MK 11's grind was a killer for me too. Liked the story mode, loved some of the gameplay, but it felt like such a step back from X when it turned into Injustice 2's gear-earning grindfest.
Still can't believe they left the game with 1/10 of it being impossible to unlock. Sunken weeks on the ps2-era MK to unlock the whole krypt, but now thanks to some mismanagement of their updates, a lot of kontent has been locked away for good... Not to say about what happens when they shut down the servers. Years of gameplay down the hole.
Yea the grind, story, roster, locked content and the fact its permanently online, fatal blows not having xray, and especially kronika and the story fcked that game, gameplay was hype tho only game I actually used meter in because xrays granted more score in towers and that's all I played cause online community is toxic af
@@rafaluizl You'd think they'd just send out a patch that rotates stuff on a schedule rather than lock out content forever. This is one of the many issues with the live service model... It kind of necessitates that you sink money onthe newest games instead of enjoying the objectively better older ones because they deliberately kill old content.
@@Endocrom by size do you mean the actual rom sizes? Because combined the 3D era games are *barely* 5 gigabytes. Games are pushing over 100 gigabytes nowadays.
@@EshyyyyyI can't help but think that he's referring to the amount of Kontent those games had by comparison to today. To do an HD version and convert it to 3d is probably a tonne of work that sadly we'll never see😢
Decent List. MK9/2011 is Khampion for me. Out of all the games, its the only one that delivers on Story mode, Roster, Mechanics and Kontent. And its the only one that allows you to play Tag Ladder. Had too many hours of Couch Co-Op fun with it. Its also has the greatest Test Your Might Minigames we likely will ever get.
What I appreciate about Matt's list is that it actually looks like a proper bell curve. Most fall in the middle with only a few in the excellent and terrible slots.
MKII was the first game I actually wanted so badly that I did extra chores to ensure I could buy it day one. And yes, my brothers and I would stay up until 2am playing this
MKT was not just our first MK, but our first fighting game and our first playstation game. We got a PS2 for christmas and got Agent Under Fire, Driver 1, and MKT. That character select screen is burned into my 6yo brain. I can remember never being able to beat CPUs but my brother and I would just jump at each other and mash buttons. Never saw a tower ending. Never saw a fatality (which is probably how I got away with playing it at all). It was just little me and Noob teleporting through childhood. It is unfortunate that it's also how child me learned CD's can easily become unreadable. I SOBBED over that one. To this day it's the only disk I've ever ruined.
I can't believe you rated Trilogy so low! Legit my favorite 2D MK game, I played it soooo much with my cousins! (I was born in 1995 so Trilogy was my first 2D MK game and that's probably making a big difference)
I'd be down to see more tier list videos like this one in the future. Maybe with Spooky Season right around the corner, you could do a tier list for Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Friday the 13th, or any other horror-related franchise that takes your fancy!
Yeah. I've recently picked up on watching LOSTyGirl so I'm getting my story mode fix from her. But I'm certain he's done or currently playing and a vid drops in a few days because I love Matt's commentary.
When you got to MK X, I was shocked. Felt like I was the only one in this camp, but i think its one of the only games that I got 300+ hours in. It got me into MK as I was always a casual player.
MK3 and UMK3 both are the highest tier of MK for me. MK3 kame out right as I was introduced to Predator, so Smoke, Cyrax, and Sektor were instant favorites. Even tracked down the PS1 long box of MK3! Deadly Alliance, Deception, and 9 are all interchangeable for me in that second spot
Mk 9 to me felt classic but a little bit more enhanced with combat but in all honesty it was mix of the classic Mk with more elements added that made the combat and combos feel rewarding making it a solid mk game. X-Rays were cool, Characters had multiple fatalities, Stage fatalities: the god of war stage had 3 stage fatalities plus, forest of death, deadpool, street stage, subway, pit stage, nether realm and Babalities were back, Dan Forden wearing a shirt with the Toast on it when he says toasty in the corner and the pit stage had the witch, Santa Claus; the krypt had that stupid jump scare etc. (the silly stuff which might be cheesy but I love it anyway). Combos were ridiculous and looked flashy , then you had tag team combat (me and my cousin would play tag team arcade ladder and it was fun), test your might, test your sight, mk ladder, story mode, the mission tower especially the last one where you fight Goro, Kintaro, Mileena and Shao Khan on one health bar. Plus the presentation was great I mean just pressing the start button seeing an animation of Sub-Zero getting uppercutted by Scorpion in Shao Khans arena; you haven’t even started the game yet and it just sets the tone perfectly.
That start menu was crazy first time I saw it. Crowd cheering and the two characters in a stand off and the first time you see that upper cut your caught off guard. Real great way to set the tone.
I agree 99.5%. I think Sub-Zero mythology should be down one spot. Not much just my little change having been a Kombatant since the first games arcade debut. Ive necer figured out how they pulled it off, but my tiny town bowling alley had MK1 arcade cabinet right on release. And man did we shovel quarters into that sucker.
IMHO, MKT aged ridiculously good. MK3 was a big downgrade from 2, MKT is what 3 should’ve been. MK1 to MK2 was a massive jump. MKT was as big of a jump from as MK was to MK2
Its not really that good. It's super buggy. The game just freezes after beating it, and shang tsungs morphs causing the whole match to freeze is unacceptable. Also, the move reading AI is the worst of the era. It had some fun ideas, like playable bosses and bringing back old versions of characters, but the novelty wears off pretty fast tbh.
We didn't see a lot of movies in theatres growing up, most of the time we waited for home video. And the times we did go see movies we did so "as a family" my mom and sister got to pick. This is why instead of going to see Mortal Kombat my brother and I were dragged to go see "To Wong Fu, Thanks for Everything. Julie Numar" despite MK having the same start time and rating.
Holy shit, I had that exact same experience with MK Trilogy being my first exposure to that word and mispronouncing it the same way. I remember these two kids at summer camp laughing at me a bunch because of it lol
I used to pronounce MK Trilogy as Tri-logy (like Trine). And my PS1 disc was scratched so sometimes it wouldn't work, or the music wouldn't play, and it would freeze constantly. But I still played the hell out of it.
Gotta be honest, even though i love the main games series...sometimes i believe i Shaolin Monks is my favorite Mk game, it just such an amazing spin off, i remember i played it with my cousin all the time, the only things i didn't liked about it was the fact that some secrets could only be unlocked with the need of another player and also the fact that sub zero and scorpion felt a little bit to simple gameplay wise in comparasion to liu kang and kung lao who had lots of moves, upgrades and fatalities.
