During the early-to-mid 1990s, a common argument amongst my peers was what fighting game was the best. Though there was the odd SNK fan, it almost always come down to a heated debate between Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat. Though there were valid arguments on both sides, SFII was generally more regarded for its solid fighting system, while MK was regarded mainly for its secrets and gore. Years have passed, and such petty squabbles should be behind us, right?

Wrong. With the release of Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition and the brand new Mortal Kombat reboot, the debate is more valid than ever. This is especially true since the new MK brings a lot more to the table than just fatalities this time around. Gamers looking to get into (or more than likely, back into) the fighting game scene might wonder which title is for them.

I’ve played both, and now it’s time for my comparison. So cue up your favorite battle music as these titles go head to head in several key areas!

 

 

Round 1: Casual Friendliness

Unfortunately, many don’t have the time to truly devote to gaming as they once did. For these people, they are looking for a fun fighter that is accessible, a game that allows them to pick up and enjoy once in a while without needing to master delicate nuances.

Fortunately, both titles can be enjoyed by just about anyone, but SSFIVAE has a bit more complex of a set up. Not only are there more basic attack buttons to start with, but aspects of play such as focus attacks, EX focus cancels, input buffering, and so forth make for a fairly big gap for the casual gamer to fully enjoy it. In addition, many combo inputs require impeccable timing (inputting commands as fast as possible doesn’t always work) which can make things somewhat frustrating for people who don’t play a whole lot.

On the flip side, MK is far less picky about combo input timing. This makes it possible for casual players to pull off decent, satisfying combos. All characters have at least one decent anti-air move, and many characters have good options for getting out of the corner. X-Ray moves are always consistently performed as well, meaning less of a chance of screwing up the motions. While higher level play is certainly possible, the gap is not as big to overcome for someone new to the scene.

Winner: Mortal Kombat

Round 2: High End Play

On the flip side, everything stated about SSFIVAE that makes it more casual-unfriendly also makes the opposite true. The various features and nuances of the system seem to make high end play interesting and varied, making the game seem far more rewarding to really good players. The game allows the recording of battles, which players can review in slow motion. Not only can you replay your own matches, but you can replay the matches of top players. These are tools designed to help people who want to play seriously study up and practice, which MK lacks. Finally, the game has a more established and refined community, having had two previous game revisions.

Winner: Street Fighter

Round 3: Game Play Variety

While online versus mode is great, not everyone enjoys spending their entire play time doing this. Some gamers like to see a bit more variety in their single player modes. In this area, Street Fighter is fairly lacking. There is a challenge mode where you master some combos with characters, and you can do the bonus levels, but that’s about it. This means that the single player experienced is defined by the arcade mode.

Mortal Kombat offers more play variety. In addition to the standard arcade mode, there is a story mode, and the challenge tower which provides some interesting things to tackle that is not just glorified combo practice. There is also a “test your luck” feature which randomly changes some of the “rules” of the game in various ways, such a meteors that rain down and having to play with the screen upside-down. Versus matchups allow for kombat kodes which can provide similar effects.

Winner: Mortal Kombat

Round 4: Character Design

Some people simply enjo y these types of games for the colorful characters that populate them. This is especially true for those who play casually. While Mortal Kombat does have some fairly recognizable characters, far too many of the cast either have bizarre characters or simply clone characters. While the latest MK title does try to differentiate them, it seems that half of the cast is populated by ninjas and robot ninjas that have very similar appearances. Further more, much of the playable cast seems to have the exact same body type, aside from the bosses.

Street Fighter has always had many interesting and recognizable characters, on the other hand, and the stylized art style used makes for a far more visually interesting and varied cast. While the game still has a problem with clones of Ryu and Ken, aside from these characters every fighter looks fairly different in appearance.

Winner: Street Fighter

Round 5: Story

While nobody really plays fighting games for the stories, sometimes they can be interesting.

