Mortal Kombat II

Mortal Kombat II is an arcade game and the second title in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. Storywise, it is supposedly preceded by Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, but (in recent times), the canon of that game has come into question, so (for many), Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks is not canon to the story of Mortal Kombat II, and is more of a what-if story.

New characters

 * Baraka (Richard Divizio): Tarkatan warlord.
 * Jax (John Parrish): A member of the U.S. Special Forces and a longtime comrade of Sonya Blade, who enters the tournament to rescue her from Shao Kahn.
 * Kitana (Katalin Zamiar): Shao Kahn's personal assassin and step-daughter.
 * Kung Lao (Anthony Marquez): Shaolin monk and best friend of Liu Kang, who seeks to avenge the destruction of the Shaolin Temple.
 * Mileena (Katalin Zamiar): Shao Kahn's personal assassin.
 * Reptile (Daniel Pesina): Shang Tsung's personal bodyguard. Reptile appeared in the original Mortal Kombat, but this is the first game where he is playable and contains his own moveset.

Returning characters

 * Johnny Cage (Daniel Pesina): Hollywood movie star who joins Liu Kang in his journey to Outworld.
 * Liu Kang (Ho Sung Pak): The Shaolin monk who is the reigning champion of Mortal Kombat. Travels to Outworld to seek revenge for the death of his fellow monks.
 * Sub-Zero (Daniel Pesina): The younger and merciful brother of the original Sub-Zero, sent to assassinate Shang Tsung.
 * Scorpion (Daniel Pesina): The Hell-spawned spectre who returns to the tournament to once again assassinate Sub-Zero, the man who murdered his family long ago.
 * Shang Tsung (Dr. Phillip Ahn, M.D.): The evil sorcerer who has convinced Shao Kahn to spare his life after losing the last tournament, with a new evil plan to appease his master Shao Kahn, who in turn also restores Tsung's youth, making him more mobile and agile.
 * Raiden (Carlos Pesina): The Thunder God who returns to Mortal Kombat to stop Shao Kahn's evil plans of taking the Earthrealm as for his own.

Non-playable characters

 * Jade (Katalin Zamiar): An Outworld assassin who cannot be hit by projectiles. Childhood friend and protector of Kitana.
 * Kano (Richard Divizio): Cameo appearance in "Kahn's Arena" stage.
 * Kintaro (Stop-motion): Shokan warrior, general of Shao Kahn's army, and Goro's successor and best friend.
 * Noob Saibot (Daniel Pesina): Evil dark ninja, a lost warrior from a previous Mortal Kombat. His true identity would be revealed in Mortal Kombat: Deception.
 * Shao Kahn (Brian Glynn, voiced by Steve Ritchie): the Emperor of Outworld.
 * Smoke (Daniel Pesina): Sub-Zero's friend from the Lin Kuei, emits puffs of smoke from his body.
 * Sonya Blade (Elizabeth Malecki): Cameo appearance in "Kahn's Arena" stage.

Storyline
Following his defeat, 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.

Mortal Kombat II follows Mortal Kombat and precedes Mortal Kombat 3.

It seems to have been replaced storywise by Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, though many argue that this game has many contradictions to the events in the Mortal Kombat storyline, and, as such, should not be considered canon.

New to the series

 * As Midway's technology and experience improved, they increased the resolution of their characters and stages and improved the character designs. The series' story begins to flesh out in this game as well.
 * This would be the first arcade game (as well as Mortal Kombat title) to use William's DCS sound system. All Mortal Kombat arcade games to follow would use this sound board, dropping the original Mortal Kombat's inferior Yamaha sound board.
 * MKII ' s characters have multiple Fatalities and more special moves, and stage Fatalities have been added for the Pit II, the Kombat Tomb and the Dead Pool.
 * In addition to more Fatalities, MKII also introduces the Babality (turns your opponent into a diaper-clad infant) and Friendship (do something nice to your opponent rather than kill them) finishers.
 * Dropped the Test Your Might minigame.
 * Eliminated the scoring system, and instead measured progress only by consecutive matches won.

Kombat zones
There are a total of ten different backgrounds to fight on:
 * The Dead Pool - When an opponent is defeated on this stage, he/she can be uppercutted into the acid bath, burning away the flesh and leaving just a skeleton behind.
 * Kombat Tomb - When an opponent is defeated on this stage, he/she can be uppercutted into the spikes on the ceiling.
 * Wasteland
 * Shadow Monastery
 * Living Forest
 * The Armory
 * The Pit II - When an opponent is defeated on this stage, he/she can be uppercutted off the bridge where they will meet their demise on the rocky bottom below.
 * The Portal
 * Kahn's Arena
 * Goro's Lair - Returning from the original Mortal Kombat, this stage is only accessible when the player is fighting one of the hidden opponents.
 * The Blue Portal (only Sega Mega Drive/Genesis) - This stage is used instead of Goro's Lair when fighting the hidden opponents.

