Mortal Kombat Mythologies Sub-Zero on Genesis/SNES - Games from Another World
TAKING A LOOK AT BOOTLEG INTERPRETATIONS
Fan games, mods, homebrews, and bootleg titles can be another world in themselves, and sometimes they can be better than official ones. This is the reason that made me curious enough to create a series dedicated to these odd creatures of gaming. As the first part of these reviews, I’m going to take a look at a weird Mortal Kombat game, released for the Mega Drive (aka the Sega Genesis) and Super Nintendo (shortened as SNES) as a pirated port of Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero. We’ll call the official game MKM for short.
MKM was an impressive title, belonging to a group of video games whose list of problems can be more and more obvious to the audience with each playthrough. This fact made MKM a source of anomalies in an otherwise iconic franchise. Onerous platforming scenes with unreachable obstacles, a sluggish version of Sub-Zero, and the ungainly bosses, helped the game reach new levels of absurdity. That’s why I was super excited to see what these unlicensed games have to offer in their interpretation. What if the bootleg is better?
First, you should notice that both versions used various titles on their cover artworks as its name. The Mega Drive version has numerous names on its cover artwork, though the game’s title screen all show the same name: MK5 Mortal Combat ~Sub Zero~ but let’s call it MK5 for short. The same happened for the SNES version but the title screen shows the real name: Mortal Kombat Mythologies Gold 2000; I’ll call it MK2K from now on.
MK5 bootleg cartridge with interesting cover art.
MK5 MORTAL COMBAT ~SUB ZERO~ (MK5, SEGA MEGA DRIVE BOOTLEG)
What you’ll face after running the Mega Drive version is its soundtrack. Of course, the game inherited these soundtracks from other unlicensed bootlegs, but with a different arrangement, making the game endurable enough to proceed through half of the game. However, this is the only good feature the game inherited, even though the music is some of the best found on the console from this standpoint. The password system is useless, the difficulty is unbalanced (but better than MKM), and there are even some typos.
First of all, there is no escape from enemies who are now Mortal Kombat fighters. In MKM you could at least get away from enemies easily, and leave them behind. Apart from this, enemies in MK5 can duplicate themselves multiple times after death, meaning that you have to beat a particular character many times. Also, this is the only version of the bootleg that uses different color palettes for the enemies. Like MKM, there are checkpoints to be fair, but they’re only helpful in the first stage which does make the stage easier. But thankfully there are some subtle changes that made the game tolerable; the first one are the press machines which are now well designed and not that unpredictable, even considering the fact that you can’t run in this bootleg.
Another subtle change is that all items can be taken just by walking over them, and all of them are now stored in the inventory. However, everything else remains the same as MKM. For example, if your health bar is filled up and you use a health item by mistake, the used item will disappear! Granted, this is exactly what happens in the original game. You guessed right. The game doesn’t detect that your health bar is full, so you’ll likely lose many items if you’re not careful. In addition, you can’t combine items like in MKM to produce more effective healing.
Also, unlike MKM in which you could gain experience to unlock some special moves, in MK5 you have all of these moves by default. However, this version doesn’t support 6-button controllers and you have to use some strange button combinations to perform the desired move. Another problem is that when an enemy is behind Sub-Zero, he won’t automatically turn around until you’re being hit or do so manually, which is the reason that made MKM super hard and cumbersome too. After the first stage though, you notice that you’re not actually walking to find your way, but you’re venturing across sections only to encounter punishing obstacles and die again and again. The game sometimes forgets to properly convey the next section making the player die easily, especially while reaching the end of the rope and Sub-Zero just falling to his death.
Let’s see where this rope leads…
We’ve seen Sub-Zero die in countless ways and somehow this seems more ridiculous.
Maybe said changes were supposed to lean on adding some uncertainty to the gameplay, but actually, it ruined the game in some ways. Spears, for example, shoot from the middle of nowhere which sometimes sets your position after being hit to where the obstacle exists, and of course, when Sub-Zero wants to rise you’ll face the obstacle with no way to deal with them. The password system is a joke. The first password will be given to you after beating the second stage, which is surprisingly awkward because it’s the password of the second stage! To put it simply, every password given to the player is the password to the level you just beat! Plus, none of your items can be seen and I don’t why such a thing exists.
