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Information About

Mortal Kombat 4




  developer Eurocom
  publisher Midway Games
  release 1997
  genre Fighting
  modes Up to 2 players
  ports Arcade , Gameboy Color , PC , PlayStation , N64
  cabinet Standard
  arcade System Midway Zeus Hardware <br>Main CPU : TMS32031 (@ 50 Mhz)<br>Sound CPU: ADSP2104 (@ 16 Mhz)<br>Sound Chips: (2x) DMA-driven (@ 16 Mhz)
  monitor Raster resolution 512 x 400 (Horizontal) Palette Colors 32768
  input 8-way Joystick 6 buttons


''Mortal Kombat 4'' was the last game in the '' Mortal Kombat '' series to have an Arcade version. It was updated into '' Mortal Kombat Gold ''. ''MK Gold'''s story overrides ''MK4'''s. It is one of the few 3D Fighting Game s to have been described as having " 2D Gameplay ."


GAMEPLAY

Early on, the development team at Midway decided to make a 3D ''Mortal Kombat'' to capitalize on the rising popularity of 3D games at the time. Midway decided to develop its own hardware, named "Zeus" from scratch however, resulting in development delays (a large amount of the game was tested on two dimensional hardware using pre-rendered characters). As revealed in later interviews, programmer Ed Boon was particularly concerned with maintaining the gameplay feel of a 2D game but with 3D graphics. He at first was worried that there was some intrinsic property of 3D graphics that would make this impossible. Essentially, the major gameplay difference between 2D and 3D fighting games of the time, was that up to that point all 3D fighting games had attempted to somewhat simulate realistic Martial Art s. One of the reasons this was done was to take advantage of the fluid keyframed and motion captured animation that was now possible using 3D models. For example, in '' Virtua Fighter '', a real martial artist was filmed performing the moves, and this movement was imposed on the 3D model in the game. Thus, while a punch in a 2D game might be a rapidly responding move with two frames of animation, a punch in a 3D game might have a delay between when the button was pressed and when the opponent was hit, owing to the realistic animation. This delay however fundamentally changed the gameplay experience. Boon eventually decided to use the non realistic 2D rates of animation and movement, simply imposed onto 3D graphics. Thus the gameplay experience is nearly identical to the 2D versions of ''Mortal Kombat''. While this was attempted before with the '' Street Fighter EX '' series, that series used more complex animation which did change the gameplay somewhat. Some critics however, were disappointed that ''Mortal Kombat 4'' did not play like other popular 3D games of the time.

The problems with the game hardware led to development delays, so much so that the game was essentially released as a "public alpha test", with only about half of the characters Playable , and some characters such as Noob Saibot obvious placeholder characters. Many characters were changed at the last minute when it was realized that the game was not going to have enough new characters. For example, the skin texture map of Kano was changed into a new character called Jarek . Instead of attempting to rid the game of infinite combos, a work around known as "maximum damage" was put into place, where any combo appearing to cause more then 50 percent damage was interrupted.


NEW CHARACTERS

''MK4'' introduced:

''MK4'' also included the following Hidden Characters :
  • Noob Saibot

  • Goro

  • Meat (a bloody skeleton)

  • Fujin, Quan Chi, and Shinnok first appeared in '''', but not as playable characters.



RETURNING CHARACTERS

Jax , Johnny Cage , Liu Kang, Raiden, Reptile (noticeably devolved from '' Mortal Kombat Trilogy ''), Scorpion , Sonya Blade , Sub-Zero .
Goro , not featured in the arcade version of ''MK4'', added as a Sub-boss for the Console versions of the game.


NEW TO THE SERIES


  • ''MK4'' is the first ''Mortal Kombat'' game to have entirely computer-generated characters, although the texture maps of the characters were taken from most of the live-action Actor s of the previous games and animations were all generated via Motion Capture . It was revolutionary at the time, although the character models now appear dated.

  • ''MK4'' introduces a limited weapon system to the series.

  • ''MK4'' also introduces 3D combat, although limited to sidestepping as opposed to the 8 way walk movements in '' Soul Calibur ''.



STORYLINE

Thousands of years ago, during a war with the corrupt Elder God known as Shinnok, Raiden was responsible for the death of an entire civilization. To avoid a repeat of this event, as well as to protect all realms from Shinnok's threat, Raiden waged a brutal campaign and, at a heavy price, exiled his rival to a dark place known as the Netherealm .
A few years before the ''). Now ( 1997 ), Quan Chi has allied himself with Shinnok and helped the god escape from his confines. With the help of an Edenian traitor, they enter the Heavens and kill most of the gods, but Fujin and Raiden escape and gather Earthrealm 's finest warriors to fight them. The Raiden-Shinnok feud had burst open once again, but this time... the battle could be won by Mortals!


PORTS

''Mortal Kombat 4'' was ported to the Game Boy Color , Playstation , Nintendo 64 , and PC .