So Mortal Kombat, we all know of it and we all love it, from the not so great movies to the amazing video games, to the creation of the ESRB rating system as we know it! But that was years ago for the game we are talking about today, did time do this masterpeice well, or did it finish it off with a kiss of death? Next time on AMC's Mortal Kombat.

So as this is a port of a oversized gaming controler with a screen that had a never ending addiction to coins of all sizes (not really just quarters) the graphics arent as good as the machines as they had to shrink it down to a 16-bit size. But they still did an amazing job of it, just think of all the old ports that promised one thing on the back cover but showed another on thee tv, you see mortal kombat and you get mortal kombat. The game uses sprites that was made of stop motion models of real life people doing the ridicoulus moves you see on screen (I sure hope they got paid good money for the cosplay they did) and it works out surprisingly well, it might be a bit choppy and rough around the edges (in more ways then one) but this game just oozes the feel/look of the original Mortal Kombat trilogy. The locations look pretty good to, they range from a tornument arena to fights above a spiked pit of death and reptile-like ninjas (ok you got me on that one) my favorite is a toss up between the Pit one and the Shang Thungs throne room, just watching him lifelessly, motionless.....ly, almost-as-if-he-was-just-part-of-the-background-like, watch us fight just makes my day. If your playing the SNES version then a good right hook to anywhere on your opponent will cause them to spew out blo........ sweat (them sweaty kneecaps man!) but if your playing the Sega version and you put in the A.B.A.C.A.B. code (named after an album title from the old band named Genesis) then the sweat turns to BLOOD!! I hear some soccer moms didnt really take kindly to the blood but hey who knows maybe they should play some Dead Space or something man. So while your beating each other around you might as well look cool while your doing it (im looking at you shades rocking Jonny Cage) and a lot of the characters do honestly look pretty neat for how they modeled them, my favorites being Sub-Zero cuz I like the color blue and ninjas, and speaking of the Cagester i really like his defeat animation, all laying on the ground looking up all sad and stuffs. So all in all Id give the Graphics a 7 out of 10 they didnt age the greatest as a lot of other SNES games did, but it made a solid mold for future MK game graphics and for that we thank it.

You cant tell me that one of first things you think of when you think of the original Mortal Kombat sound that Lui Kangs HYAH!! Sound just doesnt destroy what little collective brains cells hasent been destoryed by that sound. Or the HUH!! sound Sub-Zero makes when he does a sweeping kick, or how about that satifying sound the blood makes when it hits the ground after an uppercut, so the game is a bit of a grab bag when it comes to the sounds, you for sure win some, lose some with it. Outside of the character selection screen I cant think of another song thats in the game to be honest but when I think of Mortal Kombat the music isnt exactly what comes to mind to me, except for that awesome Mortal Kombat theme song, but that didnt exist at this time so that doesnt count! So rather then the repatisious sounds of the fighters hitting and getting hit and the 16-bit fatality sounds there isnt a whole lot to talk about involving sounds, but I most definitly give a nod to the epic narrator of the game for sure one of the highlights the game. So all in all Id give the game a 6 out of 10 for Sound, a lot of short annoying little sounds but what it made a staple in the series, the announcer and the epic sounds the fatlities make, for sure make this a game you will remember in more ways then one.

While the series as a whole for sure has its addictive qualities to it, the original on its own doesnt have a whole lot in that department, its a proof-of-concept game it showed off what it came to show and itll be back same time and place next year with a bigger budget, so buy a ticket dang it! Fighting is what you come here for, and maybe to beat up some boards every now and then but its really all about the fighting and........ thats it really. While the fighting really makes the game (sure hope so its a fighter) it doesnt last forever, I dont want to say something like Super Street Fighter 2 is better cuz of its fighting, cuz it kind of is, but Mortal Kombat was doing something new, but I still cant deny that once you do the story tower then your done, cuz you really are. I also dont think the multplayer brings much more layer to the depths of the game, so to make this part short and sweet, the game is a bit Addictive but once you play the newer games you can see what the original is lacking (stll an amazing game dont get me wrong) so Ill give it a 5 out of 10.

