SNES or Genesis

Hey all,

My friend and I were talking the other day about the good ol' SNES and Genesis days, and we started talking about the Mortal Kombat series on them. It's well agreed that the Genesis version of Mortal Kombat is the better home port, and that the SNES version of Mortal Kombat II wins out there. We've both never heard which platform's versions of Mortal Kombat 3 and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 were considered the better one.

Is there a consensus there, and if so which version and why?

Overall I like the SNES version better of MK over Sega for these reasons:

-Better controller, I think this goes without saying vs the SG controller which only had 3 buttons and start to block was just not practical and then they realized this so they made the 6 button controller. But yeah SNES controller was perfect for MK and SF, but especially for MK with the block being in the perfect spot and HP, LP,HK, LK etc being much better than the SG controller.

-Graphics, the differences are pretty obvious when you have them side by side. MK looks better on the SNES than Sega, better graphics, colors etc easily.

-Sound, again something the SNES version does better than the SG easily. Sega sounded tinsey, higher pitched just sounded weird. The SNES version had much better sound, more accurate to the arcade. Neither were arcade exact port accurate but the SNES cleary does the better job.

-Gameplay, ok the gameplay is pretty smooth on both but I feel like the SG version is MK on speed(some people like that, I don't personally) the SNES version felt a lot more like the arcade to me than the SG version in terms of closeness to the arcade port gameplay wise.



I played both a lot, I have to say out of all of them for both consoles. Played MK 2 easily the most on SNES. At my house, my friend's place down the block we'd play for hours every day, looking for EGM and Nintendo Power for the secret finishers, fatalities, animalities, friendships etc(back before the days of the internet)


Comparing each game in terms of accuracy to the arcade port.

MK 1-Ok, the Sega version winded up selling more due to the infamous blood code which Sega hid in the game so the fatalities were like the arcade and this gave them an edge on the SNES version of MK since at the time, Nin was very anti blood, violence etc. However, gameplay wise the game felt better on SNES than the Sega G which again felt too fast.

MK 2-Nin pretty much learned from their mistake and said fuck it, let it rock all out and pretty much destroyed the SG version as a result, better gameplay, graphics, sound and 100% arcade accurate. It wasn't even close.

MK 3-This one played nearly identical from what I recall on both, though again the SG being slightly faster. I would still give the SNES the edge here due to the gameplay, graphics, sound and controller as the run being L helped bigtime while R remained block. I mean hell, even now consoles like PS and Xbox both took the SNES layout from the 90s what's that tell ya?

UMK3-Ok, while I enjoyed this game more on the SNES personally due to again the configuration, pad and graphics, sound. The gameplay I believe was actually more arcade accurate on the SG version believe it or not. The one game out of all of them that did the better job than Nintendo in terms of gameplay being better. I would still prefer the SNES controller however, but yeah in terms of gameplay I seem to recall it being better/more arcade accurate on the SG.

So overall, I'd say SNES takes it over SG MK games 4-1 overall. The MK series on both were fun, fluid in their own way but if you're a guy who cares about graphics, solid controller, dpad, sound and better gameplay. It's pretty obvious the SNES was the superior version overall. BTW, I had both, my SG broke though I still have my SNES just not hooked up. I modded my SNES classic mini with both versions of the game with UMK3. And the rest SNES versions.

I was a Megadrive kid growing up, so easily that for me if we are talking specifically about MK1,2,3.

Cool, thanks for the replies guys. I know the Sega Genesis version of Mortal Kombat was considered the superior version not just because of the Blood Code, but that it's gameplay was significantly closer to the arcades. Apparently on the SNES it was a little floaty with some input delay.

I 100% agree regarding the SNES Controller being better over the Sega Genesis (even 6-button), and that the SNES has better graphics by far. Sound seems to vary based on who one talks to, but I also find the SNES has overall better sound.

@MKF30 How did Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 feel better on the Genesis, when Mortal Kombat 3 did not? I ask because the "Ultimate" versions were built atop the same base games, just like the arcade. In the SNES version, you can still "enable" Smoke, even though he's default selectable since the game used Mortal Kombat 3 as its base.