MK3 holds a special place in my heart. I remember being a kid on a long car ride to up north with my family to go on a camping track. I was reading how to combos and special moves from a gaming magazine on the ride up there. When we get up north, settled in, etc, we went to a putt putt course to play some mini golf. The putt putt place had a small arcade to the side and it had a brand new MK3 cabinet. I played the shit out of that arcade machine. The memories of pulling off combos for the first time in a MK game and beating some random dude with Kabal who tried playing against me are always going to be part of my favorite moments growing up. IMO, I think MK3 is a step up from MK2 with the combos but I understand why someone would like one over the other. Awesome video Matt! You did nothing wrong, you did everything correct! *wink*
I still like the very first Mortal Kombat most. The older games had more of those disturbing screams and stuff. New games only have better graphics. Also the announcer sounded better in the first one. Fun fact: Raiden's cut Fatality from the first game is even better than theoriginal uncut Fatality lol
MK9 is my favorite and it's purely because of it being such a nostalgia trip through the original trilogy just with better production value and the story mode. Behind that I can take either MK Trilogy PS1 or UMK3 After that... damn it's hard for me to actually rank favorites. I love most of this franchise and even the ones that are lower tier would still be games I could boot up and have an enjoyable time playing. This is my favorite fighting game franchise and overall just one of my favorite game franchises. I love that for something like an arcade fighter there is actually such an expansive and extensive lore behind it all
Literally all of my favourites besides Johnny Cage died in the story mode so I can't love MK9 (and the MK9 style female outfits only looked not laughable in the 2D era), all the new MK games are simultaneously amazing and disappointing, like some lore fuckups or gimmick seriously holding it back.
@@Spaced92 Yeah Sindel destroys the MK universe 😂 That's definitely the last one where the women were looking a little ridiculous, but I can't help but still pick that one just because of the roster basically. Also I liked that tag team mode
I was not expecting an appearance from the YEAH! Movement in LA Knight watching a random mortal kombat tier list, you just earned yourself another viewer 😂
MK2 was the first i ever played. My older brother had it for his snes, and i learned the ropes by getting my ass handed to me when we'd play. It's the first game i loved. The gore was crazy, but the aesthetics were clutch. The colors/stages were somehow both drab AND vibrant, the music and sound effects memorable, and it was truly satisfying finally beating shao kahn. From there i was hooked
I can't agree with the fact that you rated MK Mythologies higher than MK(1992). I don't care what you tell me, it's still an awful game. It was a good idea on paper but not in execution. I still enjoy playing the og MK, even if it is so simple. I appreciate it's humble beginnings. But I think MK "9"/2011 is my favorite. Good way to reboot the franchise.
I couldn't agree more. The first time I saw a MK cabinet was amazing... But technically my first MK experience was I think... MK2 on Super NES... And curiosly right now I wanted to play some MK (I have no MK1 yet...) and decided to install XL because I think that I like it more than MK11... so it deserves to be the khampion. Thanks for the video bro.
I LOVE tier lists, this was a treat! My first MK was Deadly Alliance and I've played all the ones after that one but I never really touched the first four. The digitised graphics always looked kinda whack to me 😅 I have a special relationship with the PS2 trilogy because it was my starting point, but I always felt these games looked v janky compared to the Tekkens or the Virtua Fighters that were out at the time, but I still liked them a lot. Deception's Konquest mode was a moment in history to be remembered, hope NRS maybe decides to revisit it again, especially after Street Fighter 6's triumph with World Tour. I like to pretend I don't know what MK vs. DC is, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit I had a little fun with it as well. The Rebooted trilogy was also a fun era. I never really bought the hype for the story mode completely, particularly why every single other fighting game decided to have its own NRS story mode, but it is what it is. MK2011 as a whole is great in terms of cast (they look excruciatingly ugly though) gameplay is possibly the best it's ever been and I love all the iconic stages! The story premise is also interesting and fun to watch, but my main issue with this type of story mode is that you play it once and then you have no inclination to go back and play it ever again. MKX is where I started to have issues with the NRS way of doing things. The game's visuals look extremely outdated to me, the character models look like PS2 models, the sweat on the models looks like blisters, the janky animations are in full effect here and the story, one of the main selling points of the game, is the weakest out of the three. It was also really popular at the time for story-focused games to release random side crap like movies, comics, anime and whatnot containing canon parts of the story and NRS unfortunately decided they should also do that which is bullshit. MK11 is where FINALLY, for the first time ever in the series, character models actually look great! The stages are also pretty good and even the music, for the first time, is kinda memorable. Unfortunately, the grindy bullshit way of unlocking kosmetics and shit and gameplay eventually drove me away from the series. However... MK1 seems to be doing a lot of things right so I might just eventually return. I will wait for the extra ultimate komplete edition to come out for sure, but the story looks to be mostly doing things right, the characters, although most of the designs are a downgrade from MK11, look great and the stages are the best they've ever looked. Gameplay looks better than 11 but I do think the Kameo system is a bit goofy and the Kameo Kharacters themselves look like PS3 NPCs. Ultimately, I have a weird relationship with the series as it has a ton of stuff I love but also a ton of stuff I hate, compared to other fighting game franchisees especially, so it's always hard for me to not be critical of stuff I might otherwise excuse 😂
I have tons of nostalgia for Ultimate MK3! Didn't get any of the 3D era games and, by the time MK9 came out, I was busy with work and wasn't gaming in general until the pandemic shut everything down. Still, it was SF6 that got me back into fighting games as MKX and MK11 just have too big a file size for how infrequently I would play it vs an Elden Ring, Hades or Doom.
Thank you Matt! When I saw you put MK2 on Supreme Master, I knew I could probably trust the rest of the video. You rationally explained your decisions and I never felt compelled enough to argue with your logic. Well done!
When you got to Trilogy and you mentioned that you used to pronounce it wrong, you had my full attention and was anticipating what you called it and I was thinking "please tell me that I wasn't the only that said it the same way..." and when you said it, I started laughing because I used to call it the EXACT SAME THING! I'm so glad I wasn't the only one and my best friend still cracks jokes every once in a while lol great memories
My closest friend back in elementary introduced me to Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior on the NES. We would do sleepovers that were an excuse to rent all Friday13th movies, or Sleepaway Camp, Slumber Party Massacre, Nightmare on Elm - we'd grab a few 2player co-op games, some of those vague brawlers that flooded the snes or we'd try and rock Castlevania, Mega Man or Double Dragon in sequence... All while consuming the most unhealthy, likely-toxic snacks and drinks then allowed on the market (does ANYONE remember that Orbitz drink, O'Ryans chips or the popcorn that came with a slab of fudge you had to place inside a half-nuked bag of hot corn ?). Throw in some Vuarnet, Dr Zogs and British Knights and I'm hoping a lot of that is familiar to some people out there because we were all enjoying something awesome and did it all totally undisturbed, uninterrupted and were the last to enjoy lives that didn't turn reality into a subscription-based affair. Truly, the best of times.
