Would You Still Want To Play The 1990s Hit Mortal Kombat 2?

The digital age itself doesn't totally erase nostalgia, doesn't it? I always think about which old school games and shows are still worth revisiting vs. those that aren't. I thought about it that ever since I played Mortal Kombat 9/2011 that made me think, "Do I still want to play Mortal Kombat Trilogy?" which is a game with plenty of balance issues. Then I remember playing Mortal Kombat II (arcade version) as a child and later replay it as bonus content for Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. I did every quest done and I finally unlocked the game. 

I remembered what exactly was WTF wrong with a game that was such a hit during the 1990s. TV Tropes would term something as The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard. Who can remember Liu Kang doing two bicycle kicks in a row (which required to charge Low Kick for human players) or Scorpion slamming someone twice in a row with his spear which you couldn't do? Who remembers getting your throws predicted THAT FAST and the CPU throws you instead? The CPU is that progressively hard and it just gets worse. These are issues that were addressed in later games such as why MK9 is way more friendly (unless you beef it up to Hard to Very Hard) than its predecessors. The whole game itself was fun but can be a nightmare -- unless you manage to figure out how the CPU actually works!

MK2 has some of the worst nightmares ever. You thought and complained that Goro was hard? Well, Kintaro is Goro with extra moves such as air grab, teleport stomp, and very much faster fireballs! Kintaro himself is so frustratingly difficult in this game that I'd take MK9 Kintaro any day! If that's not all -- Shao Kahn in this game may be more frustrating than he's in MK9. The reason is that he loves to ram, fire his spear, ram, grab and you know it just gets frustrating even without the hammer in MK3/Trilogy. MK9 only made these fights easier because of easier controls and the CPU's cheating has been toned down to rather reasonable levels. I mean, it's been some time since MK skipped the arcade markets altogether since Deadly Alliance, right?

However, the nostalgia for MK2 doesn't totally disappear. MK9 still seems to have MK2 references such as Liu Kang's dragon bite fatality returns or Scorpion's modified slice fatality, the final three bosses (Shang Tsung with CPU-only morph attack, Kintaro or Goro, then Shao Kahn) and remember how Shao Kahn explodes at the end of MK9? MK9 managed to improvise the MK2 Shao Kahn defeat animation by the character ending it with a combo then Shao Kahn shouts "Nooooo!!!!!", petrifies then explodes but minus the shifting backgrounds. MK2's long-standing disproven rumor of the Living Forest was later made into a real stage fatality -- though said event was somewhat made real in MK Shaolin Monks. Also, Shao Kahn's final battle takes place in his arena -- something MK2 did though Goro or Kintaro was fought at Goro's Lair. 

For me, the game isn't worth much of my visit anymore. But some older fans still prefer to look up to it with much nostalgia. I guess the preferences between old school and new school will always be choosing the best of both.