Mortal Kombat II (SNES version)
Nintendo finally backpedaled on violence in video games with Mortal Kombat II. Having a longstanding policy for being “family friendly”, Nintendo neutered the original Mortal Kombat on the Super Nintendo by replacing the blood with “sweat” and changing all of the game’s fatalities.
With MK2, Nintendo left the game alone and didn’t censor any of it. I recall pre-ordering this game and buying it at Hills Department Store!
As with MK1, the SNES version is a lot closer to the arcade version than on the Genesis. (To its credit Sega’s MK2 was more polished than their MK1 version.)
As for gameplay, MK2 was a major update over MK1. The roster of playable characters was expanded, as were the number of finishing moves. However, it wasn’t just the amount of fatalities that could be performed by each character, but the addition of “babalities” and “friendships” which increased the appeal of MK2. Former hidden fighter Reptile became another palette swap playable character as did MK1 boss Shang Tsung (who retained his ability o change into other characters!)
A number of series staples such as “Toasty”, more pit/stage fatalities, and a handful of other secrets bring this to the forefront of fighting games. In my opinion, MK2 was the best of the series and still hasn’t been topped since.
Mortal Kombat (SNES version)
Prepare for a deluge of fatalities and body-ripping reviews on one of my favorite series of all-time… well, at least the 2-D versions.
Mortal Kombat was a trendsetting series in many aspects. Each console version has its strengths, weaknesses, and differences, plus Acclaim (who released the home versions of the game) had different developers help depending on which console the game was released on. They also hashed out a ton of variations over the years, milking the cash cow for what it’s worth.
MK itself caused a ton of controversy with blood and guts and gore. As such, Nintendo neutered the blood and original fatalities from the original game when releasing it on the Super Nintendo. For example, Sub Zero’s spinal cord rip became a freeze and smash fatality (which actually made its way into sequels).
There was sweat instead of blood and while the Super Nintendo version had superior graphics and audio and was a closer arcade translation than that of the Genesis version (due to Sega’s inferior hardware) it was still a monumental success, but also inadvertently sent fans flocking to buy a Genesis console for the more violent version.
Stay tuned as I review the other versions, including Sega’s MK1 plus Nintendo caving and allowing the blood and gore in Mortal Kombat 2 for the SNES.
Super Mario Bros. (All-Stars Version)
For those of you who haven’t played the SMB remakes on the SNES “Super Mario All-Stars” cartridge, these were graphically revamped games that also removed some of the bugs/glitches.
The main draw is that Nintendo revamped the graphics and music. It’s odd, but I like these almost equally as much as the originals. Each holds a fond part of my heart because once my NES was disconnected, as this is how I continued playing the original games for many years.
While I like the upgraded graphics, it just feels weird to play the original Super Mario Bros. with the new style graphics. In my honest opinion, I would’ve preferred that Mario not look so weird. When you play the other remakes, they feel a lot more genuine as opposed to “Mario 1”.
Still, this game is fun and worth playing through just to see where there were changes or updates made. The controls are still tight and several of the strategies used in the original hold true here too.
Leave it to Nintendo to go the same path as Disney and get us to pay for the same game more than once. (And enjoy it!)
Super Metroid
One of my favorite games of all time has been consistently regarded as one of the greatest video games ever made.
I became a Metroid fan early on as my mother picked up a copy of the game, likely recommended to her by someone at whatever store she was shopping at, at that time. Being a kid, I had no idea what Metroid was. It came in a silver box with blocky sci-fi artwork. It’s a new game, probably a birthday or Christmas gift, so you’re definitely going to pop it into the NES and give it a try.
Mind. Blown.
That was literally the open-ended world of Grand Theft Auto before such a thing existed. A monochrome sequel followed on the Game Boy before the Super Nintendo version, Super Metroid, released.
“Super” was used to describe just about every game that came out for that console, but it was more than appropriate for this title, which just kicked down the doors of in-game exploration precedents which were set by the original game.
Graphically the game was state of the art for its time and still holds up well today. The audio is immersive and overall there just isn’t one bad thing that can be said about this game, other than you could waste an awful lot of time trying to figure out what it is you’re supposed to do next! There are a few hidden goodies, and maybe even the hardest area to figure out (where you use the hyper run into a jump) has a clue built within the game. (Kudos for that developers!)
Overall my verdict on this one is MUST PLAY!
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
This one took awhile to complete, but it brings back some memories… both good and bad.
The good: incredible graphics, especially for a Super Nintendo title. Solid gameplay with high replay value. Plus, it’s Mario and an extension of the same Koopa/Mario story, so what’s not to like?
I’ll tell you what: crying baby Mario!
If you’ve never played this title, it’s still a favorite going back to my childhood. However, the mechanics are as follows: swallow enemies using Yoshi and turn them into eggs you can use as a weapon or to unlock areas. Don’t get hit however, or you have ten seconds (which countdown super-fast and is more like 5-6; a known bug in the SNES version) to grab Baby Mario who floats around on and off of the screen in a bubble.
Sometimes saving Baby Mario will send Yoshi to his doom. Other times it’s just annoying, cheap areas of constant crying.
Overall, I love this game. The graphics were second-to-none in that era and still hold up incredibly well in 2018. The sound is so catchy my daughter was humming it in the car… and the final boss battle is not only really unique but could be the best audio track in any 16-bit game. Ever.
My only other gripe with playing it is the stupid “special” areas where Yoshi can turn into a helicopter or a bulldozer. He looks like a generic version of Pixar’s “Cars” and it just seems so out of place.
This one’s highly recommended for anyone on a Mario kick… and trust me, I have more Mario to come!