38:39 I want to say this was my first mk game I saw my dad play 9 but I played this and you know what it was fun it was not good but for a comic loving kid it was fun
With Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance they went the Pokemon route for the GBA, splitting the roster into two games: Deadly Alliance (GBA) and Tournament Edition (GBA), with TE getting the bigger half. I think, they still lacked Blaze and Mokap, but instead TE had Sareena, Noob and Sector.
The only problem i have with 10 being up top is that 10 and 11 both feel like mobile games when they're popping up microtransactions and selling you fatalities. 2 takes it for me.
Holy fuck, that's probably a reason why I don't play X. Everytime I start the game I get earraped by an announcement begging me to buy MK12. I don't even have a PS5 and don't plan on getting one.
It’s so nice hearing some reverence for MK3, I also have similar levels of nostalgia for it, but a lot of people dunk on it for how much it switched up the roster
12:08 I DID THE SAME THING, the Sam Raimi Spider Man Trilogy was the only trilogy i had, instead of "i want to to watch the Spider Mqn Trilogy" it was "i wanna watch the Spider Man Triology"
13:44 I mean, promoting a competitor while in character is a pretty big bridge burning maneuver that it's not surprising they didn't want any sort of relation with him.
I'm kinda glad X is up at the top bc that's the one game besides 9 and Deception I remember the most Well I started with Deception and enjoyed it, but X left a stronger impact (the guest dlc was like lighting in a bottle, I don't think we can reach that cohesive roster again imo) I am hopeful for MK1 bc honestly, it got me back to the hype of Mortal Kombat tbh
I respect ur opinion, but guest characters got me like 🤮 mabey 1 per game but damn it's all slots we could have gotten actual mk characters, I love mkx, bar online 🙄 and I loved alien and predator, the others I feel should have been mk characters, imagine havoc or drahmin in mkx's dark astetic...I cry every time lmao
@@bloodycherri2798 I mean X base roster is basic, but I would argue the guest roster is one of the best I won't blame you guys if you didn't want too many guest characters, but then again it's MK, they have a lot of money to spend on whatever guest they feel like would fit
When i was a kid i kept playing mythologies sub zero over and over trying to see how fast i could beat. I had never heard of speedrunning before but it was what i was doing.
The fact that you specifically use the character select music from the SNES version of Mortal Kombat as intro music is a very particular cut only us old AF fans would recognize.
Solid tier list, but I'm surprised to hear you praise the variation system, especially over the Kameo system. I always saw the variation system as pretty obnoxious padding that left me feeling like I was playing an incomplete kharacter.
MK11 grind was definitely its downfall, but one thing you didn't call out about it, that I feel bumps it to supreme master, is the gameplay complexity was a huuuuuge series jump. The timings, the windows, not only was it deeper, but the tutorials explain them all so well. Basically every MK prior to 11, the gameplay was really pretty simple. MK11 was the concerted effort to say "Hey, we're not Street Fighter, but we've got tech!". I think that deserves a promotion over 3, 4 and Deception. Plus the fatalities in MK11 were honestly cinematic. The choice of framing, the speed, it was no longer just two people standing opposite one another and pulling off limbs, it was often brash, bold, camera cutting sequences that would end in a screenshottable moment of horror! Gotta give that credit, also.
I can't even remember any of the fatalities or brutalities, I mainly played as Shang Tsung and Sindel and Liu Kang for the few months I played it. The "tech" is so little I barely noticed it. Game sucked, worse than X and the story was of lower quality than Biden as a president.
It's always interesting to me seeing MKX visuals bought up cause it's such a 50/50 split it seems on whether it looks really good or bad. I personally love the dark style! As for MK11 vs. MK1 in visuals, I don't really get the wide appeal for MK11's visuals, personally, I don't think I know what it is exactly but it's always looked really ugly to me. Characters, stages, it didn't look nice, nor did it have the darkness of X. 1 on the other hand, I find looks really, really nice. Characters, stages, I love how it looks.
I would've placed MK Tournament Edition on a higher tier. Yeah, it's not on par with its console peers. However, if it's anything like the GBA "impossible" ports SFA3 and Tekken, then its fun with tight controls despite only having four buttons. Those two games (alongside SSF2T) were lifesavers in college.
I feel like I give MKX's story a lot of leeway because it is the only one of the new games that stuck to the consequences of its predecessors. It moved forward and told a story and it never really backpedaled the way every other recent MK did. Is Shinnok as charismatic a villain as Shang Tsung or Shao Kahn, no, but the scenario is the first time anything felt new for the series in a long time... probably since Deception.
You know, the more I think about it, I don't want a remaster of Shaolin Monks, cause it's likely gonna have modern looks or something and overall cheese factor is gonna be lost. I want more blocky graphics, flapping jaws and Liu Kang's face. So, put some upscale filter, smooth some pixels out and just port to current systems. No mention of Armageddon's Kreate-A-Fighter? The game was a rushed job to get out before Midway goes bankrupt, but custom fighters was awesome. They didn't even hide they wanted you to mak all the Gokus, Sailor Moons, He-Mans and every Shoto from Street Fighter ever. You can actually do so much with it, it's probably why the mode never came back. Why buy Jason when you can just Kreate him?
Haven't played MK in years simply because for some reason I am horrible at 3D fighters, except Killer Instinct for some reason I rule at KI, but MK1 has definitely got me excited for getting back into the franchise.
I remember being disappointed with Trilogy because I was hoping for a compilation of all 3 games (especially since the first two hadn't been ported to PS1 or N64), but instead it was just MK3 again with more characters. Still ended up playing a ton of it, mostly on N64 because the CPU was way, WAY easier in that version. PS1's CPU difficulty was ludicrously unfair.
