═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ CHAPTER 71: OTHER GAMES ═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ___ _ _ ___ / _ \| |_| |_ ___ _ _ / __|__ _ _ __ ___ ___ | (_) | _| ' \/ -_) '_| | (_ / _` | ' \/ -_|_-< \___/ \__|_||_\___|_| \___\__,_|_|_|_\___/__/ ╔──────────────────────────╗ ─┤ 71.1 - Clones & Parodies ├──────────────────────────────────────────────── ╚──────────────────────────╝ Was Mortal Kombat a success because of its violence? If your answer is yes, then perhaps these games will change your mind. ┌───────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.1-1 - BloodStorm (ARC) └─────────────────────────────────────────────── ┌───────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.1-2 - Capital Punishment (AMI) └─────────────────────────────────────── ┌───────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.1-3 - Primal Rage (MP) └─────────────────────────────────────────────── ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.1-4 - Tattoo Assassins (ARC) └───────────────────────────────────────── ┌────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.1-5 - Thea Realm Fighters (JAG) └────────────────────────────────────── Thea Realm Fighters was an Atari ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐ Jaguar game scheduled for a Q3 │ Developer(s): High Voltage Software │ 1995 release. This fighting game │ Publisher(s): Atari │ by High Voltage Software was one │ Platform(s): Atari Jaguar │ of the Mortal Kombat rip-offs │ Released: Cancelled │ developed in response to Mortal │ Genre(s): Fighting │ Kombat's popularity. Even though │ Mode(s): Single/multi-player │ the game was never released, └────────────────────────────────────────┘ several people have played the working demo of the game at some point, and images and video of several builds have been posted online. However, there are currently no known versions available to the public. DETAILS Thea Realm Fighters was a fighting game developed on the heels of the popularity of the first two Mortal Kombat games. Like some other examples of games built to compete with Mortal Kombat (most notably Tattoo Assassins) it was cancelled before its release. The shrinking market for the Atari Jaguar games potentially contributed to this decision, as suggested by one of the developers in a post on Slashdot. The game featured digitized characters, some of them portrayed by martial artists known from the Mortal Kombat games. The plot itself was strikingly similar with the final boss, SurRaider, attempting to conquer the planet and add Earth to his vast empire. The game was to feature over 25 characters and four different modes with over 30 different backgrounds said to create different combat situations and scenarios. After defeating 12 characters the player was to face SurRaider, a powerful warrior from another dimension. At least four moves per character and two special finishers were available. Shown during E3 '95 and scheduled for Q3 1995, the game was reported to be unpolished and too early to judge, with spectacular backgrounds and lackluster character animation. Only four characters were available at that time with only one featuring special moves. CHARACTERS The game featured a total of over 25 characters to compete against, including 12 main characters and 12 other special characters as well as several subbosses and five hidden characters. Characters known from available screenshots and press coverage include: • Prince Pak • Tok • Sparq • Royal Marshall • SurRaider PRESS RELEASE SUNNYVALE, Calif. - Jan. 6, 1995 - Batman Forever, Thea Realm Fighters and Primal Rage top the list of coming attractions for the 64-bit Atari Jaguar Interactive Multimedia system in 1995. "The focus at Atari for 1995 is great software and lots of it," said Sam Tramiel, CEO of Atari Corporation. "We are working with over 200 developers to bring a wide variety of new games to the 64-bit Atari Jaguar in 1995. The powerful Jaguar technology can handle popular arcade games like Primal Rage or provide the speed and graphics necessary for brand new games like Batman Forever and Thea Realm Fighters." Thea Realm Fighters combines the latest digital motion capture technology and nationally known martial arts fighters, including several used for both Mortal Kombat games, to create a super-realistic fighting game. Among the well-known martial artists used for the game are: • Ho Sung Pak, who played Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat I & II, is a member of the Black Belt Hall of Fame and winner of the Grand Slam of Martial Arts in 1991, and served as technical advisor for choreography. • Phillip Ahn, MD, is a 4th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Dr. Ahn played Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat II. • Katalin Zamiar played Kitana, Mileena and Jade in Mortal Kombat II. Katalin is a black belt in Okinawan style Karate. • Daniel Pesina, who played Johnny Cage and the ninjas in Mortal Kombat I & II, is a nationally ranked martial artist in forms and weapons. There are a total of 25-plus characters to compete against in Thea Realm Fighters, including twelve main characters and twelve other special characters. The characters can compete in four different modes and with more than 30 different backgrounds, creating a wide variety of combat situations and scenarios. The release of Thea Realm Fighters is planned for the 3rd quarter. ┌────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.1-6 - Time Killers (MP) └────────────────────────────────────────────── ┌───────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.1-7 - Way of the Warrior (3DO) └─────────────────────────────────────── Way of the Warrior is a ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐ fighting game released in │ Developer(s): Naughty Dog │ 1994 for the 32-bit 3DO. It │ Publisher(s): Universal Interactive Studios │ was developed by Naughty Dog │ Designer(s) Jason Rubin (Producer/ │ and it received a "17+" │ Director/Game Designer) │ rating for its violent │ Andy Gavin (Producer/ │ content. The game's │ Programmer/Game Designer) │ soundtrack consists of music │ Composer(s): Robert Bartleh Cummings │ from the 1992 White Zombie │ Platform(s): 3DO │ album "La Sexorcisto: Devil │ Released: 1994 │ Music, Vol. 1". │ Genre(s): Fighting │ │ Mode(s): Single/multi-player │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DETAILS Developed by Naughty Dog for Universal Interactive Studios, Way of the Warrior features high resolution characters, detailed storylines, and ultra-violent finishing moves. Players have to combat different fighters, their own character's "shadow", and two bosses to achieve complete victory. Each character has a standard arsenal of offensive and defensive fighting moves, combination attacks, and special moves that kills the defeated opponent in an extreme manner. STORYLINE Players have to combat nine different World Warriors, his character's shadow, then defeat a dragon (High Abbott), and then a skeleton (Kull) in order to be sealed into "The Book of Warriors." Each character had a standard arsenal of offensive and defensive fighting moves, combination attacks, and special moves that killed the defeated opponent in an ultra-violent manner. The game also had several hidden characters that could be unlocked with a secret code. CHARACTERS The characters were portrayed by friends and relatives of Naughty Dog employees. Each character had a distinctive code name and a profile. • T-Mike Gaines as Major Gaines (and hidden character, Major Trouble) • Mitch Gavin as Shaky Jake • Jason Rubin as Konotori and The Ninja • Tae Min Kim as Dragon (and hidden character, Black Dragon) • Steve Chan as Nobunaga • Chris Sanford as Fox (and hidden character, voodo) • Tamara Genest as Nikki Chan • Carole May-Miller as Crimson Glory • Gullab Jamun (the special hidden character, Swami) • High Abbott (Dragon Boss) • Kull the Despoiler (the final, Skeleton Boss) DEVELOPMENT Production of Way of the Warrior began in 1993. During that time Naughty Dog was bankrupt, and barely had any money to finish the game. Friends of the company were enlisted to portray the game's characters. As Naughty Dog could not afford a bluescreen or any kind of motion capture backdrop, a yellow sheet was glued to a wall in the developers' apartment. However, the apartment turned out to be too small. To film the moves in the game, Jason Rubin had to open the front door and shoot from the apartment hallway. The neighbors mistakenly believed that the crew were filming kinky adult films. Pillow cases and sheets, various items within the apartment, McDonald's Happy Meals and inexpensive knick knacks were used to create the costumes of the characters. To round out the experience, Jason Rubin joined in and participated by portraying two of the characters in the game. After the game was completed, Naughty Dog presented Way of the Warrior to Mark Cerny of Universal Interactive Studios (now the defunct Vivendi Games). Cerny was pleased with the product and agreed to have Universal Interactive Studios be the publisher of the game, as well as signing on Naughty Dog for three additional games (which would later become Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped). Early print advertisements that appeared for the game mocked its intended competitor Mortal Kombat, and boasted that characters would have up to 9 fatalities each. RECEPTION Several demos were sent out to various magazines plus a non-playable demo appearing on sampler discs for the consumer. While initial response was very positive, the final product was poorly received, both critically and commercially. Criticisms for its sub-par controls (thanks in part to the design of the original controller packed with the 3DO system), extreme difficulty and quality of animation abounded. Way of the Warrior had ultimately failed to deliver on boasts proclaimed in its print advertisements of having 9 fatalities per character and being more violent than Mortal Kombat. It ended up widely considered another Mortal Kombat clone, albeit of a higher quality than most. AWARDS 1994 3DO Developers Award: Winner for Best Animation OTHER FORMATS Naughty Dog later worked with American Laser Games to develop an arcade version of the game; prototypes were built and tested, but were never released. ╔──────────────────────────────────╗ ─┤ 71.2 - Compilations & Emulations ├──────────────────────────────────────── ╚──────────────────────────────────╝ If it's a) included in a compilation, b) an emulated port, or c) an official port that combines two or more games, then it will be listed here. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.2-1 - Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition (WIN) └─────────────────── Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition is an arcade compilation released exclusively for the PC on February 17, 2006 in North America, and on March 17, 2006 in PAL regions. It is a compilation of Midway Arcade Treasures 2 and Midway Arcade Treasures 3, which had both been previously released on consoles only. Unlike the previous two volumes, it includes the original Mortal Kombat. In the two months after its release, two official patches were released for the collection, one to fix missing music for half of the games that was accidentally left out of the shipped version, and a second one to correct a button function oversight that prevented Random Select and Smoke battle easter eggs in Mortal Kombat II (these were bugs that plagued the console versions of Midway Arcade Treasures 2). A few pieces of additional artwork for Wizard of Wor and Primal Rage were made available as supplements on the Midway website. Like the previous release, the Deluxe Edition came under harsh criticism regarding the Primal Rage content which was censored and improperly coded from the arcade ROM source. The collection consists of the following 28 arcade games: • APB • Arch Rivals • Badlands • Championship Sprint • Cyberball 2072 • Gauntlet II • Hard Drivin’ • Kozmik Krooz’r • Hydro Thunder • Mortal Kombat • Mortal Kombat II • Mortal Kombat 3 • NARC • Offroad Thunder • Pit-Fighter • Primal Rage • Race Drivin' • Rampage World Tour • San Francisco Rush 2049 • San Francisco Rush the Rock: Alcatraz Edition • S.T.U.N. Runner • Super Off Road with bonus Track-Pak • Timber • Total Carnage • Wacko • Wizard of Wor • Xenophobe • Xybots EMULATION PROBLEMS Unknown. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.2-2 - Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play (PSP) └─────────────────── Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play is a video game compilation of 21 classic Midway, Atari and Williams arcade games released in 2005 for the PlayStation Portable. The collection consists of the following arcade games: • 720° • Arch Rivals • Championship Sprint • Cyberball 2072 • Defender • Gauntlet • Joust • Klax • Marble Madness • Mortal Kombat • Mortal Kombat II • Mortal Kombat 3 • Paperboy • Rampage • Rampart • Sinistar • Spy Hunter • Toobin' • Wizard of Wor • Xenophobe • Xybots Multiplayer games support wireless connection between players. EMULATION PROBLEMS Mortal Kombat II has missing background sprites (e.g., the moving clouds in the background of The Tower stage). Both Mortal Kombat II and 3 suffer from frame rate, speed, loading and sound issues. IGN reported missing backgrounds as well, but it's unclear if they meant entire backgrounds or the aforementioned sprites. [Requires more detail.] ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.2-3 - Midway Arcade Treasures 2 (MP) └───────────────────────────────── Midway Arcade Treasures 2 is the second collection of classic arcade games published by Midway for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. This compilation includes 20 games that were not in the 2003 release of Midway Arcade Treasures or the 2005 release of Midway Arcade Treasures 3. The compilation plays similar on all three consoles; however, the Xbox version has the exclusive ability to upload scores to an online leaderboard. The special features on each version of the game are the same. These include game histories, developer interviews, and other documents. The collection consists of the following 20 arcade games: • A.P.B. • Arch Rivals • Championship Sprint • Cyberball 2072 • Gauntlet II • Hard Drivin' • Kozmik Krooz'r • Mortal Kombat II • Mortal Kombat 3 • NARC • Pit-Fighter • Primal Rage • Rampage World Tour • Spy Hunter II • Timber • Total Carnage • Wacko • Wizard of Wor • Xenophobe • Xybots This collection was given an "M" rating largely due to Mortal Kombat II and 3, Primal Rage, and NARC. Rampage World Tour is also featured as a bonus game in Rampage Total Destruction on GameCube and Wii. The compilation was planned to include all three Mortal Kombat titles, Steel Talons and S.T.U.N. Runner. The first Mortal Kombat game was moved to the extras disc in the limited edition version of Mortal Kombat: Deception, while the other two games were omitted entirely because of developmental problems. Kozmik Krooz'r and Wacko were added instead. The first Mortal Kombat later appeared in other compilations from the Midway Arcade Treasures series: Extended Play for the PSP, and Deluxe Edition for the PC; while S.T.U.N. Runner appeared in Midway Arcade Treasures 3. EMULATION PROBLEMS Many of the games featured in this collection are emulated versions of the arcade games and not actually ports. It may be extremely difficult to emulate video games from one system fully accurate on another. As a result, some of the games (Mortal Kombat II, Mortal Kombat 3, Pit-Fighter and NARC in particular) have some obvious sound and graphical glitches. There are also certain other emulation issues in the PS2 and GameCube versions of the collection. The PS2 version contains a slower running Hard Drivin', a crackled sounding Mortal Kombat 3, and a faster running Pit-Fighter. These emulation problems are not present in the GameCube version. However, this version contains a few emulation issues in Wizard of Wor (which is the oldest game in the collection): every sound effect plays at the wrong times (for example the original shooting sound effect has become the original "enemy defeated" sound effect, and vice versa), and the game has a very inconsistent frame rate, slowing down at almost all times. Rampage: World Tour had missing voice samples from Dr. Betty Veronica when it comes to her talking to the phone on some scenes between levels. The Xbox version is often considered by critics to be the best version, as it has the fewest emulation problems and the ability to post scores on the Xbox LIVE. BUTTON MAPPING ISSUES The "start button" in this game has 2 functions: Starting a game or pausing a game. So unless the player has to start or continue a game, the "start button" will also work as a "pause button". This is where the problems come in for the Following two Mortal Kombat games: • Mortal Kombat II and 3 utilized the "start button" to perform "random select" by pressing Up+Start at the character select screen. As a result the "random select" button combination was obviously changed to Up+X for PS2 version, and Up+A for the Xbox and Nintendo GameCube versions. • In Mortal Kombat II, in order to fight the hidden character Smoke, the player had to press Down+Start at the Portal stage while getting a Dan Forden shouting out the "Toasty!" message. As a result, Smoke cannot be accessed at all. ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.2-4 - Mortal Kombat II (PSN) └───────────────────────────────────────── ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.2-5 - Mortal Kombat: Deception "Premium Pack" (MP) └─────────────────── ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.2-6 - Mortal Kombat: Armageddon "Premium Edition" (MP) └─────────────── A "Premium" edition was released in North America for the PlayStation 2, featuring the following content in a steelbook case: a 60-minute bonus DVD with a "History of Fatalities" documentary and new videos for more than 50 characters, an animation cel of the cover art autographed by creator Ed Boon, and also an arcade-perfect version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 included in the main disc. There are four package design variations, some exclusive to certain stores featuring different character sets or the Mortal Kombat dragon emblem. The Wii version of Armageddon has a new motion-based control system, along with compatibility with the classic controller as well as a GameCube controller. It also has a new Endurance Mode, a Wii Remote Training Mode, new menu screens, and Khameleon as a playable character; however, this version does not have online features. ┌────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.2-7 - Mortal Kombat I & II (MP) └────────────────────────────────────── This is a compilation featuring both Mortal Kombat 1 and II, also known as 'Mortal Kombat I & II Duo'. The compilation was released for the PC and Game Boy. A version for Saturn and 3DO was also planned, but never made it to store shelves. The PC version contains a new port of Mortal Kombat 1, which includes WAVE audio for music and sound effects, as well as some minor bug fixes. For unknown reasons, Mortal Kombat II's audio remained untouched from its initial PC release. GLITCHES PC: While Mortal Kombat II remains more or less the same as the standalone version, it does contain at least one glitch that isn't present in the original release: Scorpion's "Toasty!" Fatality, if performed with Shang Tsung, will result in a graphical glitch. This does not occur when Scorpion himself performs the Fatality, however. OTHER NOTES PC: Mortal Kombat II has a cleaner filesystem than the standalone release. [Requires more detail.] ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.2-8 - Mortal Kombat: Kollection (PS2) └──────────────────────────────── This is a special three-game box set of Midway's last three PlayStation 2 Mortal Kombat installments. It contains the following games: • Mortal Kombat: Deception • Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks • Mortal Kombat: Armageddon It was first released exclusively in Mexico and Latin America in 2007 as 'Mortal Kombat: The Trilogy'. It was then released the following year in North America as 'Mortal Kombat: Kollection'. The reason for the name change is unknown - perhaps so it wasn't confused with Mortal Kombat Trilogy. ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.2-9 - Mortal Kombat Trilogy (MP) └───────────────────────────────────── Mortal Kombat Trilogy is a fighting game developed and published by Midway in 1996. It is a combination of content from the previous Mortal Kombat titles based primarily upon the game play mechanics of Mortal Kombat 3 and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. MKT follows the same story of MK3 (and UMK3) but contains all characters and most of the stages from Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, MK3, and UMK3. CAST AND CHARACTERS Along with the UMK3 roster, MKT adds Baraka and Raiden as they appeared in MKII. In addition to both characters gaining one new special move each, both characters have brand new sprites for running and standing falls (these animation types weren't introduced until MK3). A new version of Johnny Cage played by a new actor was also introduced. He retains all of his regular moves from MKII except for the Split Punch, which had to be excluded since none of the characters from MK3/UMK3 had freaction" sprites for this particular move. Bosses Goro, Kintaro, Motaro and Shao Kahn are also playable. The PlayStation (PSX), Sega Saturn, and PC versions also contain alternate versions of Jax, Kung Lao, Kano and Raiden as they appeared in the first or second game, as they were the only actors who returned as special characters in the game; Philip Ahn (Shang Tsung), Elizabeth Malecki (Sonya Blade) and Katalin Zamiar (Kitana/Mileena/Jade) left Midway prior to the production of MK3 due to royalty disputes. Daniel Pesina (Johnny Cage and Scorpion/Sub- Zero/Reptile/Smoke) was fired from Midway in 1994 for wearing Cage's costume in an advertisement for the Strata arcade game, BloodStorm. The ad first appeared in the debut issue of EGM2. Johnny Cage is the only character to have all new sprites for this game; his new sprites are that of Chris Alexander. Carlos Pesina is the actor for the sprites used during Raiden's gameplay, but Sal Divita is used for the versus screen picture. In addition, new sprites were created to show MKII Raiden and Baraka running and falling from a standing position. New frames were also created for the original Kano to replace the old frames used for his victory stance and heart rip Fatality by modifying Kano's MK3 sprites. A new secret character appears, as well. This character, known as Chameleon, randomly switches between all the male ninjas (Classic Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Noob Saibot, Human Smoke, Rain, Reptile, and Ermac) during combat. He is similar to the original Mortal Kombat version of Reptile, but Chameleon changes his color, not just his stance. This character is playable by performing a special button combination. AUDIO Most of the background music tracks remain intact from MKII and MK3, especially for the CD-ROM versions of the game, but in all versions of the game, many of the tunes are not played with their correct levels. In all versions of MKT, none of the music appears from the original Mortal Kombat game. During the Fatalities, the MKII music is played. All of the CD-ROM games read the background music directly from CD disk providing high-quality CD sound. Unfortunately, they lack all song endings as well as all of the music loops used during the "FINISH HIM/HER!" screen. All of the music taken from MK3 on the CD-ROM MKT games is noticeably slowed down in both speed and pitch. When these particular songs were converted to MKT's Red Book CD quality, they were down-sampled from 48 kHz to 44.1 kHz without resampling them to maintain the original tempo in the PC and PSX versions. NINTENDO 64 VERSION The Nintendo 64 port exclusively features 3-on-3 simultaneous battles. In the N64 version, like in the arcade, the player has four credits from the start. However, after playing a 2-player match, the player gets an extra credit, while in the CD-ROM versions, anyone can play for free. Free Play needs to be unlocked on the N64 version. The N64 port also has a more cohesive 'Supreme Demonstration' feature (which shows every Fatality, Babality, Friendship, Animality, and Brutality for every character) than the PS or Saturn versions (as the latter versions needed to load the Fatalities and thus cannot show every one in the allotted time). Due to limitations of cartridge space there are only 31 total characters on N64, instead of 36 in the PSX, Sega Saturn, and PC versions of the game. The N64 version lacks Goro and Kintaro, and the classic versions of Jax, Kung Lao, Kano, and Raiden. The other versions of the game have both masked and unmasked Sub-Zero whereas the N64 version only has masked Sub-Zero (however, in addition to his own moves, he is able to perform unmasked Sub-Zero's moves as well). Chameleon is replaced with the secret character Khameleon, a grey female ninja, and is present as both a secret opponent and a playable character. While she, too, switches her move sets (making her considerably weaker), she has a cohesive backstory, unlike her male counterpart. The N64 version of the game, like MK3 and UMK3, provides the player with an 'Ultimate Kombat Kode' screen after a single player game is over, where a 6-digit code can be entered to unlock Human Smoke and Khameleon for normal play. The N64 game also includes a new level: the Star Bridge, which is The Pit II background with a star-filled sky. Some older backgrounds are also enhanced with extra graphics and added animation. Some examples of this are The Portal, which now includes a temple-like building on each side of the stage, and Kahn's Kave, which has animated clouds and a glowing floor added to it. The sky of The Pit I stage has been redone in all versions: the PlayStation, PC, and Saturn versions feature a sky almost identical to that of The Pit II, while the N64 version features a pitch-black, star-filled sky. Kahn's Arena no longer has the sprites of Kano and Sonya in the background (most likely due to storyline reasons). Living Forest also no longer has sprites of Smoke and Jade emerging in the background as they are playable characters of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. The N64's Lost Bridge also has Hornbuckle and Blaze appear at random in its background. The N64's Graveyard stage has more names on the gravestones near the front: as well as the original Midway design team of MK3, names of the team at Williams Entertainment were added (the date of death on the stones was changed, from April 1, 1995 to September 30, 1996 to the creators' birthdates). In this version there are two secret menus (blue question mark and red question mark) because not all the playable characters are unlocked from the start. Motaro and Shao Kahn are given Fatalities to perform, either as computer-controlled or regularly controlled characters. Johnny Cage has two Fatalities that he had in MKII (though one is performed differently; instead of ripping an opponent in half at his/her waist, he performs a powerful Shadow Kick move that knocks out the middle section of this opponent's torso). He also has new/different animations whenever a Fatality has been performed on him (an example is Kabal's Head Inflation, where in the other versions his shades are placed on top of his head while in the N64 version his glasses are enlarged with his head). In addition, many frames of animation had to be cut from each character in the game and Rain's stance is the same as Reptile's. The N64 version only uses music from MK3 and it is played through the system's internal synth, resulting in considerably lower quality than the CD versions. However, all ending tunes and music loops used during the "FINISH HIM/HER!" screen are intact unlike the CD-ROM versions. The Ultimate Kombat Kode (113-840) remained undocumented until April 26, 2007, when it was posted by a user named Proto K on a ROM hacking forum (Acmlm's board II). Once entered, the player is presented with the message "FROM THIS POINT ON.... SMOKE AND KHAMELEON ARE AT YOUR CONTROL", and both characters become selectable on the character select screen. However, neither character will stay permanently unlocked, making the code pointless. The code is currently one of the most elusive codes ever to be found in a Mortal Kombat game. GAME.COM VERSION The game was a launch release for the Game.com handheld console. The game includes multiplayer mode, accessible only with the compete.com game link cable. Only 13 characters (Cyrax, Ermac, Jade, Mileena, Sektor, Kitana, Motaro, Nightwolf, Noob Saibot, Raiden, Reptile, Shao Kahn) and 10 Kombat Zones remain in this version. Screenshots of early releases included Smoke, Scorpion, Classic Sub-Zero, Human Smoke, Goro and Kintaro as characters, while Nightwolf and Raiden were not present. Those two were probably added to include characters that were not palette swaps. In addition, each character has onlytwo special moves and four finishing moves. The finishing moves that were kept for the game were one Fatality, Babality, Friendship, and Brutality. Every character except the bosses have finishers, although Noob Saibot does not have a Fatality. In this version, each finishing move has the same command for every character. OTHER VERSIONS There were at least three public revisions of this game for the PlayStation, the final version being the Greatest Hits edition. With each revision, aspects of the game play were refined, producing game play