Description
This is a capture of me playing through the arcade version of Mortal Kombat II. This is being played through the Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection for the Switch 2. I'm using Reptile and playing on medium difficulty.
Following up on my recent Mortal Kombat playthrough, here’s the sequel.
My local bowling alley had a Mortal Kombat arcade machine around 1993, which used to get quite a bit of attention. However, one day a Mortal Kombat II machine showed up (it was my first time seeing the game), and suddenly, no one really wanted to play the original game anymore. Instead, crowds of kids kept forming around the new game.
Mortal Kombat II was an impressive sequel, and arguably the peak of the classic series. It sped up and improved the gameplay from the original game, added new characters and moves (including babalities and friendships), and expanded on the mythos/lore from the original game. It was really wild seeing a younger version of Shang Tsung, who was now a selectable character, and the new four-armed sub-boss who put Goro to shame.
Speaking of which, Kintaro was awesome. Sure, he was a bastard to fight, but he was fun bastard. Whereas Goro would merely jump in the air and land on you (which you could potentially block), Kintaro would fly completely off screen in the blink of an eye. Your only hope was to somehow dodge the attack. He would also grab you out of a jump kick and spit deceptively fast fireballs.
I still remember people struggling repeatedly on Kintaro as I gazed on in a mesmerized state, hoping to see someone finally take him down. But I don’t recall anyone in the bowling alley ever beating him. However, one kid had a clever strategy of having Kintaro walk right into Kitana’s fan lift, followed by an aerial attack, though he couldn’t quite beat the boss with this trick.
My cousin eventually received Mortal Kombat II and 3 for his SNES, so I got to borrow his copies and play them quite a bit. My memory may be hazy, but I think the SNES ports had more manageable AI difficulty compared to the arcade. The arcade version of MK II is known for its bullshit, brutally difficult AI, which basically has to be exploited by jumping backwards once an opponent gets close. It’s not foolproof, but it generally works, and there are some other useful exploits, such as jump kicking Mileena at close range.
For this playthrough I used my favorite character, Reptile, who was a hidden character in the first game. He’s apparently the weakest character in this game, but I still think he’s fun.
In this playthrough I beat the game without using any continues, though I did lose some rounds, and I got pummeled by Jade (her fast movement speed, combined with the input lag, makes here a real pain in the ass).
Also, I couldn’t get the close-range jump-kick tactic to work on Shao Khan (I think the input lag is messing that up), so I relied on my old strategy from the ’90s, which I haven’t seen anyone post on Youtube. It simply involves crouch blocking in the corner and then countering with an uppercut. You lose quite a bit of health with this method, but it’s fairly reliable.
Recorded with the Elgato Game Capture HD60 and the Switch 2's HDMI cable at native 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second. I'm using a Real Arcade Pro V Hayabusa joystick.