I can't help but have a soft spot for the 1st mk3. Yeah we lost Scorpion,but we got "Smoke" (the first unlockable character). The apocalyptic theme, very dark and gritty almost 90s horror theme. Combos, Aminality. Just a different spectrum I thought. Maskless SubZero (badass moveset and he turned into a polar bear). Kabal,cyber arm Jax, Striker (as lame as he looked, he had a badass move set as well), Sheeva(finally getting to play a 4 armed character) Kano came back and was more brutal. Mataro was alot more intimidating.
We stayed up all night playing MK2 and I was Shang Tsung, morphed into Raiden and performed Raiden’s Friendship. When Kidd Thunder came out, Raiden morphed back into Shang Tsung and it glitched out Kidd Thunder making him look like a pillar of salt and making it look like Shang Tsung stole his soul.
Ultimate mk was special as hell to me, i played it on n64 with my dad. I also really love the ones with konquest, the full roster one is great creating a character was done well. Mini games were cool i didnt love the konquest. I absolutely love the shujinko conquest sooooo much though. I genuinely want to play through it again soon. Both really
I was just thinking. Of all the stuff my parents restricted me and my siblings from watching/playing, as kids, I'm surprised Mortal Kombat was never an issue we had to debate about. Maybe all the sillyness in it distracted them from the blood and decapitations.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who has trouble ranking Deception these days. I adored it in that era. I loved the fighting style changes. Konquest mode is still a very fun mode that I wish they'd bring back. I loved the extra modes. BUT the roster is arguably the most inconsistent ever and the way it plays is less intuitive than almost every 2D game
I loved MK as a kid, around the time of Mortal Monday, but Deception was probably my height of MK obsession. I was on IGN boards arguing with people about "super unlockables" every day for months after release.
Surprisingly, I strongly agree with the more extreme ends of your list. X is exactly where I would put it, and it would be alone for me too, probably. Putting the original so low on the list is ballsy, but absolutely accurate to me too. It was revolutionary, sure. But it's not exactly fun and was immediately killed when MK2 dropped. Great stuff, Matt!
Loved the video Matt! Just a reminder for future their list videos from left to right within the teirs are theirs on their own as in who is the best in the champion Tier should help with placing
I've never been too much into fighting games in general (mostly because I suck at them) but I did play Ultimate MK3 and MK4 a lot with friends so they're the ones I think of when I hear Mortal Kombat. Those are the ones they had in the rental place and we played the hell out of them. Good times, even if my turn with the controller didn't last long.
OG Mortal Kombat might have aged poorly mechanically but the aesthetic of it is the best of the whole damn series IMO because it's SO tied into the feel of it being an arranged tournament. There's even an audience who applauds.
MK 11's grind was a killer for me too. Liked the story mode, loved some of the gameplay, but it felt like such a step back from X when it turned into Injustice 2's gear-earning grindfest.
Still can't believe they left the game with 1/10 of it being impossible to unlock.
Sunken weeks on the ps2-era MK to unlock the whole krypt, but now thanks to some mismanagement of their updates, a lot of kontent has been locked away for good... Not to say about what happens when they shut down the servers. Years of gameplay down the hole.
Yea the grind, story, roster, locked content and the fact its permanently online, fatal blows not having xray, and especially kronika and the story fcked that game, gameplay was hype tho only game I actually used meter in because xrays granted more score in towers and that's all I played cause online community is toxic af
The fighting too slow I think
MK9 and MKX was nice and simple. Do challenges to earn skins. I don't want to grind for hours to get pieces of gear and palettes.
@@rafaluizl You'd think they'd just send out a patch that rotates stuff on a schedule rather than lock out content forever. This is one of the many issues with the live service model... It kind of necessitates that you sink money onthe newest games instead of enjoying the objectively better older ones because they deliberately kill old content.
This is one of the best edited and entertaining tier list videos I've ever seen
Obviously 😂, it's phatty matty mcmuscles!
Thanks dude!!!
2 goats in chat
the resi one is great too!
Jason, Leatherface, Alien and Predator being in MKX was so freaking cool! Horror character fit in the game so well.
I wish they released modern compilations of the 3D games, those are almost going to become lost to time at this point.
A size thing I'm sure. All we can do is wait for technology to march on.
Not even the first 3 are available
@@Endocrom by size do you mean the actual rom sizes? Because combined the 3D era games are *barely* 5 gigabytes. Games are pushing over 100 gigabytes nowadays.
@@EshyyyyyI can't help but think that he's referring to the amount of Kontent those games had by comparison to today. To do an HD version and convert it to 3d is probably a tonne of work that sadly we'll never see😢
It's sad that many companies do not care about preserving their old games
I’m glad you gave Mortal Kombat Shaolin monks the respect it deserves we need more games in the Shaolin monk series
We need a Scorpion/Sub-Zero game in that style!
Decent List. MK9/2011 is Khampion for me. Out of all the games, its the only one that delivers on Story mode, Roster, Mechanics and Kontent. And its the only one that allows you to play Tag Ladder. Had too many hours of Couch Co-Op fun with it. Its also has the greatest Test Your Might Minigames we likely will ever get.
Really wish tag ladder was in all the games after. Me and my brother as sub zero and scorpion playing till 4 am was so damn fun.
I've learned more about Mortal Kombat from this video than any previous source
Real Recognizes real.
Tier lists need to be deployed sparingly, but this is an ideal moment.
Definitely need to do an MK clones Tier List.
For once, I'd love to see just a row across the bottom of crap. 😂
Is that not what "The Worst Fighting Games Ever" series is going to end up becoming down the line?
What I appreciate about Matt's list is that it actually looks like a proper bell curve. Most fall in the middle with only a few in the excellent and terrible slots.
It also has a positive slant.
MKII was the first game I actually wanted so badly that I did extra chores to ensure I could buy it day one.
And yes, my brothers and I would stay up until 2am playing this
I first played it seriously by beating shoulin monks, ai was a cheating little chump, but the games ascetic was pure mk, goated!
MKT was not just our first MK, but our first fighting game and our first playstation game. We got a PS2 for christmas and got Agent Under Fire, Driver 1, and MKT. That character select screen is burned into my 6yo brain. I can remember never being able to beat CPUs but my brother and I would just jump at each other and mash buttons. Never saw a tower ending. Never saw a fatality (which is probably how I got away with playing it at all). It was just little me and Noob teleporting through childhood.
It is unfortunate that it's also how child me learned CD's can easily become unreadable. I SOBBED over that one. To this day it's the only disk I've ever ruined.
