Mortal
Kombat Trilogy
STORY:
Thousands of years ago an order of the wisest
men from the far east received visions of the dark realm known as the Outworld.
It was a world ruled by a vicious Emperor known as Shao
Kahn. They learned
that travel between Earth and the new found realm would someday be possible
if the conditions were right, the conditions being the unbalancing of the
furies. Negative and positive forces
which keep our unstable universe from collapsing onto itself. Knowing that
an Outworld invasion was imminent, the wise men appealed to the Elder Gods.
It was for this reason the Elder Gods created the tournament called Mortal
Kombat. For nine generations Mortal Kombat was ruled by Outworld's finest
warrior-prince Goro. The Earth was on the brink of its destruction when
a new generation of warriors were victorious in defending its realm.
The warrior monk, Liu
Kang,
would become the new Champion. But his victory was short lived as he and
his comrades find themselves lured into the Outworld to compete in a second
tournament. Little did they know that the tournament was merely a diversion.
A scheme devised by the dark Emperor to break the rules set forth by the
Elder Gods and witness the reincarnation of his former Queen Sindel
on
the Earthrealm itself. The unholy act gives Shao Kahn the power to step
through the dimensional gates and reclaim his queen, thus enabling him
to finally seize the Earth. These are the trilogy of events which comprise
Shao Kahn's final attempt at taking the Earth.
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Mortal
Kombat Trilogy character selection screen.
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REVIEW:
Mortal Kombat Trilogy is the first
title in the franchise to release exclusively on home consoles, and was never
released in arcades. MK Trilogy is basically a culmination the entire 2D
MK series, all crammed into one game (for better or worse). Trilogy features tons of classic characters & backgrounds from
the series past, along with "secret" playable characters from MK1
and MK2.
Although many
fighting game franchises at the time were going 3D, Trilogy remained
a solid contender in the purely 2D fighting genre with its classic gameplay and nostalgia-inducing visuals and sound. While Trilogy's visuals most definitely looked "aged"
at the time of its release, the title still provided a nostalgic and enjoyable fighting
game experience for casual and hardcore Mortal Kombat fans alike.
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You still suck at dodging
lighting bolts, Shao Kahn.
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Along with the entire returning cast from Ultimate Mortal
Kombat 3, Trilogy adds Raiden & Baraka as they appeared in Mortal
Kombat 2. Both old school characters were given a new special move and some new
animations as well. A new sprite of Johnny Cage is also introduced, appearing exclusively in Trilogy. This
version of Cagefeatures all of
his iconic moves except for his split punch (which was taken out
because MK3/UMK3 didn't have "reaction" animations for
the move).
A new secret character known as Chameleon also joins the roster. Chameleon
switches between all the male ninjas (Classic Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Noob Saibot,
Human Smoke, Rain, Reptile & Ermac) during combat. He's similar to the
original Mortal Kombat's version of Reptile, but Chameleon changes his
color, not just his stance. In the N64 version, Chameleon is replaced by "Khameleon,"
a gray female ninja who also switches her movesets. All of the classic bosses are also playable in Trilogy, including: Goro, Kintaro, Motaro, Shang Tsung, and
Shao Kahn.
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Get caught in
the net and
say 7-hit combo!
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Trilogy's main draw is easily its massive character selection screen,
sporting the largest cast seen in an MK game to date. The classic 2D gameplay
is what you'd expect from the series and is still considerably solid and fun to play. Trilogy
also introduces a unique gameplay element called the "Aggressor Meter" which fills as the kombatants
fight (twice as much if the opponent is blocking). When the Aggressor bar is
full, the fighter becomes faster and stronger for a limited amount of time.
Though it's a fairly cool gameplay element, the word "Aggressor" that
appears under the characters onscreen is a bit distracting, in my opinion... and kinda looks overdone if you
ask me.
Many returning characters in MK Trilogy also have a few new special moves and fatalities, giving even the most hardcore fans some new things to play with.
Brutality finishing moves are now available for all characters - even the older cast who didn't appear in the MK3 series. MK Trilogy marked the conclusion of Mortal Kombat's 2D era using digitized graphics. In 1997-1998, the series officially moved to 3D graphics with the arrival of Mortal Kombat 4.
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| Page Updated: |
May
18th, 2023 |
| Developer(s): |
Point of View Inc.
Sega Saturn
Avalanche PlayStation
Williams Entertainment Nintendo 64 |
| Publisher(s): |
Midway |
| Designer(s): |
Ed
Boon
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| Platform(s): |
Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PC
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| Release Date(s): |
Sept.
1st, 1996
 PlayStation
Dec. 6th, 1996
 PlayStation
Apr. 2nd, 1998
 PlayStation
Oct. 31st, 1996
N64
Mar. 14th, 1997
N64
Aug. 8th, 1997
Saturn
Aug. 31st, 1997
PC |
| Characters: |
Liu
Kang, Sub Zero, Scorpion, Sonya
Blade,
Kung
Lao, Jax,
Sektor,
Cyrax,
Sindel,
Stryker,
Nightwolf,
Sheeva,
Smoke,
Kano,
Kabal,
Kitana,
Johnny
Cage, Noob Saibot, Baraka,
Rayden,
Reptile,
Mileena,
Ermac,
Shang
Tsung, Jade,
Rain, Chameleon,
Khameleon, Goro,
Kintaro,
Motaro,
Shao
Kahn
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Featured Video:
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| Related Games: |
Mortal
Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal
Kombat 3, Mortal Kombat 3 Ultimate,
Mortal
Kombat 4, Mortal Kombat Gold, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon,
Mortal
Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Mortal Kombat:
Deception, Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe, Mortal Kombat 9, Mortal
Kombat X, Mortal Kombat 11 |
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Gameplay
Engine
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7.5 / 10
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Story
/ Theme
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7.5 / 10
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Overall
Graphics
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7.5 / 10
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Animation
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7.5 / 10
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Music
/ Sound Effects
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7.0 / 10
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Innovation
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5.0 / 10
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Art Direction
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3.0 / 10
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Customization
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6.0 / 10
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Options / Extras
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6.0 / 10
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Intro / Presentation
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6.5 / 10
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Replayability / Fun
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7.5 / 10
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"Ouch" Factor
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8.0 / 10
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Characters
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9.0 / 10
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BOTTOM LINE
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7.5
/
10
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Review based on PlayStation
version
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| Final
Words: |
It wouldn't be completely false to say that Midway pretty much crammed all of their "2D leftovers" into this game and slapped on a new title... just to milk the 2D series a bit more before it became irrelevant with the arrival of 3D graphics. Hardcore fans were sure to eat it up, right?! 
Personally, to be honest... I was completely and utterly bored with MK by the time Trilogy came out. After enjoying some of the faster paces and "tag-team" fighting games introduced in 1996-1997, I had little interest in the classic MK gameplay formula. I definitely got that out of my system during the SNES days.
In fairness, and overlooking its shortcomings, MK Trilogy was a decent "nostalgia" package for the old school fans. Certainly,
Trilogy is a must play title for anyone who ever called themselves a Mortal
Kombat fan. The best part of
MK: Trilogy is definitely the character roster, but other than that, it's
pretty much the same old Mortal Kombat we've been playing for years (with slightly less polish and heart than the original trilogy).
~TFG
Webmaster |
@Fighters_Gen
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