16-Bit Brawl: Mortal Kombat SNES vs. Genesis
Welcome to 16-Bit Brawl, a series where we pit two Sega Genesis and Super NES games against one another to see which one comes out on top. This time, we’re looking at one of the defining moments in the 16-bit console wars, the home release of Mortal Kombat. One system had the blood. One system had borderline comedic censorship. Neither one was arcade-perfect. But who had the better game? Let’s find out.
The Super NES struck a pretty significant blow in their war against the Sega Genesis with their exclusive release of Street Fighter II. Launching in the US in July 1992, it would be another year before the king of arcade fighting games landed on the Sega Genesis, which I’m sure will be a topic of conversation in a future installment of this very series. But we’re here to talk about how Sega struck back. Mortal Kombat quickly became an absolute arcade phenomenon thanks to its amazing visuals, creative characters, and of course, over the top violence. Home console ports were inevitable, and unlike Street Fighter, these would be landing on the very same day, MORTAL MONDAY! The stage was set for both of these games to release on equal footing, that is until Nintendo decided to shoot themselves in the pants by censoring the ever-loving heck out of the game. This caused the Genesis version to outsell its SNES counterpart by a considerable margin, but was it, in fact, the better game?
I remember loving my SNES version of Mortal Kombat despite the lack of blood, and absolutely hating the Genesis version when I played it at a friend’s house. But not having touched either version in years, I’ve decided to dust them both off and pit them against one another side by side to determine, which version was actually better? Let’s get started!
Typically, we’d compare both games in a general sense, but that’s honestly a bit silly here. They’re both Mortal Kombat. Same fighters, same moves (more or less) same basic game. So let’s get down to brass tacks.
Graphics (1 point)
This one really is a clear win for the Super NES. Yes, the Genesis version has blood if you enter the code, but in nearly every other respect the SNES absolutely trounces the Genesis in terms of visuals. The most obvious stuff can be seen from screenshots alone. The colors on the Genesis version just aren’t there. Everything lacks detail, and there are some wacky color issues like a bunch of red bits on characters for no reason. Fighters animate extremely poorly, too. They’re missing a ton of frames, and Sub-Zero even has the same stance as Scorpion! Backgrounds took a big hit, with tons of missing details and animations like Shang Tsung clapping after matches end. Everyone’s too small as well.
That’s not to say the SNES game is perfect in terms of visuals. The lack of blood is a really big hit when it comes to the game’s overall character, and the stages have this weird lack of verticality with the ground set way too high off the bottom of the screen, but other than that, this game’s a really nice-looking port. It matches the arcade original extremely well, has just about all of the animations, has a nice presentation, lots of background movement, the whole shebang. If it weren’t for the censorship, this would truly be a top-notch port. Even so, SNES still wins by a country mile.
SNES - I
Genesis -
Sound (1 point)
Now this is a complicated category. First, let's talk music. The Super NES game does an excellent job of recreating the arcade game’s score. It’s pretty muffled, but all in all it’s a very close approximation. The Genesis game couldn’t really replicate the arcade music, so it did its own thing, and it’s honestly pretty great. They’re the same tunes, but they’re redone in a way that really plays to the Genesis’s strengths. They’ve got a great energy to them, and they’re super crisp. So on one hand, we have the SNES being far more faithful to the source material, and on the other you have the Genesis in some cases improving on it.
I’d give the Genesis the slight edge here, but we can’t talk sound without talking about sound effects, which is where the SNES absolutely kicks the Genesis in the teeth. The Genesis game is missing a ton of sound effects, like the grunts during battle, the crowd reaction sounds, and a metric ton of voiceovers. It’s seriously not even close. There are large portions of the Genesis game where there are no sound effects at all. You can go for chunks of matches with hits not even making any sound, which honestly damages the overall game-feel considerably. But we’ll get to more on that in a bit.
The music might have a slight edge, but the effects on the Super NES are lightyears beyond. The points, once again, go to Super NES.
SNES - II
Genesis -
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Content (1 point)
Okay, here I think we have a pretty solid victory for the Genesis game, but I do think there are a few points worth exploring. First and foremost, both of these games are censored. The Genesis game is the only one with a blood code, though, which then restores everything in all its ultra-violent glory. That’s all of the red blood, and the arcade fatalities. Now, if we were judging based on the censored versions, the SNES game would win outright. It at least tries to be somewhat creative in its non-gory fatalities, where the Genesis game just relies on giving characters a big ol’ uppercut. But once you enter that blood code, it’s a whole new ballgame.
