Mortal Kombat 4

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Mortal Kombat 4
Image:Mortal Kombat 4.png
Developer(s) Midway Games, Eurocom
Publisher(s) Midway Games
Series Mortal Kombat
Platform(s) Arcade, Game Boy Color, PC, PlayStation, N64
Release date October 15, 1997 (Arcade)
June 24, 1998 (PlayStation)
July 1, 1998 (PC)
June 23, 1998 (N64)
Genre(s) Fighting
Mode(s) Up to 2 players
Media CD/ cartridge
System requirements System: Pentium-133 or equivalent RAM: 32 MB Video Memory: 2 MB Hard Drive Space: 25 MB
Input methods 8-way joystick; 6 buttons Gamepad
Cabinet Standard
Arcade system Midway Zeus hardware
Main CPU: TMS32031 (@ 50 MHz)
Sound CPU: ADSP2104 (@ 16 MHz)
Sound Chips: (2x) DMA-driven (@ 16 MHz)

Mortal Kombat 4 was the last arcade game that Mortal Kombat had in its series. It was updated into Mortal Kombat Gold a year later for the Sega Dreamcast. MK Gold's story overrides MK4's. It is one of the few 3D fighting games to have been described as having "2D gameplay."

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

Early on, the development team at Midway decided to make a 3D Mortal Kombat to capitalize on the rising popularity of 3D games at the time. Midway decided to develop its own hardware, named "Zeus" from scratch however, resulting in development delays (a large amount of the game was tested on two dimensional hardware using pre-rendered characters).

As revealed in later interviews, programmer Ed Boon was particularly concerned with maintaining the gameplay feel of a 2D game but with 3D graphics. He at first was worried that there was some intrinsic property of 3D graphics that would make this impossible. Essentially, the major gameplay difference between 2D and 3D fighting games of the time, was that up to that point all 3D fighting games had attempted to somewhat simulate realistic martial arts. One of the reasons this was done was to take advantage of the fluid keyframed and motion captured animation that was now possible using 3D models. For example, in Virtua Fighter, a real martial artist was filmed performing the moves, and this movement was imposed on the 3D model in the game. Thus, while a punch in a 2D game might be a rapidly responding move with two frames of animation, a punch in a 3D game might have a delay between when the button was pressed and when the opponent was hit, owing to the realistic animation.

This delay however fundamentally changed the gameplay experience. Boon eventually decided to use the non realistic 2D rates of animation and movement, simply imposed onto 3D graphics. Thus the gameplay experience is nearly identical to the 2D versions of Mortal Kombat. While this was attempted before with the Street Fighter EX series, that series used more complex animation which did change the gameplay somewhat. Some critics however, were disappointed that Mortal Kombat 4 did not play like other popular 3D games of the time.

[edit] Characters

The following is a list of "kombatants" listed in the Mortal Kombat 4 character selection roster.

Character selection screen.
Character selection screen.

[edit] New characters

MK4 introduced:

MK4 also included the following hidden characters:

[edit] Returning characters

  • Liu Kang-A shaolin monk who seeks to destroy Shinnok.
  • Major Jackson Briggs-A member of the Special Forces who finds out that Jarek is still alive.
  • Johnny Cage-A Hollywood movie star who will produce his next movie.
  • Raiden-The thunder god Raiden will guide his fellow Mortals.
  • Reptile (now with his mask removed)-A Zaterran warrior who seeks to serve Shinnok to save his realm.
  • Scorpion-A ninja spectre who seeks revenge on his nemesis Sub-Zero.
  • Sonya Blade-A member of the Special Forces who seeks to destroy Jarek.
  • Sub-Zero-An ice ninja who is pleased to help Raiden to destroy Shinnok.

[edit] Boss and sub-boss

Goro, not featured in the arcade version of MK4, was added as a sub-boss for the console versions of the game. Quan Chi poses as the final boss when Shinnok is used by the player. Also, Shinnok appears as both the boss and sub-boss character when playing as Goro.