Juxtapose said:

Cool, thanks for the replies guys. I know the Sega Genesis version of Mortal Kombat was considered the superior version not just because of the Blood Code, but that it's gameplay was significantly closer to the arcades. Apparently on the SNES it was a little floaty with some input delay.

I 100% agree regarding the SNES Controller being better over the Sega Genesis (even 6-button), and that the SNES has better graphics by far. Sound seems to vary based on who one talks to, but I also find the SNES has overall better sound.

@MKF30 How did Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 feel better on the Genesis, when Mortal Kombat 3 did not? I ask because the "Ultimate" versions were built atop the same base games, just like the arcade. In the SNES version, you can still "enable" Smoke, even though he's default selectable since the game used Mortal Kombat 3 as its base.

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The Sega versions of mk 1, 2 felt faster but the gameplay was more accurate to the arcade with SNES on those particular versions(imput lag was a bit of a pain at times in MK 1 though). Mk 3 you're right forgot about that smoke code still worked. I personally preferred umk3 on SNES but the Sega version was fun too.

Yeah I didn't like mk 2 or 3 on Sega at all. Felt the SNES was superior overall with those two imo.

When you get into mk3 era that's when arcades started a downward spiral, and soon after was the advent of Playstation which made snes sega look and sound like stone age tech, only downside was the absurd load times lol

I was an SNES guy for MK2. Played MK 1 on the game gear, refused to get the snes version bc no blood

@MKF30 Because of this discussion, I actually found and fired up an SNES emulator and have been immersing myself in fantastic nostalgia all afternoon. I tried Mortal Kombat, and it does indeed have input delay though. I found even doing roundhouses unreliable. It looks and sounds great though, but yeah, handles really clunky like. I fired up Mortal Kombat II to make sure it wasn't something wrong with the emulator I'm using, and that played great; just as I remembered. Also been enjoying the snot out of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time this afternoon!

@Zer0_h0ur Yeah, I got a Super Nintendo Entertainment System late. When Mortal Kombat hit home consoles, the only platform I had that would play a version of the game was the Game Boy, so I got that. An awful, awful handheld version. I played the Sega Genesis version at my best friend's all the time though.

I had Mortal Kombat II and Mortal Kombat 3 on my SNES, though I never bothered with a home version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 until the Xbox 360.

And yeah, in 1995 I switched from an SNES to PC gaming, and never looked back. Started getting into shooters over fighting games at that time as well.

Juxtapose said:

@MKF30 Because of this discussion, I actually found and fired up an SNES emulator and have been immersing myself in fantastic nostalgia all afternoon. I tried Mortal Kombat, and it does indeed have input delay though. I found even doing roundhouses unreliable. It looks and sounds great though, but yeah, handles really clunky like. I fired up Mortal Kombat II to make sure it wasn't something wrong with the emulator I'm using, and that played great; just as I remembered. Also been enjoying the snot out of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time this afternoon!

@Zer0_h0ur Yeah, I got a Super Nintendo Entertainment System late. When Mortal Kombat hit home consoles, the only platform I had that would play a version of the game was the Game Boy, so I got that. An awful, awful handheld version. I played the Sega Genesis version at my best friend's all the time though.

I had Mortal Kombat II and Mortal Kombat 3 on my SNES, though I never bothered with a home version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 until the Xbox 360.

And yeah, in 1995 I switched from an SNES to PC gaming, and never looked back. Started getting into shooters over fighting games at that time as well.

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Yeah mk 1 feels slower for sure on SNES. The Sega version of games tend to all play faster someti.es too fast. But yeah mk 2 was perfect on SNES I agree. And yep tmnt tit was epic. The best turtle game for any home port that's not the arcade by far on snes.