Johnny Cage is supposed to punch his opponent’s head off, but on SNES he sticks his foot in his chest. It’s weird.
Kano is supposed to rip your heart out of your chest, but on SNES he umm… does that but it’s gray? Makes absolutely no sense.
Liu Kang does a cute little cartwheel and punches you really hard. This is the same in both versions, and it’s dumb no matter what.
Scorpion and Sonya both burn their victims into skeletons, which is the same in both versions, but looks way better on SNES thanks to the superior animations.
Raiden and Sub-Zero are where things get a little more interesting. Raiden is supposed to zap you until your head explodes, which looks great on Genesis. But on SNES, he zaps you until you turn to dust and a skull, which if I’m being honest, I legitimately like better. That said, I can’t fault the Genesis for sticking with the source material.
Sub-Zero is the clincher, though. This is THE iconic fatality from Mortal Kombat. He rips your head and spinal cord out. It’s there on Genesis, but replaced by something else on SNES. He freezes you, then shatters your frozen body. It’s a move that was officially included in Mortal Kombat II, and makes a ton of sense given the character's abilities. It also looks great, and I love it. But no matter how cool it is, it’s not the iconic head rip.
The SNES game did an admirable job here, but at the end of the day, the blood is such a huge part of Mortal Kombat’s personality, and sweat just doesn’t cut it. Shattering a frozen body rules, but it’s no replacement for the pure shock value of ripping someone’s spinal cord out. SNES gets an A for effort, but Genesis gets the point.
SNES - II
Genesis - I
Gameplay (2 points)
Ah, the gameplay. This is what it all comes down to, and this is a CLOSE one. In terms of first impressions, the Genesis game seems to have the slight advantage thanks to the gameplay being a little more quick and responsive. Your characters react to inputs instantly, and everything moves along great, even if it is at a slightly faster clip than the arcade original. It’s nice, especially compared to the SNES game’s more sluggish movements. Everything’s got a bit of a delay on it on SNES. It’s not bad at all, and it’s perfectly playable, but there are certain times where you’ll think you pressed a button and the command will happen just a bit later than it should.
Of course, you have to take into consideration the controller as well, which the SNES wins hands down. The Genesis’s 3-button controller works well enough, but the SNES is always ready with 6 buttons, which makes it the superior game. Yes, the Genesis 6-button exists, but at this point it wasn’t quite the standard yet, so it’s still a minor point against it.
That would make this one a tie, if it weren’t for the sound factor. My biggest issue with the Genesis version of MK is its lack of impact. Nothing hits in this game. When you land an uppercut on Genesis, the screen shakes and the guy goes flying, but it still somehow feels like nothing. In the SNES game, you hear this super hard THWAP, you hear the audience react, you hear your opponent scream, and you hear the huge thud when they land. It’s like this for everything. The music changes when you perform a Fatality, Raiden screams nonsense when he flies at you, fireballs crackle when they land, it all has IMPACT.
The Genesis game may have all the blood and violence, but somehow the SNES game feels more violent to play, which is weird, but even playing them both back to back now, it’s clear as day.
That said, blood is blood, and as great as impact is, it doesn’t mean as much as it should without the red stuff. So yeah, this one’s a tie.
SNES - IIII
Genesis - III
Look, I get it. Mortal Kombat isn’t Mortal Kombat without the blood, which is what made this so close, but at the end of the day, those fatalities are really all the Genesis game has over its SNES counterpart. That’s a big deal, for sure, but it’s not enough to make it a better game. The Genesis game is ugly, animates terribly, and feels cheap by comparison. The Genesis would correct a lot of these issues for the sequel, but that’s a story for another time. For now, we’re just talking Mortal Kombat 1, and while the Genesis game had the blood and subsequent sales numbers, the SNES game is a better experience all around, if only by a hair.
The winner is Super NES.
And there you have it. An unpopular opinion to be sure, but one that I stand by, especially after having spent time playing them both back to back. The Genesis game had it where it counted at the time, but outside of the lack of censorship, it really doesn’t stand up to the SNES game. As always, this is just my opinion, and as long as you enjoy your games, who the heck cares what I think? Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time!
