There's No Chance of Super NES Mortal Kombat Titles Coming to the Wii U Virtual Console

Probably has to do with licensing issues.

That's a real shame. Back in 2006, just before the release of the Wii, it was hyped and mentioned on the internet that they would be bringing classic Mortal Kombat games to the Vc. Oh well, glad I still have my carts....

I have to say probably because its too gory for Nintendo.

No way were the Sega versions of MK stronger than the SNES versions! If thats what you were implying lol if not disregard!

They should just put - Mortal Kombat / Mortal Kombat 2 / Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 - Arcade versions onto the Wii U VC Arcade.

MK has not aged as well as street fighter, they could work out the licensing issues if there were enough money to be made but probably the incentive is not enough for them to work them out

Ed Boon said there was a story behind not bringing the games to the Virtual Console that he'd love to share one day. He also made the point that the SNES version didn't play as well as its Mega Drive counterpart, as one of the reasons for Mortal Kombat remaining absent from VC.

Meh.....never liked them. I never really liked beat'em ups but played allot of street fighter 2 turbo and killer instinct gold and I have one of those on Wii u .....the other we'll never see =(

@kereke12 Right, because Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge was wholly disapproved by Nintendo, and of course they'd want nothing to do with Bayonetta 2 for similar reasons.

Oh, wait...

I don't think Mortal Kombat was ever very good. Pre-teen me would rejoice at decapitating foes and burning them alive, but in truth the gameplay was extremely stiff and controls were far from intuitive.

I do wonder what's the deal with a 0.0% chance either way.

I never understood the appeal of MK. A cookie-cutter fighting game with tons of unnecessary blood. Still a shame that the fans of the game won't be able to play on the VC.

I think they would prefer to release Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection with the original versions of the games rather than inferior console ports.

I wonder what the chances are of seeing Pit Fighter

oh well I'll just break out my megadrive and play that one

@kereke12 and ninga gaiden 3 isn't bloody?

The MK guys aren't making me to happy these days. First they skip us on the DLC for Injustice, and now this.

@OorWullie Probably depends on the marketshare of the Wii U when the Midway Collection is rereleased. (Not that it is much better than it was on the Gamecube originally and Paperboy is not on it).

@TheLohoped That collection is really buggy at least the version I have.

Well that was a rather blunt answer.

Ehh... not really big on Mortal Kombat. I'm a Tekken player myself, but I can settle for Street Fighter on VC anyway.

WB have been good with the Wii U, releasing all LEGO games, so I wouldn't be totally surprised if something made it to the Wii U.

The fact that the games are doggeypoop hasnt been given enough coverage in this article.

Did anyone follow up with the obvious question — Why?

@kereke12 You realise there are 18 rated games on Wii U and 3DS ???

Meh, already played them to death (hehe) so I don't mind. Its a pity the Wii U VC doesn't have much consoles on offer like with the Wii. Would love to play Rondo of Blood again.

If you don't factor in the finishers I liked the SNES version of one better. Never played 2 on Sega.

Also Sub Zero had a way better finisher in the SNES version.

@kereke12 Bayonetta 2

@Ichiban
the Genesis/MegaDrive version is better, because its not censored

@Ninhau The first MK was censored, not the ones afterwards.

To be honest I got all 3 on both systems. I can tell you that the SNES version was far superior. Sure on the first MK it was uncensored and the music was better, but the SNES version played and looked closer to the arcade original versus the Genesis. So only the first MK can be arguably better on Genesis. However, the MK's after that was DEFINITELY better on SNES. No question, hands down!

Darn that Soundwave. EEEEUUUAAAAAAGH!

I don't think the SNES version would ever come to the VC,as long Nintendo keeps its "family friendly" theme,I don't see it coming or the others later on..

I've pretty much read the same thing about MK being worse on SNES than on Genesis on every article about this The first MK was censored on the SNES and MK2 was not censored on SNES. MK2 on SNES ran smoother, crisper and with better sound than MK2 on Mega Drive. Anyone who says otherwise must have never played them.

As to those who think that MK is not on VC because of violence, you're stupid. There are loads of equally violent games on VC.

@SetupDisk which one?the ripping out the spine one or the freezing then uppercut?

Oh well, that's a real shame.

I can you guys don't know your game history.

Mortal Kombat was created by 4 guys at Midway. Over the years, they made a lot of MK on Nintendo systems.

Then in the year... 2008... I forgot. Midway got bankrupt, forcing them to sell their IPs. The Mortal Kombat IP was sold to Warner Bros. Interactive.

So it's up to Warner Bros. to bring the classic MK games.