Zer0_h0ur said:

When you get into mk3 era that's when arcades started a downward spiral, and soon after was the advent of Playstation which made snes sega look and sound like stone age tech, only downside was the absurd load times lol

I was an SNES guy for MK2. Played MK 1 on the game gear, refused to get the snes version bc no blood

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Yeah, PSX was future gen so naturally they'd would look and sound better. Though the loading times were ass on that console lol. If you take MKT and MK 4 for example. MKT played and sounded more arcade accurate on PSX but the load times were slow and the MK 2 characters were broken lol. The N64 version didn't quite feel arcade accurate but was good enough to play seriously, probably best to shut off aggressor though. MK 4 was just hot junk on PSX, and the PC version had issues. The N64 version was king of MK 4, played smooth, great and honestly just looked better. Then we hit the 3D era we all know how that went down lol

I lived all that stuff. I had and played both consoles just about every day for as long as they were relevant. For MK specifically, I really only saw the Genesis version one time. I remember thinking that sucker was rough and the only way someone would want to play it is because they were brainwashed by it having blood. I never really played anything on Genesis that was also available on SNES, so I don't think I ever saw MKII on it and never saw 3 on a console at all. As much of an NES killer as the Genesis was, the couple of years between it and the SNES really gave the SNES some serious sex appeal the Genesis didn't have.

The reality was the Genesis, for being considered the same generation, had some major disadvantages. 64 max colors against 256 colors was very significant, and the audio abilities of the SNES were also significantly better. Genesis had some really cool games worth remembering, but I don't particularly remember it's technical prowess fondly.

I'm glad we hit a point where version differences aren't anything like what they used to be. Superior versions were constantly being debated and various limitations of hardware noticeably changed games. I also think there was a lot of handing two totally different groups an idea and saying "go make platformer/fighting game" without the two groups actually communicating; making it had to compare things at all. TMNT tournament fighters wasn't even slightly the same game beyond using the same name and featuring TMNT.

@Gooberking Yup, this is why I laugh when I see people today posting that consumers expect titles to be the same across platforms because that's the way it's always been.

While they're generally correct that's the way it should be now, it sure as heck wasn't always that way!!!

Neither are very good. But I prefer the SNES version. I don’t even know what the differences are between the SNES version and Genesis though. All I know is that they both aren’t very good ports.

Juggs said:

Neither are very good. But I prefer the SNES version. I don’t even know what the differences are between the SNES version and Genesis though. All I know is that they both aren’t very good ports.

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For Mortal Kombat 3 and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3? Those were pretty much the swan song of the franchise on the then older consoles.

Ehh...the SNES version of Mk were always superior IMO. But their only only advantage to the PS and Saturn Trilogy versions were load times. Same with the N64 Trilogy. it largely had had fast load times and that's it. Well...and it had Super Subzero and Khameleon. but that is a different discussion. The Saturn version of UMK3 was good but was heavily delayed at the time yet for some reason was in all the game magazines sooner, anyway. Hard to say...I only had the mk3 snes version out of them all. it felt like UMK3 was a watered down version of Trilogy.

crimson-neoviper said:

Ehh...the SNES version of Mk were always superior IMO. But their only only advantage to the PS and Saturn Trilogy versions were load times. Same with the N64 Trilogy. it largely had had fast load times and that's it. Well...and it had Super Subzero and Khameleon. but that is a different discussion. The Saturn version of UMK3 was good but was heavily delayed at the time yet for some reason was in all the game magazines sooner, anyway. Hard to say...I only had the mk3 snes version out of them all. it felt like UMK3 was a watered down version of Trilogy.

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This is Tru.
When you were hype with buddies SNES woulda been more preferable to PSX graphics based on time
It's like us now waiting fifteen minutes per fatal blow and fatality

Still have Sega Mega Drive II and UMK3 for it. Not the best version of the game but a good home console version. The best home versions of all those klassic arcade MK games; MAME with HLSL.

for mk3/umk3, if you are talking about gameplay -> it's the genesis, although both 16 bit ports suck from a competitive point of view/ graphically and sound wise - snes is better. not very in depth, but quick review i wrote 10 years ago here:
https://www.mksecrets.net/index.php?section=kolumn&lang=eng&contentID=4114
https://www.mksecrets.net/index.php?section=kolumn&lang=eng&contentID=4162

as for mk2 - mk2 snes 1.0 was also very buggy, so they had to re-release it. if you count sega add-ons, i'd pick sega 32x version of mk2.

