Mortal Kombat II — stories left

According to lead programmer Ed Boon, Mortal Kombat II was "intended to look different than the original MK" and "had everything we wanted to put into MK but did not have time for.

Boon said that the reason to not completely remove it in favor of a different system of chaining attacks together was to set the game apart from the competing titles such as Street Fighter, and allow for players to devise their own combinations of attacks.

Acclaim Entertainment stated that it "had started Mortal Kombat II with a $10 million global marketing campaign" for the home versions.

In 2008, Eurogamer called Mortal Kombat II "a marketing triumph".

The Game Boy, Game Gear, SNES, and Genesis versions were released simultaneously on September 9, 1994, a date dubbed "Mortal Friday".

WMS Industries, then owner of Midway, reported that its 1993 sales in the quarter ending December 31 rose from $86 million to $101 million, and said much of its revenue gain was related to the sale of the arcade version of MKII.

On the day of the release of Genesis, Game Gear, SNES and Game Boy versions, dubbed "Mortal Friday" (September 9, 1994, celebrated annually by the fan community on the second Friday of September), an unprecedented number of more than 2.5 million copies were shipped to be distributed, with the best opening week sales in video game history at that point.

In the first week of its console release, the game made sales to $50 million, which Acclaim Entertainment said was "The largest introduction of a video game in history".

Initial critical reception towards Mortal Kombat II was overwhelmingly positive, with Sega Visions describing the way in which the sequel was directed as "sheer brilliance", and Nintendo Power calling it "the hottest fighter ever".

In his review of the arcade release, Rik Skews of Computer + Video Games (C+VG) said that "the only true rival to Street [F]ighter II" returned "in a sequel that bites off the head of the original.

Sushi-X of Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) called the Genesis version "a great translation considering its limitations," saying that its graphics and sounds are not as good as those of the SNES version.

A reviewer for The Baltimore Sun called the SNES version "the best game I've ever played - a true translation," and Patterson noted it was the bloodiest game Nintendo has yet allowed to be released.

Next Generation said of the SNES version that "with full creative license, Acclaim has produced possibly the best arcade conversion ever.

Regarding the game's handheld ports, Patterson stated of the Game Boy version that "no Game Boy owner should go without this," and called the Game Gear version "still the best handheld beat-'em up" on the market, despite said version lacking much canonical content.

Though they commented that it is better than most fighting games for the system, two of their four reviewers said that it was not worth getting with the game available on much more powerful platforms.

Reviewing the 32X version, IGNs Levi Buchanan said that "if you do not have a SNES, this is the home version of MKII to get.

Reviewing the Saturn version, EGM said that the graphics are identical to the arcade version but there are missing sound effects and "unbearable" slowdown when first performing a special move.

They rated it the best home version of the game to date, but said that with Mortal Kombat II having considerably aged by this point, any port needed to be near arcade perfect to stand out.

Next Generation said that the Saturn version was arcade perfect, but that the Mortal Kombat series as a whole was grossly overrated and lacked any gameplay innovations to make it stand out from other fighting games.

Lawrence Neves (writing under the pseudonym "Scary Larry") of GamePro agreed that the Saturn port "duplicates the arcade version perfectly", but argued that the slowdown and load times make the game frustrating to play.

Sega Saturn Magazine was extremely disappointed with the final version of the Saturn port, calling it "much worse than any of the versions seen on the cartridge format", as opposed to the vastly superior pre-release version they had reviewed five months earlier.

Game Players gave it the titles of "Best Genesis Fighting Game", "Best SNES Fighting Game" and "Best Overall SNES Game" of 1994.

VideoGames named MKII the "Best Fighting Game" of 1994, also awarding it second place in the categories "Best Super NES Game" and "Best Arcade-to-Home Translation".

Other awards included "The Best of the Show (Super NES)" for the SCES '94 from GamePro and "Bloodiest Game of 1994" from EGM.

In 2017, Gamesradar listed the game 29th on its list of the "Best Sega Genesis/Mega Drive games of all time".

Years later, Boon recalled: "I've always had the position that the rating system was a good idea and should be put in place.

In 1995, Total! listed the game at number four on its list of the "Top 100 SNES Games".

In 1996, GamesMaster rated the game 35th on their list of the "Top 100 Games of All Time".

Reviewing the PlayStation 3 release in 2007, IGNs Jeff Haynes stated that "Mortal Kombat II still manages to stand up almost 15 years later as one of the best arcade fighters around.

According to a 2011 article by Mike Harradence of PlayStation Universe, the "bigger, bolder and bloodier" game remains "a firm fan favourite among MK aficionados".

That year, IGN's Richard George wrote that "Mortal Kombat II is considered by many to be the pinnacle of the series" and called it "still one of the most fun 16-bit fighters to play".

