- NA release: 12th November 1996
- PAL release: 14th March 1997
- JP release: N/A
- Developer: Midway & Williams Interactive
- Publisher: Williams/GT Interactive
- N64 Magazine Score: 34%
I have absolutely no skill when it comes to fighting games. I have a terrible memory for special moves, and I never know when to block or attack, so I’m not going to be a good judge for games like this. Mortal Kombat Trilogy is essentially Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 with some characters and stages from Mortal Kombat 2 and 3 added, although the aggression bar that makes you slightly more powerful is new.
I know a game isn’t for me when the character select screen is too difficult. Quite a few characters are just reskins of other characters, and there are no character names whatsoever on the character select screen. I tried to choose Sub Zero, pretty much the only Mortal Kombat character I know, but ended up with someone called Rain. Oh, and there’s a timer in the background so it will select whoever you are on when it runs out.
I did manage to pull off one special move, and there are lots of fancy effects as punches and kicks are made. According to N64 magazine, though, it just simply isn’t as nice looking as the PlayStation version of the game. The N64 version also lacks a bunch of characters.
There are a few multiplayer modes where you can select multiple characters, but there’s not a lot to choose from. In singleplayer, you can fight through four difficulties, each having more fights to get through.
Even setting things to “very easy”, I struggled to get the hang of this game. There’s no practice mode or move lists (that I could find in the confusing menu), other than using player 2 to stand there and do nothing.
Based on the comments from N64 magazine, there’s not much reason for anyone to play this version of the game. I did cheat my way through one of the campaigns to see different levels. I got to play a space invader clone at the end, which I enjoyed more than the main game.
Poor
A game that entertained through its sheer blood-slapped violence. But now it looks a tad weary. Like your Dad at a disco, it think it’s better than us
Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #4
Remake or Remaster?
This doesn’t need any special treatment, just included in collections.
Official ways to get the game.
The PC version of Mortal Kombat Trilogy is available through GOG.
Europe
Japan
North America
N64 Games by Date
1997: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
1998: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
1999: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2000: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
guess what… You’re wrong! Because the N64 version is actually the one used for competitive play and is generally considered to be the best version.
Not that I’m really a fan of Mortal Kombat in any form, but it’s a rare example of a 2D fighter on the system; and it’s nice to know that the console could do justice to these types of games.
Shame that it never got the likes of Marvel VS Capcom or the Darkstalkers games during its lifetime. Bet that Capcom could’ve put out a banging version of those games if they used a decently sized cartridge.
Oof. Yeah, having a bunch of characters just be the same recoloured ninja brings out so many problems. Later games in the series would do a lot more to differentiate these blokes.
Mortal Kombat is a fascinating series, in that there’s an undeniable charm and identity to it (and its characters), but the fighting has always felt stiff as a board. It’s a series I can easily ignore and respect at the same time.
That said, fighting games of the time were needlessly obtuse, and MK Trilogy seems to be a particularly bad case of it. The N64/PS1 era was when movelists and extra modes started to become standard, but this celebration of the series-thus-far just ignored all that, huh?