MORTAL KOMBAT II 32x edition

[matteus]

Hi,
I searched the forum and couldn't really find out much about this version of the game.

What did they enhance?

Sound effects have obviously been improved and I can see the backgrounds have been rendered with more colours but was that it graphics wise?

[Clessy]

Nothing to noticable. Colors a handful more of animations and some better voice samples. The music is excatly the same as the genesis. Its a pretty shitty port and the qoute of "its pushing the 32x to the limits" Is one of the all time dumbest quotes I ever remember hearing about this game.

[Assman]

The biggest difference is that the sprites look a lot better. Aside from the smaller size, they look pretty much identical to the arcade sprites. They also added the original life bars, fonts and changed some of the blood patterns (like after Kitana's fan throw) to be more faithful to the arcade version.

I think the graphics look quite a bit better overall. For example, compare the 32X character select screen to the Genesis one. It's like night and day.

That's not to say that it in anyway justifies all the hype it had back in '94, though.

EDIT:




That's probably the most noticeable difference in the game by far, but still.

[Bastardcat]

Its an enhanced version of the Genesis game, and a very poor example of what the 32X can do.

[N.Saibot]

From playing the rom in Fusion I can say MK2 32X is totally awesome. It has the Mega Drive
soundtrack + the sound effects which I totally dig. I also got the impression that the sprites were
somewhat higher than in the Mega Drive version. You get an enhanced color palette too. What seems
strange is, that few animation frames still appear to be missing, but not sure about that.

I guess MK2 fans will find lots of small things to nitpick about it, how some small detail is in the
arcade version but not in the 32X. Me as a MK3 fan, I just really enjoyed the MK2 on 32X because it's
like the Mega Drive version on steroids and that one had best soundtrack imho.

[Bastardcat]

If only Sculptured Software could have made it.

[Da_Shocker]

The only thing Sculptured would've done is fixed the music and added a few voices that were still missing. There port of Wrestlemania the arcade game has the same smallish characters and sum grainyness. Unless a developer was going to built on the 32X from the ground up we were gonig to get half azzed ports.

[bgpjr]

I hated the fact that Probe didn't add in more of the missing frames of animation during the win poses. Baraka's win pose on the genesis has him bowing down with blades pointing down. In the arcade and any other version, he crosses the blades. In the 32x version, several frames are missing and he goes from bowing to instantly blades crossed. Looks very choppy, same as Liu Kang's and others. It's been awhile since I played it, but I think Johnny Cage's pose is still incomplete.

[Tor Landeel]

It's been awhile since I played it, but I think Johnny Cage's pose is still incomplete.

It is and many voices (Liu Kang's bicycle kick) are still missing.
Still, it's very nice to play. Too bad for the lazy effort.

[JohnnyParson]

The 32X seems to be a step above both Genesis and SNES in terms of the detail of the digitized characters. Speed is faster, smoother overall. More colors and the added arcade cinema. Still, the background seems to have more color and animation in the SNES. Gamepro totally wasted this game in review which I thought was wrong. This version is missing some voice samples, seemed to be a bit rushed. Though overall, I believe the 32X is superior to both Genesis and SNES though the 32X kept the generic tunes of the Genesis. Get the 32X version simply for the controls and overall smoothness.

[goldenband]

I think this version's a complete mess, myself -- it feels like a late alpha or early beta. Combos don't work, sounds and animations are missing, the computer uses numerous cheap tactics, and I'm not impressed with the controls either. And yes, I've played the arcade original plenty. I think the SNES port is still the gold standard for home versions of MKII.

[Bastardcat]

And yes, I've played the arcade original plenty. I think the SNES port is still the gold standard for home versions of MKII.

This. Especially in the audio department.

[Assman]

And yes, I've played the arcade original plenty.

You say this...

the computer uses numerous cheap tactics

...but somehow you've forgotten that this is how the arcade version is? I mean shit, the arcade version of MK2 has one of the cheapest AIs of all time. The only thing I can think of in the 32X version that would qualify as cheaper is that you can't abuse the jump kick exploit against Kintaro. Everything else is pretty much exactly the same.

I'm not sure about the "combos don't work" thing either. I can think of a couple that don't work due to the smaller sprites, but that's kind of unavoidable. The controls, though? What could possibly be wrong with the controls? Unless you just can't stand not having shoulder buttons for block, which I could understand.

[Bastardcat]

The AI gets pretty fucking ridiculous with the telegraphing.

[Tor Landeel]

This. Especially in the audio department.

Sorry, but the audio in the SNES version sucks because of those high pitched voices I can't really stand.
I thought it was the emulator fault, but to my surprise I tried it on real hardware and were still there.
I don't really know what's the problem with that, seeing as the other samples are very good.