It's fun, and has some of the coolest Fatalities, but it's definately not the best.

yeah, defintely not the best; still, people always bash it because of its graphics, and well, imo you get used to them.

I have long been a badmouther of MK4. There are a bunch of very specific things that I dislike about it.

I don't like the recycled combos, the Maximum Damage limit because I think they should have really balanced the moves in the game instead of just putting that cap on, they made it needlessly fast with no real gameplay benefit.

That said, it was a good first attempt at 3D MK and I know some really great MK fans that do like it. I don't know if I could say its underrated. Maybe if I spent some serious time on the final arcade version I could see some more quality in it.

i loved MK4 dude i got ur back, i think the endings were great (scorpions and sub-zeros were my favs) and it was teh first attempts at 3Dso yeah it ws a lil sketchy but stil lthe roster was great

Yeah, MK4 was very good.
What made the combo's unique was the fact that you could use the characters special moves or weapon, making character specific combos.
It also had a very great sound track (the PSX one, dunno about the N64 one)

FINALLY! Some people who actually have good taste lol. MK4 was a terrific game and they gave me one of my favorite characters in it,Shinnok.And yes the endings were better than MKA's

Yeah I'll always be one of the first people to jump to MK4's defense. I really liked it a lot too.

I think the time of it's release was a major factor in it's cool reception; it had a lot working against it in that regard. It was released right at a time when 3D fighters were just coming into their own. You had games like Soul Edge, Toshinden, Tekken, Virtua Fighter, and even other lesser known gems like Fighting Vipers and Tobal no. 1 (remember those?) that were showing gamers what the 3D format could do for fighting gameplay. They were fresh and different than what we'd grown accustomed to with 2D fighters for the past decade. MK4 for all it's little 3D flourishes, essentially was just more of the same within the series. It was more pseudo 3D than full on 3D, and gamers were well versed enough with "real" 3D fighters to notice.

What also didn't help I think was the series own popularity at the time; MK really hit it's peak in the mid 90's with MKII and MK3. By the time the late end of the decade rolled around, the mainstream was on "MK overload", so unless the next installment was to blow them away with something completely new, like the current crop of 3D fighters were at the time, then it'd be torn apart ruthlessly. Which it was.

Now why do I think the criticism is unwarranted? Well simply because even though MK4 was largely "more of the same" it was more of the same done well. The combo system was greatly simplified next to MK3/UMK3 which were the most technical games in the series yet, which threw "hardcore" fighting gamers for a loop. I thought the game was plenty fun in spite of that. Not every game has to be tailor made for Fighter's Edge's ridiculous and snotty standards in order to simply just be a hoot and a half (something that people who incessantly compare MK to Tekken really need to learn). As someone mentioned earlier, it's fast paced as hell, and I can say from personal experience that it makes an awesome "party game".

And being able to incorporate special moves into combos, while not by any means a new idea, was done exceptionally well in MK4. The gameplay may not be original, but it's a helluva lot better than most are willing to give it credit for. And as mentioned before, stuff like the sick Fatalities, and the FMV endings certainly helped the game a lot. Love Reiko's "Shuriken barrage", Reptile's "face eater", and the one where Fujin blows the guys skin clean off. Those never get old for me. Quan Chi's classic "leg beat" speaks for itself as one of the all time greatest MK Fatalities. And storywise, Quan Chi and Shinnok remain for me the series' most interesting villains.

One other thing I liked about it a lot that I never hear anyone else talk about was the "goth" style it's overall look sported. All the classic MK games had a certain "theme" to their overall atmosphere: MK1 had the feel of a cheesy 70's or 80's kung fu movie (particularly Enter the Dragon, with a supernatural flourish) as well as a dash of Big Trouble in Little China. MK2 had something of a trippy "twilight zone" thing going for it (cause of the whole "Ourworld" thing), which is incredibly difficult to describe in words. It's somewhere in between a surrealist painting, and one of Tsui Hark's more tripped out martial arts/sci-fi flicks. MK3 obviously had a very urban/technological thing going for it.

MK4 and it's sister game MK Mythologies both (at least to me) rocked a very "90's goth" look, and it was there in both the game's character designs (I mean just LOOK at Quan Chi and his three assassins chicks; they could just as easily pass for Cenobites) as well as the marketing. Especially one MK Mythologies commercial I remember that could've just as easily been a clip from a Marilyn Manson or Cradle of Filth video. It's certainly not to everyone's tastes and it may have been a bit pandering towards a then-trend, but you gotta admit, for MK at the time it was different.

