The game is delisted, because microsoft deliberately sabotaged it. It requires GFWL for absolutely no reason, and the default installation comes broken. You have to manually remove the included GFWL, and instal an older version from some shady sites, because microsoft noticed that you can download the legacy version of GFWL from the official site and removed the link. When you install the shady old version, it ill not connect to your profile. You have to create a new off-line one.
The thing is, this is the best available version of the game. Insane people who were able to decode install and setup MAME before succumbing to injecting mayonnaise into their eyeballs in desperation, maybe, have the best version of the game. If the MAME version has this “easy” difficulty, and also has perfect graphics, that is the game. But for the mere mortals, this is the only way to play the original arcade release.
There’re many ports, but all of them are compromised due to weak hardware. The pretties available port is the DOS one, but it is a DOS port. It comes with a DOS emulator, it renders with that PAL (?) black bar on the bottom. It can’t pick up XInput, and you can’t bind most of the keys on the keyboard. It’s really awkward to play.
There’s no PlayStation version, no modern platform versions. It is not sold anywhere.
This arcade emulator is a literal dogshit. It comes with bad graphics options, and it runs pillar-boxed, which makes it windowboxed on a proper 4//3 screen. It’s all blurry and fuzzy. There are no accessibility options, like saving the game, or at least checkpoints. You can’t look up the moves list. But at least it picks an XInput device.
And having a modern gamepad is really good. You both have the stick for rotations which were extremely hard on Sega MD2, and the D-Pad for simpler moves.
Mortal Kombat is the king in this region. So much so, no other fighting is even considered to be worthy of existing. Why play anything else when Mortal Kombat exists. Then fighting games, being mostly a console genre, have entirely disappeared, until Mortal Kombat 9 came out and reclaimed its crown. A combination of a new game, with great innovation, and with it also being a remake of all the popular MK games in a row.
Of course i loved in in my childhood, but how’s it today? How’s (a version of) the original arcade game in >>the current year? How’s it solo?
It’s awesome, that’s how. This is legit infinitely better than playing Street Fighter 2. The graphics and animations are superior, all the moves actually feel like they are supposed to be. Beating all the blood out of your opponent is awesome. This game using a faux-dead-end technology makes it almost as good today as on its release. It didn’t aged at all because it’s a time-capsule. Seeing great feedback even to the simple moves, is what brings the enjoyment in this game, both in PvP and PvE. It even has cosmetic fatalities — after winning a match you can humiliate your opponent by brutalizing them with magicks. The required inputs are never known, so you had to buy a separate book back in the day and look them up on the web today. The timings are tough and the opportunity windows is very small. But you can memorize them and the actual inputs are usually less hard than a simple move in SF2. The audio feedback is awesome, the commentator makes everything better, and you can see the organizers cheering the fight and congratulation the participants.
The controls are plain better, almost all the moves are easy to execute, so you are playing the game instead of playing with your input device. The moves are awesome and look awesome. All the simple punches and kicks have weight behind them. And wht trully makes it great is the unsportsmanlike-like behaviour. Sportsballs are the most boring crap for old people. But this game never feels like it sacrifices realistic fighting for some fake fairness, only for the AI to openly cheat. The best move in the game is a chain of fast punches. Also very effective sweeps and chain-sweeps. People who learned the game can abuse aerial attacks. It also uses up for jump, but the jumping is not as important here, and when it is the pacing usually let’s you to compose yourself instead of desperately mashing the unresponsive diagonals. And the game never protects the AI against you. If you caught it in your semi-stunlock — it will receive as much damage as a real player would.
At least in this version the tournament mode on easy is a proper hard challenge. It’s not a crutch giving you absolute tons of HP in Capcom fighting collection, it’s doesn’t make the AI passive like SamSho19. The AI plays fair, plays hard to get, it uses what it can and does it effectively. But it gets damage like any player would. This is not the raep-annihilation on easy from Streets Fighters Twos. With its freeplay mode, if we say that it was eating 25 cents per life, i’ve spent less than 100 $ to beat the game in 1.5 hours.
After the main tournament, there’s doubles. Then, a fight against prince Goro which is a proper boss fight. He is unique and he does not have human kinaesthetics. He hits as hard as he looks he would. But he never feels impossible. Despite his cheat moves he is vulnerable to defensive aerials, defensive uppercuts, and many of the specials. People who played the game for a long time discovered that defensive aerials in the corner is the best bet against him. Shang Tsung has his strong projectile, but usually he just turns into other competitors or Goro. And he is way weaker than the four-arms giant. The only problem is your luck — he can turn into some of the fighters the AI is very good as. Like Sub-Zero or Kano.
The roster is not big, but all these people are memorable and very fun. Even with the recoloured ninjas, their move-sets and personalities are entirely different. I actually prefer them all looking the same. That Super Sentai setup is comforting and easy to understand, while the gameplay is drastically different between the characters. Easy colour separation made them more distinct and antagonistic to each-other than the modern over-designed generic dudes versions.
Johnny Cage uses simple inputs for the projectile and for the long-ranged kick that closes the distance. Punch in the balls was very funny, but it’s not very effective. The range is negative compared to your hitbox and he refuses to punch girls. His fatality is pretty easy.
Kano is not the most popular character but in the first game he has very cool moves. Spinning is easy to input on the knob-stuck. Knives are triggered during the block.
These days Raiden is usually portrayed as a good guy. Here he is just a jerk god. Puny god. The teleport can be used in PvP but vs the AI it’s an invitation to get a boot to the face. He also has a projectile attack and a long-range horizontal attack.
Liu Kang’s moves are super easy to input, and he has an easy fatality (for a stick-knob).
Scorpion became the mascot of the series, replacing Liu Kang as the protagonist over the years. The harpoon is an awesome idea. And he has a bad teleport. Unlike Raiden, he flies punching, but it’s hard to connect, and an ass to input. It doesn’t even work with the quarter circle, only on the D-pad. Also it can’t be used in the corners, when it is needed the most. The fatality is super easy to input, but an ass to execute, since you have to be in a specific place.
Sub-Zero is a very strong fighter with medium difficulty inputs. And he can actually chain his special moves, instead of using them occasionally. Unlike Scorpion’s harpoon, freeze does not set the enemy up for just one uppercut, you can easily go for the rapid face-smashing with bigger damage potential.
Sonya has ranged attack that refuses to be executed. A side swapping flight, which also isn’t useful against Ai. And a leg-grab which looks scary, but actually is very easy to execute, and deals a ton of damage.
To play the arkade versions, this is the way, but also there’s no way, because this release is delisted. This is the world we live in.
Inside my shell i milk and hate 