As a kid I spent many a Saturday morning glued to the TV playing Mortal Kombat. As I got older I drifted from console gaming towards the PC. The few times I did play a PlayStation 2 era Mortal Kombat game I was invariably disappointed.

When I first got a PS3 my favorite game, and my favorite fighter of this generation, was Virtua Fighter 5. At a party some friends, knowing my love of 3D fighters, urged me to play Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. MK v. DC is not a terrible game, it is fun for what it is: a silly crossover with an easy to learn fighting engine. It's fun, but mostly forgettable.

Still, there is reason to have hope for my once favorite franchise. Mortal Kombat 9 seems to be a step in the right direction. In previews the developers have discussed returning to the formula that made the original 2D Mortal Kombat games so great. Rumors that an HD Mortal Kombat Arcade collection is coming, further illustrates the developers desire to remind us why we made Mortal Kombat a hit franchise.

At first I was thrilled Mortal Kombat was returning to its roots. Then it occurred to me that I hardly remembered what made me love Mortal Kombat in the first place.

When I think of Mortal Kombat, I mainly picture grisly fatalities juxtaposed by an oddball sense of humor. My childhood memories don’t yield much about the core game mechanics.

I found myself wondering: Was Mortal Kombat really ever that great of a franchise? Or did the games appeal center on its controversial violence and motion capture graphics?

In an attempt to answer these questions I dusted off my PS1 copy of Mortal Kombat Trilogy. Mortal Kombat Trilogy is a mash-up of Mortal Kombat 2 and 3 with minimal game play or graphical changes. Short of hooking up my Sega Genesis, this is as pure Mortal Kombat as it gets.

I have to admit, I didn’t expect to like the game. In the last few years, I have played a lot of Street Fighter titles and have retroactively concluded that Street Fighter has always been the better franchise. Even with dated graphics and control schemes I can still pick up the original versions of most Street Fighter games and have a good time. I didn’t expect Mortal Kombat to have the same staying power.

With these thoughts in mind, I started playing Mortal Kombat Trilogy. But then, in spite of my prejudice, I liked the game. Actually I liked it a lot.

First of all, based on mechanics, Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat are completely dissimilar. Projectiles, for example, are completely different in Mortal Kombat. For most characters in Street Fighter you can throw a projectile then rush at your opponent. Not so in Mortal Kombat. Using a projectile leaves the character immobile for a time, meaning that you shouldn’t throw a projectile unless you’re confident it will hit.

Because of the above example in particular, I had to stop thinking Street Fighter and relearn Mortal Kombat. After losing a few times, I remembered how to use the combo system. Combos are easy to pull off, just hold the forward button and spam the hard punch button. But just because performing the combos happens to be easy that doesn’t mean it isn’t a complex system.

Much like the projectile example, improper use of combos leaves your character vulnerable. The most basic punch combo can’t be chained past 4 hits. Meaning that you need to have a plan for what to do after the combo or your opponent can just combo you right back.

I wasn’t without complaints. Besides special moves, the characters all play the same. Any speed or power differences were so minute that I hardly noticed. Also, the power gap between the “good” and “bad” characters is huge. Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Cyrax, and their ilk are eons above many of the other characters.          

Another complaint I have is with the CPU player. This is really only an issue for the rumored HD collection, but the AI is really awful. One round the CPU player would move with superhuman speed and completely rout me. Then the next round I would win doing absolutely nothing but throw projectiles while my opponent just stood there. Even if it compromises an “authentic” classic Mortal Kombat experience, a revamped AI is in order for an HD collection.  

Mortal Kombat first captured my interest at a local Pizza Hut. I shyly watched boys much older than I was duke it out, too scared to try and join in. The day I was able to play Mortal Kombat in the privacy of my home was a day for celebration. Today fighting games are my favorite genre, and I owe a lot of that to Mortal Kombat. Hopefully Mortal Kombat 9 will live up to that.