Mortal Kombat II is a 1993 arcade game and the second title in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.

Storyline

Following his defeat to Liu Kang (in the first Mortal Kombat game), Shang Tsung begs his master,Shao Kahn, to spare his life. He tells Shao Kahn that the invitation for Mortal Kombat cannot be turned down, and if they hold it in Outworld, the Earthrealm warriors must attend. Kahn agrees to this plan, and restores Tsung's youth. He extends the invitation to Raiden, who gathers his warriors and takes them into Outworld. The tournament is dangerous, as Shao Kahn has the home field advantage, and an Outworld victory will unbalance the furies and allow Outworld to subsume Earthrealm.

Game system

Mortal Kombat II is an extension of the previous game. A few normal moves have been added (crouching punch, for example). The roundhouse kick was made more powerful, and knocks opponents across the screen. Additionally returning characters gained new special moves. The game also introduced multiple fatalities, as well as additional finishing moves to the franchise. However, each character still shared generic attributes – speed, power, jump height and airtime – and most normal moves were similar between each character (some normal moves, such as the uppercut or jumping kicks, varied between characters; this variance was a major part of high-level MKII strategy). As with its predecessor, the only thing differentiating each character were their appearance, special moves, hitbox, and finishing moves. However, the game plays slightly faster and much more smoothly than the original.

As with its predecessor, matches are divided into rounds. The first player to win two rounds by fully depleting their opponent's life bar is the winner. At this point the loser's character will become dazed and the winner is given the option of using a finishing move. In addition to the Fatalities of its predecessor, the winner could also use Babalities, Friendships, and stage specific Fatalities. This game also drops the point system from its predecessor, in favor of a win tally.

The characters of Mortal Kombat II have a less digitized and more hand-drawn look to them than in the first game. Both the theme and art style of the game are slightly darker, although with a more vibrant color palette employed. Also, the graphics system now uses a much richer color depth than in the previous game. Mortal Kombat II also strays from the severe oriental theme of its predecessor, though it does retain the original motive in some aspects, as in some of the music. Finally, the nature of the game is slightly less serious with the addition of trivial and 'joke' Fatalities and the addition of alternative finishing moves.

Characters

New characters