As with its predecessor, matches are divided into rounds, and the first player to win two rounds by fully depleting their opponent's life bar is the winner; at this point, the losing character will become dazed and the winner is given the opportunity of using a finishing move. Mortal Kombat II lacks the "Test Your Might" bonus games and point system from the first game, in favor of a consecutive win tally where wins are represented by icons.
The game marked the introduction of multiple Fatalities (special moves allowing the victorious character to execute their opponent at the end of a match) as well as additional, non-lethal finishing moves to the franchise: Babalities (turning the opponent into a crying baby), Friendships (a non-malicious interaction, such as dancing or giving a gift to the defeated opponent) and additional stage-specific Fatalities (the victor uppercutting their opponent into an abyss below, spikes in the ceiling, or a pool of acid in the background). Finishing moves cannot be performed either by or against the boss or secret characters.note
Plot
Following his failure to defeat Liu Kang in the previous Mortal Kombat tournament, the evil Shang Tsung begs his master Shao Kahn, supreme ruler of Outworld and the surrounding kingdoms, to spare his life. He tells Shao Kahn that if they hold the next Mortal Kombat Tournament in Outworld, the Earthrealm warriors must travel away from home to attend. Kahn agrees to this plan, and restores Shang Tsung's youth and martial arts prowess. He then extends the invitation to the thunder god and Earthrealm's protector, Raiden, who gathers his warriors and takes them into Outworld. The new tournament is much more dangerous, and as Shao Kahn has the home field advantage, an Outworld victory will allow him to subdue Earthrealm.
According to the Mortal Kombat series' canon, Liu Kang won this tournament as well, defeating Shao Kahn and his bodyguard Kintaro. The game's story mode can be also finished using any other playable character, resulting in different non-canonical endings for each of them.
Reception
Sales
Mortal Kombat II proved to be an enormous commercial success and even a cultural phenomenon. In the first week of its release, the game made sales to $50 million, which Acclaim Entertainment said was "The largest introduction of a video game in history". Distribution of over 2.5 million copies around 15,000 stores required 65 trucks and 11 jumbo jets.
WMS Industries, owner of Midway at the time, reported its 1993 sales in the quarter ending December 31 rose to $101 million from $86 million and said much of its revenue gain was related to the sale of the arcade version of MKII. By 1996, the number of arcade machines sold approached 25,000 units; at that time, arcade games that sold 5,000 units were considered strong titles (Midway printed special T-shirts to celebrate 300 machines being manufactured in one day) and an arcade cabinet cost $3,000–4,000. MKII was considered an arcade game of the year, taking over from the original Mortal Kombat.
On the day of the release of the game's first four versions for cartridge-based console systems (Sega's Genesis and Game Gear and Nintendo's SNES and Game Boy), dubbed "Mortal Friday" (September 9, 1994), an unprecedented number of more than 2.5 million copies were shipped to be distributed, with the best opening-week sales in video game history at that point. Acclaim's analysts expected that the number of copies sold would reach at least 2.5 million within the first few weeks of release (at an average retail price of $60) and the sales to top $150 million by end of the year. First-week sales of over $50 million surpassed the initial box office results of that season's Hollywood film blockbusters, such as Forrest Gump, True Lies, The Mask and The Lion King. Mortal Kombat II became the world's best-selling video game (until it was eclipsed by Donkey Kong Country, released in November 1994) and the Genesis version sold 1.78 million copies in the United States alone, along with an additional 1.51 million American copies of the game for the SNES. By 2002, estimated gross sales of Mortal Kombat II home video games exceeded $400 million. Re-released in 2007, the PSN version has continued to occupy the service's top ten monthly sales chart nearly three years later in February 2010.
Reviews
The initial critical reception of Mortal Kombat II was overwhelmingly positive, with Sega Visions describing the way in which the sequel was directed as "sheer brilliance," and Nintendo Power calling it "the hottest fighter ever." Tony Brusgul of The Daily Gazette opined the "incredible" hype surrounding the game was "well deserved," describing it as "a perfect blend of great graphics, action and violence." In his review of the arcade release, Rik Skews of Computer + Video Games (C+VG) wrote: "the only true rival to Street Fighter II" returned "in a sequel that bites off the head of the original."
Regarding the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive version, Mark Patterson of C+VG wrote that "Probe has done an incredible job with this conversion. Everything is here, and I mean everything." Sushi-X of Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) called it "a great translation considering its limitations," although a reviewer for The Detroit News felt "very disappointed" with this port and recommended the SNES version instead, which C+VG declared "the most perfect coin-op conversion ever." The four reviewers of EGM hailed the SNES version as a "near-perfect" translation of the arcade game. While commenting that its graphics and sounds are not as good as those of the SNES version, they held the Genesis version to be an outstanding port as well. A reviewer for The Baltimore Sun called the SNES version "the best game I've ever played - a true translation," while Patterson noted it was the bloodiest game Nintendo has yet allowed to be released.
Regarding the portable console ports, Patterson stated that "no Game Boy owner should go without this" and called the Game Gear version "still the best handheld beat-'em up" on the market despite all the content that was not present in this version of the game. EGM reviewers concurred that the Game Gear version "has eye-popping graphics, and great control - so much so that you won't believe this is a portable," but were less enthusiastic about the Game Boy version. Though they commented that it is better than most fighting games for the system, two of their four reviewers felt that it was not worth getting with the game available on much more powerful platforms. Next Generation stated about SNES version of the game that "with full creative license, Acclaim has produced possibly the best arcade conversion ever."
