Crazily enough, this is my third review of a version of Mortal Kombat 2. It's technically the 4th version of it I own, because it comes on Midway Arcade Treasures 2 for the XBox, you may wonder exactly what possessed me to buy it for the 32X recently. Basically my reasoning was that I hadly ever see 32X games for sale, and snap up any that I even see for sale, regardless of quality. I was already a fan of the game, and had heard good things about the 32X port, so looked forward to finishing off my foes in grand style as I slotted the 32-Bit cartridge into the monstrosity that is my Sega, with 32X and CD unit hooked up making it appear like some sort of Megazord from Power Rangers.

For those who have never heard of the series, Mortal Kombat games are 1-on-1 fighters where the idea is to win the best 2 rounds out of three by beating your enemy's health bar down to empty using a variety of punches,kicks,throws and special attacks. What set the game apart from it's rivals was the extreme gore that followed every hit connecting, and the Fatalities.This involved entering a specific button combination upon defeating your enemy which killed them off via some variety of spectacular death move.
Mortal Kombat 2 is widely accepted as the best entry into the series in terms of it's gameplay, due to the fact that it's engine adds a lot on to it's predecessor, but it predates the series much maligned 'Canned-Combo' system of the next few entries. This game is just fun to play. A good selection of moves per-character, 12 of them to choose from, good hit detection and probably the most balanced roster of the series makes for a highly entertaining fighter, in single player. In 2-Player, things take on a whole new dimension as the game becomes a sublime excercise in rivalry and competition, and is truly one of the best multiplayer games ever created.

The story for the second entry is pretty in-depth for a fighter if you look at all of the characters, so I'll just dish out a brief summary:

After his defeat at the hands of Liu Kang in the first Mortal Kombat tournament, evil sorcerer Shang Tsung is given one more chance by his master Shao Kahn, who gets him to trick the Earth-fighters to come to his domain in Outworld to fight for the fate of ours. He has enlisted a relative of Goro's, the Tiger-Striped Kintaro, and Shang Tsung's servant Reptile was come out of the shadows to help the Outworld cause, but the Earth has brought more heroes, such as Sub Zero's younger brother and Sonya, who is missing, partner Jax as well as returning heroes Raiden,Liu Kang and Johnny Cage

The story is pretty cool, especially for the usually story deprived land of the fighter, with the game following in the footsteps of it's prequel in setting things up nicely with a story right out of a cheesy martial arts movie.

Controlling the game really requires a Six-Button controller, as playing it with a 3 is nigh on impossible. X and A control high and low punch respectively, Z and C do the same for High and Low Kick, the other two Y and B do blocking, as does start.
The fact that Start blocks causes much frustration as the game won't allow you to pause, but the response of the controls brought me no complaints, with my only other niggle being the infamous pain in the a*** of all Mortal Kombat 2D titles in that the game makes you press a button to block,which in a 2D fighter is just stupid.
This aside, nobody should have trouble controlling the game.

Graphically, the game was good, even in it's 16-Bit conversions, and the 32X version makes a few improvements, although nothing earth shatteringly different. The character sprites, digitally captured from real actors, are all large and crisp, and the backgrounds are nicely created with some excellent detail, more so than on the 16-Bit versions.
Here an example of the improvement would be in the haunted forest, where the trees now all have different faces, while this may sound minor, the sprites are a little bit more crisp here, and the special move effects also look a little sharper. This may not exactly be convincing that it improves significantly on the regular Sega version, but it has to be said that that particular version was a pretty excellent port, and this simply re-inserts the little touches removed on route from arcade to 16-Bit cart.

The sound was also good to begin with, but minor improvements such to the quality of it seem to have been made, although nothing major has been altered. The music is still moody,atmospheric and cool, and the battle cries are still bold,silly and fun.

On the whole,no matter which version of Mortal Kombat 2 you play, barring possibly the Game Boy one, you are in for a great fighter. Up until the recent PS2,XBox and GameCube Arcade Collection version, the 32X version was the closest thing to an arcade version of the game in your home.
The question you are probably asking is "is it worth buying if I own the regular Megadrive/Genesis version?" and the answer to that really depends on your attitude to fighters, and the series in general. If you are just a casual fan who wants a fun fight, the regular Sega port will be easier to find and will do you fine, for the fighter enthusiasts who notice silly little details, such as myself, if the game doesn't cost too much, it's a nice addition to a 32X collection, and probably one of the best games on the doomed add-on.

While you may say that 5 Stars is a bit much for a game that doesn't really improve on the regular version, given the game's context, as a 32X title, I feel it is warranted. The game is a classic, no matter how many version of it I have to buy, I don't grudge it, and if this was offered for roughly the same, or a little more in,price than the 16-Bit version, I would definitely take it, the subtle touches work for me.

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Mortal Kombat

Games
Mortal Kombat for Sega Genesis
Mortal Kombat for Super Nintendo
Mortal Kombat 2 for Super Nintendo
Mortal Kombat 2 for Sega Genesis
Mortal Kombat 3 for Sega Genesis
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for Sega Genesis
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for Sega Saturn

Recommended: Yes