Mortal Kombat has a dedicated story mode which takes you through chapters for each character, ultimately forming a fairly consistent narrative and seamlessly switching between cut scenes and the action. The story is both a sequel and reboot to the series, as it opens up with Shao Kahn defeating Raiden at the end of Mortal Kombat Armageddon. However, before he is killed, Raiden sends a cryptic message back to his past self. While it is not clear why he has to be so cryptic, it sets the stage for a “reboot” of the original three Mortal Kombat titles, with some key differences thanks to Raiden’s visions of the future. For anyone unfamiliar, Shao Khan must win ten Mortal Kombat tournaments in a row in order to take over Earth. Though his efforts are thwarted by Raiden and Liu Kang, he tries to cheat the rules set up by the elder gods. This eventually leads to an attempted invasion of Earth, but Raiden figures out what his future self was trying to say at the last minute, leading to Shao Kahn being defeated.

Is it cheesy, B-movie grade content? For the most part, yes. However it is, at least, consistent and easy to follow.  It also explains why the bad guys need to hold a martial arts tournament, even if it is for a hokey reason, it isn’t “just because.”

Super Street Fighter IV, on the other hand, has a story which does not make very much sense at all. The game takes place between SFII and SFIII. The main bad guy, Seth (who is a clone / android  / Dr. Manhattan wannabe), is trying to do something evil though it isn’t clear if it is to take over the world or just be a giant prick. Either way, his evil plot involves hosting a martial arts tournament for some reason that is not well stated. Meanwhile, the long term series protagonist is basically depicted as a homeless guy who travels around the world looking for people to fight in order to get stronger. He’s not really out to save the world, just hone his fighting skills. Also, there is some BS with Akuma, Ken and Ryu’s master who was dead not really being dead, and M. Bison being resurrected…  It is also loose with chronology, as Ryu’s high school aged stalker is STILL a high schooler even though it’s been several years since her last chronological appearance . Frankly, I can’t piece what the story is really supposed to be. And this game has a better story than King of Fighters!

Winner: Mortal Kombat

Other Stuff

There are a few other mentions that really don’t deserve their own category, but should be mentioned.

First, is violence level of each game. While the old school MK titles were known for their blood and fatality moves, the cheesy graphics of the 1990s kind of diminished the effect. I wouldn’t say that the new MK is “realistic,” but it does make the older titles look pretty tame in comparison. There is lots of blood, all the time, and the X-Rays moves are especially brutal. Fatalities are more graphic than ever, and often it feels like the game is being excessively violent just because it can be. MK is, without doubt, not a game for minors. I encourage parents to take the M rating on this one very seriously before buying it for Junior. While Street Fighter is also violent in that it is about people beating each other up, the more cartoonish graphics and lack of significant bloodiness diminish the impact of the title’s fighting greatly. I would be far more comfortable giving SF to a teenager than MK.

Online play is a mixed bag. I like how MK has its lobbies set up better, but most gamers strongly consider the Street Fighter IV series to have superior network code than Mortal Kombat, which means that it can handle poor connections more smoothly. Personally, I have seen pretty bad lag in both games so far, and I think both of them handle it pretty poorly compared to online games I play on the PC. It may be due to the nature of these types of games, versus an FPS or MMO, however. In either game, it is best to find someone with good latency relative to your own to fight against.

Finally, DLC and updates may be of a concern. I think that Netherrealm’s approach is slightly superior in that they seem to be actively patching balance issues, and are making compatibility packs available for people so they can play against DLC characters without buying them. On the other hand, I find it hard to justify $5 for a DLC character when I spent $40 for the base game which has over twenty. I think the DLC characters should be more in the range of $2.  Capcom, on the other hand, does not seem to actively balance the game with patches. Instead they force players to pay for major revisions to get balance changes. However, with the exception of the $15 upgrade for owners of the original SSFIV to upgrade to Arcade Edition, they don’t seem so far to be too heavy on the DLC shenanigans. The only content that has been available in the past are costumes (this may change, of course).

Conclusion

While both games are very good, ultimately it is difficult to choose between just one as each plays differently and has its own strengths. I believe that casual gamers who don’t have extreme reflex or timing, or who don’t want to devote hours upon hours into training will have more fun with Mortal Kombat, as long as they don’t mind the violence level. The story mode is also fairly good (especially by fighting game story standards), and the variances to game play give the single player aspect more longevity.  On the other hand, if you’re looking for a game that is ultimately deeper and more competitive, Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition is probably your game. If you can’t decide and have the cash, I recommend picking up both . I also secretly hope that Netherrealm and Capcom team up to deliver a Street Fighter vs. Mortal Kombat game… that would be pretty sweet and might help to end this debate in a far more definitive manner.