DAMN YOU WARNER BROS.!!

@kereke12 the game X is also gory at best. So what are you getting?

I actually preferred the SNES version as a kid. Sure the colour of the blood had changed and the finishing moves were altered but the graphics, sound and control were far better as far as my memory serves.

@Nintendude789 Midway made the Arcade versions not the ports.

Real Talk:

Putting nostalgia aside, those Mortal Kombat games suck.

They haven't aged well. and the digitized photos just look terrible now that the novelty of photo-realistic looking graphics is no longer anything special.

Beyond the look of the game, Mortal Kombat has some of the worst game play and stiff, clunky, controls. Anyone who remembers Mortal Kombat fondly is remembering the "controversy" and novelty of the blood and cartoonish violence.

Good riddance to the most over-hyped, and functionally terrible fighting games of the 16 bit era. Go play Street Fighter 2, Samurai Showdown, King of Fighters, or Killer Instinct if you want to play a fighting game from that era that isn't complete rubbish.

No problem, I have the arcade perfect versions on Steam

I still remember ABACABB, for that reason alone makes the MD version better IMO

I never got into the MK series but it's too bad it's not coming out. Variety is aways a good thing.

I'd like to point out that if there were any reason to think the Mortal Kombat games were better on the Genesis it was for the blood missing in the SNES version of "only" the first game. Aside from that, all SNES MK games looked, played, and sounded significantly better.

Ok, fine, but what about N64 games...why are these still absent? How about GCN games? I'm sure super Mario Sunshine would look awesome on the Wii U.

@DatFunkySmell @Genesaur Binding of Isaac

@Shy_Guy Why? The SNES versions don't even have blood, also we have ZombiU and got Splatterhouse (Freaking Splatterhouse) on the Wii VC.

@kereke12 I take it you've never played Mad World, and Ninja Gaiden 3.

I bought MK on 360 because of the arcade stick that came with it. The only way to truly experience MK.

@Swiket The American part did (Niaclis is anti Europe). If it was released in Japan (Published by somebody there) then Europe might get it. (Like Devil World).

The SNES Version of mortal kombat was better. It's just that it didn't have blood or gory finishers. Though, it can be argued that was 90% of the first game anyway.

Whatever the case, it really bugs me that all these decisions are based only on politics.

Bugs me that in this day and age anything other than the Arcade versions of these games would ever be considered.

The SNES port of the original game was butchered anyway, not something I'd want to go back to. Mortal Kombat 2 was always a good game but I absolutely hated Mortal Kombat 3 with it's horrific 'dial-a-combo' system, way too many finishing moves (the 'Animalities' were definitely jumping the shark as far as I was concerned) and very uneven AI difficulty even on the easy settings. The newer reboot (that came out on Xbox 360/PS3/Vita) is also much, much better than the original games anyway so might as well just stick with that. Plus, Wii U does have 'Injustice: Gods Amongst Us' from the same developers.

@unrandomsam
Someone may have made the ports, but the IP used to belong to Midway, now it's WB.

Why why why why WHY! SO. DUMB. GOD I HATE WBI lol. OF COURSE, they won't give us any of their good games. No Arkham Knight, no Mortal Kombat, no Primal Rage, short-changed DLC? For a second i thought "well they won't give us a new version of MK, they'll probably at LEAST let us have the old ones on VC" but NOPE. Starting to think I should just stop supporting them.

Seems like Boon had a change of heart (at least with MKb2):
https://twitter.com/noobde/status/463359907849187328

@Seanmyster6

You said it. All that button mashing made beating the AI enemies horrendously cheap... except when they were doing the same exact thing and kicking your ass. Sadly, that's what all the "challenge" in many fighting games boils down to. I'd rather stick with Smash Bros.

@rtr0GMR1 it sounds like you understand the appeal just fine. A lot of the game's popularity was the unnecessary gore plus the presentation such as the large, digitized sprites and tons of voice samples. Those things were pretty novel in 1992. Most games that depend on technical things and gimmicks don't age so well, though. It may be cookie-cutter now, but at the time it stood out. At least they didn't try to be like Street Fighter.

@Nintenjoe64
The freeze then uppercut. The spine pull was just goofy.

@Action51

Mortal Kombat one was garbage. MK 2 is still one of the best fighters from that generation. 3 was trash. Most of the 3D ones were bad but some were good and 2 were above average.

The reboot is awesome.

The Wii Virtual Console was pretty good but didn't really reach anywhere near it's true full potential.

The Wii U Virtual Console is just a bit of a joke right now.