mk1 has no contest. despite being censored, the snes version is almost unplayable due to choppy and sluggish controls and one of the most insane hit boxes in any fighting game/port ever.

ded said:

for mk3/umk3, if you are talking about gameplay -> it's the genesis, although both 16 bit ports suck from a competitive point of view/ graphically and sound wise - snes is better. not very in depth, but quick review i wrote 10 years ago here:
https://www.mksecrets.net/index.php?section=kolumn&lang=eng&contentID=4114
https://www.mksecrets.net/index.php?section=kolumn&lang=eng&contentID=4162

as for mk2 - mk2 snes 1.0 was also very buggy, so they had to re-release it. if you count sega add-ons, i'd pick sega 32x version of mk2.

mk1 has no contest. despite being censored, the snes version is almost unplayable due to choppy and sluggish controls and one of the most insane hit boxes in any fighting game/port ever.

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What was buddy about the SNES original port of Mortal Kombat II, and how can you tell it from the revision?

it had what we called "moon gravity" back in days, similar to the initial release of MK Trilogy for PSX. opponents fly higher after juggles, which allows huge combos/juggles, not possible otherwise.

edit: https://tcrf.net/Mortal_Kombat_II_(SNES)
seems easy way to found out "The original US release (v1.0) does not show the fighting demonstration during the intro. This was added in v1.1 and carried over to the Japanese and European releases."

ded said:

it had what we called "moon gravity" back in days, similar to the initial release of MK Trilogy for PSX. opponents fly higher after juggles, which allows huge combos/juggles, not possible otherwise.

edit: https://tcrf.net/Mortal_Kombat_II_(SNES)
seems easy way to found out "The original US release (v1.0) does not show the fighting demonstration during the intro. This was added in v1.1 and carried over to the Japanese and European releases."

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Ah, I'm very certain I have the original version then. Thanks for the details @ded, and I'll read the overall system reviews you linked to soon!

The Genesis version for the first MK was better due to them allowing the violence copied the Arcade. The music was alter but catchy. The SNES was closest to the look, sound, and feel of the Arcade but didn't have the violence.

Nintendo learn from that and the Ratings came out and MK2 was hands down the best port.

I thought after MK2 MK3 and UMK3 on the 16bit version were just bad ports. Nintendo had the edge though.

@ded Read the articles you linked to, and thanks again for sharing, they were good reads! Out of curiosity, did you ever write one for the PC ports of the day? I heard they were generally good, and that the Mortal Kombat 3 port (I believe the DOS one) is considered one of the best ports of that game.

While the SNES and Genesis versions of the games had limitations and issues, it's still interesting and nostalgic since those are the versions people had access to back then, since owning an arcade cabinet was not practical for most. I'm surprised to read that the Genesis versions, overall, were the superior ones gameplay wise, but of course mutli-platform games of the day were oft quite different from one another.

hi

yes, i wrote some here:
https://www.mksecrets.net/index.php?section=kolumn&lang=eng&contentID=4066
https://www.mksecrets.net/index.php?section=kolumn&lang=eng&contentID=4081 (for MAT: DE)

if it wasn't for the incosistent framerate, i'd pick mk3 dos over the arcade version

I've had a SNES for a while and I really like the controllers. The Sega one for me is a bit too beefy and feels less compact and I like compact pads. MKF already did a good job talking about the pros and cons, so I won't go into that. But I've had no issues running all the MK games I have, as well as KI, and they look great too. I have a big TV so I usually play it on a PC monitor so it's not too pixelated. Other than that, enjoy the nostalgia and have fun!

Juggs, to sum it up the SNES actually played alot more like the arcade in terms of properties, moves etc where as the Sega was on speed and way too fast, the sound was crap and graphics weren't as good as SNES. Those were the main differences.

@Vslayer awee thank you you're such a sweety girl! lol. But yeah, I remember MK 2 and KI looking amazing for the time especially on SNES.

Metin said:

Still have Sega Mega Drive II and UMK3 for it. Not the best version of the game but a good home console version. The best home versions of all those klassic arcade MK games; MAME with HLSL.

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I remember the Saturn version of UMK3. For some reason whenever I went to rent it or buy it it was sold out or rented out lol.