This is a very solid game, and even today it holds up strong, but it's flaws still shine both now and then.
This game started everything, and it was pretty much Midway's rise to fame. This game is great even now, due to excellent graphics, great music, and fun fighting.
POINTS FOR GRAPHICS!
+4 Blood comes out in droves, and it looks great.
+16 The characters look great.
+5 Backgrounds are great.
-3 Fatalities sometimes look bad.
-1 Animations are slightly bad.
-1 Shang Tsung is very sloppy.
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________Overall points for graphics: 20/20
The game looks just plain excellent, the characters animate decently, the gameplay is a joy to look at, the menus aren't as boring as the SNES version, and the backgrounds and blood look near perfect. Of course, Shang Tsung was half assed, and the fatalities (specifically Raiden's and Johnny Cage's, due to the head.) look cheesy, and sometimes god awful. Still, they are a great way to end a match.
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
POINTS FOR SOUND FX!
+4 Grunts and groans are crispy.
+1 The announcer is a nice touch considering he is Shang Tsung.
+1 Best menu sound out of all ports (-.-)
-2 Sound FX are usually boring.
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________Overall points for Sound FX: 4/10
The game is your typical fighting game sounds, so you know what to expect: Punches, kicks, voices, ect. Dissapointingly, this game does nothing to distinguish the sounds.
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
POINTS FOR MUSIC!
+2 Menu music is very good.
+10 Great music in battles wants you to fight.
-2 The pit's music sucks.
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________Overall points for Music: 10/10
The music in this game, in my opinion, is some of the best music of all the fighting games of this era. I won't spoil it, but at the VERY least, but it is way better than the SNES version.
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
OVERALL SCORE FOR VIDEO AND AUDIO: 34/40
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
POINTS FOR CONTROLS!
+14 This game is responsive.
+2 Special moves are plentiful.
+5 Fatalities are decently difficult to pull off.
+2 Block button is a great alternative to holding back >.>
-4 Nothing complicated
-1 Not the GREATEST response for controls.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Overall points for controls: 18/20
This game controlls quickly, decently responsivly, and has some good combos for fatalities. Unfortunatly, there is nothing complicated to learn, so once you get the fatalities down, you have nothing real deep to learn.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
POINTS FOR DEPTH!
+5 7 characters, roughly 3 moves each, and 1 fatality per character. Cool stuff.
+3 A good amount of secrets to find (O.O)
-6 Nothing hard to learn.
-1 Aside from fatalities, nothing great unlocked through codes.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Overall points for Depth: 1/10
Not much depth in the game, although there are quite a few moves to do.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
POINTS FOR FUN!
+15 Excellent on 2 player.
+5 Fatalities are strangely satisfying.
+13 1 player game is great.
+1 O_O BLOCK BUTTON!
-5 Too...hard....must...win...
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Overall points for Fun: 29/30
This game, alongside Street Fighter 2 (I don't care about it though) and Marvel vs Capcom, shows how fun a 2D fighting game can be. The block button is a great dynamic, and the fighting is fun. Also, Fatalities are an excellent way to end a match.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Overall score for gameplay: 48/60
OVERALL SCORE: 82/100