Fun fact for anyone who doesn't know, but the early build of the game that was shown in this video (the Sonya and Kabal screenshots) can actually be found online and is fully playable. That build also includes playable Sonya. It unfortunately ends after the first boss though, because it was just a demo.
The saving grace of this game is its awesome 70s TV style intro. It genuinely made the game a better experience. The campy silliness of the intro creates just the right mindset to enjoy a dumb fun action game, and that's exactly what it is.
I remember seeing this game in PSM and thought it looked so cool. Playing as Sonya and Jax, stealth sections, blood hitting the walls and dripping down. Fast forward a year, and I was shocked by what the game had become.
I would love to see mk try their hand at something other then a fighting game again, imagine a full on Konquest type game nowadays, or like Star Wars Jedi fallen order, with the realms instead of planets and such, would be dope
Man, that would be something. With how Ed Boon hyped the side content in MK1, I fully expected Konquest to show up in some way. But hey, like you said, a spin-off with the right treatment would be awesome.
He really is. He’s actually interesting compared to the “I’m evil and want to rule the world” or “I’m good and want to save the world” bullshit every other MK character has become.
The funny thing about it is that nowadays things are horribly exaggerated on how bad games are. I think this is a case of that. Some games aren't AS BAD as some people say they are.
I assure you 99% of these people making top 10s and putting this game as either one of the worst of all time or the worst MK never played it not even for 5 minutes nor played ps1 games either. It is very generic and bland 32 bit, but not bad.
@@tafua_a It is not. It just feels unfinished and generic. It has good ideas for it's time, but they all fell badly implemented. It is actually a bit fun even, if you go in with your expectations low, ofc. I can say it's better than mk subzero as well.
@@laughingseal2282 I think Sean Seanson sums this game up best: "MK Special Forces is not a terrible game on its own, but it's a terrible *Mortal Kombat* game. Mythologies, in contrast, is worse than Special Forces as a game, but is way better as a *Mortal Kombat* game."
I dont hate it that much, I remember buying it as a kid, and expected a regular MK fighting game and god very confused. I got stuck at the part where you had to type in a Password, as a non native english speaker I couldn't figure out the clues as a kid.
there was a more in depth video that was posted years ago that I recommend which explored what happened during the development of MKSF in theThe History Of MK Retrospective by MKSecrets (which is sadly incomplete).
@@PNDKM awesome! his retrospective was awesome, sadly, he only went as far as Shaolin Monks. leaving it on a cliffhanger of covering Armageddon......which has never happened. I really wish someone can help him complete the retrospective since I've always enjoyed it from a presentation perspective, and he does have a good voice.
let it be known that armageddon included Meat from MK4, both Chameleons from MK trilogy, and SERENA from MYTHOLOGIES... but they never thought to include Tremor until MK10 DLC... let that show you how well they regarded this game
@@syckles Onaga and Moloch were never playable before Armageddon. I think Tasia, No Face and Tremor should have been included. We even got Kia and Jataaka in the Konquest mode.
while it is objectively a bad game, I think the majority of the backlash was blown out of proportion similar to Mythologies (which I think isn't even remotely a bad game at all). I do like the introduction of the brown ninja Tremor, I do think the production behind it is interesting, and Dan Forden's music is always top notch. the game also has one of my favorite lines in this series: "you want some fries with that whoopass?!"
I kinda love Mythologies but it was horrible. I can forgive the halfassed controls that weren't fit for a platformer, the messy level design, the boring enemies, but the entire thing feels like it was made as a joke to troll players. But I still enjoy playing it for some reason.
@@txcforever I would not call it horrible. Sure it’s hard to get used to the controls and it’s difficult, but it’s still playable and has a rich atmosphere in certain levels. I think it’s severely under rated.
@@vitorcunha400 nah, It’s not objectively bad. It’s an objectively good, imperfect, but very under rated game. And it’s the only time that Shinnok ever felt like a legitimate villain.
@@EpicJasonX9000 As I said, I love it. The cutscenes, the MK atmosphere and story, combat when it kinda works as it should, I like a lot of stuff about it. But it was made on purpose so you could die on every single screen, most times in the cheapest way possible. This isn't how a good game should play.
Regarding 16:00 - You don't HAVE to use specials to move past. You just use it coz it's funny, looks cool and give you a lot of fighting options to choose from. Just coz the game don't force you to use combos etc. it doesn't mean it's not meant to be use. The problem was that the combos was slowed down and you had to comply with that, which actually ruined the whole experience for me (me being MK player who used to press 10 bunnots in a span of a second).
(sees the name of the Mongolian in the aborted plot) If that had been kept, Games Workshop might have had words with Midway, unless the Primarch of the White Scars was somehow introduced later than this game.
