Best console version of MK2 that I've played.
The story behind Mortal Kombat II is Shang T Sung was facing execution,because he was unable to win the Mortal Kombat tournament in the original MK game(which would have allowed the ruler of the Outworld named Shao Kahn to take control of Earth),so Shang T Sung begged and convinced Shao Kahn to hold a second tournament in the outworld where Earth's best combatants would once again have to fight the outworld's combatants and if the outworld's combatants win the tournament,Shao Kahn would be able to take Earth.The Elder Gods have some rule where if the Outworld's combatants defeat the earth's combatants in a fighting tournament named Mortal Kombat,they would allow Shao Kahn to take over Earth.
The outworld is a very different and dangerous place to Earth,and this time the Outworld combatants would have home ground advanage.
Representing earth are Johnny Cage(movie star and martial artist),Raiden(the Thunder God),Lui Kang(Shao lin monk),Scorpion and Sub Zero who are ninja(Sub Zero can use ice to freeze opponents and Scorpion can spear opponents with a harpoon that comes out of the palm of his hand),Kung Lao(shao link monk and decendant of a former MK champion),Jax(a military guy who is searching for Sonya).
Representing the outworld are Kitana(a princess of the outworld who wants to put an end to Shao Kahn's Tyranny),Baraka(a member of a race who have Blades that grow from their arms and is a servant of Shao Kahn),Mileena(a clone of Kitana made to serve Shao Kahn as an assassin),Reptile(who was made a servant of Shao Kahn after his reptilian race was wiped out by Shao Kahn),and Shang T Sung returns as a playable character,and he had his youth restored by Shao Kahn,and once again Shang T Sung can do his triple fireball attack and morphing abilities.
New moves have been added to the original characters,for example,Johnny Cage was given a jumping punch move similiar to the shoryuken in street fighter.Lui Kang has a new attack where he flies through the air and hits his opponent with lots of rapid little kicks),Sub Zero can make ice puddles that make his opponents lose their balance and allows him to get a free hit on them.
The new characters have brutal/impressive moves,such as how Baraka rapid blade attack,Mileena has a teleport kick move,Kitana has the fan lift move which stuns opponents and lifts them into the air and allows her a free hit on her opponent,and her giant,fan blade projectiles cut opponents badly and cause them to lose a lot of health.Reptile can become invisible(until he is hit)and can do an energy ball that knocks his opponent into the air and allows him a free hit on his opponent.Jax can grab his opponent and pound them with punches or slam them into the ground multiple times.Kung Lao can spin really fast and if you you touch him,he will cause massive damage to you.Shang T Sung has his morphing ability and can do his multiple fireball attack.
As for the fatalaties,some of them are even more violent than in the original MK game,such as Kung Lao's fatality where he slices an opponent through the middle with his hat and they'll peel apart like a banana.Jax can smash his opponents head or pull their arms off.Baraka can impale an opponent with his blades and lift them up and watch them suffer before they die.Lui Kang has the most spectacular fatality when he turns into a dragon and bites his opponent in half! Reptile can bite an opponent's head off and says ''yum!!'' and rubs his tummy! There's other fatalities include decapitations,ripping them in half,exploding them or even eating them and spitting out their remains.
There is new finishing moves called babalities and friendships.Babalities turn your opponent into a baby and friendships you do a nice gesture for them and you can use them if you pity an opponent or for humor.
As for the gameplay,like the original Mortal Kombat,the CPU will detect and counter most of what you do.However,there's a strategy you can use,which is because the CPU detects what you're going to do,if you jump backwards,the CPU will jump forwards after you allowing you to do a free hit on it! Mastering this technique is the key to victory but you'll need to do it very fast because the CPU opponents are good at throwing/slamming you if they get close to you and will come at you very quickly.
The new giant creature you'll face is Kintaro and if you thought Goro was bad Kintaro is 100x worse! Kintaro is not as vulnerable to jump kicks like Goro is and Kintaro will grab you and slam you into the ground often if he blocks one of your attacks or get close to you.He can jump off the screen and stomp on you,and his fireballs take 1/4 off your health.But,there is strategies you can use to defeat him.
Shao Kahn,he is not quite as bad as Kintaro but his attacks do a lot of damage,and if he gets you into the corner,he can pound you with some fast,heavily damaging moves,even if you block them.I love it when Shao Kahn punches,kicks,or shoulder charges you and sends you flying across the screen and I love hearing him say ''you will die!!!!!!'' it sends chill down my spine.
The environments are based in the outworld now,some have an alien feel to them such as the living forest with trees that have terrifying faces roaring at you,and the stage with the spiked roof where you'll see strange beasts flying past,the new pit is much higher than the old one,and instead of falling on spikes,opponents will just fall a LONG distance to their death and you see them splatter on the ground in 3D.There is an acid pool where you can knock your opponent into a pool of acid and you see their skeleton float past,and a stage with a portal and a spinning tower and you'll see creepy hooded people in the background.Shao Kahn's arena has Shao Kahn sitting on his throne watching the fight with an audience and you'll see Sonya and Kano chained up in the background.
The music is faster and more intense than the original game and gives the feeling of a more dangerous environment.The sound effects sound brutal.
As for why I think this version is better than the Midway Arcade Treasures 2 version? This version doesn't doesn't reduce the time window to execute fatalities like the Midway Arcade Treasures 2 version does,and this version is obviously better than the GENESIS version and it's safe to say it's better than the SNES version and I've heard complaints about the PS3 version.I've played this game a lot at the arcades,the the 32X version of this game is IMO the closest to the arcade version.