Since its 1992 debut in arcades, Midway's fighter Mortal Kombat has been acclaimed by players and denounced by livid parents. The superviolent fatalities and finishing moves put it front and center at the local quickie mart as a must-play arcade game, but those same moves also fueled parent groups, which used what they deemed as a growing out-of-control level of violence in videogames to help form a formal ratings system.
In April, Midway announced the eighth version of the successful American fighting series, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, debuting the likes of DC superheroes Superman and Batman alongside Mortal Kombat characters Sub-Zero and Scorpion. GameTap caught up with co-creator Ed Boon, who spoke about the new inclusion of DC characters, balancing superheroes such as Superman, the new storyline, and the new face of fatalities and finishers.
While some feel it was the Mortal Kombat: Annihilation movie, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is popularly touted as the lowest point for the franchise – at least in terms of video games. The prototype IP soup tried to do something new with popular characters going head to head, but never really got a good reception.
The biggest issue was that with the introduction of DC and Warner Bros, MK's iconic gore had to be dialed down. Batman, after all, cannot be split into two by Kung Lao's hat. However, while the game itself signaled the fatality of the Mortal Kombat franchise, its core formula is what resurrected it to become NetherRealm Studio and the reboot we've come to adore.
MK vs DC wasn’t awful. If reception for that game made mk9 possible then hopefully the failures of MK11 can make some good changes as well. It’s time to get rid of variations, they had a good run but ended up a mess.
I think MK 9 did.
In fact I remember being bummed that this was a T rated MK game and just dismissed it. MK 9 was when I actually stood back and said, "They're back!". Still think that game is fantastic.
With the Mortal Kombat franchise now on its 11th installment this year, one of those many franchise entries, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe has not been remembered fondly, and in fairness, it isn’t difficult to see why. The action is somewhat muted for a Mortal Kombat game, it’s infamously lacking in extra content, and its arrival heralded the end of series publisher Midway Games. However, while this reputation is understandable, it is not deserved. Not only that, but the game may have even ensured that the more recent Mortal Kombat installments came into being at all.
The wait time for NetherRealm’s Injustice 2 is getting shorter with each passing day, and fans are ready to step into the DC Universe yet again to punch each other into submission. Ed Boon and company have been hard at work building up their reputation since being bought by Warner Bros. in 2009, and it may be time for them to do something that could be considered a challenge. And what could be more of a challenge than rebooting Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe? Longtime Mortal Kombat fans had to go through several mediocre titles before NetherRealm released the excellent 2011 reboot. MK vs. DC was the last game in the series developed by Midway before their closure (along with just being their last game, period) and saw the two universes collide and its various characters subsequently punch each other into hamburger meat.
No.
The gameplay itself was fine. The thing that made the first one so bad was that WB/DC did not like the idea of their heroes and villains being brutally killed. This made the game very watered down, less violent and with terrible fatalities. I can't imagine WB/DC would be okay with that now.
I think they're opening up to the idea more you can see in the latest Injustice game that some moves are pretty brutal and there is some blood now.
It'll all depend on them though, if they're okay with fatalities and complete blood and everything then I say go ahead and make another one otherwise don't
Yeah but there's a big difference in having brutal moves in the game and ripping someone's head and spine out of their body.
I can't see WB/DC being okay with ripping characters like Batman and Superman limb from limb.
yep i would defo like another DC VS MK but i would much prefer the grand daddy of all Vs battle from the 90s. Mortal Kombat VS Street Fighter.
Why? Just play Injustice, its a copy amd paste of MKX. Design, game mechanics and all. Even a lot of the Injustice games roster have stolen moves from MK.
How much are you all willing to bet that the next MK will have the different costume design mechanic?
No keep them seperate. MK vs DC was the worst MK game imo. MK9 blew that game out of the water and everyone forgot about it. No fatalities and a gimped MK roster for superheroes/villains that I personally have 0 interest in is dumb
This is a disaster in the making
What happened to this franchise?
is a disappointment to me. I am a long time Mortal Kombat fan. IMO the last good mortal Kombat was Ultimate MK3. Part 4 was 'OK', but every rendition after that they dropped the whole fighting engine.
Every character should have a standard set of moves, down + HP = uppercut, Back + HK = roundhouse...etc. Air juggles, corner traps..etc are all gone. When John Tobias left the MK team, Midway just seems to have focused on graphics and not gameplay. 'Mortal Kombat' seems to have been lost in the transition.
All Midway had to do was revert back to it's roots but they seem to have forgotten them completely. I could love this game if it 'actually played' like an old-school MK, but chances are that it will not.
Midway just should have brought back the old fighting engine back and they could have saved a lot of money on the DC license. And chances are they could have resurrected this franchise. Fighting game legends are remembered for great gameplay, not gimmicks.
This game is just tragic. Among the newer MK games, Deadly Alliance was the only good one. Deception was also decent but Armageddon was a disaster and MK8 was supposted to fix it not throw everything out of the window for a stupid crossover.
You know you guys want to play as aquaman!
But this puts the final nail in its coffin'. Freaking Sellouts.