Bill Clinton became the President of the United States the same time Mortal Kombat was released in arcades. Mike Tyson was also convicted of raping Miss Black Rhode Island, Desiree Washington, something that Mike Tyson still denies to this day. In 1992 Windows 3.1 released by Microsoft and Miley Ray Cyrus was born on November 23rd. All of these items are related to the release of Mortal Kombat on October 8th 1992, but we’re just not that sophisticated enough to connect the dots.
What matters most is since 1992, game developers have blatantly ripped off Mortal Kombat’s innovative ‘fatality,’ a finishing move that generally (if not always) involves hyper-violence in some unrealistic approach. We decided to gather twelve games that so obviously stole Mortal Kombat’s fatality system that it’s borderline hilarious and place them on MiddleEasy for your viewing enjoyment.
Pray for Death (1996)
The first sentence on Gamespot’s review of Pray for Death from 1996 is ‘Originality isn’t one of Pray For Death’s strong points.’ Actually, that same sentence is mentioned twice in the article, along with ‘The concept of finishing moves that annihilate your opponent is lifted straight from the Mortal Kombat series.’ Of course, that pretty much sums up with Pray for Death is on this list.
Bloodstorm (1994)
Bloodstorm was the last game Strata produced before it went out of business. Pretty hilarious since they called it the ‘MK-Killer’ — only to have the game literally kill the company. Bloodstorm was loosely considered the sequel of TimeKillers, another entry in our list. Strata planned to release Bloodstorm 2, even hinting at a sequel in an easter egg in the game. Ultimately, the company went out of business and all we have left is this video of its legacy.
Cardinal Syn (1998)
Pretty cool concept really — throw in a bunch of characters straight out of Dungeons and Dragons and pit them in a 3D fighter on Playstation. Cardinal Syn received lukewarm reviews with even Playstation Magazine calling it ‘quite cool, really, but too easy and not enough variety.’ Nevertheless, the finishing moves in the game were over the top and a blatant rip off of Mortal Kombat. Don’t believe us? Check them out below.
Tattoo Assassins (1994)
Tattoo Assassins was actually produced by the screenwriter of Back to the Future, Bob Gale. Naturally, it was supposed to be Data East’s answer to Mortal Kombat, except they went a little too nuts with the finishing moves (they included 2,196 of them). Tattoo Assassins was actually banned for its hyper-violence, so the game was never actually completed. Only a prototype exists of Tattoo Assassins, and check out some of the bizarre fatalities from it.
Survival Arts (1993)
To gauge the level of ridiculousness in this game, let’s check out the official plot: The birthplace of the powerful physical martial arts called “Survival Arts” and how they were earned became mysterious for quite some time. However, eight warriors spreading over different countries have learned some of the most important skills of the Survival Arts, while they continue learning more about them. Each one qualified for the Survival Arts tournament to see which survivor will win and obtain all the secrets of the Arts. Yeah, cheesy is an understatement.
Ultra Vortek (1995)
I’m probably the only person reading this to own an Atari Jaguar. Aright that may not be true, but I can assure you I’m the only person that purchased Ultra Vortek while it was available in retail stores and finished it. At the time I thought it was a pretty entertaining game, but in 1995 I also thought the entire world existed in a Marvel universe that could only be accessed through reading comic books. In retrospect, Ultra Vortek is just another disgusting rip-off of Mortal Kombat, and this video proves it.
Weaponlord (1995)
I rented this game while I was living in my Uncle’s house in Tampa Bay, Florida for a Summer and he made me take it back to Blockbuster because it was too ‘gay and bloody.’ Those were his exact words. Needless to say, I didn’t really have a chance to play this one, although it looks like it still holds up after all these years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B_OHq8amVc
Eternal Champions (1996)
Eternal Champions is one of those games that you played whenever you visited your friend’s house, but never made an effort to own it yourself. Although Sega was making a killing off Mortal Kombat being released for Genesis as the only version with blood, the company decided to capitalize off the violent fight craze by releasing Eternal Champions. It featured fighters from different time periods all competing while dismembering their opponent at the same time. Pretty wild stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MLCP8ysdLc
Time Killers (1993)
We got to give props to Time Killers. It was the first fighting game in which you could continue to fight on even after your limbs were chopped off. It was gory, disgusting, but still just another rip-off of Mortal Kombat’s system of fatalities.
Xenophage: Alien Bloodsport (1995)
Imagine Mortal Kombat with aliens and replace the word ‘fatality’ with ‘meat’ and you have Xenophage: Alien Bloodsport. I’ve never heard of this game but apparently it was released for MS-DOS as shareware by Apogee Software. Mid-90s PC gaming, got to love it
Way of the Warrior (1994)
If you owned a Panasonic 3DO back in the day, then it was clear that your parents were extraordinarily wealthy and you were part of a rare breed of gamers that normal people could only dream of. At least that’s what us poor kids thought. With a price tag of $699, owning a 3DO resided in the realm of fantasy. I never had the chance to play Way of the Warrior, but now I can live vicariously through this YouTube video.
Cosmic Carnage (1994)
Cosmic Carnage, probably the only original fighting game to be released for Sega 32X, the add-on to the original Sega Genesis that like eleven people purchased. The game also had a ‘taunt’ button, which was pretty innovative at the time. Still, Cosmic Carnage was just Mortal Kombat in space, and each fatality in the game just proves it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2qhTEfaQ9U