I know 2 people who got ps1 and trilogy on Christmas 96
I can't believe you rated Trilogy so low! Legit my favorite 2D MK game, I played it soooo much with my cousins! (I was born in 1995 so Trilogy was my first 2D MK game and that's probably making a big difference)
I'd be down to see more tier list videos like this one in the future. Maybe with Spooky Season right around the corner, you could do a tier list for Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Friday the 13th, or any other horror-related franchise that takes your fancy!
Matt has to play more mk1 story mode. I want to hear his reaction of a certain part of the story.
Yeah. I've recently picked up on watching LOSTyGirl so I'm getting my story mode fix from her. But I'm certain he's done or currently playing and a vid drops in a few days because I love Matt's commentary.
LOSTygirl....😍😍😍
What certain part are you talking about?
Props for giving Ultimate Mortal Kombat on DS its flowers. Hands down one of my favorite ways to play UMK3
When you got to MK X, I was shocked. Felt like I was the only one in this camp, but i think its one of the only games that I got 300+ hours in. It got me into MK as I was always a casual player.
Agreed!!
It’s FAR superior to MK11 and MK1. Its dark atmosphere is perfect.
Missed opportunity to name the ranks based on shao kahns phrases: "Excellent, outstanding, superb" etc
MK3 and UMK3 both are the highest tier of MK for me. MK3 kame out right as I was introduced to Predator, so Smoke, Cyrax, and Sektor were instant favorites. Even tracked down the PS1 long box of MK3! Deadly Alliance, Deception, and 9 are all interchangeable for me in that second spot
Mk 9 to me felt classic but a little bit more enhanced with combat but in all honesty it was mix of the classic Mk with more elements added that made the combat and combos feel rewarding making it a solid mk game. X-Rays were cool, Characters had multiple fatalities, Stage fatalities: the god of war stage had 3 stage fatalities plus, forest of death, deadpool, street stage, subway, pit stage, nether realm and Babalities were back, Dan Forden wearing a shirt with the Toast on it when he says toasty in the corner and the pit stage had the witch, Santa Claus; the krypt had that stupid jump scare etc. (the silly stuff which might be cheesy but I love it anyway). Combos were ridiculous and looked flashy , then you had tag team combat (me and my cousin would play tag team arcade ladder and it was fun), test your might, test your sight, mk ladder, story mode, the mission tower especially the last one where you fight Goro, Kintaro, Mileena and Shao Khan on one health bar. Plus the presentation was great I mean just pressing the start button seeing an animation of Sub-Zero getting uppercutted by Scorpion in Shao Khans arena; you haven’t even started the game yet and it just sets the tone perfectly.
That start menu was crazy first time I saw it. Crowd cheering and the two characters in a stand off and the first time you see that upper cut your caught off guard. Real great way to set the tone.
The LA Knight cut was absolutely not something I expected to see in an MK video. I greatly appreciate it.
same. i was doing dishwashing while listening to this and i side-eyed when i heard "YEAH". had a bit of a pop lol
YEAH
Yeah!
I agree 99.5%. I think Sub-Zero mythology should be down one spot. Not much just my little change having been a Kombatant since the first games arcade debut. Ive necer figured out how they pulled it off, but my tiny town bowling alley had MK1 arcade cabinet right on release. And man did we shovel quarters into that sucker.
In my opinion this is how I’d rank them
1. MK9 (10/10)
2. MK1 (9.5/10)
3. MKX (9.5/10)
4. Shaolin Monks (9.5/10)
5. Deception (9/10)
6. UMK3 (9/10)
7. MK11 (8.5/10)
8. Deadly Alliance (8.5/10)
9. Trilogy (8.5/10)
10. Armageddon (8/10)
11. MK3 (8/10)
12. MK2 (8/10)
13. MK Gold (7/10)
14. MK vs DC (6.5/10)
15. MK OG (6.5/10)
16. Mythologies (5/10)
17. Special Forces (4/10)
I'm still chasing the feeling of MK2 fever to this day. What a monster that was when it came out.
The disrespect to MK Trilogy lmao. Didn't even play the PS1 version which is top tier, and it's supremely better than Mk4
IMHO, MKT aged ridiculously good. MK3 was a big downgrade from 2, MKT is what 3 should’ve been. MK1 to MK2 was a massive jump. MKT was as big of a jump from as MK was to MK2
Its not really that good. It's super buggy. The game just freezes after beating it, and shang tsungs morphs causing the whole match to freeze is unacceptable. Also, the move reading AI is the worst of the era.
It had some fun ideas, like playable bosses and bringing back old versions of characters, but the novelty wears off pretty fast tbh.
I go back to Deception just for Chess Kombat.. so good.
New Era was too powerful for this tier list. A tier beyond.
We didn't see a lot of movies in theatres growing up, most of the time we waited for home video. And the times we did go see movies we did so "as a family" my mom and sister got to pick. This is why instead of going to see Mortal Kombat my brother and I were dragged to go see "To Wong Fu, Thanks for Everything. Julie Numar" despite MK having the same start time and rating.
*To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar
Sincerely, someone else who has the same experience. My mum also chose it over MK.
Thanks, glad to hear that someone else knows the pain. (typo corrected TY)@@medes5597
Holy shit, I had that exact same experience with MK Trilogy being my first exposure to that word and mispronouncing it the same way. I remember these two kids at summer camp laughing at me a bunch because of it lol
I love MK Trilogy on Playstation. Even though it was unbalanced it was just a LOT of fun to play.
I used to pronounce MK Trilogy as Tri-logy (like Trine). And my PS1 disc was scratched so sometimes it wouldn't work, or the music wouldn't play, and it would freeze constantly. But I still played the hell out of it.
My personal S-Tier games are:
UMK3 and MKX.
I haven't played enough of MK1 to decide where it stands yet.
Gotta be honest, even though i love the main games series...sometimes i believe i Shaolin Monks is my favorite Mk game, it just such an amazing spin off, i remember i played it with my cousin all the time, the only things i didn't liked about it was the fact that some secrets could only be unlocked with the need of another player and also the fact that sub zero and scorpion felt a little bit to simple gameplay wise in comparasion to liu kang and kung lao who had lots of moves, upgrades and fatalities.
MK3 holds a special place in my heart. I remember being a kid on a long car ride to up north with my family to go on a camping track. I was reading how to combos and special moves from a gaming magazine on the ride up there. When we get up north, settled in, etc, we went to a putt putt course to play some mini golf. The putt putt place had a small arcade to the side and it had a brand new MK3 cabinet. I played the shit out of that arcade machine. The memories of pulling off combos for the first time in a MK game and beating some random dude with Kabal who tried playing against me are always going to be part of my favorite moments growing up. IMO, I think MK3 is a step up from MK2 with the combos but I understand why someone would like one over the other. Awesome video Matt! You did nothing wrong, you did everything correct! *wink*
Considering putting MK Sub Zero at the same level of Trilogy is crazy.
