It's nice that there is finally a good Mortal Kombat for the GBA,and with tons of unlockables,it will keep you playing.
When you start playing,you'll realize that you don't have a giant selection of characters to choose from.This isn't awful,because it does have most of the main characters from the past games,including Scorpion,and Sub-Zero.As you beat Arcade Mode on different difficulties,you can unlock four extra characters to play with.Now,when you die and quit Arcade Mode,the game will say you've recieved X amount of Koins.These coins can be used in an in game store called the Krypt.In the Krypt,it shows dozens and dozens of coffins,and they all have a price tag on it.You press A to purchase it,if you have enough Koins.The problem is,they don't tell you what you're getting until you've bought it already.So,you might be getting something really cool,like character skins,or might get something you don't even want.Overall,though,the Krypt is a nice feature,and it gives you purpose in the game,after you've completed the story.Now,when I was playing the game,I saw one Koffin that cost 10,000 Koins.I decided to save up all my Koins to get it(and it took a while).When I finally purchased it,it ended up being the ability to do Test Your Sight whenever you want at the menu.Now,Test Your Sight is a mode where there are five cups in front of you,four with skulls shown underneath them,and one with no skull.When it starts,the skulls dissapear,and you have to follow the good one while it moves around,along with the other cups.It sounds easy,but it can get really frustrating,due to the speed of the cups.Once you pick the right one,you get X amount of Koins.Now,this is a nice feature,but 10,000 Koins is way too much for it.There isn't much anything else in the Krypt that costs that much,and even when you do pass Test Your Sight,you don't get a whole lot of Koins,so it's pretty much useless to me.
The story of this game is pretty irrelevant to the actual gameplay,and it's been pretty much stripped of everything on the Gameboy Advance.There's no cutscenes or anything,just text.Lots and lots of text.Because of this,I paid little to no attention at all.But,if you do read it,it tells you how two bad dudes got together,and they want to take over the world.So all the good fighters have to fight him off.In order to get to the Deadly Alliance and defeat them,you must first kill every other good fighter.Now,how killing your teammates is going to HELP me is way beyond me,but it does make it last a lot longer.I mean,I wouldn't want the main portion of the game to be two fights.When you finally get to the Deadly Alliance,you must fight both of these guys.It sounds pretty easy,but the first one isn't too hard to beat,but he'll lower your health a little bit.And after you beat him,your health meter stays at what is was at the end of the last round.So whatever damage you received in the last round stays with you for the last fight,making it that much more challenging.And the last fighter definitely throws everything he has at you in order to defeat you.
There is one more complaint:When you're playing this game on consoles,you can chain punches and kicks together effortlessly,and send your oppenents in the air,where you can attack them,even more.But,in this game,combos seams impossible to me.For whatever reason,I can't get a combo more than three hits.So,that does bother me quite a bit when I'm playing.
In most fatalities,your character pulls the heart or liver or something out of the opponent.This body part will fly a few feet,and it usually lands behind your character.But,even when it does land behind your fighter,it shows up as if it was in front of him.And,the texture of the gore is completely different,and it shows up a whole lot brighter than everything else in the game.This doesn't affect the score,but it is a minor annoyance.
Overall,this is a great game to have in your Gameboy library,and it will most likely keep you entertained for a while.It has some minor flaws,but anyone who enjoys Mortal Kombat should be able to look past these and purchase this game.