closer to the arcade version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Many of the infinites and bugs found in the game only existed in earlier revisions. Shang Tsung never appears anywhere within the 'Choose Your Destiny' towers, probably because of the loading delays when morphing in the PS version (there's an option that lets the system load two additional characters into memory when playing as Shang Tsung, eliminating the long loading delays of MK3 and UMK3 when morphing); the only time the CPU ever controls Tsung is during the attract mode. After beating the PS version of the game, the final message in the credits says "MK4 coming in 1997". There were at least two public revisions of this game for the PC. The PC version is a direct port of the PS version, only lacking the extra load times. The final version (indicated by the word "final" next to the version number in the about dialog box) has game play identical to the Greatest Hits release on PlayStation. The game is not officially supported by Windows 2000 and subsequent variants (the game would crash frequently). An unofficial patch called mktv2.sdb makes the game fully playable in Windows Vista (the CD or ISO image has to be mounted to the first drive letter - D:\ - in order for CD audio music to play). DEVELOPMENT A beta version of the game was revealed on a trailer. The beta used UMK3 menus as the structure of the game. This would later change in versions 1.0 and 1.1. The original dragon logo was a combination of logos from the first three Mortal Kombat games. Originally, there were going to be 29 kombatants and 26 kombat zones in the N64 version. The final tally... N64: 30 kombatants, 29 kombat zones PS: 37 kombatants, 29 kombat zones Rain was originally going to be a character called Tremor. In early builds of the game, Tremor's bio would show from some kind of glitch, but with Rain's name. The bio states: "Rain is an assassin working freelance. He was once a member of the Lin Kuei along with Sub-Zero, but left the clan under mysterious circumstances. Years later, Rain is found working for Shao Kahn as an assassin in the Outworld. Born a human, he finds himself questioning his loyalty towards Kahn after watching the invasion of Earth." As with most Mortal Kombat games early in development, the character select screen went through several changes. ┌─────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.2-10 - M.U.G.E.N └───────────────────────────────────────────────────── M.U.G.E.N (also known as MUGEN) is a freeware 2D fighting game engine designed by Elecbyte, written in C. It originally used the Allegro library, but the latest versions of the engine now use the SDL library instead. Elecbyte released the customizable fighting game M.U.G.E.N in 1999. The engine was originally released on July 17, 2001. Beta versions were made to work on DOS, Linux and Windows platforms. The engine allows users to insert created characters, background stages, and other game objects through interpreted text files, graphics, and sound compilations to create a functioning fighting game similar to commercial games. While the engine is set up primarily for fighting game development, several other game types have been developed using it, including shooter and platform style games. Officially, Elecbyte claims to have forgotten what the acronym M.U.G.E.N stood for, but the documentation states that its meaning referred to the days when the engine was meant to emulate shooting games as opposed to fighting games. Since development of the engine was halted for a long period of time, and no source code has been made available, several clone projects have emerged, such as ShugenDo, InfinityCat, xnaMugen, jMugen, Direct-Xion-Game, Paintown and I.K.E.M.E.N., all of which try to duplicate M.U.G.E.N's functionality. Some of them present online game play capabilities, a feature many users have sought after. WWW: http://www.elecbyte.com MORTAL KOMBAT RELATED M.U.G.E.N SITES - http://www.freewebs.com/dvmugen - http://mkamugen.webs.com/ - http://users.atw.hu/mugen88/Chars/MK.htm - http://mkmp.net - http://mugentournament.tripod.com/id12.htm - http://juano.mugen-hispania.org - http://mkarmageddonmugen.myfreeforum.org - http://members.fortunecity.com/theimpaler6969/mk2stage.htm - http://mugentournament.tripod.com/id12.html - http://www.freewebs.com/hybridfury01 - http://www.freewebs.com/ermacslair - http://mugentomb.free.fr - http://marthbelmonth.webs.com - http://www.omegapsycho.webs.com - http://www.freewebs.com/nlck09 - http://sonichedgehog_v1.webs.com - http://senseiyoda.mugen-infantry.net - http://www.freewebs.com/dresmasher - http://www.kaints.com ┌───────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.2-11 - Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (XBLA) └─────────────────────────────── Ported to Xbox LIVE Arcade by Digital Eclipse. This is the best console release of UMK3 to date. However, it's not without flaws. Xbox LIVE online support was added, as well as online leaderboards that keep track of your win/loss ratio for both Ranked and Player Matches. The screen size is adjustable for any aspect ratio between 4:3 and 16:9. Achievements were also added. GLITCHES When playing 2P online, the stages don't cycle correctly and you constantly fight in Scorpion's Lair. Players have to rely on Kombat Kodes to select the stage. The game will not save the Ultimate Kombat Kode characters under certain conditions. Below are some measures to prevent this. PREVENTING THE LOSS OF SAVED UKK CHARACTERS THE #1 WAY THAT YOU WILL LOSE YOUR HIDDEN CHARACTERS IS BY ACCEPTING AN INVITE TO PLAY UMK3 WITH A FRIEND WHEN YOU ARE NOT ALREADY PLAYING THE GAME! Under NO circumstances, DO NOT accept an invite to play UMK3 unless you have loaded the game and entered Arcade Game! You MUST use one of the below methods to keep the hidden characters saved BEFORE you accept any invites. There are two known methods of keeping your characters saved and they both involve starting Arcade Game once you launch the game. Method #1 is used on consoles where you are playing the game on the same console that you used to buy the game. This means that you do not have to be connected to Xbox LIVE to play the full game. 1. Start a single player game in Arcade Game and let the character select screen load to confirm your hidden characters are unlocked. 2. Exit out of Arcade Game and play online. Method #2 is used on consoles where you must be connected to Xbox LIVE to play the game. This is usually because you are a victim of RROD and got a new console or a new Xbox 360 and haven't switched over the licenses yet. 1. This method requires that you sign into Xbox LIVE. You do not need a Gold account, however. 2. BEFORE YOU LAUNCH THE GAME, make sure you are NOT signed into any profiles on your system. 3. Launch the game. 4. It will ask you to sign into a profile. Hit the B button to cancel out. DO NOT sign into your profile at this time! 5. Once the game finishes loading, select Arcade Game from the menu. It will ask you to sign in to a profile again. This time do it. Pick the profile that you bought the game with and make sure that it signs into Xbox LIVE. 6. Select Arcade Game from the menu again and let the character select screen load to confirm that your hidden characters are unlocked. 7. Exit out of Arcade Game and go play online! [Source: UltimateMK.com] ACHIEVEMENTS • My Friend (20) Complete a Friendship during an Xbox LIVE Versus game. • Beat the Noob! (25) Beat the hidden character, Noob Saibot while playing the CPU. • Soother (20) Complete a Babality against the CPU. • Ultimate (22) Become the champion in any single player tournament. • Match Five (12) Reach the fifth MATCH in any single player tournament. • Match Three (10) Reach the third MATCH in any single player tournament. • Flawless (11) Complete a Flawless victory against the CPU (1 round). • Combo Number 5 (15) Complete a 5 hit combo against the CPU. • Double Time (8) Complete a 2 hit combo against the CPU. • Century (30) Win a total of 100 Xbox LIVE Ranked Versus matches. • Competitor (12) Win a total of 10 Xbox LIVE Ranked Versus matches. • Fatality (15) Complete a Fatality during an Xbox LIVE Versus game. RELEASE AND REMOVAL The game was accidentally released on the digital download service on the evening of Friday, October 20th, 2006. It was quickly pulled about 20 minutes later. According to Xbox LIVE Director of Programming, Major Nelson, an emergency meeting was called to discuss what to do about the game's release, knowing some keen users already purchased the game. The decision was made to release the game on Saturday morning, four days before its scheduled release date. As of 2010, it remains the only post-launch Xbox LIVE Arcade game to be released on any day other than Wednesday. GameSpot's "Best and Worst of 2006" named the Xbox LIVE Arcade version as the best fighting game of the year. As of mid February of 2010, the game can not be downloaded, as it was removed from Xbox LIVE Arcade due to "publisher evolving rights and permissions," according to a Tweet by Major Nelson. Those who purchased the game can still re-download it if necessary. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.2-12 - Mortal Kombat: Arcade Kollection (MP) └───────────────────────── An arcade collection consisting of Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Released for PSN and XBLA on August 30, 2011, and PC via digital distribution services (Steam, Impulse, and others) on February 2, 2012. BUGS ACHIEVEMENTS/TROPHIES [Requires more detail.] ╔───────────────────╗ ─┤ 71.3 - Crossovers ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ╚───────────────────╝ Whether it's a Mortal Kombat character in a non-MK game or a non-MK character in a MK game, that's what you'll find here. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.3-1 - Batman: Arkham City Lockdown (iOS) └───────────────────────────── ┌─────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.3-2 - The Grid (ARC) └───────────────────────────────────────────────── ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.3-3 - Injustice: Gods Among Us (MP) └────────────────────────────────── ┌───────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.3-4 - Injustice 2 (MP) └─────────────────────────────────────────────── ┌────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.3-5 - Judge Dredd (ARC) └────────────────────────────────────────────── In the first stage, some of the civilians can be seen walking a miniature Goro on a leash. The project involved John Vogel (art and design; as Block Warrior) and Sal Divita (as Judge Dredd). Developed by Midway, Judge Dredd was a digitized side-scrolling fighting game that was never released. A prototype is playable in MAME. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.3-6 - MLB SlugFest: Loaded (PS2/XBOX) └──────────────────────────────── ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.3-7 - Mortal Kombat (2011) (PS3) └───────────────────────────────────── The PlayStation 3 version features Kratos from the God of War series as a platform-exclusive character. [Requires more detail.] ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.3-8 - Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (PS3/360) └──────────────────────── Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (also known as MK vs. DC or MK vs. DCU) is a crossover fighting game from Midway Games and Warner Bros. Games. The eighth game in the Mortal Kombat series, MK vs. DC was released on November 16, 2008. MK vs. DC contains characters from both the Mortal Kombat franchise and the DC Universe. Its story was written by comic writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray. This was the last title to be developed and published by Midway Games, as it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and sold the rights to Mortal Kombat to Warner Bros. (also owner of DC Comics). This was also the first console MK game to have an unrestricted rating by the ESRB as well as the first MK game to be published by Warner Bros. Games. The story of MK vs. DC takes place after Raiden, Earthrealm's God of Thunder, and Superman, hero of Earth, repel invasions from both their worlds. An attack by both Raiden and Superman simultaneously in their separate universes causes the merging of the Mortal Kombat and DC villains, Shao Kahn and Darkseid, resulting in the creation of Dark Kahn whose mere existence causes the merging of the universes that if continued would result in the destruction of both universes. Characters from both universes begin to have a flux in power, some becoming more powerful and others becoming weaker. MK vs. DC was developed using Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 and is available for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms. It is the first Mortal Kombat title developed solely for a seventh generation console. The majority of its ratings range from 7.5/10 to 8.5/10. Most reviewers agreed that MK vs. DC was entertaining and made good use of its DCU license; however, a lack of unlockable features as opposed to past installments and toned down finishers garnered some criticism. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.3-9 - NBA Jam Tournament Edition (ARC) └─────────────────────────────── Play as the following kombatants by entering their initials and dates. ┌────────────────────┬──────────┬────────┐ │ PLAYER │ INITIALS │ DATE │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Raiden* │ RAD │ JUL 9 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Reptile* │ RPT │ NOV 11 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Scorpion* │ SCO │ JUL 6 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Sub-Zero* │ SUB │ DEC 5 │ └────────────────────┴──────────┴────────┘ * Revision 1.0 and 2.0 only. Alternatively, creating a user and defeating all 27 teams with the computer as your opponent (will not count otherwise) will unlock the '?' on the team select screen, allowing you to select various NBA all-star players and special guests characters, including all four MK characters. The following special guests were involved in one or more Mortal Kombat projects. ┌────────────────────┬──────────┬────────┐ │ PLAYER │ INITIALS │ DATE │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Al Lasko │ AML │ AUG 31 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Bill Dabelstein │ DOZ │ DEC 31 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Cary Mednick │ CMM │ JUL 2 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Chris Granner │ CG_ │ DEC 4 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Dan Forden │ DWF │ SEP 28 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Ed Boon │ EJB │ FEB 22 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ George Petro │ GNP │ OCT 8 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Jack Haeger │ JEH │ JUL 13 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Jamie Rivett │ RJR │ JAN 17 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Jim Gentille │ JPG │ JAN 23 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ John Carleton │ JMC │ AUG 5 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ John Newcomer │ JRN │ JUN 18 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ John Tobias │ TOB │ AUG 24 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ John Vogel │ VOG │ JUN 27 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Jon Hey │ JWH │ SEP 20 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Josh Tsui │ JYT │ NOV 28 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Kerri Hoskins │ KER │ OCT 10 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Mark J. Turmell │ MJT │ MAR 22 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Mark Loffredo │ ML_ │ MAY 25 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Mark Penacho │ MDP │ JAN 13 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Matt Booty │ MVB │ APR 18 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Pat Cox │ PGC │ APR 11 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Paul Heitsch │ WMN │ NOV 11 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Ray Macika │ REM │ MAR 26 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Roger Sharpe │ ROG │ AUG 1 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Sal Divita │ SAL │ FEB 1 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Shawn Liptak │ SL_ │ JUN 24 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Sheridan Oursler │ SNO │ JAN 3 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Steve Beran │ SAB │ AUG 29 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Tony Goskie │ TWG │ DEC 7 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Vince Pontarelli │ VJP │ APR 11 │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼────────┤ │ Warren Davis │ WBD │ AUG 17 │ └────────────────────┴──────────┴────────┘ TRIVIA Certain characters were removed from later versions of the game, including Raiden, Reptile, Scorpion, and Sub-Zero, because they were deemed too violent by the NBA. These characters are not present in any revision above 2.0. Scorpion's initials/date remained undocumented until the mid-to-late 2000s. According to Kerri Hoskins, October 10th holds no personal significance; her birth date is actually February 20th. ┌───────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.3-10 - NFL Blitz '99 (ARC) └─────────────────────────────────────────── ┌───────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.3-11 - NFL Blitz 2000 (MP) └─────────────────────────────────────────── ┌───────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.3-12 - NFL Blitz 2001 (MP) └─────────────────────────────────────────── ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.3-13 - Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy (PC/PS2/XBOX) └──────────────── Scorpion can be unlocked as a skin by selecting Extra Content at the main menu and entering the following code: 546546 ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.3-14 - Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict (XBOX) └──────────── Raiden is a playable character and unlocked by completing all 15 challenges in Challenge Mode. His biography is as follows: "As an Elder God, Raiden has been cursed with seeing the devastation to come. Raiden pleaded with the other gods to help the mortals, but they refused to interfere. Disgusted, he relinquished his immortal status to travel amongst the realms, gathering the support of the greatest of warriors against the coming storm. And there is no better place to recruit the champions of the galaxy than the Liandri tournament." Raiden's weapons include Lightning Bolts (projectile) and a Thunder Staff (melee). His Coup de Grace is (X),(Y),U,D,D,D,(A). ╔──────────────╗ ─┤ 71.4 - Demos ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ╚──────────────╝ Various demos that were freely distributed or playable on show floors. ┌──────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.4-1 - Mortal Kombat (AMI) └──────────────────────────────────────────── ┌──────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.4-2 - Mortal Kombat (DOS) └──────────────────────────────────────────── ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.4-3 - Mortal Kombat II (AMI) └───────────────────────────────────────── ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.4-4 - Mortal Kombat II (DOS) └───────────────────────────────────────── ┌───────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.4-5 - Mortal Kombat 3 (PC) └─────────────────────────────────────────── ┌───────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.4-6 - Mortal Kombat 3 (PS) └─────────────────────────────────────────── Featured on Sony's Interactive CD Sampler - Volume 1 (M Rated) for the PlayStation. Sold via Sony for $4.95 and included with new PlayStation consoles beginning in the month of February of 1996. Playable