I still like the very first Mortal Kombat most. The older games had more of those disturbing screams and stuff. New games only have better graphics.
Also the announcer sounded better in the first one. Fun fact: Raiden's cut Fatality from the first game is even better than theoriginal uncut Fatality lol
MK9 is my favorite and it's purely because of it being such a nostalgia trip through the original trilogy just with better production value and the story mode.
Behind that I can take either MK Trilogy PS1 or UMK3
After that... damn it's hard for me to actually rank favorites. I love most of this franchise and even the ones that are lower tier would still be games I could boot up and have an enjoyable time playing.
This is my favorite fighting game franchise and overall just one of my favorite game franchises. I love that for something like an arcade fighter there is actually such an expansive and extensive lore behind it all
Literally all of my favourites besides Johnny Cage died in the story mode so I can't love MK9 (and the MK9 style female outfits only looked not laughable in the 2D era), all the new MK games are simultaneously amazing and disappointing, like some lore fuckups or gimmick seriously holding it back.
@@Spaced92 Yeah Sindel destroys the MK universe 😂
That's definitely the last one where the women were looking a little ridiculous, but I can't help but still pick that one just because of the roster basically. Also I liked that tag team mode
I was not expecting an appearance from the YEAH! Movement in LA Knight watching a random mortal kombat tier list, you just earned yourself another viewer 😂
Dude the tri-OLOGY part hit me in the feels. I did the exact same god damn thing in 5th grade 😂
MK2 was the first i ever played. My older brother had it for his snes, and i learned the ropes by getting my ass handed to me when we'd play. It's the first game i loved. The gore was crazy, but the aesthetics were clutch. The colors/stages were somehow both drab AND vibrant, the music and sound effects memorable, and it was truly satisfying finally beating shao kahn. From there i was hooked
I can't agree with the fact that you rated MK Mythologies higher than MK(1992). I don't care what you tell me, it's still an awful game. It was a good idea on paper but not in execution. I still enjoy playing the og MK, even if it is so simple. I appreciate it's humble beginnings.
But I think MK "9"/2011 is my favorite. Good way to reboot the franchise.
I couldn't agree more. The first time I saw a MK cabinet was amazing... But technically my first MK experience was I think... MK2 on Super NES... And curiosly right now I wanted to play some MK (I have no MK1 yet...) and decided to install XL because I think that I like it more than MK11... so it deserves to be the khampion. Thanks for the video bro.
I LOVE tier lists, this was a treat!
My first MK was Deadly Alliance and I've played all the ones after that one but I never really touched the first four. The digitised graphics always looked kinda whack to me 😅
I have a special relationship with the PS2 trilogy because it was my starting point, but I always felt these games looked v janky compared to the Tekkens or the Virtua Fighters that were out at the time, but I still liked them a lot.
Deception's Konquest mode was a moment in history to be remembered, hope NRS maybe decides to revisit it again, especially after Street Fighter 6's triumph with World Tour.
I like to pretend I don't know what MK vs. DC is, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit I had a little fun with it as well.
The Rebooted trilogy was also a fun era. I never really bought the hype for the story mode completely, particularly why every single other fighting game decided to have its own NRS story mode, but it is what it is.
MK2011 as a whole is great in terms of cast (they look excruciatingly ugly though) gameplay is possibly the best it's ever been and I love all the iconic stages! The story premise is also interesting and fun to watch, but my main issue with this type of story mode is that you play it once and then you have no inclination to go back and play it ever again.
MKX is where I started to have issues with the NRS way of doing things. The game's visuals look extremely outdated to me, the character models look like PS2 models, the sweat on the models looks like blisters, the janky animations are in full effect here and the story, one of the main selling points of the game, is the weakest out of the three. It was also really popular at the time for story-focused games to release random side crap like movies, comics, anime and whatnot containing canon parts of the story and NRS unfortunately decided they should also do that which is bullshit.
MK11 is where FINALLY, for the first time ever in the series, character models actually look great! The stages are also pretty good and even the music, for the first time, is kinda memorable. Unfortunately, the grindy bullshit way of unlocking kosmetics and shit and gameplay eventually drove me away from the series.
However... MK1 seems to be doing a lot of things right so I might just eventually return. I will wait for the extra ultimate komplete edition to come out for sure, but the story looks to be mostly doing things right, the characters, although most of the designs are a downgrade from MK11, look great and the stages are the best they've ever looked. Gameplay looks better than 11 but I do think the Kameo system is a bit goofy and the Kameo Kharacters themselves look like PS3 NPCs.
Ultimately, I have a weird relationship with the series as it has a ton of stuff I love but also a ton of stuff I hate, compared to other fighting game franchisees especially, so it's always hard for me to not be critical of stuff I might otherwise excuse 😂
Cooking with Scorpion was locked away in the taverns of my memory. Thank you for that.
I have tons of nostalgia for Ultimate MK3! Didn't get any of the 3D era games and, by the time MK9 came out, I was busy with work and wasn't gaming in general until the pandemic shut everything down. Still, it was SF6 that got me back into fighting games as MKX and MK11 just have too big a file size for how infrequently I would play it vs an Elden Ring, Hades or Doom.
Thank you Matt! When I saw you put MK2 on Supreme Master, I knew I could probably trust the rest of the video. You rationally explained your decisions and I never felt compelled enough to argue with your logic. Well done!
When you got to Trilogy and you mentioned that you used to pronounce it wrong, you had my full attention and was anticipating what you called it and I was thinking "please tell me that I wasn't the only that said it the same way..." and when you said it, I started laughing because I used to call it the EXACT SAME THING! I'm so glad I wasn't the only one and my best friend still cracks jokes every once in a while lol great memories
My closest friend back in elementary introduced me to Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior on the NES. We would do sleepovers that were an excuse to rent all Friday13th movies, or Sleepaway Camp, Slumber Party Massacre, Nightmare on Elm - we'd grab a few 2player co-op games, some of those vague brawlers that flooded the snes or we'd try and rock Castlevania, Mega Man or Double Dragon in sequence...
