1. Mortal Kombat 3 (SNES)
We could argue all day long as to whether Mortal Kombat II or Mortal Kombat 3 deserves to take the crown as the best entry in the series, but there's absolutely no denying that the latter is a stellar evolution of the franchise during its early years. Featuring a wide array of locations, an impressive line-up of fighters (albeit without the already-iconic Scorpion), and some truly memorable fatalities, Mortal Kombat 3 represents some of the very best of the franchise.
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That's it! So koncludes our kountdown of the very best Mortal Kombat games on Nintendo platforms, as ranked for by you. As we've mentioned, you can always influence the ordering by applying your own rating to each game showcased, so make sure to make your voice heard. While you're at it, leave a comment with your favourite Mortal Kombat memories, and where you think the franchise might go next.
Comments 34
There are some pretty good entries, but from my point of view, things remain the same: there's MK 2 and there's the rest. I played it like crazy back in the day and it's still fun. The run factor that was introduced in MK3 expands gameplay possibilities, but at the same time it removes the classic fighting game feel that appeals to me, so although I understand later entries offer much more in terms of combos and so on, MK2 is the pinnacle for me
It's crazy that we still don't have a Mortal Kombat collection on the Switch. Imagine having I, II, every version of III, and IV? With online matches (at least for some of the games), of course!
I love how two games currently have no review score
It's good to see that so many others have still rightly heralded MKII (SNES) as the best game in the series. I would even go so far as to say that the SNES version is not only the best entry on a Nintendo console - it's the best of any console!
(Wow, my childhood 90s Nintendo fanboyism just re-emerged there for a minute 😂)
A real shame MK1 is trash on Switch. It’s quite fantastic elsewhere. MK2, MK3, MK9, MK11, and PS5 MK1 are all comfortable 9/10s for me.
So basically the SNES ones. Got it.
I always found the SNES versions of MK & MK2 to very laggy for controls.
Although the Megadrive versions were not as good visually, they certainly played better.
I never was very kind to the mk series. To me it was the prime example of style over substance, managing to sell mainly thanks to its pseudo realistic graphics that never looked very appealing to me anyway and its over the top violence which I thought was always a sure way to make a quick buck when you lack actual ideas or gameplay. I was a huge fan of street fighter and king of fighters and later guilty gear and thought they were the real thing when mk was an okay distraction. Now I see that I was being very condescending and that it has its merits. Still not a huge fan though even though I kind of like the b-movie aesthetic and how they progressively evolved that aesthetic into something much more convincing with real martial arts references for example. The last game especially looks very cool and has no issue taking itself a lot more seriously thanks to its great artistic direction.
Removed - disrespecting others
İ have played Mortal Kombat 1 on the Super Nintendo and Mortal Kombat 4 on the N64. This two games was really amazing. When İ was playing this game İ was very small. Just a little kid. İ was very lucky kid İ had a amazing good childhood. İ had everything video games consoles too. A sometimes İ miss my childhood because İ had always lot of fun with everything.
The low score of MK1 on SNES betrays the fact that it's a series of style over substance compared to Street Fighter. But then they ruined the style too with MK3 by trading in an ethos of otherworldliness and mystery for one with urban environments, robots, and a cop.
I still haven't forgiven Midway for using the Start button for blocking on MK1 such that you can't pause: all to make the Sega and SNES versions equal (with Sega having fewer controller buttons). All the while they were secretly making the Sega one superior. At least give SNES a pause feature.
@Olliemar28 Trivia about Mortal Kombat II SNES... looking at its Japanese counterpart is like seeing an alternate universe where Nintendo won the violence war. That version is censored, just like the first. It is worth noting that the western releases run on a custom Acclaim-produced circuit board (something I'm not sure if Nintendo had previously allowed for SNES games, using their security chip as means to control cartridge production to ensure Nintendo got a cut of every cart produced) while the more Nintendo-friendly Japanese version used a standard Nintendo PCB.
Surely Nintendo was hesitant to conform to the market demand that they wanted to wash their hands of involvement in its production.
Though I don't think any 16-bit home version of MK3 made it over there.
Though I cannot believe that in Mortal Kombat 3 SNES, it had a pause function locked behind a cheat menu.
Having to enter a cheat code just to unlock the ability to pause the game in a console port seems like very much a AVGN criticism of a game.
(though I recall at least the first game didn't have a pause function in the middle of the game at all. I think it allowed it on the stage order preview screen but that was it. WHY?)