Characters live backgrounds
Jade, Smoke and Noob Saibot in The Living forest.
 * Reptile in The Living Forest
 * Baraka in Wasteland
 * Shao Kahn and Kintaro in Kahn's Arena

Easter eggs

 * In the arcade version, the 250th two-player game would unlock a session of the arcade classic Pong.
 * After landing a strong uppercut against the opponent, the face of sound designer Dan Forden would appear in the lower-right corner of the screen and shout, "Toasty!" The "Toasty" shout had originated from Scorpion's finishing move. He would remove his mask, to reveal a (sometimes) fiery skull, and would spit fire at his opponent. This is randomly demonstrated in the new game "Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks" for his fatality. In the Portal stage, if the player very quickly held down and hit the start button before Dan's head left the screen, they would then instantly begin a new stage against a secret character named Smoke, a grey recolor of Scorpion. However, the Mega Drive/Genesis version includes an alternate Toasty image: By activating the cheat menu in the options screen, Dan Forden is replaced by a crudely drawn sprite inserted by one of Probe Entertainment's (the team responsible for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis version) programmers. The "Toasty!" sound remains unchanged. Toasty has become one of the best-known video game easter eggs, among the likes of dopefish. Many games have included their own versions of Toasty, such as StepMania, in which a character (Charmy) pops out and sings "Toasty!" after a long combo of perfects. Even Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler has gotten into the act; he could be heard occasionally warbling "Toasty!" in response to explosions in Midway's 1994 Aerosmith-starring rail shooter Revolution X.
 * Another secret character was named Jade, a more dangerous green recolor of Kitana and Mileena. To fight Jade, a player would have to defeat their opponent before the mystery "?" stage using nothing but low kicks. In the Living Forest stage, both Smoke and Jade could sometimes be seen peeking from behind the trees as a clue to their existence as hidden characters.
 * If the player won 50 consecutive fights he/she would come face to face with the black ninja Noob Saibot, which originates from the last names of the lead designer John Tobias and lead programmer Ed Boon spelled backwards.
 * After knocking the victim into the acid pool, if the player holds down on the joystick, Dan Forden will say "Ow-a" or something similar.
 * Press down on any joystick during the attract mode to bring up the top 15 players.
 * On the Kombat Tomb stage, if the player holds down on both joysticks immediately after knocking the victim into the spikes, the victim will gradually slide down the spikes.
 * Two non-existent hidden characters were "Torch", and "Hornbuckle." In Mortal Kombat II there is a location called The Pit II. Far in the background of this stage there is another bridge across the chasm. Standing stationary on this bridge are two fighters: one of them is a Liu Kang sprite with green pants who was named Hornbuckle by fans. One of Jade's hints was "Hornbuckle who?", which people thought was the name of a hidden fighter, and was apparently given to the guy opposite "Torch" on the Pit II. If you watch the ending credits, one of the programmers' last names is Hornbuckle. The other fighter is a humanoid character that seems to be made of fire. As these two characters never move, it has been suggested that the "other fighter" is actually a funeral pyre. Finally, there is a cloaked figure who floats in front of the window during fights in The Tower and Portal stages in MK2. This character was dubbed Cloak by fans, and was assumed to be a hidden character. The character of Torch, who had been very popular with fans, eventually showed up as a playable character in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. Unfortunately, due to trademark issues regarding the name, The Human Torch of the Fantastic Four, he was renamed Blaze. The true identity of Cloak was revealed in Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks to be one of Shang Tsung's servants, a shadow priest.

