Anticipation for Mortal Kombat II

 Article 21424 of rec.games.video.arcade:

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From: lighton@remus.rutgers.edu (Kevin Lighton)

Newsgroups: rec.games.video.arcade

Subject: Re: MORTALLL KOMBAAAAAAAT II!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Message-ID: <Nov.19.17.11.11.1993.26023@remus.rutgers.edu>

Date: 19 Nov 93 22:11:11 GMT

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Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

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jiriki@stein3.u.washington.edu (i'Sa-onserei) writes:

>>WHOA!  It's already out?  It's time for somebody (perhaps the original  

>>poster?) to give us an evaluation of it.  My questions:

>>1>  With all the new moves, did the game keep it's balance?  And are the  

>>characters sufficiently different to make it more interesting?

>this is what i'm afraid of.  with over 48 special moves, something has to 

>not balance out.  the original MK which has 7 characters balances out 

>perfectly, not only in special moves but also general moves, like throws, 

>punches, roundhouses etc.  out of 12 fighters there has to be one or two 

>great ones and one or two not so great ones.

I've only just seen the game today (11/19), and haven't played it, but it

seems like Reptile may dominate somewhat (he has an attack where he launches

an energy ball at the opponent which explodes as soon as it's even with the

opponent... You can't jump it, the only escape seems to be to jump over Reptile

as he's creating the ball.) Kitana also has an attack which seems undodgeable,

but it's short range and only seems to push the target away. Jax seems to be

rather too slow to really compete with the others, but this may change when

people figure out his special moves.

Other observations:

The new backgrounds look a lot better than the ones from Mortal Kombat. So

far, I've seen: The Living Forest (the trees have faces which change

expression), The Tomb (I think this board has dragons flying in the distance

outside the window), and two others which have a robed, hooded figure or two

floating in the background.

The scale is smaller than in the original, which gives characters more room

to maneuver on the screen.

Most of the characters seem to have some red on their costume which turns

blue for player 2 in a character-vs-character fight (No guarantees that it

isn't actually the second player joining who gets blue.) Shang Tsung's basic

costume is mainly blue or yellow, and I don't know how the ninja change for

character-vs-character.

Goro now seems to be the final character, coming after Shang Tsung.

The mirror match now can be anywhere in the line-up of opponents before the

endurance rounds (I think those are still present), except that Shang Tsung

appears to be the next-to-last opponent.

Victories are marked by the dragon's head in red/orange circle logo. (Does

anyone know where to find a gif of that?)

There is no scoring system beyond number of consecutive wins, apparently.

However, it does notify you of flawless victories (and presumably double

flawlesses and fatalities).

If you win a round by a knockout, a single dragon's head logo appears when

the character does their victory pose. If you win by having more health when

time runs out, three of the logo appear. After the second win, two, four, or

(I assume) six of the logo appear, depending on the conditions of the wins.

Blood seems to fly more freely and looks faker than in Mortal Kombat.

When a round ends due to time running out, all action on the screen simply

stops when the announcer names the winner. This can result in, um, interesting

positions (I saw one round end as one of the female ninja had been knocked

down by a sweep... Left her lying on her back with her legs in the air...

I wonder whether this was actually coincidence... :-)

The announcer talks too much! He seems to say something every time an ariel

kick or an uppercut hits and isn't blocked.

Seven new characters to play: Reptile, Shang Tsung, Jax (black guy, looks

like a football player), Kitana, Mileena (two female ninja, look very similar

to each other, Kitana wears blue, Mileena wears purple), Kung Lao (Weird guy

in a hat), and Baraka (has a face like a Ferengi). All of the old characters

except Sonya and Kano are present.

Liu Kang can now launch a fireball in mid-jump. His fireball looks like

a small dragon's head and neck. There are changes to his costume, most

noticeably a headband.

Raiden's lightning has a different effect when it hits. His costume is

very different: he has what looks like a Mexican wrap (don't know the

correct term) thrown over the whole thing.

Scorpion's, Sub-Zero's, and Reptile's costume has changed somewhat, but

I can't describe how.

Sub-Zero's missile is now a cluster of several bits of ice instead of one

ice-ball.

I haven't seen anyone using Scorpion or Cage yet (I was at a different game

when someone used Scorpion.)

Baraka can launch a missile by rubbing his two blades together, has a

move which is basically the same as E. Honda's hundred-hand slap, and has

a move where he spins and slashes his opponent. I can't tell if the last is a

special move or not. I don't want to think about what his fatalities are.

Reptile doesn't have Scorpion's and Sub-Zero's moves. So far I've seen him

use an energy ball (slow release, apparently unavoidable when launched) and

a normal, green, somewhat dragon-shaped missile which he lifts his mask and

shoots from his mouth (The phlegm-ball of doom? :-) His face is green and

scaly.

Kung Lao can launch an energy copy of his hat (Sombrero of Death? Yeesh :-)

and has a teleport where he leaps off the top of the screen and comes back

from the bottom on the other side of the opponent.

Kitana has a fan which appears in what special moves of hers I've seen.

In one, she holds the fan (open) over her head and to one side and spins it

rapidly, producing waves which push the opponent away if they get in range,

but which seem to do no damage. She's probably vulnerable to missiles when

using this move. The other move (which might not actually be a special move)

has her swing the fan once in front of her.

Mileena has a teleport kick where she drops off the bottom of the screen and

re-appears above the opponent doing a kick. This is probably vulnerable to

uppercuts. Supposedly, she can also throw knives, but I haven't seen her

missile yet.

Either Kitana or Mileena has a flying punch like Sonya's, but I forget which

one has this move.

Shang Tsung looks a lot younger than in the last game, and his outfit has

changed. He can only launch single fireballs. I can't tell if his changes

into other characters are random or if there's a different move for each

change.

Jax's missile is an energy wave that looks sort of like Guile's sonic boom.

Article 21426 of rec.games.video.arcade:

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From: mwallace@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (Matthew A Wallace)

Newsgroups: rec.games.video.arcade

Subject: MKII - fatalities please!

Date: 20 Nov 1993 06:49:28 GMT

Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz

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Message-ID: <2ckelo$9bo@darkstar.UCSC.EDU>

NNTP-Posting-Host: ucscb.ucsc.edu

Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz

Scorpion's fatality is now : up-up-highpunch. It's easiest to do

while holding block. Distance must be precise.

If anyone else finds any others, please post them!!!!

-Matt