Jaghatai (or Chaghatai) was the second son of Genghis (or Chinggis) Khan, a historical figure. If the original MKSF story was using the historical Chagatai, then GW wouldn't have a trademark case.
5:16 - Oh God... For a moment I thought they would say that Kano r***d Sonya. The original game is a spectacle of gore, but this would've been too far.
you might have learned those speedrun strats of fire punch dashing at a boss, but if you just forgot those, the game is a torture that gives you actually satisfying cutscenes when you progress also don't use savestates
I bought an ex-rental game but they gave me the wrong disc and this is what it was. I played it for about 5 minutes before I hated it and stopped playing lol
I wished they'd waited into the PS2 era to make it and got a studio who actually had experience making beat em ups. MK is a big enough license they probably could've got a dev who would something better for cheaper.
i used to play the original game on ps1 back in 2003 idc what gamers or anyone say about it , it's one of the best ps1 games that i played and im revisting it now actually. the music , the moves , the atmosphere are great , end of story
From my observations, it kind of feels like the level of quality one would get from unnecessary movie tie-in games, just something to cash in on the name - even though this started as a proper MK spin-off with John Tobias doing all the story background stuff. And - again from my observations - if you think this is the worst game of even that era, you've never heard of Superman 64. All that said, I'm sure I would probably hate playing this game, but there are so few I don't hate, so... grains of salt and all that.
I really wish that Neather Realm Studios make these action/adventure MK games like this. Only Shaolin Monks is only good MK beat em up ever made by Midway.
Not gonna lie, despite being mediocre game, see it's shoothing mechanichs makes me wish for a remake but in the style of a Rail shooter MK with a gameplay inspired on THOD (or even better, a rail shooter retailing the events of the earth invasion of mk 9 with the cops, striker and kabal, fighting black dragon members and tarkatans owo)
I think this game was like the Atari's ET for Midway. The final insult. By that time all media was full of regular to bad MK products. Also, Tobias departure initiated a parade of regular to bad characters that very few managed to remained through the games never even matching Tobias' original characters.
I had a copy of that game when I was a kid (though I'm pretty sure it was a pirated one since I'm Brazilian and not a millionaire) and I believe my mom tried to play it. Not a fun journey when you can't speak the language (I do now but that was like 17 years ago) but I suspect it's not better when you can.
I wish that while NRS were funded by WB they diverted some resources (a small team etc) to remake Special Forces and Mythologies instead of switching between Injustice and Mortal Kombat :( Now this will probably never happen and both games shall remain with all the untapped potential and cut content. Don't get me started on non existent HD remasters for the classic mainline entries
@@RoyArkon it absolutely does. The rotation mechanic alone makes the game very clunky, bosses could be improved, the quan chi Castle is way too big for its own good, more moves, more combos, etc
@@-PVL93- Bosses are DEFIANTLY not an issue, same with moves and combos. Sub-Zero gets to have a ton of moves, including ones that he doesn't have in any other game, like the Air Ice Blast and the Freeze-on-Contact. Also Quan Chi's Fortress is not too big, that huge size makes perfect as it is the final level in the game. And the mechanics are also just fine as they are. Don't know what you're talking about.
@@RoyArkon I didn't say bosses are an issue, I said they could be improved and made more interesting, like giving Scorpion more moves or adjusting hitboxes/hurtboxes, etc Sure, Sub already has quite a few moves, but let's be honest you're not using anything except the Super Freeze and the Slide/Super Slide. Everything else is nearly useless, plus the moveset could be expanded with stuff from later titles (proximity freeze, ice armor, backslide) The last level feels way too padded out. You're literally spending like a minute running across the screen in a samey looking environment with basically zero guiding design elements so you're wasting even more time if you go up/down the wrong elevator By comparison the sewers and the fire temple don't come across as interesting enough, and the bridge of immortality is just a few instant-kill obstacles with exact same mini-boss thrown in like 4 times
@@-PVL93- About the moves, not only that these moves do have usage, but assuming that what you are saying was true (that they didn't had any usage) then by your logic there is no point of adding new moves because the regular Ice Ball and Slide would still cover all of your needs anyway. So you are not really "fixing" anything in that regard, you're just making a problem (assuming it is even there) to be even more prominent. As for the bosses, their moves and hitboxes are perfectly fine as they are. Same thing with the levels. Quan Chi's Fortress is a maze, and that's exactly what it should be, that adds to it's mystic as the final level of the game. And the other stages are very interesting, with each adding it's own obstacles, making each of them unique. Are you sure we are talking about the same game? Because I don't feel like as such.
Even though this game is widely hated & I never played it as it wasn’t apart of my time of MK I grew up on (3D era), I still appreciate the game very much solely because it gave us Tremor!! Hands down one of the most badass characters in MK!