demos include: Loaded, Mortal Kombat 3, Warhawk, Twisted Metal, and Wipeout. Non-playable demos (FMV) include: NFL Gameday, Destruction Derby, NHL Face- Off, and Descent. DEMO DETAILS • 1 or 2 players. • Only Kano and Sonya are playable (other kombatants are faded out). • Kano and Shang Tsung's portraits have swapped places on the character select screen. • One of two kombat zones can be selected: The Subway and The Street. • The CPU opponent seems to change at random between rounds. • Kano and Sonya have all of their finishing moves. • Win or lose, the demo sends you back to the demo selection screen. [Requires more detail.] GAMESHARK CODES P1 Infinite Energy 801C 9ADC 00A6 P1 Fake Infinite Energy 801C AE54 00A6 P1 No Energy 801C 9ADC 0000 P1 75% Energy D01C 9ADC 00A6 801C 9ADC 007C P1 50% Energy D01C 9ADC 00A6 801C 9ADC 0055 P1 25% Energy D01C 9ADC 00A6 801C 9ADC 002C P1 200% (Double) Energy D01C 9ADC 00A6 801C 9ADC 015C P1 Unlimited Run 801E CAD8 0030 P1 Can't Run 801E CAD8 0000 P2 Infinite Energy 801C 9B34 00A6 P2 Fake Infinite energy 801C AE58 00A6 P2 No Energy 801C 9B34 0000 P2 75% Energy D01C 9B34 00A6 801C 9B34 007C P2 50% Energy D01C 9B34 00A6 801C 9B34 0055 P2 25% Energy D01C 9B34 00A6 801C 9B34 002C P2 200% Energy D01C 9B34 00A6 801C 9B34 015C P2 Unlimited Run 801E CADC 0030 P2 Can't Run 801E CADC 0000 ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.4-7 - Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (PS2) └───────────────────────────── Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine Demo Disc #95. [Requires more detail.] ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.4-8 - Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (XBOX) └──────────────────────────── ┌───────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.4-9 - Mortal Kombat (2011) └─────────────────────────────────────────── E3 2010 STAGE DEMO The 16th annual Electronic Entertainment Expo was held from June 14th to June 17th, 2010 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA. This build was not playable by attendees. Demo features and highlights: • 8 playable characters: Scorpion, Mileena, Reptile, Sub-Zero, Kung Lao, Johnny Cage, Nightwolf, and Sektor. • Tag Team is present. • Stages include The Pit, Living Forest and Dead Pool. • Stages seem to be randomly chosen. • The Pit Fatality is present. PAX PRIME 2010 PAX Prime 2010 was held from September 3rd to September 5th, and took place at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, Washington. First time playable to the public. Demo features and highlights: • 10 playable characters: Scorpion, Mileena, Reptile, Sub-Zero, Kung Lao, Johnny Cage, Nightwolf, Sektor, Cyrax, and Kitana. • Cyrax and Kitana are playable for the first time. • Tag Team is present. GDC 2011 Held from February 28th to March 4th, 2011 in San Francisco, CA. Demo features and highlights: • Jax and Sonya are playable for the first time. • Challenge Tower is present. • Test Your Might/Sight/Strike/Luck are present. TRUCK TOUR (2011) Launched in Los Angeles, CA on March 3rd, 2011. This build seems to be identical to the PSN demo. PSN DEMO (2011) Released on March 8th, 2011 for PlayStation Plus members, and March 15th, 2011 for non-PlayStation Plus members. The demo is based on code that's 8 weeks old, according to the devs. Demo features and highlights: • 4 playable characters: Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Mileena and Johnny Cage. • 2 selectable stages: Living Forest and The Pit. • 1 Fatality per character. • The Pit Fatality is present. • X-Ray moves are present. • Under unknown circumstances, Scorpion and Johnny Cage experience a graphical glitch that involves their clothing. • Dan "Toasty" Forden makes a return, occasionally making an appearance after performing an uppercut. • At the character select screen, selecting a stage with the START button will enable classic music for the chosen stage. You will hear Shao Kahn's laugh as confirmation. PAX EAST 2011 The second annual PAX East was held from March 11th to March 13th, 2011. Contrary to the previous year, it wasn't held at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center, but in the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, or BCEC, in Boston, Massachusetts. The total attendance for PAX East 2011 was reported at 69,500, making it the largest PAX as of this writing. Demo features and highlights: • 16 playable characters: Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Mileena, Johnny Cage, Nightwolf, Sektor, Cyrax, Jax, Kitana, Kano, Sonya, Ermac, Reptile, Noob, Liu Kang, and Kung Lao. ╔─────────────────────────╗ ─┤ 71.5 - Hacks & Bootlegs ├───────────────────────────────────────────────── ╚─────────────────────────╝ Unofficial/modified MK games. ┌──────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.5-1 - Mortal Kombat (Nifty Kombo) └──────────────────────────────────── Nifty Kombo is an arcade ROM hack that is probably an earlier version of the Kombo release. Sub-Zero's freeze doesn't levitate opponents to the ceiling (just about an inch or so) and Goro is *really* hard -- he's like in the early versions of MK (like 1.0) where an uppercut won't knock him off of his feet. Turbo 3.1 is the one to have, then Nifty just to be complete. Nifty also has some different writing on the screen in the attract mode. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.5-2 - Mortal Kombat (Turbo/Kombo 3.1) └──────────────────────────────── Another arcade ROM hack. Take Mortal Kombat and kick up the speed, then tweak the game play for more juggling and you have this game. Other features include Sub-Zero's levitating freeze (freeze the opponent and they float to the top of the screen - devastating combo possibilities!) and Reptile comes out to fight more readily (any stage, and a flawless victory isn't required). The Kombo board brings the speed up to MK2 standards. The board can be converted back, all you have to do is remove the daughterboard and one ROM and replace them with the standard ROMs. MK version ROMs go in sockets U89 and U105 and these are the sockets that the Kombo version uses. The Kombo version is based on version 3.0 (the test screen calls it 3.1 Turbo). The small PCB holds the second ROM, a clock crystal, and a PAL chip (which is likely for copy protection). ┌──────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.5-3 - Mortal Kombat (Turbo Ninja) └──────────────────────────────────── This is an extremely rare arcade ROM hack and said to be an official hack by Midway near the end of MK1's life cycle in arcades before MKII was released (unconfirmed). Features: • Fast uppercut recovery. • Faster game play (on par with Reptile). • Fight Reptile on any stage by not using Block and performing a Fatality (does not work on Endurance and boss matches). • Infinite corner uppercut juggle. • Sub-Zero's Ice Blast levitates opponent. • Scorpion has some infinite combos: - Spear, Uppercut, Spear... - Spear, Uppercut, Teleport Punch, Spear... - Spear, Uppercut, Jump Kick, Spear... • Blood falls from higher distance after an uppercut. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.5-4 - Mortal Kombat (Black Ninja Edition) └──────────────────────────── Yet another arcade ROM hack. Not much is known about this one. Every stage is said to have a black/night sky and Sub-Zero's freeze works much the same as it does in the other hacks. The machine would boot up just like a regular MK machine boots up, except another black screen with red letters and asterisks labeling it as 'Mortal Kombat Black Ninja Edition' is displayed before the title screen. The game allegedly has the combo abilities of Turbo 3.1, as well as rainbow colored blood. ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.5-5 - Mortal Kombat II (Challenger) └────────────────────────────────── Challenger is a hacked arcade ROM with the following features: • Faster Uppercuts. • Jax has a faster Face Smash. • Jax's Face Smash has Liu Kang's sound effects. • Cages Shadow Kick goes twice as far. • Cage has full time Red Shadow moves. • Multiple Dead Pool Fatality (Normal uppercut will knock the person in, then you can continue to hit them while they're in the acid). • Play against Noob Saibot after 6 wins. • Play Pong on battle 16 instead of 250. • Fight Smoke whenever you catch the 'Toasty' guy. • Play against Jade after 4 wins. • More difficult fight ladder that often begins with Kintaro or a hidden character. • All of the secret characters can appear on the fight ladder. • Super extended time to perform fatalities. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.5-6 - Mortal Kombat II (Revision 4.2) └──────────────────────────────── Revision 4.2 is a hacked arcade ROM with the following features: • Faster Uppercuts. • Jax has a faster Face Smash. • Jax's Face Smash has Liu Kang's sound effects. • Cages Shadow Kick goes twice as far. • Cage has full time red Shadow moves. • Multiple Dead Pool Fatality (Normal uppercut will knock the person in, then you can continue to hit them while they're in the acid). • Play against Noob Saibot after 6 wins. • Play Pong on battle 16 instead of 250. • Fight Smoke whenever you catch the "Toasty" guy (not just the portal stage). Not confirmed yet but possible for Revision 4.2 and/or above: • Secret characters vulnerable to missile weapons. • Liu Kang has a red dragon Fatality. • Kung Lao has a bones in his hat Fatality. • Baraka's roundhouse has awesome range. • Mixed ladder, and probably more. