Oh of course it's there.

Anyway, the first MK movie was your typical super cheesy action movie, but it was fun just for the novelty of it being Mortal Kombat. And it was surprisingly true to the games, even if it lacked the over the top gore that made MK popular in the first place.

But Annihilation went full on Sci Fi original movie mode. It's still the grand champion of awful video game movies as far as I'm concerned. Though it does fit into that "so bad it's entertaining" category.

Quite accurate.

I played a relative amount of MK4 on Playstation, if I recall. I thought it was pretty good, though granted I was pretty young back then.

I loved the trailer, I really like that idea and I hope they really go with it. I mean yeah its not the Mortal Kombat I know and love, but that probably never will be a real movie, and I hope it never will. A video game's a video game, that's its own art. Unless there's someone out there who actually cares about the material and it dedicated to both arts, I don't think they should be making video game films, period. There's already a bad enough track record there thanks to quick-cashings and knuckleheaded film companies. Which is why I'm anxious for this thing to take some wing: at least you can tell the makers are dedicated to original filmmaking and obvious know the source, and are dedicated enough to do the research apparent there, and bold enough to make something that won't cater to the irritating fanbase.

First off, if you make a MK movie, you gotta make it gory up the wazoo, otherwise you're just pussying out like the last two movies.

There are different ways to approach mortal kombat though, do you make it very serious and focused on the mythology and story? Or do you keep that over the top cartooniness and tongue in chick humor that the original games were famous for?

This series is way better than Street Fighter.

NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

While I do like MK, I don't think it holds a candle to any of the Capcom or SNK fighters.

I'm not big on fighters, even though I do loves some MK. I've just never cared for Tekken or SNK, but I do like Street Fighter II, especially the anime (the film, not that awful TV show and its spin-off).

boo: either way, I don't really care much for seeing it. I think the MK story plays perfect for the games, but is harder to represent in a film. Mostly though, there's no way to capture all the tones of the games, from the grotesque cartooniness and twisted sense of humor coupled with a somewhat corny story which somehow manages to not come off as particularly corny, yet still never ever takes itself seriously, and still manages to be one of the most badass inventions of the 21st century.

I'm not a super big Tekken fan either. It just doesn't have as much of an appealing personality as other fighting games, even if the gameplay is solid.

But I love fighting games. I definitely consider Capcom and SNK the masters of the genre, at least as far as the 2D fighters are concerned.

Anyway I don't mean to take away from the MK series, it's still one of my favorites. But a big part of it's appeal is it's presentation and fantastical backdrop, as the gameplay isn't anywhere near as deep as other fighting games. The Capcom/SNK games also have great presentation and interesting characters but the gameplay is more refined as well.

One thing about the MK series is that the characters don't even have distinct characteristics outside of their appearance and special moves, in most fighting games characters have distinct basic attacks, speeds, sizes, ranges, strengths and jumping heights and that isn't the case in MK. Which makes it a bit more shallow than other fighting games.

To be fair, it came out at a time when these weren't standards for the genre (not to mention most fighters before Street Fighter II were not that good) so stuff like that didn't matter back in the day. Though it's odd that they've stuck with this tradition even in making the transition to 3D. Though I hear that's gonna change in the upcoming MK game, which I'm pretty psyched about.

Anyway, don't mind me, I'm just being Captain Nitpick.

No I pretty much agree. Like I said though, I'm not a fan of the fighting genre, so the gameplay doesn't bother me; I am far more interested in the personalities and aesthetics.

Yeah, I think great presentation and personality can make a game great even if it wouldnt be so great if all it had was the gameplay.

I'm not like those "hardcore" (aka overly obsessed with the technical aspects of gameplay mechanics) gamers who think a game is fucking terrible just because the gameplay isn't terribly deep, even if it has a whole fucking hell of a lot going for it in every other category. They very often ignore the importance that aesthetics have to the experience as well.

Even if the MK games don't have the deepest fighting system, they're still the only fighting games where you can rip someone's spine out, and that more than makes up for it.

The Sub Zero fatality is indeed great. He's also my favourite ninja, but I guess most people only split between Scorpion and the former there.

So, has anyone played Shaolin Munks? I played through it twice when it came out, with two different friends, and it enjoyed it a lot. Not the most depth I've seen in a game, but being able to play alongside a pal in a setting like that is awesome. Also, bringing Kung Lao back kick ass.

That's a 3D beat em up kind of deal right?

I love beat em ups. I wish Sega would make a new Streets of Rage already. And try not to modernize it too much, keep that awesome 90s feel.

Anyway. Here's some entertaining MK fatality lists from ScrewAttack.





I disagree with them on number 6 for the worst, I thought that one was pretty fucked up, yeah it's not anatomically possible, and that's not really something you should complain about in a MK game.

My favorite fatality was always Kung Lao's slice-down-the-middle from MK2. I remember seeing that for the first time when I was a kid, and my jaw dropped. Epic.

ScrewAttack's #1 pick for best fatalities is actually a pretty good choice. I remember the controversy surrounding it back in the day. Also, Scorpion's "fire breath" should have been #2, in my opinion. It's probably the other most iconic fatality.