games really do hate gamers just look at Suicide Squad Kills The Justice League! They made it into a garbage looter shooter.
6:53 The version of the game I have also has "Premium Shop" below options and it also has a Kombat Pack DLC which adds Baraka, Cage, Kung Lao, and Raiden. Did I download the wrong version of the game? 😂
Not gonna lie, as bad as MK1 is on the gameboy, the few music tracks included are pretty great. They're some of the catchier melodies in the series history to me, anyway
There were also few bootleg MK games for the NES and at least two of them (MK1 and MK2) were surprisingly decent if you consider the system limitations and the fact that they were made by some unknown chinese company lol.
I totally get where you're coming from! Even though the Mortal Kombat portable games might not have met everyone's expectations, I felt a unique charm to being able to play MK on the go. As a kid, I was obsessed with them too. Sure, they were glitchy, but that just added another layer of fun for me - discovering exploits and winning as fast as possible became a game in itself. Nostalgia has a powerful way of shaping our appreciation for things, and these portable MK games definitely hold a special place in my gaming memories. They may not be the best technically, but they have some historical value at the very least
_Mortal Kombat_ on Game Boy provided value largely because of the context of 1993, there's one example. Everyone wanted to play as Goro, and every fifth person had an urban legend to peddle about an unlikely way of making it happen on other versions. When a friend said, "You can play as Goro after you beat it," I scoffed. But it was true, and I have no doubt in hindsight it was marketing's answer to the question, _Why play_ Mortal Kombat _on Game Boy?_
There was a kid at daycare when I was a child who had MKII on his Gameboy. He was a couple years younger than me but I would still stay the night at his house constantly just to play that game all night.
I was incredibly lucky to be born in 1997, by the time I got my first handheld MK game, it was Ultimate on the DS. That game was pretty much the perfect UMK3 port, complete with cheap Jade AI.
MKII Game Boy all day every day! The thing that strike me the most with this port was the sound FX. I know GB sounds are pretty limited, but they managed to make them really pop, each hit is clean and uppercuts are super loud, which is pretty satisfying. I managed to interview Cameron Sheppard a few years ago, who happens to be MKII GB programer. He is a really nice fellow and even though he knew nothing about the MK franchise back then and only had four months to develop the game, I think he really nailed it (he had a MKII arcade cabinet for reference, though). As a MK expert, you probably already know about the upcoming UMK3 GB/GBC homebrew developed by Z80artist. As a portable fighting game enthousiast, I'm really looking forward to it! Check it out!
I'm in College and I've recently jumped through a bunch of hoops to form my own club at the University. It's gonna be about game hacking, specifically for ROMs. One of my goals is to get a team of students involved in ROM hacking and play them on actual cartridges. I was super excited to hear about how crappy UMK 3 (MKA) was for the GBA because it's an opportunity to do a bunch of ROM hacking to make the game playable and worth being portable. I have a bunch of other ideas for the club, but since it is centered around GBA ROM hacking I'm working on mostly retro games.
Even at the time MK1 and MK3 on Game Boy were HATED. Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat 2 and the plethora of solid SNK games on the original Game Boy proved that it wasn't like the Game Boy couldn't handle a decent MK1 or MK3.
Didn't play handheld ports but I did play a port of MK1 on the SEGA Master System, it was missing a character (can't remember who), censored the violence (obviously) and I think it only had Goro's Lair as a stage. Played as slow and clunky as you describe the Game Boy port too.
I had the Game Gear version of MKII. It was pretty solid! Better sound, color, and more detailed sprites. Same smaller roster but it felt like an upgraded version to the Gameboy version. Definitely my Go-to road trip game as a kid. That is until my brother got the Sega Nomad!
It got all three and they were generally better than the Game Boy versions, except for MK2 which was still good but since Game Boy MK2 was also good that one's generally considered on par.
LMAO this video showed up on my feed but I thought I already saw it a while ago from y'all, I think I was remembering the other MK port video you guys made. Then I checked and it said this vid came out 26 MINS AGO
I love an ambitious port. It’s a hard thing to replicate since the series left arcades, but I’ve found a lot of that same feel in the Switch ports of the last two MKs. Nowhere near as compromised, but interesting nonetheless.
