Mortal Kombat (DOS): Attract Mode

[thetreblerebel]

thats a good port!! better than the Sega CD version even!

[flashn00b]

Netherrealm should totally sell this on GoG.

[zakkattakk89]

graphics are great on this port, but i love the music from the amiga version

[sgtkar98]

Tried pressing F10.No use.Tryied going on the SETUP,tiped DIP with shift,press F10 and the other.Nothing...

[XSC3]

@sgtkar98 It may matter whether you have the CAP LOCK and Numlock keys engaged when typing the stuff. Also, hopefully you're using the latest Dosbox (unless you're using an old 386/486 running native DOS) and a QWERTY keyboard...

[modewr]

How come the grand prize at the intro is : Your continued existence when Liu Kang wins MK1 and all of Kano, Sonya, Scorpion, Rayden, Cage are alive after the first tournament?

[XSC3]

@modewr the most logical answer is that none of the Mortal Kombat sequels existed yet and none of this later "mythology" in the storyline had been written or even thought of. If you want to fit it into the storyline, just assume "your continued existence" is like the "plural you" meaning if you don't win in the tournament, your realm will be wiped out.

[XSC3]

@modewr realistically if those were the fighters in the "real" tournament then they should all be dead but one. instead we're left to imagine that there were all these other people who fought "off screen" that got killed and various story loopholes let the "fan favorites" survive. but at this point, the outcome is not predetermined. so if you win as Sub Zero and fatality Lui Kang, it's not like somehow the "canon" changes, but as far as that game is concerned, that's how it "happened" ;)

[XSC3]

@modewr it is also worth noting that this prologue (which I thought was kinda cool, fitting the spirit of the game), was not found in the arcade version or any other port but this one. I got so used to it I was actually surprised the first time I fire up the emulated version of MK1 and noticed it was "missing."

[modewr]

@XSC3 : You probably saw the screen with Goro's portrait then....scary!

[XSC3]

Now I hear the latest MK game is going to be a "reboot." Raiden literally travels back in time to tell his past self (right before this game) to do things differently. Of course in the original game, Raiden was a bad guy... a maniac with super powers! He suddenly turns into this wise, benevolent Obi-Wan type figure from the next game onward. So continuity for the series was never really that solid. I frankly couldn't care less. I play these games for the action, less for the story.

[tubeviewerX20]

The music is low quality.

[XSC3]

Some of the dip switches control how often stuff flies by the moon on the pit stage, turn on "Reptile tips" and so forth, which make it easier to get that secret character. pretty cool.

[SuperDave341]

I have seen some video of this port. Each video said that the game was difficult to control. Is that a true fact?

[XSC3]

@SuperDave341 not true at all in my experience. It controls just like the arcade. I think perhaps people are complaining because it's DOS and they don't know about DOSbox. The fact is that there are plenty of joysticks and configuration utilities out there that let you map keystrokes easily to joystick presses. I used gravis xterminator pads for years. now I use converters to run ps2 controllers on the pc and games like this work fine.

[avedude767]

wat does the dipswitch do ???? is it just there for fun

[XSC3]

@avedude767 the dip switches are little levers (actual switches) in the back of all arcade machines of the era, that allow the operator to easily adjust game options, like difficulty, timer, violence level (in MK), etc. So this simulates what that was like. I didn't write down what each one does, but you can look it up. it's like the arcade.

[XSC3]

MK never came out on the sega 32X, you're thinking of MK II. of course they COULD have released it on the 32x (instead of the Sega CD) and had a near perfect arcade translation without load times. shame they didn't!

[Oni64]

music sounds unique for this version. sounds good to sample with

[XSC3]

Yeah, I couldn't get the Roland to record properly from dos box, it literally sounds like piano music (and awesome, really). I suggest you check it out, it's awesome!

[dedkmk]

mk1 sb16 > mk1 roland imo

[XSC3]

I agree, dedkmk, but there's something to be said for the quality of the "piano version" of the MK attract music. It's very relaxing... a huge departure from the blood and carnage that the usual pumping beat brings to mind. I find myself wishing while I play the otherwise perfect arcade version, that the "invitation card" and accompanying music appeared like in the pc. ;)

[NIGHTMAREMASTERDEAD4]

do we neead flopy disk!

[XSC3]

This was on floppies yes, but it was also released on CD (with CD quality music, far superior to this obviously!). You could copy the disks to your hard drive to play it too.

[jkbulan]

the best version

[nooblet911]

best version at the time, yes. almost arcade quality graphics and all the violence. the snes version didn't even had any blood, lol

[figment1988]

i never played the DOS version, but i remember an episode of Married with Children (i think it was the one where Bud's forced to make a workout tape for the mob) making a reference to this game which in which a mobster's asked by a workout chick if he had Mortal Kombat, and then he ends up boasting about how he's got the highest score in the mob.