Lead designer and artist John Tobias noted that the first game's reliance on juggling the opponent in the air with successive hits was an accident, and had been tightened in Mortal Kombat II.

As with the first game, Acclaim Entertainment published the home conversions.

The PlayStation version was released only in Japan, retitled ; this subtitle was also used for the Japanese release of the 32X port.

Due to poor sales of the censored SNES version of the first game, Nintendo decided to allow depictions of blood and Fatalities this time around.

Acclaim analysts expected that the number of copies sold would reach at least 2.5 million within the first few weeks of release (at an average retail price of $60) and the sales to top $150 million by the end of the year.

In the first week of its console release, the game made sales to $50 million, which Acclaim Entertainment said was "The largest introduction of a video game in history".

In his review of the arcade release, Rik Skews of Computer + Video Games (C+VG) said that "the only true rival to Street [F]ighter II" returned "in a sequel that bites off the head of the original.

Reviewing the Saturn version, EGM said that the graphics are identical to the arcade version but there are missing sound effects and "unbearable" slowdown when first performing a special move.

Pesina, who sought $10 million in the suits for his roles in the first two MK games, had appeared in costume as Johnny Cage in a 1994 print advertisement for the fighting game BloodStorm.

Although the 1995 film Mortal Kombat was primarily based on the first game, it features elements from Mortal Kombat II, such as the characters Kitana and Shao Kahn, and the setting of Outworld.

The events of Mortal Kombat II, along with the first Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat 3 (including its expansions), were later retold in the 2011 game Mortal Kombat, which was an effective reboot of the series.

Acclaim Entertainment stated that it "had started Mortal Kombat II with a $10 million global marketing campaign" for the home versions.

WMS Industries, then owner of Midway, reported that its 1993 sales in the quarter ending December 31 rose from $86 million to $101 million, and said much of its revenue gain was related to the sale of the arcade version of MKII.

By 1996, the number of arcade machines sold approached 25,000 units; at that time, arcade games that sold 5,000 units were considered strong titles (Midway printed special T-shirts to celebrate 300 machines being manufactured in one day), and an arcade cabinet cost $3,000–4,000.

On the day of the release of Genesis, Game Gear, SNES and Game Boy versions, dubbed "Mortal Friday" (September 9, 1994, celebrated annually by the fan community on the second Friday of September), an unprecedented number of more than 2.5 million copies were shipped to be distributed, with the best opening week sales in video game history at that point.

Acclaim analysts expected that the number of copies sold would reach at least 2.5 million within the first few weeks of release (at an average retail price of $60) and the sales to top $150 million by the end of the year.

In the first week of its console release, the game made sales to $50 million, which Acclaim Entertainment said was "The largest introduction of a video game in history".

By 2002, estimated gross sales of the home versions of Mortal Kombat II exceeded $400 million.

Pesina, who sought $10 million in the suits for his roles in the first two MK games, had appeared in costume as Johnny Cage in a 1994 print advertisement for the fighting game BloodStorm.

Mortal Kombat II was released to enormous commercial success and critical acclaim, winning several awards and inspiring numerous clones.

Mortal Kombat II became the world's best-selling video game until it was eclipsed by Donkey Kong Country, released in November 1994.

In 1994, Guy Aoki, president of Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA), criticized the game for allegedly perpetuating existing stereotypes of Asians as martial arts experts with the game's portrayal of several of its characters.

Due to poor sales of the censored SNES version of the first game, Nintendo decided to allow depictions of blood and Fatalities this time around.

Due to regional censorship, the game was also released with green-colored blood and black-and-white fatality sequences in Japan; it was at that time a unique occurrence of a western game being censored in Japan rather than the inverse.

Mortal Kombat actors Daniel Pesina, Philip Ahn, Katalin Zamiar and Elizabeth Malecki unsuccessfully filed two lawsuits in 1996 and 1997 against Midway, Williams, Nintendo of America, Sega of America, and Acclaim Entertainment for the unauthorized misuse of their likenesses and to seek royalties from sales of the games' home ports.

It was later ported to multiple home systems, including MS-DOS, Amiga, Game Boy, Game Gear, Sega Genesis, 32X, Sega Saturn, Super NES, and PlayStation, by Probe Software (later renamed to Probe Entertainment for some ports of the game) and Sculptured Software, and published by Acclaim Entertainment.

According to lead programmer Ed Boon, Mortal Kombat II was "intended to look different than the original MK" and "had everything we wanted to put into MK but did not have time for.

Another compilation release for the Nintendo DS was canceled.

Years later, Boon recalled: "I've always had the position that the rating system was a good idea and should be put in place.