[edit] New to the series

  • MK4 is the first Mortal Kombat game to have entirely computer-generated characters, although the texture maps of the characters were taken from most of the live-action actors of the previous games and animations were all generated via motion capture. It was revolutionary at the time, although the character models now appear dated.
  • MK4 introduces a limited weapon system to the series, allowing one to take out a weapon using a set button combination (as opposed to the more recent single button), having an almost completely new movelist for the said character. The weapons can also be thrown and dropped, in similar fashion as the arena objects.
  • MK4 also introduces 3D combat, although limited to sidestepping as opposed to the 8 way walk movements, of which can be found in the Namco game Soul Calibur.
  • Finally, MK4 added a 'Maximum Damage' cap to the game's combo system, automatically breaking off combos if they deal over a set amount of damage to a player and, thus, preventing infinite combos (although this cap can be removed with a code).

[edit] Storyline

“ Thousands of years ago, during a war with the corrupt Elder God known as Shinnok, Raiden was responsible for the death of an entire civilization. To avoid a repeat of this event, as well as to protect all realms from Shinnok's threat, Raiden waged a brutal campaign and, at a heavy price, exiled his rival to a dark place known as the Netherealm.

A couple of years before the Shaolin tournament, the original Sub-Zero assisted the necromancer Quan Chi in obtaining Shinnok's amulet, the source of Shinnok's power to traverse the realms (as recounted in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero). Now, after Shao Kahn's failed attempt to seize Earthrealm, Quan Chi has allied himself with Shinnok and helped the god escape from his confines. With the help of an Edenian traitor, they enter the Heavens and kill most of the gods, but Fujin and Raiden escape and gather Earthrealm's finest warriors to fight them. The Raiden-Shinnok feud had burst open once again, but this time the battle could be won by mortals.

 ”

[edit] Ports

Mortal Kombat 4 was ported to the Game Boy Color, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and PC.

All ports of MK4, excluding the Game Boy Color, are notable for containing exclusive content not featured in the original arcade version. Possibly the biggest inclusion to the ports is Goro. He was not featured in the arcade game, but now serves as a playable sub-boss who is fought before Shinnok in single player mode. Also added to the ports is the Ice Pit, which is a snow-filled arena taking place in an icy, carved-out pit. Another new feature added to these ports are a second set of alternate outfits for all characters. The arcade version provided only one set of alternate outfits which the player could unlock.

The Game Boy Color version of MK4 is based on that console's version of Mortal Kombat 3. It has nine playable characters: Raiden, Quan Chi, Fujin, Liu Kang, Sub-Zero, Reiko, Tanya, Scorpion, and the hidden character Reptile. Shinnok is still the final opponent. In addition, there are a few speech clips, and instead of using the in-game graphics for the fatalities, the game uses short FMV clips. Also, the back of the game's box features an earlier character select screen, which has Johnny Cage, Kai, and Sonya instead of Quan Chi, Liu Kang, and Tanya respectively.

[edit] Versions

  • The PC and PlayStation versions run FMV endings as well as the intro and bios, thanks to running on CD-ROMs. The Nintendo 64 version, however, uses the in-game character animations to run endings as well as the bios and intro.

[edit] Reception

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Initial reaction to the new 3D look of the series (as is often the case with long running series) was negative, but MK4 managed to be a financial success due to an aggressive advertisement campaign which included a set of live action adverts filmed in Mexico and a US-wide tour of the arcade version by the game's creators which helped spread the word.

EGM was one of the magazines that referred to it as "the worst Mortal Kombat game" and said it had "laughably bad 3D combat" as well. EGM also quoted that in the retro section of one EGM it said that "they were wrong when they thought it was good" when they previewed it back in EGM #99.

MK4 was also to be the last Mortal Kombat game released in the arcades due to a dramatic drop in arcade popularity in America in the year 2000.