Pity, it was heaps better than Street Fighter. Still not the best fighting game around though

Maybe the Wii U will get the next Mortal Kombat game (or a port of the last one that would be nice) and the classic series (modified arcade ports ideally) could be included as unlockables.

@kereke12

Lol it was on the Super Nintendo. Nintendo already allowed the game on their system. Heck, look at Manhunt 2 on the Wii. That's a bloody, gory game, even for AAA 3rd party standards. Or even look at Bayonetta 2.

Considering the Mortal Kombat: Arcade Kollection sucks on last gen consoles (both in gameplay and sales), I don't think Ed Boon would ever want to release any of the old inferior versions of their games for Wii U.

Do they actually have games this violent on the VC? I can't think of any off the top of my head, and MK is the game that sparked the creation of the ESRB. Even Zombies Ate my Neighbors only had blood on the game over screen.

Just because they allow current-gen games that are violent doesn't mean that automatically applies to the VC. Same goes for what was allowed on past consoles, especially considering how weird Nintendo was about it.

I wonder if SEGA Genesis games would come to Wii U VC.

The first Mortal Kombat, the best version was on the SEGA Mega CD. Most old games look and play that crap, I wouldn't bother.

Back in the day I all most completed Mortal Kombat I think I got to the last boss, only to be defeated and Game Over. By the time I tried to go replay it the game had to go back to the video shop. I can't remember what format I played it on either Mega drive or the SNES, I think it's a real pity that it won't appear on the VC as it was a great game, maybe a bit easier than Street Fighter? if it did get a release it would be the Snes version as Nintendo changed the color of blood to black because of the violence!! Good days and happy memories.

If it did come out for the wiiu console then i would have bought cause i have not played a Mortal Kombat game for a very long time.

I've played the SNES and Genesis version of Mortal Kombat several times back when they were initially released. The SNES version was the one that came closest to the arcade when it comes to graphics, sounds and stage music. The Genesis version featured different stage music, the graphics were pretty muddy but had similar sounds compared to the arcade game. Both versions had stiff controls when it came to pulling off the moves but the ONLY reason the Genesis version was the most popular one was because of the infamous cheat code that unlocked the "real" fatalities for each character, which was animated poorly.

Thankfully, Nintendo got the uncensored version for Mortal Kombat II to level the playing field against the Genesis version of MKII.

Good!-MK was garbage when it was brand new-never mind now!,and next to Street Fighter it just looked cheap n nasty.
Virtua Fighter 2 ftw-bring us that instead!

So what's keeping the Genesis version from coming once we eventually get support for the console?

I have fond memories of this game...glad I kept it!

Ah it really isn't that big of a deal. Besides, Mortal Kombat 9 seems to be far superior to all the rest of the Mortal Kombat games put together.

Speaking of Mortal Kombat 9, why hasn't any fighter besides Injustice try at their story?

Ah well, Street Fighter II is 5000% better then mortal kombat anyways. So he can do w/e he wants with his crap.

Yeah I was thinking I'd rather see the genesis ports on there than the inferior snes ports with removed blood...

It may have to do with Acclaim owning the rights to the first two and Williams/Midway/WB owning the rights to part 3.

And then the company that picked up the scraps of Acclaim, Throwback Entertainment seems more focused on mobile.

Acclaim only published the first two games as on home consoles as far as I know. Midway/Williams developed them.

I'm glad I'm not alone in my extreme dislike of those games. The gore was ridiculous, cheap sensationalism and the gameplay and controls were awful.

@ted-k

The problem with those games is that once the series got to the third entry, everything got a bit silly. Characters looks too much a like, some are simply carbon copy with a minor palette swap, fatalities, combos and even special moves were share between characters, opponent doesn't fall when decapitated, blood looks like ketchup, some fatalities were censored even in the arcade, etc. Also the AI remains cheap as always since MKII. Unless you had a bunch of friends to beat the crap out of or cheat the game, single player mode in any of the Mortal Kombat game just isn't fun whether the arcade, Sega Genesis, or Super NES versions. Also since Ed Boon refuse to support VC, this is indeed another opportunity gone to waste as there are many exclusive features found in those home versions which were never in the arcade games (ex: playable Rain and Noob Saibot, unlockable boss characters, hidden Endurance Mode, Pong mini-game, Fergality, fight Silver Goro, unlock the hidden portal stage, easy finishers, brutalities, glitch Sheeva, secret Friendship, Sub-Zero's MK1 Deep Freeze fatality, etc.).

Pity that the games are not being released to the Wii's Virtual Console. I was so looking forward in kicking my best friend's butt again.