All while consuming the most unhealthy, likely-toxic snacks and drinks then allowed on the market (does ANYONE remember that Orbitz drink, O'Ryans chips or the popcorn that came with a slab of fudge you had to place inside a half-nuked bag of hot corn ?).
Throw in some Vuarnet, Dr Zogs and British Knights and I'm hoping a lot of that is familiar to some people out there because we were all enjoying something awesome and did it all totally undisturbed, uninterrupted and were the last to enjoy lives that didn't turn reality into a subscription-based affair.
Truly, the best of times.
38:39 I want to say this was my first mk game I saw my dad play 9 but I played this and you know what it was fun it was not good but for a comic loving kid it was fun
Idea for more kontent: the non-videogame MK material. Doesn't have to be a tier list, maybe just general overview and trivia
With Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance they went the Pokemon route for the GBA, splitting the roster into two games: Deadly Alliance (GBA) and Tournament Edition (GBA), with TE getting the bigger half. I think, they still lacked Blaze and Mokap, but instead TE had Sareena, Noob and Sector.
Things that seem insane to me:
Putting MK1 below Sub-Zero
Putting MK4 above Trilogy
Otherwise, flawless.
UMK3 & MK9 will likely always be my top favorites.
Off topic, but I wish Link was back in the updated version of SC2.
The only problem i have with 10 being up top is that 10 and 11 both feel like mobile games when they're popping up microtransactions and selling you fatalities. 2 takes it for me.
Holy fuck, that's probably a reason why I don't play X. Everytime I start the game I get earraped by an announcement begging me to buy MK12. I don't even have a PS5 and don't plan on getting one.
@@Euro.Patriot Yes! It's like having a salesman on your lap while you're trying to play.
@@octavia458 It even begged me to get MK11 which I already had, I bought the version with all the dlc too.
MK Shaolin Monks is so good and I cant believe its never been remastered.
It’s so nice hearing some reverence for MK3, I also have similar levels of nostalgia for it, but a lot of people dunk on it for how much it switched up the roster
12:08 I DID THE SAME THING, the Sam Raimi Spider Man Trilogy was the only trilogy i had, instead of "i want to to watch the Spider Mqn Trilogy" it was "i wanna watch the Spider Man Triology"
What a great list! Fair, detailed and fun.
13:44 I mean, promoting a competitor while in character is a pretty big bridge burning maneuver that it's not surprising they didn't want any sort of relation with him.
I'm kinda glad X is up at the top bc that's the one game besides 9 and Deception I remember the most
Well I started with Deception and enjoyed it, but X left a stronger impact (the guest dlc was like lighting in a bottle, I don't think we can reach that cohesive roster again imo)
I am hopeful for MK1 bc honestly, it got me back to the hype of Mortal Kombat tbh
I respect ur opinion, but guest characters got me like 🤮 mabey 1 per game but damn it's all slots we could have gotten actual mk characters, I love mkx, bar online 🙄 and I loved alien and predator, the others I feel should have been mk characters, imagine havoc or drahmin in mkx's dark astetic...I cry every time lmao
And mk9 was goated
@@bloodycherri2798 I mean X base roster is basic, but I would argue the guest roster is one of the best
I won't blame you guys if you didn't want too many guest characters, but then again it's MK, they have a lot of money to spend on whatever guest they feel like would fit
That OG MK music is so nostalgic and just great. Wish it was still in the game
Mortal Kombat Deception deserves to be S automatically because of Konquest mode. This game is the reason I love MK lore so much.
S: MK1 (skins for Scorpion, Sub Zero, Reptile, Smoke movie 95- It's amazing! Also realistic, beautiful movements and punches. UMK3, MK11, MK2
A: MKX, MK9, MK(92)
B: Deception, Shaolin Monks, Armageddon
C: Deadly Alliance, MK4
D: Sub Zero Mythologies, Special Forces
When i was a kid i kept playing mythologies sub zero over and over trying to see how fast i could beat. I had never heard of speedrunning before but it was what i was doing.
The fact that you specifically use the character select music from the SNES version of Mortal Kombat as intro music is a very particular cut only us old AF fans would recognize.
I know im getting older (27) when i reconzie the toney hawk sound bits hes useing in the video🤧
Solid tier list, but I'm surprised to hear you praise the variation system, especially over the Kameo system. I always saw the variation system as pretty obnoxious padding that left me feeling like I was playing an incomplete kharacter.
MK11 grind was definitely its downfall, but one thing you didn't call out about it, that I feel bumps it to supreme master, is the gameplay complexity was a huuuuuge series jump. The timings, the windows, not only was it deeper, but the tutorials explain them all so well. Basically every MK prior to 11, the gameplay was really pretty simple. MK11 was the concerted effort to say "Hey, we're not Street Fighter, but we've got tech!". I think that deserves a promotion over 3, 4 and Deception. Plus the fatalities in MK11 were honestly cinematic. The choice of framing, the speed, it was no longer just two people standing opposite one another and pulling off limbs, it was often brash, bold, camera cutting sequences that would end in a screenshottable moment of horror! Gotta give that credit, also.
I can't even remember any of the fatalities or brutalities, I mainly played as Shang Tsung and Sindel and Liu Kang for the few months I played it. The "tech" is so little I barely noticed it. Game sucked, worse than X and the story was of lower quality than Biden as a president.
It's always interesting to me seeing MKX visuals bought up cause it's such a 50/50 split it seems on whether it looks really good or bad. I personally love the dark style!
As for MK11 vs. MK1 in visuals, I don't really get the wide appeal for MK11's visuals, personally, I don't think I know what it is exactly but it's always looked really ugly to me. Characters, stages, it didn't look nice, nor did it have the darkness of X. 1 on the other hand, I find looks really, really nice. Characters, stages, I love how it looks.
UMK3 was my very first MK ever! I had it on the Sega Saturn and even had the strategy guide too! Been a fan of the series ever since.
I played MK Unchained so much on my PSP, such good memories and amazing roster, MK Deception just has a special place in my heart
I would've placed MK Tournament Edition on a higher tier. Yeah, it's not on par with its console peers. However, if it's anything like the GBA "impossible" ports SFA3 and Tekken, then its fun with tight controls despite only having four buttons. Those two games (alongside SSF2T) were lifesavers in college.
I feel like I give MKX's story a lot of leeway because it is the only one of the new games that stuck to the consequences of its predecessors. It moved forward and told a story and it never really backpedaled the way every other recent MK did. Is Shinnok as charismatic a villain as Shang Tsung or Shao Kahn, no, but the scenario is the first time anything felt new for the series in a long time... probably since Deception.