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.5-7 - Mortal Kombat II (Revision 9.1) └──────────────────────────────── This is a RARE arcade ROM hack of Mortal Kombat II with the following features: • Faster Uppercuts. • Jax has a faster Face Smash. • Jax's Face Smash has Liu Kang's sound effects. • Cages Shadow Kick goes twice as far. • Cage has full time red Shadow moves. • Multiple Dead Pool Fatality (Normal uppercut will knock the person in, then you can continue to hit them while they're in the acid). • Play against Noob Saibot after 6 wins. • Play Pong on battle 16 instead of 250. • Fight Smoke whenever you catch the "Toasty" guy (not just the portal stage). • Play against Jade after 4 wins (Only change from 4.2 to 9.1?). ┌────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.5-8 - Mortal Kombat II Plus └────────────────────────────────────────── ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.5-9 - Mortal Kombat Revelations (MD) └───────────────────────────────── Yet another ROM hack for the Sega Mega Drive. This is apparently an update to the Ultimate Mortal Kombat Trilogy hack. New additions include Quan Chi and a cybernetic ninja called Hydro. Needs more detail. WWW: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?dxzd1hbnmy5 Guide: http://www.angelfire.com/va3/mk/fan_made/mkr_movelist.htm ┌───────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.5-10 - Mortal Kombat II Unlimited (MD) └─────────────────────────────── This is a very extensive hack of Mortal Kombat II for the Sega Mega Drive. Although the version number is 0.7, this hack is fully completed. Features: • Added a combo system • Secret fighters now fully playable • Bosses now fully playable • New sounds • New Select Screen and Main Menu • New stages and music from Mortal Kombat 1 • New moves such as Brutality • New Game Modes such as Practice and Endurance • and many more... WWW: http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/596 Guide: http://www.angelfire.com/va3/mk/fan_made/mk2u_main.htm ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.5-11 - Mortal Kombat II - Hidden Character Hack (SNES) └─────────────── This hack allows you to play as the hidden characters Smoke, Noob Saibot and Jade on the SNES version. Includes built-in game codes to activate them. Use this patch on the US Version 1.1 ROM with NO header in non-interleaved format. That means if the patch doesn't work for you, use a tool like UCON64 to convert the original ROM to SMC or SWC format, and then remove the header. Key features: • Smoke, Noob Saibot, and Jade are playable via code at the CSS. • All 3 characters have Special moves. • All 3 characters can perform finishing moves, be finished. SECRET CODES The secret codes are entered on the Character Selection Screen. You must enter a combination of directional pad presses followed by SELECT to enter them. The codes were made the way they are so they are very easy to enter. After hitting SELECT you should press any of these buttons: A,B,X,Y,L,R. If you press another direction on the directional pad after pressing Select and hearing the correct code sound effect, you will change your character back to a regular character. Below are the buttons you should press. Note: You can exchange B for any of the ones I listed above. Play as Smoke - Right, Right, Right, Right, Right, Select, B Play as Noob - Left, Left, Left, Left, Left, Select, B Play as Jade - Down, Down, Down, Down, Down, Select, B OTHER NOTES There are no endings for the hidden characters. The game will default to Kung Lao's ending when the game is beaten with a hidden character. In Versus Mode, any hidden character will use Kung Lao as their portrait during the versus screen. Current Version: 1.02a WWW: http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/537 ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.5-12 - Mortal Kombat 3 Mega Drive Bootleg (ARC) └────────────────────── This is a coin-operated version of Mortal Kombat 3 for the Sega Mega Drive. Currently emulated in MAME. [Requires more detail.] ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.5-13 - Ultimate Mortal Kombat Trilogy (MD) └──────────────────────────── One of the most popular Mortal Kombat game hacks on the web, 'Ultimate Mortal Kombat Trilogy' (commonly abbreviated as UMKT), was created by Belarusian hacker known as Kabal_MK, using the Mega Drive version of UMK3 as a template. The hack includes every version of every character (except the MK3 version of Noob Saibot) up to Mortal Kombat Trilogy, all of which gain new special moves and finishers, among other additions. It also introduces the stages that weren't available in any of the Mega Drive ports: The Belltower, The Pit and The Pit II. The hack exceeds the traditional 4MB Mega Drive's read-only memory limit, like Super Street Fighter II. That means you'll need to use an emulator modified to play games over the limit. However, the real Mega Drive is able run the hack normally with some bugs that are not shown during the emulation. Ultimate Mortal Kombat Trilogy Hack @ Emuland.net (newest versions): http://www.emu-land.net/?secid=39&act=showonly&id=932 UMKT Homepage - English/Russian (old version and special emulators): http://umk3.hacking-cult.org Guide: http://www.angelfire.com/va3/mk/fan_made/umkt_movelist.htm ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.5-14 - Ultimate Mortal Kombat II: Tournament Edition └───────────────── ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.5-15 - Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3: Tournament Edition └────────────────── ╔───────────────────────────╗ ─┤ 71.6 - Prototypes & Betas ├─────────────────────────────────────────────── ╚───────────────────────────╝ Early versions of various MK games. ┌────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.6-1 - Mortal Kombat (Proto 4.0) └────────────────────────────────────── Data compiled via MAME, which may not be accurate versus original hardware. • Earliest known arcade version of Mortal Kombat in existence. • You cannot play as the same character. • Menu won't allow cursors to pass each other in 2-player selection. • Sub-Zero has corner infinite (Uppercut, Freeze, repeat). • Sub-Zero has faster recovery after Slide and can go straight into sweep for most instances. • Sub-Zero can freeze opponent in air or finish him as they're falling from an uppercut, resulting in a frozen corpse. • Liu Kang can do a Flying Kick out of a standing HK. • Raiden can do Torpedo Push after a JK for more combo possibilities. ┌────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.6-2 - Mortal Kombat (Proto 8.0) └────────────────────────────────────── Currently emulated in MAME. [Requires more detail.] ┌────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.6-3 - Mortal Kombat (Proto 9.0) └────────────────────────────────────── Proto 9.0 is an earlier arcade version of MK and is a legit Midway version. It runs on the original board (not the T-Unit) and is pretty similar to version 1.0. All of the moves, fatalities and endings are present. You can do the multiple corner uppercut trick, Goro is hard to knock down (an uppercut won't do it), and there are some small glitches here and there. It also appears that mirror matches use the exact same character (no darkened character), though I haven't checked all the characters. Currently emulated in MAME. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.6-4 - Mortal Kombat (Yawdim bootleg) └───────────────────────────────── ┌───────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.6-5 - Mortal Kombat Beta (MCD) └─────────────────────────────────────── ┌────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.6-6 - Mortal Kombat Beta (SNES) └────────────────────────────────────── ┌───────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.6-7 - Mortal Kombat Beta (DOS) └─────────────────────────────────────── ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.6-8 - Mortal Kombat II (Revision 1.1) └──────────────────────────────── Some data has been compiled via MAME which may not be accurate versus original hardware. • Earliest known arcade version of Mortal Kombat II in existence. • First version released to the public even though unfinished. (Midway was allegedly pressured due to the release of Capcom's Super Street Fighter II.) • Free Play is on by default. • Attract mode differences: - No 'Longest Winning Streaks' screen - Text is centered - Title comes before fight demonstration - No character prologues - Prologue text slightly changed: ┌ "By seizing control of the Shaolin Tournament he tried to tip the │ scales of order towards chaos. Only seven warriors survived the │ battles and Shang Tsung's scheme would come to a violent end at the │ hands of Liu Kang." - Revision 3.1 │ └ "By seizing control of the Shaolin Tournament he tried to tip the scales of order towards chaos. But seven warriors would not allow it." - Revision 1.1 ┌ "Shang Tsung's new plan is to lure his enemies to compete in the │ Outworld where they will meet certain death by Shao Kahn himself." │ - Revision 3.1 │ └ "Shang Tsung's plan is to lure his enemies to compete in the Outworld where they will meet death by Shao Kahn himself." - Revision 1.1 • Certain characters use alternate colors by default. • No character epilogues, goes straight to 'GAME OVER' screen. • Several sounds are missing: - Sub-Zero's freeze - Shao Kahn (all) - Baraka's/Kitana's Swipe (neither an effect or damage sound) - Kung Lao's Whirlwind Spin • Kung Lao is extremely buggy, walls can block Hat Toss. • Shang Tsung can walk on the ceiling. • Contains almost all moves and approximately 9 Fatalities. • Special moves that are missing: - Reptile's Slide - Mileena's Ground Roll - Jax's Back Breaker - Kung Lao's Diving Kick • You cannot throw the CPU. • Fight ladder is static. • P2 always uses alternate palette. • P2's moves always have priority. • Despite P2 priority, projectiles can cause draws. • AI is glitchy and more difficult. • Kintaro and Shao Kahn nearly impossible to defeat without cheating (Kintaro could be defeated by repeatedly pressing a punch button throughout the fight, Shao Kahn only by throwing missile weapons.) • P2 Button 6 crashes the game (not used). • Briefly locks up/no announcement if character remains unselected. • Reptile's Force Orb start-up animation is slower/shows up during Fatality time. • Floor doesn't raise/move during Reptile's Tongue Fatality. • Can hold block