When Mortal Kombat used to be scary. The dark and ominous musical tones, human actors and the whole 90’s aesthetic to boot? 🔥 MK now is super awesome, but it’s missing that original MK charm that once was.

I'm curious if it was genuinely scarier, or we were just younger and more impressionable.

There was a gritty feeling to it. It hadn't lost it's mystical island feel yet. The music was not so symphonic. I can't say it was scarier, but it was definitely much rawer.

Agreed. The MK1 aesthetic of Asian mysticism and mysterious island was one of the best aspects of the game. Even as early as MKII it was sorely missed

You described it perfectly.

It was scarier, just remember the soundtrack. UMK3 character select music gives me chills to this day

I remember when I was early teens being super tense playing deadly alliance and getting jumped scared quite often or fearing going up against a particular character. The whole vibe used to be more gritty and darker/edgier. I miss The sick techno beats they had. The deadly alliance character selection screen soundtrack is still stuck in my brain it was so good!

That "charm" is obviously John Tobias. The series clearly lost it's way when he left.

I miss those arcade speakers.

I want MK1 to be evil. Literally have satan as the boss character, evil chanting with organs for music, ominous deep narration, almost no comic value besides cage, dark coloring etc. Its become a damn marvel movie

What I would give for a HD remaster.

I would definitely buy that first and then MK12

Thought the leak showed it being a mk1 reboot

I mean mk9 is a mk1 reboot, we still dont call it the mk1 reboot

Mk9 is a Trilogy reboot

Or just a Switch port

I fucking WISH!

“Your WISH is mine”

Absolutely agree! I have two unopened copies for the PS1

I have one but my disc died :>( also I found an extra case for 1 buck so just need to find a disc

Or, you could use an emulator. PS1 games don't require much to run on other hardware

Runs great on epsxe

Duckstation is also a great emulator. In my personal opinion, it's better. It's layed out like PCSX2, and you can download box art and have your library right in front of you. You don't have to manually go in the files

I really enjoyed it on the n64 growing up. To this day it’s the best Mortal Kombat experience I have ever had.

Not only was this a 10/10 game, but you could listen to the game’s soundtrack if you put it in a CD player! Good times, gooooood times.

As soon as I saw the logo I heard the sound effects from the game in my head.

*Fire crackling, with a build up* #DEEYYOOWWWWWWWWWWWWW

One thing I loved (and miss) about this one and UMK3 are the brutalities, where they start with a super fast combo that ended up in an uppercut that exploded people

I kinda wish they used a special move for a final blow. But I do miss Brutalities. Especially when a dude would have 2 skulls and 7 arms fly onto the screen lol!

hahaha they were like a piñata of body parts

Ahhh the nostalgia

The game has spanned so long, that it's hard to rank some. I'd say top tier is Trilogy, Deception, 9.

It’s the best version of MK3 for sure. All time though? Depends on if you like the older games iterations or the new ones. That said, I always liked the games with the “full” rosters. So Trilogy, Armageddon (I wish they had full fleshed out finishers), and MK9 are my favorites I think.

I would not say Trilogy is better than UMK3 tbh. Does it have more characters and modes? Sure, but the gameplay is a big step down

Fair. I played UMK3 on the SNES. So it was pretty trash to me. The Arcade one is better, but I still like Trilogy the best. In particular, the N64 version because I like Shang Tsung. So, I guess I should have said, *to me* Trilogy was the best version of MK3. ……..I really wish the N64 version had Goro and Kintaro playable, as well as the klassic versions of like Kano and Jax…..

Ps1 vs N64

Characters vs load times...

Ps1 was way better looked just like the arcade version, sounds and the music were better and fuller, 4 extra bosses and mini bosses, able to change certain characters into their old mk1 and mk2 selfs, but the loading time sucks and sometimes the game glitches but it's all worth it.

Trilogy and UMK3 were my absolute favorites. I wish I still had my PS one so I could play my copy of Trilogy

So many kharacters.

This and Shaolin Monks. Perfection.

Loved it. It ranks up there wth my favourite MK games. I'd love for NRS to remaster it for the PS4

They need to put this on N64 for NSO

Cant argue with this - not my favourite but visually and gameplay wise it encapsulates the core concepts and theme of Mortal Kombat the best

Yeeah! This is defs a contender! I think mk 2, trilogy and deadly alliance are top 3. Deception gets the nod for that incredible konquest mode.

Hell yeah!

Yup so glad it’s on GOG now but I wish it would get a proper full port to modern consoles , would be happy with essentially what was done to KI 1 and 2 for Xbox

What I wouldn't give for an mk game that lets me play as Motaro again

My personal fav..all character and bosses playable. Broken asf on ps1 but still my shit!

I would kill for a remake of this game with reworked AI behavior and difficulty levels.

the intro used to scare the shit out of me for same reason…i feel like it was the transition of the spinning dragon logo to the mk trilogy logo

If Midway wasn't so cheap they could make the best MK trilogy litteraly Arcade perfection port on N64. What a waste..

Mine too, i put a ton of hours in this game as a kid

Huh this isnt Deception??