Mk2, Trilogy and Deception are my favorites. When I think Mortal Kombat that’s what immediately comes to mind.
You know, the more I think about it, I don't want a remaster of Shaolin Monks, cause it's likely gonna have modern looks or something and overall cheese factor is gonna be lost. I want more blocky graphics, flapping jaws and Liu Kang's face. So, put some upscale filter, smooth some pixels out and just port to current systems.
No mention of Armageddon's Kreate-A-Fighter? The game was a rushed job to get out before Midway goes bankrupt, but custom fighters was awesome. They didn't even hide they wanted you to mak all the Gokus, Sailor Moons, He-Mans and every Shoto from Street Fighter ever. You can actually do so much with it, it's probably why the mode never came back. Why buy Jason when you can just Kreate him?
I feel like one of the only people who loved Ferra/Torr. They were so fun to play for me
You're not alone I actually like Ferra/Torr. Kinda wish for both of them to come back in MK1 but we'll have to do with just Ferra alone as a cameo.
Haven't played MK in years simply because for some reason I am horrible at 3D fighters, except Killer Instinct for some reason I rule at KI, but MK1 has definitely got me excited for getting back into the franchise.
MK9, X, and 11 are incredible. I'm expecting MK1 to be as well.
I remember being disappointed with Trilogy because I was hoping for a compilation of all 3 games (especially since the first two hadn't been ported to PS1 or N64), but instead it was just MK3 again with more characters. Still ended up playing a ton of it, mostly on N64 because the CPU was way, WAY easier in that version. PS1's CPU difficulty was ludicrously unfair.
the callout to Gstar321 sent a wave of nostalgia through my soul
I can't help but have a soft spot for the 1st mk3. Yeah we lost Scorpion,but we got "Smoke" (the first unlockable character). The apocalyptic theme, very dark and gritty almost 90s horror theme. Combos, Aminality. Just a different spectrum I thought. Maskless SubZero (badass moveset and he turned into a polar bear). Kabal,cyber arm Jax, Striker (as lame as he looked, he had a badass move set as well), Sheeva(finally getting to play a 4 armed character) Kano came back and was more brutal. Mataro was alot more intimidating.
We stayed up all night playing MK2 and I was Shang Tsung, morphed into Raiden and performed Raiden’s Friendship.
When Kidd Thunder came out, Raiden morphed back into Shang Tsung and it glitched out Kidd Thunder making him look like a pillar of salt and making it look like Shang Tsung stole his soul.
I went from mk II to mk trilogy so trilogy is GOATED for me.
Ultimate mk was special as hell to me, i played it on n64 with my dad.
I also really love the ones with konquest, the full roster one is great creating a character was done well.
Mini games were cool i didnt love the konquest. I absolutely love the shujinko conquest sooooo much though. I genuinely want to play through it again soon. Both really
I was just thinking. Of all the stuff my parents restricted me and my siblings from watching/playing, as kids, I'm surprised Mortal Kombat was never an issue we had to debate about. Maybe all the sillyness in it distracted them from the blood and decapitations.
Did your parents not care about violence in games?
@@jayjay-cl1eo They cared whatever the church told them was bad. Harry potter was more a concern around that time
I'm glad I'm not the only one who has trouble ranking Deception these days. I adored it in that era. I loved the fighting style changes. Konquest mode is still a very fun mode that I wish they'd bring back. I loved the extra modes. BUT the roster is arguably the most inconsistent ever and the way it plays is less intuitive than almost every 2D game
17:26 That terrified me.
I avoided arcades BECAUSE of that kontinue screen.
I loved MK as a kid, around the time of Mortal Monday, but Deception was probably my height of MK obsession. I was on IGN boards arguing with people about "super unlockables" every day for months after release.
My own personal tiers:
Champion - Mortal Kombat 9
Supreme Master - Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks, Mortal Kombat 1
Master - Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance, Mortal Kombat Deception, Mortal Kombat Unchained, Ultimate Mortal Kombat DS, Mortal Kombat 11
Warrior - Mortal Kombat 3, Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance/Tournament Edition GBA, Mortal Kombat Armageddon, Mortal Kombat X
Novice - Mortal Kombat 4, Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe
Mortal - Mortal Kombat Gold, Mortal Kombat Mythologies
Poo Baby Tier - Mortal Kombat Special Forces
Ten Layers of Shit -
Mortal Kombat Advance - Mortal Kombat Advance
Can confirm MK1 is an absolute banger of a game.
To this Day i can't decide if hate or love Mythologies Sub Zero
With each of these Kombat Time videos, I keep imagining the announcer from Mario Party 1 & 2 saying "Kombat Time!"
MUUurtial coNtacccccccccTTT??!
Let's go Matty Matt let's possibly go????!!!
Time gambit.
He's counting MK Mythologies isn't he, I know he is!
I expect that Live Action Quan Chi existence to be nothing short of top tier.
Surprisingly, I strongly agree with the more extreme ends of your list. X is exactly where I would put it, and it would be alone for me too, probably. Putting the original so low on the list is ballsy, but absolutely accurate to me too. It was revolutionary, sure. But it's not exactly fun and was immediately killed when MK2 dropped. Great stuff, Matt!
Loved the video Matt! Just a reminder for future their list videos from left to right within the teirs are theirs on their own as in who is the best in the champion Tier should help with placing
I've never been too much into fighting games in general (mostly because I suck at them) but I did play Ultimate MK3 and MK4 a lot with friends so they're the ones I think of when I hear Mortal Kombat. Those are the ones they had in the rental place and we played the hell out of them. Good times, even if my turn with the controller didn't last long.
My list:
Khampion - MK9, MKX, MK1, MK Unchained
Supreme Master - MK Deception, MK Shaolin Monks, MK Trilogy, UMK3, MK2, MK Deadly Alliance
Warrior: MK Gold, MK4, MK, MK Armageddon
Novice: MK vs DC
Mortal: MK Mythologies Sub-Zero
Babality: MK Special Forces
I got ultimate mk3 for ds as a teenager and still have it, played that so much, even got all the characters for puzzle kombat.
"KHAMPION" I'm dying over here
OG Mortal Kombat might have aged poorly mechanically but the aesthetic of it is the best of the whole damn series IMO because it's SO tied into the feel of it being an arranged tournament. There's even an audience who applauds.
I spent so many hours playing MK2. Lots of fun and my favorite fighting game ever
MK4 Over Trilogy is unhinged