through win announcement. • Mileena's Teleport Kick is F,B,LK. • Baraka's Blade Impalement Fatality lifts the camera/shakes the ground against certain characters and always plays male sounds. • Inserting a coin during game play moves P1's wins text. [Sources: http://www.vm68.com/mkromhacks/index.html http://classicmk.com/index.php?topic=1566.0] ┌───────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.6-9 - Mortal Kombat II Beta (SNES) └─────────────────────────────────── ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.6-10 - Mortal Kombat: Special Forces Beta (PS) └─────────────────────── ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.6-11 - Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Beta (SAT) └─────────────────────────── DISC HEADER INFO Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 SEGA SEGASATURN SEGA TP T-999 T-99901G V1.000199441122CD-1/1 JTUBKAEL J SAMPLE GAME Physical disc labeled as 'MK3 Beta' with the date '23-3-96'. DIFFERENCES • Intro screen has the text 'SEGA SATURN - BETA VERSION'. • The text on the 'SELECT MODE OF PLAY' screen is larger and doesn't fit in the boxes. • The battle plan portraits are misaligned and the player portrait is smaller than the opponent portraits. • The Waterfront stage has several graphical glitches. • The message 'MOTARO WINS' is displayed after Shao Kahn wins a round. • 'Shao Kahn Treasures' screen has several missing treasures and graphics. • Credits show Sony development team with incorrect palette. • Saturn development team pictures are missing. • Credits list SCEA (Sony Computer Entertainment of America). • "Imagination is more important than knowledge" is displayed during attract mode. (This text was also present in a MK3 beta on SNES.) [Source: http://www.segadatabase.net/segafreak/umk3.htm] ADDITIONAL NOTES A 'prototype' labeled with the date '7-2-96' is floating around, but it may have the same creation date as the '23-3-96' disc. [Pending verification.] ╔──────────────────────────╗ ─┤ 71.7 - Tiger Electronics ├──────────────────────────────────────────────── ╚──────────────────────────╝ Various handheld games released by Tiger Electronics. ┌──────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.7-1 - Mortal Kombat (LCD) └──────────────────────────────────────────── ┌────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.7-2 - Mortal Kombat 3 (LCD) └────────────────────────────────────────── ┌───────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.7-3 - Mortal Kombat 3 (RZ) └─────────────────────────────────────────── ┌──────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.7-4 - Mortal Kombat Trilogy (LCD) └──────────────────────────────────── ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.7-5 - Mortal Kombat Trilogy (GC) └───────────────────────────────────── ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.7-6 - Mortal Kombat Trilogy (RZ) └───────────────────────────────────── ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.7-7 - Mortal Kombat Trilogy (GF) └───────────────────────────────────── ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.7-8 - Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero (LCD) └────────────────────── ╔───────────────╗ ─┤ 71.8 - Mobile ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ╚───────────────╝ Games released for Mobile devices. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.8-1 - Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (iOS) └───────────────────────────────── Released on December 16th, 2010. DESCRIPTION Relive the brutal combos and vicious fatalities that made Mortal Kombat one of the most iconic video games EVER! 10 Klassic arenas await in Arcade Mode, pitting you against 13 klassic Mortal Kombat warriors like Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Sonya Blade. Kustomize your button layout and dominate your opponents in head-to-head battle. Then "Finish Him!" with epic Fatalities and humiliating Babalities. Challenge friends in merciless head-to-head kombat via local WiFi or Bluetooth®. Or rack up points in challenging timed battles against the treacherous Shao Kahn. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 takes full advantage of the high-resolution Retina Display, offering vivid visual impact enhanced from the original arcade game. GAME FEATURES • Get a completely new and visually stunning 3D style representation of the highly successful arcade version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. • Play in 3 different modes, including the original arcade story mode structure. • Battle 13 Mortal Kombat legends from the arcade original. • Enter 10 classic arenas. • Perform all the moves from the arcade original. • Use advanced (6 buttons) or casual (5 buttons) control systems. • Customize controls, place the buttons where you prefer on the screen and adjust opacity. • Battle against friends via Bluetooth or local WiFi. • Featuring the authentic sound FX and music from the arcade version. • Supports Retina Display (for iPhone® 4 and iPod touch® (4th generation)) and Fast App Switching (for iOS 4.0 or higher). REQUIREMENTS Yes, you can play this game on your iPhone and iPod Touch. However, this game will not work on other iPod models, including the iPod (3rd Generation), iPod classic, and iPod Nano (5th Generation). UPDATES On June 16th, 2011, in response to user feedback, EA Mobile released v1.2.57, which includes the following additions: • 10 more characters – Choose from all 23 warriors including Cyrax, Sektor, Kabal, Reptile, and more. • 6 more arenas - Enter kombat in all 16 arenas and their hidden layers including Scislac Busorez and The Cave. [Requires more detail.] ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.8-2 - Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (Java) └──────────────────────────────── Released on December 1st, 2010. A Java-based port for Java-capable mobile devices. The game features six playable fighters and a boss character. [Requires more detail.] ╔──────────────────────╗ ─┤ 71.9 - Miscellaneous ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────── ╚──────────────────────╝ Things that don't fit elsewhere. ┌────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.9-1 - Wavenet (ARC) └────────────────────────────────────────────────── Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition was a modified version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for the arcade. It featured slightly modified game play and the ability to play against people in other arcades that were also on Wavenet machines via a network connection. Details are limited on this version of the game. GAME PLAY DIFFERENCES (The following is not first hand information; it is gleaned from various internet sources.) This game featured tweaks to the game play such as a limit placed on Kung Lao's spin. Also, it was possible to play as Noob Saibot by performing a code similar to the code to unlock Human Smoke (choose Cyber Smoke and hold B+HP+HK+BL+RN before match starts). Reports suggest that this modified version of UMK3 was only playable while the machine was connected to Wavenet. When playing 1-player games, the game played like Revision 1.2. TECHNICAL DETAILS It is believed the Wavenet machine utilized a single board computer (SBC) to handle networking. The game itself was already maxing out the hardware's capabilities. As a result, when developers attempted to add networking to it, they realized it would take extra hardware to handle it. So a 386 based SBC was added which connected to the PCB for the arcade machine. From speaking shortly with a developer, it sounds like development of the Wavenet Edition of MK began with Mortal Kombat 3 and later used with Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. [Source: UltimateMK.com] ┌───────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.9-2 - XBAND (GEN/SNES) └─────────────────────────────────────────────── ╔───────────────────╗ ─┤ 71.10 - Cancelled ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ╚───────────────────╝ Titles that were never released. ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.10-1 - Mortal Kombat: Fire & Ice └───────────────────────────────────── During a discussion with Game Informer, series co-creator Ed Boon revealed a previously unknown project entitled Mortal Kombat: Fire & Ice that was to feature rivals Scorpion and Sub-Zero. "When they finished [Shaolin Monks], the guys at Paradox were gonna do another one called Fire & Ice. It was gonna be a co-operative Scorpion and Sub-Zero game," Boon said. "They actually started the early stages of that game, but they couldn’t do it in time and under budget, so the project was cancelled and kind of went away."[69] ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.10-2 - Mortal Kombat 3 (MAC) └───────────────────────────────────────── Developed in 1995-1996 by Digital Eclipse and was to be published by GT Interactive. Christopher Burke headed the project, who later went on to program the Mortal Kombat TV Game by Jakks Pacific.[67][70] "The game was running, fully playable, but unstable with frequent crashes. It was available for pre-order through several outlets, but due to the stability issues missed the Christmas release window at a time when Mac sales were tanking, so the publisher decided to cut losses and canceled the project." - Christopher Burke via Email ┌───────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.10-3 - Mortal Kombat Duo (3DO) └─────────────────────────────────────── ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.10-4 - Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero (PC) └────────────────────── ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.10-5 - Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (3DO) └──────────────────────────────── ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐ ─┘ 71.10-6 - Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (JAG) └────────────────────────────────