So yeah viva MK4 bitches! MK Gold was cool too. It was MK4 with some neat extras. Just be sure your playing the latter release that fixed most of the glitches.

i love this game, its really fun. i was really happy when i saw practice mode, because usually the first time i play a MK game i suck. Also, the roster was good. The story was great, and it showed my favorite character as the main villain, so i gotta give it props there! Also, i think this game had great and very memorable fatalities. The gameplay is good, and personally i dig the fast pace.The endings were good, but the only negative thing i got to say about the game is the graphics. They are absolute garbage, especially on the ps1, but they're not great either. They grow on you though as you play MK4 more imo.

MK4 isnt my favorite but its definetly not my least favorite. I personally prefer it on the N64 though bcuz theres practicaly no loading times and i dont know it just seems more nostalgic to me.

Not to mention the graphics for N64 were vastly better than they were for PSX and PC. Except the CD versions had FMV endings which were alright.

Honestly, people get nitpicky about the gameplay more than anyhting,and it's not very good in this game. It's fine for casual, but there's an endless supply of games with gameplay that's fine for casual. It's look was cool back then, but the graphics arent impressive at all now. So for a lot of people, like myself, it is an easily forgettable game. It's just not very good.

The music was great though. And we got Quan Chi out of it. He's the only post UMK3 character that I actually like, lol.

I used to hate it because i my cousins said it sucked.But i tried it in the arcades an was awesome. Its way underated.

I love MK4 too, I got the ps1 version last month and I haven't even played my new copy of MK:A since I got it. My only complaint is that I can't do Quan Chi's awesome fatality and he's my favorite MK character.

Sorry, double post.

only for casual? who told you that, i've played this game so much and its far far away for casuals only.

also i like the graphics for the ARCADE, i like them now too. maybe they are not impressive by now but this game was a 3d from 10 years lol

http://mk.ediko.net/gametools/arcade/mk4/mk4_psx.jpg
http://mk.ediko.net/gametools/arcade/mk4/mk4_n64.jpg
http://mk.ediko.net/gametools/arcade/mk4/mk4_arcade.jpg

looks good enough for me ^^

Nobody told me, it's just my personal impression. I know you are a fan and I can respect that, lol. But for me it's still not a good high level game.

And the arcade is the best graphics in my book as well, but I don't know any way for anybody to get that besides buying a cabinet :-/ So next best I think is N64. I actually don't like MKG much graphically, and the gameplay is just too broken.

i dont like mkg too ;]

I dont mind MK Gold I just dont like the fact it is for one game system...



UlcaTron

dang...I did not think the arcade version looked that good...

Yeah, the arcade is still the most impressive version graphically to me. I've been told MKG has a higher polycount or frame rate or something. But everything looked plastic in it to me.

After all this talk, I think if MK4 arcade was available somehow (downloadable, special addition add-on, in a collection or whatever), I'd like to get it and try it out some more.

No, you aren't dude.I like MK4, it's the fastest MK ever which I like honestly and overall I think the gameplay is better then MK:D and MK:A at times to be honest.It's definitely no UMK3 but it's not a bad game if you give it a chance if you ask me.

Fujin is awesome in that game, although he's not a favored character much I use him well and did his max damage combo all the time as well as use him the best online for xbox hehehe in MK:A.

I also love Scorpion in MK4, I think he's awesome personally.

mk gold i actually prefer over mk4, as it juste xpands the storyline. same deal with trilogy > umk3 > mk3.

mk4 at its core though is a good game. the new characters, i thought, were really cool. fujin's rushing knee kicks ass.

I thought Mortal Kombat 4 was a very good game for what it was (the first 3d attempt). I also think it was better than MK3. UMK3 and MKT I thought were slightly better, mainly due to the rosters, and I thought Shao Kahn was a great boss.

Let me start by saying that I have been gone from this site for about a year, and this is the first forum I came back to, the '92-'00 one.

I remember when MK4 first came out, I loved it, but at the same time hated it. The similarity to another MK game is not bad, easy to get used to, however, the additions like moving around the arena, having to look up in practice mode on how to get your weapon [because you forget the 4 button code on getting it out], and picking up stuff and throwing it... Those additions were a little sketchy, they weren't refined as much. As far as 3D gameplay goes, I'd much rather play MK:DA, MK:D, or MK:A just because I like how the game works. Don't get me wrong, I grew up playing the unrealistic MK games, and it took me forever to get used to the new stuff, but now I like it.

Second of all, I hate the blood in MK4, and I hate most of the stages in MK4, apart from a select few classic returning ones. The only thing that made me want to rush out and buy the game was the return of our beloved Goro. In the end, no, you obviously aren't the one who thinks it's underrated, it's definitely my least favorite in the fighting game series [not counting SF, Mythologies, or SM], but then again, MK is my favorite game series, so it can't be THAT bad.