Mortal Kombat 12/1 for Switch would have to be in the Number 3 spot.
then Deadly Alliance at number 2. Then Deception would be number 1
Is Sheeva in the DS version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3?
the N64 version of MKM didn't have cut scenes, it just used pictures with some descriptions so that can't save the attricity of a game. MKT was also better than 1, 2 and 3.
Looks like Sheeva is in the DS version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3!
Don't know if I will buy it because it isn't too cheap.
How I rate each Mortal Kombat game on Nintendo platform:
So far Nintendo is missing these:
What each score means:
0 = Garbage
1 = Broken
2 = Meh
3 = Not Worthy
4 = Mediocre
5 = Decent
6 = Okay
7 = Good
8 = Great
9 = Superb
10 = Perfection
20. Mortal Kombat Advance
19. Mortal Kombat 4 (GBC)
18. Mortal Kombat (GB)
17. Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero
16. Mortal Kombat 3 (GB)
15. Mortal Kombat II (GB)
14. Mortal Kombat (SNES)
13. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (GBA)
12. Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition
11. Mortal Kombat 3 (SNES)
10. Mortal Kombat (N64)
9. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
8. Mortal Kombat II (SNES)
7. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
6. Ultimate Mortal Kombat
5. Mortal Kombat Trilogy
4. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
3. Mortal Kombat: Deception
2. Mortal Kombat 1
1. Mortal Kombat 11
@topher6490 no one would mind if you just abstained from commenting.
2 and MKIX are my favorites. Trilogy was more sloppily thrown together than many, many Mugen efforts. I abhor it.
It's terrifying to think there are a whole three games in the series worse than the N64 version of Mythologies.
Love how they added MK 1 switch to the list pre patches and told everyone to avoid it. Maybe jumping the gun a little bit? Why not wait and see if it can be redeemed?
On a side note i actually liked MK mythologies. I know it wasn't perfect by any stretch but it had it's good points.
@Truegamer79 If the game is released in such a broken state, why shouldn't it be evaluated as such? Why not wait and release a playable game? Who knows if it will be fixed. Until then it should be avoided.
@Gerald actually, the SNES versions got the gameplay right, the Genesis versions could never replicate the Arcade's gameplay well.
My favorite MK games:
1. Mortal Kombat II
2. Mortal Kombat Trilogy
3. Mortal Kombat Deception
4. MK Mythologies Sub-Zero (I love it, despite all of its faults hahaha)
5. Mortal Kombat 11
6. MKV Deadly Alliance
7. Mortal Kombat 1 (I'm having quite a great time playing it on Switch, Online works great, and the stages and characters look a lot better on Vs, Towers and Online modes. With the addition of Invasions, and a good patch, this version will be more on par with the rest of them)
8. Mortal Kombat 4.
9. Mortal Kombat.
10. MK Armaggedon.
@Edu23XWiiU I haven’t played MK on the Arcade for a long time, but I do have a Megadrive and a SNES. I say that the Megadrive plays better because the controls are more responsive. I guess we will have to agree to disagree
@Gerald Hehehe yeah. Potatoe Potato.
I wonder if they used the "TOASTY" guy again lol. That would be so cool.
MK 2
MK Deadly Alliance
Nuff said
I love how an article based specifically on the Nintendo versions of games references the FMV scenes in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero that were only on the Playstation version and didn't exist in the N64 version.
@Gerald The Genesis had a faster processor which smoothen the performance of the gameplay. The Super NES version had lags due to high compression of the graphics it was trying to replicate and although it succeeded in replicating those arcade visuals and animations, that hampers the gameplay a bit. Also there were more animations cut from both versions with the SNES version suffering the most as it is using a 2mb cart whereas Genesis had 3mb cart.
@Rooty Mythologies would had been an awesome game had Midway actually turn it into a true beat em up adventure rather than a fighting game that pretends to be a beat em up adventure. Because Mythologies is using the fighting game control as its method of gameplay, there were no jump button so like the fighting game you had to press up to jump which doesn't work very well in a beat em up game. Also unlike beat em up games, there are no plane movements like in Turtles in Time and Double Dragon where you could walk around the environment using the directional control, in Mythologies you could only just walk left and right and nothing else which is a shame cause Midway could had easily utilize plane movements on the N64 and PS1, I mean those console controllers had analog sticks for reason and they just ignore those. This means trying to avoid obstacles are crucial and what's worst instead of a jump button they had a turn around button, a button that you only press if you want to turn Sub-Zero around which is just the lamest feature of any beat em up game. You shouldn't had to press a button to turn around, that's the part that kill the game for a lot of players especially MK fan and fans of Sub-Zero in general.
The best Mortal Kombat is 11 on the Switch.
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