Tricks to try

 * On the Dead Pool stage, with Sub-Zero or Shang Tsung morphed into Sub-Zero, deep freeze the opponent (F-F-D-HK) and then proceed to shatter the victim (F-D-F-F-HP) but press LP + LK immediately. If done correctly, the screen will turn dark and the victim will fly into the acid (see first pic on right) This trick also works with Johnny Cage's Head uppercut (F-F-D-U).
 * On the Dead Pool stage after uppercuting your opponent into the acid hold down on the joystick and you will hear sound like aww wah or something like that if you timed it correctly
 * On the Kombat Tomb stage using Sub Zero or Shang Tsung morphed into him, deep freeze your opponent and quickly enter your level fatality code and uppercut them into the spikes.
 * On the Kombat Tomb stage hold down on the joystick immediately after knocking your opponent up into the spikes and he/she will slip off the spikes and fall to the ground
 * On the Armory stage, with Reptile or Shang Tsung morphed into Reptile, do the tongue fatality and watch the floor move.
 * With Shang Tsung, morph into Sub-Zero and keep deep freezing the victim till you morph back. Then quickly morph into Jax and do the head smash fatality. The colour map of the victim will get screwed up.
 * Many interesting fatalities can be created using Shang Tsung/SubZero. Try turning into Sub Zero, doing the deep freeze, turn back into Shang Tsung, then Liu Kang, then do the dragon fatality. The dragon will then turn into Liu Kang, and immediately back into Shang Tsung.
 * On the final battle with Shao Kahn, catch him with Kitana's fan lift when the timer runs out in the winning round. The machine will play the exploding sound of Shao Kahn and then it will lock up. A good way to earn a free credit.

Trivia

 * Mortal Kombat II is usually considered the best game in the series.
 * Mortal Kombat II was so popular when it hit the arcades that several of the machines were later installed with deadlock security panels on the back to prevent thieves from ripping the game's motherboard straight out of the machine and taking it home (pictures of an arcade fitted as such are available as unlockable images in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance).
 * After the low sales of the SNES version of the first game against the Mega Drive/Genesis version, Nintendo didn't censor the blood and fatalities as they did before in the US and UK SNES version of Mortal Kombat, although they slapped a warning label in the front of the game box. The Japanese version is censored to a degree, with green blood for all fighters, as well as the screen colors turning black and white for fatalities. Despite this, the SNES version sold much better than any other version and was considered at that time the best port of the arcade version until the 32x port arrived.
 * Mortal Kombat II's levels and overall place within the Mortal Kombat timeline serve as the basis for the action/adventure game Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks.
 * Mortal Kombat II was re-released (although far from arcade-perfect) in 2004 as a part of Midway Arcade Treasures 2. It also saw a release on the Sony PSP in Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play, although this version suffered some graphic and sound bugs. It is also unlockable via a secret code in the game Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks in identical quality to the edition released in Midway Arcade Treasures 2.
 * In Japan, Mortal Kombat II was released on the PlayStation. This version is extremely rare, and commonly goes for over $100 on eBay.
 * Ed Boon's face was superimposed onto the trees for the Living Forest stage.
 * The famous "Toasty!" was originally "You're Toast!", which later evolved into "Toasted!", and then, "Toasty!" The former two were not actually used in the games.

Amiga version issues
The Amiga home edition of Mortal Kombat II was ported by a company called Probe Software, who had also ported the original Mortal Kombat to the Amiga as well as another Midway-produced fighting game, Primal Rage. It is largely believed that all three games were produced using the same basic game engine. Unfortunately, the updated version of the engine used for the Amiga version of MK-II contained several glitches.
 * The game would usually freeze at or not long after the "Round 1" announcement for the first match of the game (or alternatively, freeze during a Demonstration match against the computer). The game would also freeze following Shao Kahn's defeat, usually as he was about to shatter.
 * Unless a Demonstration Match was allowed to play first, the order in which the player would face opponents would always remain the same, invariably starting with a match with Kung Lao.
 * A glitch in the software code used to handle the "DIAGNOSTICS" cheat menu meant that the menu could be unlocked by typing the entire alphabet three times in a row (this also works in the Amiga port of the first game, where typing the entire alphabet from A to U enables the cheat menu).
 * The game featured exceptionally long load times, not helped by the fact that the game was spread over three 3.5" floppy disks (four in an unofficial leaked version) with no official method for installing the game to a Hard Drive. This was circumvented by the unofficial release of two Hard Drive installer programs, one for the official retail release, one for the leaked "pirate" version (more unofficial installers have been released since from various sources). The menu options for the leak installer contained crass language and abuse directed at both Midway and Probe for the poor quality of the port. In addition to which, memory restrictions (most likely caused by the leaked version installer placing the entire game data in the Amiga's RAM Disk) meant that certain elements of the game were missing, notably some of Shao Kahn's speech, the smoke graphic caused by Reptile's acid spit and for Smoke himself), and various speech samples and sound effects.
 * The option to have up to 30 Kredits is available from the main "OPTIONS" menu without any cheat codes, as opposed to being hidden in the "DIAGNOSTICS" cheat menu (unlikely to be intentional, as cheat codes for other versions of MK-II and MK3 unlock a similar option).
 * Jade can be fought by simply defeating the preceding character in one round without any special requirements.