So Ill spoil the end of this section and say that I didnt give the story a score cuz really, there isnt much of one for the original one.............. in that sense, but if we are talking about actual Mortal Kombat lore, its pretty good if I do say so. The games story, if you look it up cuz you kind of have to a bit, is that you play as one of many different fighters to make it to the end of this tornement called the Mortal Kombat tornement. Spoiler alert in the cannon Lui Kang wins, what did he win? The tornement silly, now on to the next game! But to add more butter to this already buttered toast: The tornement is being held by a evil sorccorer who eats souls ontop of his soul foods during breakfast who has been doing this for years named Shang Thung. If the people from Earthrealm (Earth...... duh) cant win this time then its bang, zoom, straight to the moon, so Lui Kang, Jonny Cage, Sonya Blade and I guess Kano? Hes just kind of there, one eye missing and all that, go to the tornement in Outworld (New Jersey? I dunno, somewhere not of this plant) to save the day and stop Shang Thungs evil rain of soul foods and herbs and spices! In the game itself everyone has there own ending if you beat the game with that character, they range from nonimportant to................. nonimportant but hey its flavor text so I cant really complain, and once again, all this gets major imporved upon in later games. The lack of a story is a bit of a turn off but games (exspecally fighters) of the time didnt care about all that Stephen King crap yet, but the actual overarcing story I think is pretty good so for the games Story it gets a BLANK out of 10 and for the overarcing story Id give it a 7 out of 10.

So going right along with the Addictivness: unless your punching some inanimate object in the face, or a board in the face, then your probably looking at the Highscore screen which in its ownself is............ something, its something of its time no lie (not saying modern games dont have score boards) but unless you and Bob down the street are into the one and only MK 1 competition to exist ever then you probably dont care about the Scoreboards. But what does the fighting have to offer? Well all characters do the same basic attacks as each other, with some slight variations in animations but their special attacks are all different. From scorpins classic GET OVER HERE! spear throw to how Lui Kang knows the names to all his moves in his annoying voice, everyone brings something fun and unique to them when you play as them and for that we thank the debunked Midway Games. Everyone also has there own Fatilities to, which are impossible to pull off I dont care if youve been playing this game from the womb! But once you do finally figure out that you gotta input certain character specific button promps in the graceness of a god sent from the heavens then you can sit back and staifiyingly watch the 16-bit gore comense. Be it Raidens deadly lightining frying you to a chrisp to the aformentioned Kiss of Death from Sonya that..... also burns you to chrisp..... or maybe the spectre Scorpin with his...... flaming skull that..... burns you to a chrisp man these people love fire! So the game has some things to do, but assuming you know all the buttons and what not you can see every single inch of this game in an afternoon if not faster, and lets not forget about the super secret reptile boss fight that is hard to get to but is the first of many secret fights to be in the series. But like I keep saying Mortal Kombat 1 does what it did best, but Id still give the Depths only a 4 out 10 because even just the next game to come has more to offer then this game, well this game is the only game to gave a whole rating system as a christmas gift I suppose.

Ok so flat out this is one of dem dare ol' school tough as nails arcade-esque viggie game that will not pull any punches in any sense of the phrase. This game will make you feel like you actually lost all that blood, and guess what, it all came out of your fingers as you vainly bash the buttons as your little stop motion sprite fights to hang on to their puny life. And you will lose a lot, if you dont lose to someone in a early one on one fights you sure will when you get to the set of 3 Endurance matches where you take on two fighters meaning just to beat those 3 fights you have to fight 6 people, wowzers! If they dont stop your rain of terror then Goros going to shove that terror back down your throat with his many oversized arms with his lack-of-finger-havings hands, cuz hes big and scary and has his own lair for god knows what reasons! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAnd if you make it to Shang Thung then I sure hope you like Fireballs (Fireballs! Yum!) for breakfast cuz he ate all the soul foods already ('member, you 'member) but he thinks sharing is caring, and hes going to share your face to death! So yeah, the game is pretty hard, the Test Your Might sections arent the easiest either, but not as bad as some later ones (Im looking at you MKX) really the hardest thing to master in MK1 is the Fatalities, you master those and your a pretty kool kat in my book. Dont be suprised that I gave the Difficulty of this game a 10 out of 10 cuz you know its hard, no matter what difficulty you play it on! Heres a cheap noob (siabot) trick I used to do as a kid: just stay crouched and uppercut everyone, you can basically beat the game that way, its cheap and boring, but it works and hey, your guarrented a Stage Fatality on the Pit level.

Ok time to wrap this up as best we can after we just Chop Sueyed (why DID you leave the keys up on the table) the heck out of this review with all these awesome fighters! All in all the original Mortal Kombat sure left some major shoes to fill, it left its mark on the video game community as a whole and it sure impacted my life along with millions of other lives to. From lunch room rumors to cheat codes to an endless supply of ridicoulous blood the original Mortal Kombat looked the testament of time in the eye and gave it a quick one-two then something about burnt to a chrisp. This and the rest of the series is something one must behold their ownselves, you can just feel the wonder and epicness as you play through them all, but you should really start with the original game and its kool overall Rating of 8.5 out of 10.

I just want to point it out that it is actually LIU Kang not Lui.