MK11 rocks. I'm so glad it does. I'll explain why I'm glad it does in excruciatingly long detail, waxing poetically about my history with this singular franchise.
One of my FIRST ever gaming memories, and my first MK game, was MK3 on Sega Genesis. We played that shit in preschool, y'all. I was flippin' 5 years old watching Sheeva stomp some poor son of a bitch into the ground, or watching Scorpion literally uppercut the head off of a dude. Ain't no daycares letting their kids play MK games now. Now, they probably have kids poking at some screen doing some Paw Patrol and My Little Pony minigames.
It would be an understatement to say that exposure to the glory that is MK3 had an influence on me. I was a fiend for Mortal Kombat when I was kid. My mom made me a Scorpion costume, handcrafted, for Halloween one year, and my dad bought me the Mortal Kombat film on VHS which I watched until I had it memorized. And that movie's soundtrack is probably why I have such a strong preference for industrial music.
Then when my family got a SNES, I played MK3 Ultimate until I was able to beat everyone in the game. For a youngster like me, that was a big deal. MK3 was hard, man! For the longest time, I felt like I was barely able to play successfully against low-level AI enemies, so imagine my feeling of accomplishment the first time I even made it to Motaro; then the first time I beat him; then the sheer adrenaline rush and feeling of utter fear when I made it to Shao Kahn for the first time.
The sequel to the film, MK Annihilation, sucked by all measures but I was still obsessed with that movie. Getting to see Cyrax do some crazy jumps to electro-industrial music was one of the highlights of my moviegoing career at that age. I spent time in school drawing Motaro, and begged my dad to locate the PC version of MK Trilogy and get it working so that I could play as the boss characters.
I missed out on the spin-off games until later in life but I re-entered my love affair with the franchise when Deadly Alliance came out. Guys, that game was a revelation for me. I don't have the clearest memories of it but those I do have are incredibly fond. I really dug the story and the fact that we got to see non-cyber versions of the cybernetic ninjas, and using weapons and different martial arts/fighting styles. And I feel the same way about the subsequent Deception and I can't tell you how many hours I put into Armageddon which was the last PS2 game I spent a lot of time on before I left my PS2 behind for the PS3. Armageddon had and still has one of the best opening cinematics of all time. ALL TIME.
Mortal Kombat was rebooted for PS3 and I played through it but I don't remember it a whole lot other than the novelty of a cybernetic Sub-Zero and a non-cyber Smoke. I'm sure it was good but that's about the extent of my memory with that game.
And then there's Mortal Kombat X and XL. I played these with friends for couch co-op and PVP but that's mostly it. The new characters are decent enough. Kotal Kahn and D'Vorah are badasses, I'm glad they carried over to MK11.
So while I wasn't super thrilled wit MK 9 and X, I'm really digging 11. I haven't mastered it by any means but I find myself wanting to stick with it and progress with characters more (that's another thing: I love that you can 'upgrade' traits and items as you use characters, and build load-outs for them). I'm sure criticism can and has been leveled at how much content in the game are add-ons or paid for, but I didn't jump on this game until it was bundled up in a wildly affordable sale price so I've certainly gotten my money's worth.
Of all the franchises that are not only still alive and kicking but having renaissances with newer generations, I'm glad Mortal Kombat is one of them. It's been interesting to see it maintain a position of relevance and fill a niche some of the other fighting games either don't or can't, and to evolve in ways that appeal to modern gaming trends without being, well, crap. It's managed to retain its soul and character, at least in my eyes.
Long live MK and may there be more to come.
