Mortal Kombat.  You either love it or wonder what all of the fuss is about.  There were a couple of eye catching differences when it hit arcades.  First, the graphics, these were not hand drawn cartoon characters like Street Fighter II.  Second, you could literally, positively, END your opponent after winning the fight.  The fact that Mortal Kombat had fatalities was certainly something I knew about the game before I even saw it in person.  Home ports were eventually created, some better than others (Nintendo censorship, I am thinking about you here).  While the Sega Genesis game sold quite well, the Super Nintendo version, and Game Boy version (yeah they censored that too) sold okay – word got around quick.  Those were the better ports though, this article is about the five that you won’t care to play.  Boy oh boy, what a list.

Mortal Kombat on Sega Master System

The first port to get the dishonor of being on this list is the Sega Master System version.  This version is pretty close to the Sega Game Gear version, which is not featured because for a portable game it was quite good.  Mortal Kombat on the Sega Master System is really choppy and pretty ugly.  It is also one of two full color versions on this list.

No color, no censorship. Wrong.

The Nintendo Game Boy version, it is a decent port, for the most part, yes.  Arguably the best portable port on this list.  That does not make it a great, or fun, port though.  Even playing this one on a newer piece of hardware is not going to improve your experience enough to make it enjoyable.

ZX Spectrum adds color in wrong places

Take the Game Boy version, add a dash of color in the life bars and time at the top of the screen and you have the ZX Spectrum Mortal Kombat.  Depending on your stance the graphics may be better/worse than the Game Boy version.  The animation here seems even stiffer than the 8-Bit black and white game though.

Acclaim did good skipping the NES

Man, maybe it is a good thing that Acclaim, nor anyone else, attempted a port of Mortal Kombat to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).  While it never appeared officially, that did not stop pirates from making a Mortal Kombat for the NES system.  I wish they hadn’t.

Mortal Kombat on the go with Tiger Electronics

Last of the Mortal Kombat ports you won’t care to play falls on Tiger Electronics’ hand held version.  This is one of those old LCD screen games that are similar to the older Game and Watch releases.  There are set graphics depending on where you are on the screen plastered over a color backdrop that never changes.  Um, yeah.  Give this one a try if you really hate yourself.

What should we feature next?  Know of a bad port of a game?  Let us know in the comments below.

Carl Williams

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