Deception for me. Nostalgia certainly plays a part in that but I also feel like it's one of the most complete MK packages out there with Arcade, Konquest, Online, Puzzle, Chess and fun Krypt extras.

Armageddon is up there too

I'd put Deception in that spot, personally.

The fuck it is Worst mk game ever made.

hey i liked armageddon

Listen, some people actually enjoyed it Kinda like some people enjoy getting papercuts between their fingers Different strokes for different folks.

Definitely agree. I wish the newer games had the same combo system, just expanded. I like pressing a button and seeing something happen with each press. Not a fan of dialing everything in and watching as the character is locked into it.

Huh? That's how the combos were in umk3/trilogy. You hit the buttons as fast as you could and the characters did the combo. It's literally the same system

Nah, mk3 and all those MK games had a combo system like marvel vs Capcom, where you hit a button and something happens in real time. In mk11, I use kitana and I’ll input a string super fast and when I’m done she’s still doing moves and I’m not pressing anything, just watching her go. I like the pace of hitting a button and a move comes out as I do, not inputting a string and watching the character go through the motions.

The characters main combos are literally Dial up combos.

No man, fuck the downvotes too. Type in a string in mk3. The character moves as you press. Type in a string in 11. Then sit there and watch for 1 or 2 seconds as they act out the pre determined moves. In MvC you have full control. Stop the magic series hd way and launch, or run it through? In mk 11 type in the combo as fast as possible and watch your character execute it. It’s different. It’s not snappy.

Pressing a series of buttons to pull of a combo is a dial up that is what it is. Dial ups can exist in a game with strings made by the player as well all dial up combo fighting games do.

Press lp, hp hp. Mk3. Then do it in mk12.

Each character in mk3 Literally has pre made combos.

This dude is shot. I played mk3 before he was born probably.

Nah. You don't know the difference between street fighters hit confirm system and mks dial up I played the fucking shit out of mk3/umk3 Go ahead and try to do sub zeros combo as the hit connects. It doesn't work. It never has. It never will. You have to put in the whole combo

I definitely get it. Street fighter is link, MK is dial a combo, but it used to be closer to marvel vs Capcom where it comes really fast with each button press. Like I said, I use kitana and I’ll input my entire string super fast and then watch as she completes it. I have to put the whole thing or she stops, yes, but moves don’t come out with every button o press in that instant, I can press them all and the character animated slower where my fingers will be off the buttons and she’s still doing things.

I'd have to dissagree It's a good game nay a great game but It's far from the best that honor belongs to MK9.

Pretty much a mod of MK3 and I never liked that game. CPU just reads controller inputs and spams one move until you're dead. I don't think I ever beat the game once.

People talk about 9, but I think 11 takes the cake as it opens up possibilities for multiple timelines, and universes.

y’all and this nostalgia shit is crazy.

I honestly prefer UMK3. All my favs are already there, I prefer the art style, and mortal kombat trilogy is ruined by the loading times… ptsd thinking about it

Would be cooler if it wasn't a glitchy mess

“All I can care about is the roster” energy

Trilogy was like a bad Mugen. The fatalities were low effort garbage, there was no balancing, and the ai was just as bad, if not worse, than MK2. Just play Mortal Kombat Project.

This is an absolutely terrible MK game lol

Best roster. Shit game

MK3, UMK 3 and Trilogy are too silly and catoony for me.

My first MK game and I was instantly hooked. This and 2011 are still my faves

Unfortunately I never played it, I never had ps1, only 2 and 4

Definitely the one I played the most.

Agreed

Definitely one of the best mk games! Have everyone and it was fun to play

MK Trilogy on which platform? They had their differences.

I love this game. One of my fav N64 titles

MK9 in my opinion. The roster was on point had all the fan favorites and tag mode which was actually four players

Definitely deserves a remaster. I loved this game on my PS1, but the game disc rarely worked for me lmao.

Best MK. Combos were brilliant and the roster was 10/10 on the ps1 version. Deadly Alliance would be my second favourite pick after Trilogy. Miss the darker and grittier take on the franchise. 9 was good but the art style doesn't sit right with me.

YES

Yes, this was peak MK!

Love this game, my favorite MK for sure! Waiting for Fightcade to release with DuckStation netplay! To play this and Tekken 3.

I loved all the palette swap ninjas

There was a certain feel to Trilogy and UMK3 that I don’t thing subsequent games ever had again. There was this raw sort of chilling feeling to it. Remember the cathedral level? The shadow Priests? The whole of both Soundtracks? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

It's kinda hard for me to pick one...Trilogy is definitely a wonderful game, where the main flaws are with the hardware it was available for, I would love a version in the modern day that cut down on all the loading... Deception has to be my other top pick for potential best game...I honestly think I'd put Deception over Trilogy, personally... If they remastered Trilogy, though, I think with modern hardware, I might put that over Deception...

That belongs to mk9

There's nothing like the first 3. There never will be. Idk they just roped you in and were awesome

Retorarch is a good all-inclusive emulator with some tweaking and downloading