Not to mention that MK5 used sprites from official titles. That said, the original game was no stranger to using old sprites since they used the classic Scorpion sprite in MKM. Nevertheless, MK5 actually looks and feels better than the original game, since the developer(s) behind the scenes used 2D sprites without using any 3D techniques so that they fit in with each other.
Photo of the rather hard to find bootleg cartridge of MK2K, courtesy of tabmok99.
MORTAL KOMBAT MYTHOLOGIES GOLD 2000 (MK2K, SNES BOOTLEG)
The SNES version is a legendary, notorious title. I googled everything I could about it, and what I found after searching was a ROM uploaded by a Mortal Kombat fan named tabmok99. Thanks to him, I downloaded the ROM and played it using emulators as the only possible way to experience this rare title. Of course, everything looks outdated and to be honest it’s even worse than MK5. There are no checkpoints, no options in the main menu (and therefore no password system), and no way to continue the game after being defeated. At least the game uses all six action buttons of the SNES.
Additionally, everything is really easy now without any challenge; obstacles are easy to avoid, enemies don’t duplicate themselves, and you have now nine health bars to progress. However, after starting a new stage, the health bar isn’t automatically filled up, which is different from what happens in MK5. Like the other bootleg port, you can’t run away from enemies, and all special moves are available by default. The problem here though is that you have to use a weird trick in order to attack in the air. Also, for some reason, Ice Blast doesn’t freeze foes which makes it an odd bootleg, given the character. The interesting feature though is that you can attack enemies multiple times in the air which happens only on rare occasions.
There are some new obstacles that differ from the Mega Drive version, including the blades set on the floor or shooting spears appearing while climbing the rope. Surprisingly, the game becomes more realistic here, since Sub-Zero climbs up ropes way slower than climbing down, which gives the movement more personality. Another factor that makes the game more realistic (and hard) is that when an enemy is situated behind you, even by being hit, you won’t see Sub-Zero turning around to fight the opponent, so you have to turn around manually as the only way to do so, which puts the game’s pacing in its slowest form.
Everything is slow in the SNES version because the game emphasizes using more realistic elements than the Mega Drive version. Same as MK5, you can’t run, climbing up ropes is super slow, and sprites move slowly. I don’t have anything special to say about the visuals; the game rarely uses dynamic backgrounds to make a more realistic title. Obviously, the game took its sprites from other Mortal Kombat games. Like other versions, MK2K doesn’t feature a map to help the player, although the last stage (which to me was one of the worst levels ever in MKM) can be beaten easily thanks to the use of helpful signs that guide players. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t experience ridiculous situations, so if you see an elevator working after using a key to open a door, don’t be surprised. Also what was said for the items and inventory can be applied to MK2K, except for one new negative aspect; when you want to use an item through the inventory, it’s typical for the selected items to not be seen properly, sometimes they are behind pillars, or even behind Sub-Zero.
What item did I choose?
MK2K includes one cutscene, but identical to MK5, the game doesn’t try to tell any story. It uses soundtracks from other pirated bootlegs, but instead of making a mood of curiosity, the game tries to be a more child-friendly title using more upbeat tunes. The music gave me a similar vibe to the Game Gear version of Ninja Gaiden.
CONCLUSION
If you’re a true Mortal Kombat fan, or an obscure games lover like me, experiencing the first stage of MK5 is recommended. The changes made by the creators of this bootleg work great on this stage without any huge problems, especially when you listen to the perfect soundtrack which could push any Mortal Kombat fan to complete the game. The SNES version is slow, easy to beat, without any interesting features. So if you’ve had your fill of playing MKM and want more, these bootlegs are really the only choice. Yet, looking past their flaws allows one to see their value as unique points of gaming history and Mortal Kombat fandom.
Note: This review was heavily inspired by the works of HG101.
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