[Valis77]

you saw that episode. Richard Moll was that mob i thought it was funny that he would be playing it.

[penchomk]

the best version...ARCADE,sound more real and efect real...mortal kombat is very good

[ronmower]

MORTAL KOMBAT!!!!!!

[MN12BIRD]

LOL I remember borrowing MK for DOS off a friend and installing it. I needed to call him everytime I wanted to play it and get the code. That or type GORO like 50 times and eventually it worked!

[XSC3]

The other issue here is that if you don't know about the options menu and pay attention to what was selected, it might seem "hard to control." but properly configured, it's just fine. this is a fantastic port of MK, far superior to any on the consoles. I never played the CD version but it apparently remedies the only thing that wasn't quite arcade accurate, which was the sound/music.

[acidglow]

Listen to that midi :p

[TheDiabloKnight]

i have this game too..but everything is very very pixelated..is that normal..or is there something i can do to fix that..im using dosbox.

[XSC3]

I don't think there's anything you can do. It was always this pixelated (you're running it in 486 mode, right?). The actual arcade game is less so, and looks fantastic in Mame or outputted to an arcade monitor or TV. Still, this DOS port looks better than any of the other home ports out there.

[karuk7575]

this one looks awesome.the snes one had a slow down to it, it was horrible!

[youIkerstlend1]

mortal kombat is my favorite videogame series!

[aikonmk]

This looks like an excellent conversion of the game. I had an Amiga at the time and so had that version which was great except for the disk swapping for the bonus/boss stages. I'll have to install DOSbox one day and play a game of Tyrian!

[jkbulan]

please tell me how to download this music

[XSC3]

Since this is a dos game, the music isn't in any windows readable format. I guess you could search the 'net to see if anyone has converted it. If not, seek out the CD-ROM version which has the arcade music and you can easily rip that. Otherwise, get a program that lets you record sound off your computer and just do it manually. Like Free-HiReq (Recorder).

[XSC3]

As I believe I've said elsewhere, the opening intro (referring to the "Imperial Court of Immortals") is new in this version... and I've heard that there are a few new combos that weren't in the arcade (but not being a combo master, I can't confirm that). There were of course several versions of the game in arcades (five in fact), and this was modeled after whatever version was current when it was released (4.0 or 5.0).

[XSC3]

Dosbox works great, though for some really old games (like some shareware titles I have) you will need a program to slow them down (like MoSlo) or they move too fast to be playable.

[sesshygirl2006]

I was given an Old DOS COmputer, and I put it in a homemade arcade cabinet. It's actually pretty cool, well, that's what people telll me anyway.

[dedkmk]

i played like shit this version with couple of friends! i remember the "ow bo!" male ninja sound when you sweep them LOL.

also i like alot more sb sound than the gravis one, i guess its just me haha

[XSC3]

To be fair, I think the "ow bo" sound during the sweep was in the arcade version as well. This version was basically the arcade, with a few minor differences... a reduction in sound quality, a lower resolution, and the fact that the blood wouldn't hit the floor during the pit "fatality" (it just flies up in the air and disappears). Also the character sprites have a faint outline around them that wasn't present in the arcade version.

[dedkmk]

actually its different than arcade, the gameplay is similar to revision 3.0, but it has nothing to do with t-units. male ninjas have different jk, some moves do more damage (rayden's hk) and etc

[XSC3]

Thanks for the correction. I was hoping some dedicated MK heads would respond. The version of MK I've probably played the most besides the PC version is 5.0 T-Unit, but I confess I haven't played it much in the last year.

[dedkmk]

until 95-96 beside the arcade version (there was a place near my building with mk1 and mk2 arcades) the version i played most was the pc dos one too (on old x486 lol) and the genesis one. cpu is closest to the arcade until the mat versions came out.

[XSC3]

The "invitation" screen was so cool. I played this version so much, I was disappointed when I finally played the perfectly emulated version and realized it was never in arcades (which I'd played a fair amount back in the day as well). Still, a fantastic port!

[sesshygirl2006]

how did you get sound blaster P.S. thanks for the DIP option!

[XSC3]

I used to wonder that too myself until I discovered DOSbox. Google it and download it. It's really a handy little utility that will play the games just like you were on a DOS computer instead of in win9x/2000/XP (and probably Vista too). Dosbox has ports on other operating systems too (like MacOS) which is nice. Full sound too! Of course I have a real soundblaster card, but I don't think that matters (though I noticed the recording feature would only record sound from the SB).