I just have to vent my frustrations a bit about the lousy conversions of MKI, MKII, and MKIII for the Playstation 2. When I first heard the original MK was going to be packaged with the Mortal Kombat: Deception Special Edition, my heart almost stopped. I'd been hoping for years that my favorite arcade game of all time would make it to the PS2. And when I heard it was going to be "Arcade Perfect" ... well, let's just say I had to change my undershorts.

So I waited... and FINALLY got my hands on the game, and totally bypassed playing MK: Deception and put in the disc containing the original MK. I nearly hit the ceiling with excitement when the "Midway Presents... Mortal Kombat" screen came on... a tear actually formed in my eye. Having foregoed pressing the start button, I waited for the attract sequence to begin with sweaty palms.... and... s-l-o-w-l-y the character bio kata thingie started.. I was like "WTF?!?! What's up with the slowdown? Does PS2 even HAVE slowdown?" I chalked it up to a simple emulation error... Then after having played the game through to the end, I ended up being more pissed off than ever!

I played through as Raiden, of course, cause he's my favorite character. Every time I performed his fatality... the same slowdown occurred and the "Raiden Wins... Fatality!" voice over stuttered worse than a shortbus school kid! PLUS, the volume on the Palace Gates stage is barely audible, and some of the special moves (i.e. sub-zero's freeze) sound effects are missing. WTF? I was sorely disappointed. Midway was obviously very lazy with their emulation programming or something, cause I know the PS2 is more than capable of handling a true arcade port of this title.

MKII and MKIII also had their problems as well... MKII has the "flickering" character shadows among other small glitches, and MKIII has horribly muffled audio. I just wish that midway had been a tich more meticulous with these games because I'm sure other MK fanatics like myself were left a little disappointed. I'm glad these games made it to the PS2, although they all fell a little short. Maybe one of these days I can find someone willing to sell me a standup arcade machine of MKI so I can relive the old days... until then, I suppose these alleged "arcade perfect" ports will have to suffice.

PS Although I am disappointed with the original titles, MK:D TOTALLY rawks! This title will be the sole reason I will purchase the broadband connector for the PS2.