Retro Sales Game of the Day (10/1) - Mortal Kombat II

[elprincipe]

Mortal Kombat II improved everything from the original: better graphics, more characters, more varied gameplay, better controls, more secrets, more levels...just about everything you'd want in a fighting game sequel, although the lack of Kano and Sonia was a little annoying to fans of those characters. The game was highly successful in the arcade. Teenagers were attracted by the gore (those rebels!).

All those things certainly helped the game to be successful. A successful marketing campaign drummed up further interest in the home versions. MKII became known even outside of gaming circles due to its violence attracting attention from politicians and the cool factor of the fatalities (and hidden characters).

This game's sales are interesting especially when comparing Genesis and SNES. The SNES version has much better graphics and better controls, not to mention better music, mostly due to the SNES' superior technical abilities in these areas. However, we see the Genesis version sold better. Why is this?

Two factors:
(1) the Genesis audience was more into this kind of game compared to SNES owners;
and (2) the original Mortal Kombat on SNES was stripped of the gore (gray/beige "sweat" was put in its place), thus leading the Genesis version of that game to be far more successful...MK fans who probably had a Genesis for that reason alone were sure to get the sequel on Genesis, as well as anyone who knew about the censoring of the original and preferred the gore intact, even though Nintendo wised up the second time around and allowed the blood.