The 3DO port of Mortal Kombat 2 has apparently just entered the bug hunting phase of development. According to the developer on their YouTube channel, the game is complete and entering the final phases of development. This is great news for fans as the 3DO never officially got a Mortal Kombat release, though I believe Mortal Kombat 3 was announced, not even a single screenshot was ever released. Mortal Kombat 2 was my moms favorite game, she enjoyed watching the fatalities more than playing though so I have been following this development.
Showcasing Improvements
The latest video on 3DO HD’s YouTube channel is pointed at showcasing the latest improvements to the game. Namely, fatalities and no pause in audio. This alone is a feat that I seriously doubted the developer could accomplish on the very limited memory space available on the 3DO.
I am quite impressed they did.
I do want to point out that the developer claims the footage was captured on actual hardware.
As you watch the video (embedded below) you will see that pretty much all of the arcade trimmings are intact in this port. Character portraits, audio samples, line scrolling floor (though most of this video is set to single screen for some reason), and the graphics look phenomenal.
Vid here
Where It Goes from Here
There is no demo available so the remaining time in development is going to be interesting. Most owners of these IPs are fine with the retro gaming community keeping the torch lit if there are no money exchanging hands. Konami is one such company. Others are quite litigious such as Lego, Nintendo, Square Enix, etc.
Warner Bros owns the rights to the Mortal Kombat license so treading carefully with this release is probably understood well by the gaming community.
The only method of giving the developer money seems to be their ko-fi link. That has not been linked, outside of a boilerplate on their YouTube videos, to the continued development of this port.
Fans have asked in the comments about a Patreon or something which could land the developer in hot water with Warner Bros if the release is locked behind a paywall. While I understand they deserve to be compensated for their work, that entails Warner Bros legally being entitled to being compensated as the IP owner.
Best case scenario, the game is quietly released to the public, a general purpose Patreon, not specifically tied to ports such as Mortal Kombat 2 for the 3DO, is created.
Who knows, with the experience they gain creating this port they can parlay that into paid work on other projects, or creating an original game of their own to sell.
For now, Mortal Kombat 2 for the 3DO is nearing completion and release of some kind. What an awesome time to be a gamer.
I never liked mortal kombat too much, until a cousin of mine saw him playing this and I was in love xD hahahahahahahahaah it's the most brutal fights I've ever seen.
I never really got into the first one but the second was definitely on my radar. Probably because I was actually able to play it in arcades before it came home. The first one was so packed in arcades that my first real experience with it was renting it on the SNES, not exactly the best option but it was the only one I had at the time.
I tried playing MK3 but could not get into it in arcades so I just stuck with the second.
Thank you for sharing such a beautiful project with us from time to time. This is a huge good news for those who love old fighting games. It seems like the games of the 90s are coming back in a new form. It is very difficult and hard work to present such old games in a new form.
You are welcome, I am glad others enjoy these things as much as I do. I grew up through these generations of games and remember wishing such and such game would come to X platform and being somewhat sad it never did. I always thought, more ports means more money so why aren't companies doing it (I had no clue about things like costs and licenses for a lot of my gaming life growing up).
😊
Maybe it is the best game of the Mortal Kombat classics, because it is the bloodiest, the most detailed, the one that has a good gameplay, spectacular fatalitys and the game modes are great. Despite not having so many characters I think Mortal Kombat 2 is the best of the classics.
I agree with you, it is one of the best from the classic series. I know others will disagree, which is great, it means more entries have fans too.
I think it is better than the first and third entries (not even a competition with the "3D" entry) because of the fact that it was proof that Midway were onto something. The first was popular, I feel it was decent but not the Street Fighter 2 killer, due to the fatalities and the spectacle of blood and such. There wasn't a whole lot of depth to that game, no combos, stiff animation, etc.
Mortal Kombat II was night and day to the first. The fatalities were more detailed, especially in the home ports, and the game was smoother, had more depth, still combos were mostly missing but most fans didn't care as the overall game was so much better.
This is some good news for mortal kombat fans like me
I knew I wasn't the only Mortal Kombat fan around here. Great to meet you. I prefer the older games over the more recent, super detailed, releases - they just go too hard for me (breaks in the gameplay to show extra punishing spots for instance). They can be fun but just different than the first 3 or 4 if you cound expanded releases likd UMK3 as a separate release.
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I have very good memories of this game, I used to play it with my cousins. I was happy with your post