The closest graphically (for the time) achieved compared to the arcade ... only to be done in by horrible control.
Then the Super Nintendo version with Nintendo's pointless censoring at the time. No blood (just sweat) and no fatalities. Sure you could finish your opponent off with "Finishing Moves", at least they kept that idea in.
The SNES version was a mixed bag for me though. Excellent graphics, awesome sound. But no blood and no real fatalities. Given Nintendo's censorship nonsense at the time, I could understand that.
But what on Earth happened to the control? Good Lord ... it was just so out of whack. There's none of the fluidity of the arcade here .... you want to jump? You press Up, then a split second later your character jumps. That's too bloody long for a fighting game. Versus the Sega Genesis version where you press Up to jump and he or she immediately jumps.
The only thing that killed it for me with this port of the game was the control. It was just downright horrible. Everything else (aside from the censorship) was top notch.
The Sega Genesis version, with all it's flaws graphically and sound-wise KILLED this port for two reasons : the addition of the blood code and keeping the original fatalities and the control, which, while it wasn't identical to the arcade ... was still excellent in it's own right.
This SNES version IS enjoyable to an extent ... but I guess they didn't know enough about the SNES hardware to really take advantage of it at the time because this game controls like crap. Thankfully they rectified the situation with the Mortal Kombat II port, which, for the time ... was the single BEST port of the arcade to a home system period.