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • MK4 & Gold are the only MK games to have animated endings.
  • All the endings are visually enhanced, and are in essence, kept the same in the MK4 port, known as Mortal Kombat Gold, additional endings were added in for the new characters added for the newest version.
  • MK4 was actually not the first game that was created by Midway with the new Zeus software. A fighting game titled War Gods was released several months before MK4's debut.
  • Reptile makes his first playable appearance in the series without his mask.
  • First game in the series (not counting Trilogy) where the boss is playable by default, probably to have a shapeshifter among the fighters.
  • In the early stages of the game, Sub-Zero did not have his eye scar on either his character model or his character-select portrait, which lead to some confusion as to whether this was the first or second Sub-Zero. In the 2nd version of MK4, the scar was added to both his portrait and character model; an unmasked character model slightly resembling his MK3-outfit was added as a second outfit instead of a recolor.
  • Noob Saibot was part of the original character roster in the early versions of the game, however, due to there not being enough new characters in the game, his clothing was altered and the character Reiko is designed, and he took the place of Noob Saibot. A "Noob Saibot mode" code that apparently did nothing was speculated to be a step in unlocking Saibot for play, although this was not the case. Noob Saibot would remain missing through all of MK4's arcade incarnations. He returned as an unlockable character for all of the home ports of the game, minus an ending however.
  • In the home versions of MK4 where Goro is given a story screen, it says that he won the title of Grand Champion "...only to have it won from him by Lao's ancestor, Liu Kang." This further adds to the confusion over whether Kang is a descendant of the Great Kung Lao- not only does it misuse the word "ancestor" instead of "descendant", but Mortal Kombat II states that Kung Lao is the last descendant. This screen is identical in Mortal Kombat Gold.
  • Kitana was originally planned to be in Mortal Kombat 4. However, her skins color palette was changed to brown and outfit color palette to yellow to make Tanya. Her coding is still in the N64 version of the game, and she can be accessed with a GameShark. Her coding is also in the PC version, but it can be only accessed via a trainer. While Kitana's model and textures were deleted from the PlayStation version, her moves were left in, and can be assigned to any character with a GameShark.
  • Like Kitana and Noob Saibot, Kano was also planned for MK4, however, due to there not being enough new characters in the game, they left Kano out of the roster and put Jarek instead of him. Jarek directly had Kano's signature moves and fatalities, which caused a lot of complaints from fans.
  • In MK4's earlier development stages, there were originally to be 12 selectable characters and 3 characters that would be unlocked using an Ultimate Kombat Kode. The unlockable character idea was dropped and all 15 characters were made automatically selectable.
  • This is the first Mortal Kombat game without Shang Tsung, although his character transform technique was left almost intact for use by Shinnok.
  • None of the new characters introduced in Mortal Kombat 3 were brought back in MK4, until Cyrax and Sektor were added to the roster in Mortal Kombat Gold.
  • This was the first Mortal Kombat game to feature weapon combat, allowing characters to pull out weapons, use them, drop them, pick them up and throw them.
  • In few home versions of MK4, Goro is given fatalities that are identical to other characters, however, these versions are the ones that run on CD-ROMs. The N64 version lacks Goro's fatalities despite the game saying "FINISH HIM/HER!"
  • The original arcade version of Mortal Kombat 4 featured some unique background designs in some of the stages, while these designs weren't seen in the home versions, they would later be seen in Mortal Kombat Gold.
  • The Nintendo 64 version has an interesting glitch in the game that is used in Tournament mode. If all characters are CPU controlled and there were at least nine rounds selected, the characters would freeze and not attack, the only way the glitch stops is when time runs out.
  • The PlayStation home version of MK4 started one of the most widely argued and disputed events in Mortal Kombat history, when Reiko's ending was recreated to show him donning Shao Kahn's mask. Originally, the in-game animation ending simply showed Reiko walking through a portal. The FMV continued this sequence to show him sitting on a throne, followed by the mask of Shao Kahn slowly descending upon him. Fans went wild, with the MK community largely divided into two sides: "Reiko IS Shao Kahn" and "Reiko is NOT Shao Kahn". The debate raged for over 7 years until the release of Mortal Kombat: Deception, where it was revealed in the games "Konquest Mode" that Reiko apparently liked to sneak into Shao Kahn's chambers and don his helmet. The MK design team had previously stated that the Reiko ending was a joke, and was also created by Eurocom, so it technically was not considered to be canon to the storyline. Despite this, the debate still raged until it was ultimately laid to rest with the release of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon via the player discovering in the game's "Konquest Mode" that Reiko is in fact one of Shao Kahn's highest ranking generals, but he has aspirations to be emperor of Outworld and vows he will one day be wearing Kahn's helm.
  • It was originally intended that the Noob Saibot/Sub-Zero storyline would be revealed in MK4, given that Noob Saibot was originally on the cast of main characters. Since Noob was removed from the primary roster, it is widely believed that Noob Saibot's home version fatalities (Sub-Zero's freeze and shatter) were a hint indicating that Noob Saibot was actually the deceased older brother of the current Sub-Zero.
  • PlayStation Magazine held a promotional contest for Mortal Kombat 4 in late 1999, asking gamers to provide an identity to a new character to be featured in a personalized arcade system for the winner.
  • Quan Chi appeared in the Defenders of the Realm animated series prior to any video game.

[edit] External links

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