Is Mortal Kombat (2011) Treated As A Modern Mortal Kombat II?

I admit that Mortal Kombat (2011) is probably my favorite in the three reboot games. Mortal Kombat X is decent by far but it takes getting used to with the sudden change. Mortal Kombat 11 itself may have not pleased so many either -- while I do enjoy the grind tactics correction but I think that I tend to like games when they rely less on online gameplay. Mortal Kombat X itself does have a weaker story mode even if there's some serious gameplay improvisation. MK (2011) somehow just does all that. Then I think about the 1990s again with one game that I think gets way TOO MUCH credit -- Mortal Kombat II. I remembered just how more people preferred it over the Mortal Kombat 3 series (which included Ultimate as a repatch and Trilogy).

Somehow, the popularity of MKII can't be denied. Why do you think that of all the successful MK spin-offs we do get the successful spin-off called Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks which is based on the said game? Even the said game has MKII as bonus content if you accomplish Smoke's missions -- complete with the bastard difficulty level of the arcade game! I remembered being fascinated by that game too as a CHILD. I could think about how often MKII gets tons of praise and the MK3 series is at its shadow. Both games have their balance issues though it seems MKII just keeps getting that praise. Why don't you think the later games of the MK franchise didn't get a spin-off that good?

Now move forward to MK (2011). You might notice the game has references to previous titles such as Raiden's flashbacks presents lots of them. Yet, you can't deny it's also full of MKII references too. What are these MKII references? Here are some of them worth noticing: 

• You may want to refer to the Arcade Ladder. You may notice that while there's that trimming down from 14 to 10 opponents - you may want to notice the final three opponents with Shang Tsung (boss mode), Goro/Kintaro, and Shao Kahn. MKII had the final three opponents as Shang Tsung, Kintaro, and Shao Kahn. 
• The fight with Shao Kahn as the final boss does get interesting for this reason. Ever noticed that Pit III is not in the game? Instead, we get Shao Kahn's final battle in Kahn's Arena like it was in MKII? Not to mention, Kahn's projectile attack is not his MK3 fireball but his javelin even if he has that heavy-hitting hammer moves. You might want to even consider that Kahn has the habit of using his Shadow Dash a lot during combat. Doesn't that remind you of MKII? I would say the fight may be less annoying than the 90s but you can't deny it. Then consider the fact that after your opponent performs a combo for you to watch -- you get to see him do a variant of him screaming "Nooooo!!!!" where he gets petrified, cracks, and explodes except it's faster. 
• You may notice some modified versions of MKII costumes are available aside from the ninja outfits (which are just pallette swaps so I don't use them). Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Baraka, and Raiden have modified versions in their outfits.
• Some fatalities were modified from MKII. Some of them combined MKII fatalities together as overkills such as Kung Lao, Johnny Cage, and Jax where they get rid of the head then mutilate the body to further dishonor the memory of the opponent by combining two MKII fatalities. Reptile even gets his MKII classic fatality as an update. For modified versions, you may consider Liu Kang's Dragon Fatality, Scorpion's slice fatality (except it uses his sword instead), Sub-Zero does a variant of his ice shatter fatality, Mileena still shows off her cannibalistic tendencies, Kitana uses her fan beheading (though she cuts out the arms first), Reptile's lame fatality in MKII was later made a lot cooler, and Shang Tsung enters the opponent like he did before. 
• The longest portion of the story mode is the Outworld Tournament in contrast to the first tournament and the Outworld invasion.
• Some of the stages are variants from MKII. Rather than have two pits - Pit II gets the spikes from Pit I. You may also notice that a long-proven false rumor from MKII was made into an actual stage fatality in the Living Forest. However, I'm still upset as to why the Dead Pool didn't give us the alternative to use the meat hooks as an option which was made a reality in Shaolin Monks. So, I wonder why wasn't the Kombat Tomb been included too?
• There was the rumor that Kung Lao died in MKII before he appeared in MK3 where he was rumored to have died again. Well, he does die in the MKII portion of Story Mode! 
• You may notice the hidden boss fights are there too. 
• Klassic Reptile was a nod to MK1 (except you had to perform a stage fatality after two flawless victories with a shadow passing by the moon) but you had three more from MKII. 
• These are Klassic Noob Saibot (who thankfully didn't require 50 victories now). The challenge is more reasonable though. All you had to do was to win a round without blocking (If he was at the Cathedral stage) and you get to fight him. This fight can be pretty tough until you know how to exploit the purposely broken AI.
• Klassic Smoke could be fought if you pressed Up + Select (or Back + Down in X-Box 360) in the Living Forest (if he appeared). This fight is also rather tough. I did this to gain my trophy but it sacrificed me of the joy of feeding the Living Trees.
• Klassic Jade required you to win TWO FLAWLESS VICTORIES with a Fatality against Shang Tsung in ladder mode (which for me, was THAT HARD). These are still throwbacks to MKII even if the methods to get these fights have somewhat become more reasonable. 
• Skarlet a rumored hidden fighter in MKII became a downloadable character. 
• I remembered the teaser "Where is Goro?" in MKII and in here, he does make it back to Outworld for the second tournament. I guess Goro is just too popular, huh? 

What I can't deny is that somehow MK (2011) ends up (at times) overshadowing its successors too. MKII also had that effect -- I discovered people still liking it as a fan favorite over MK3. I remembered Ed Boon even stated MKII was among his favorite entries. Personally, I don't find myself playing MKII anymore in favor of MK (2011). Yet, I still can't help but bring MK2 to mind as MK (2011) just gets that much love from the fanbase!