MK:SF is sadly the worst MK game ever, but even that is still worth playing just from lore perspective. It can still be fun, for a below-average game, and I will gladly take this game over other actual fighting games from other companies any day, such as MVCI or SF3 or SFV. As bad as MK:SF is, it is still more preferable than any of them.
![Making of - Mortal Kombat 3 (high quality) [MK3 Into The Outworld - Behind the Scenes]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Gs4tAuiANQE/mqdefault.jpg)
![Making of - Mortal Kombat 3 (high quality) [MK3 Into The Outworld - Behind the Scenes]](/img/tr.png)
The greatest thing about this game is that you're still holding the world record speedrun of this game!
Not me! Mustard does though
@@PNDKM Plot twist: This comment was written by Mustard.
I bet mustard is the only person to play this game since 2000 lol
@@agentstone4249 The MK Wiki says they are dead
@@agentstone4249 Fr
Fun fact for anyone who doesn't know, but the early build of the game that was shown in this video (the Sonya and Kabal screenshots) can actually be found online and is fully playable. That build also includes playable Sonya. It unfortunately ends after the first boss though, because it was just a demo.
You can actually play the other levels with a gameshark code (plus other general code fixes related to the HUD and music tables)
@@AceKombat Thanks for letting me know. I might try that out one day.
The saving grace of this game is its awesome 70s TV style intro. It genuinely made the game a better experience. The campy silliness of the intro creates just the right mindset to enjoy a dumb fun action game, and that's exactly what it is.
Tobias goes hard with the mk lore twitter reveals
That dash punch boss abuse is oddly satisfying to watch.
I did all the retro achievements for this game a couple of years ago. Only 7 people have bothered to do so lol
I remember seeing this game in PSM and thought it looked so cool. Playing as Sonya and Jax, stealth sections, blood hitting the walls and dripping down.
Fast forward a year, and I was shocked by what the game had become.
I would love to see mk try their hand at something other then a fighting game again, imagine a full on Konquest type game nowadays, or like Star Wars Jedi fallen order, with the realms instead of planets and such, would be dope
Man, that would be something. With how Ed Boon hyped the side content in MK1, I fully expected Konquest to show up in some way. But hey, like you said, a spin-off with the right treatment would be awesome.
I always get mad at the time you guys take to make new content,but I'm always never disappointed anytime you make one♥️
The games quality may be questionable, but Tremor is honestly one of the best MK characters weve ever gotten
He really is. He’s actually interesting compared to the “I’m evil and want to rule the world” or “I’m good and want to save the world” bullshit every other MK character has become.
Yes, brown Scorpion is so innovative.. 😅
The funny thing about it is that nowadays things are horribly exaggerated on how bad games are. I think this is a case of that. Some games aren't AS BAD as some people say they are.
I assure you 99% of these people making top 10s and putting this game as either one of the worst of all time or the worst MK never played it not even for 5 minutes nor played ps1 games either. It is very generic and bland 32 bit, but not bad.
@@laughingseal2282 I have never played this game, but I refuse to believe it could possibly be worse than MK Advance.
@@tafua_a It is not. It just feels unfinished and generic. It has good ideas for it's time, but they all fell badly implemented. It is actually a bit fun even, if you go in with your expectations low, ofc.
I can say it's better than mk subzero as well.
@@laughingseal2282 I think Sean Seanson sums this game up best: "MK Special Forces is not a terrible game on its own, but it's a terrible *Mortal Kombat* game. Mythologies, in contrast, is worse than Special Forces as a game, but is way better as a *Mortal Kombat* game."
Loved this vid Ketchup & would love to see more retrospective kind of vids!
Ayyyyy! Did I briefly see Future Cop LAPD!? That game was awesome!
Fond memories of that one. Still play it now and again!
I dont hate it that much, I remember buying it as a kid, and expected a regular MK fighting game and god very confused. I got stuck at the part where you had to type in a Password, as a non native english speaker I couldn't figure out the clues as a kid.
My folks had a similar situation with it. They really liked Trilogy so it only made sense. Not a game for only-lusophones, that I'll say.
there was a more in depth video that was posted years ago that I recommend which explored what happened during the development of MKSF in theThe History Of MK Retrospective by MKSecrets (which is sadly incomplete).
Will absolutely check that out.
@@PNDKM awesome! his retrospective was awesome, sadly, he only went as far as Shaolin Monks. leaving it on a cliffhanger of covering Armageddon......which has never happened. I really wish someone can help him complete the retrospective since I've always enjoyed it from a presentation perspective, and he does have a good voice.
let it be known that armageddon included Meat from MK4, both Chameleons from MK trilogy, and SERENA from MYTHOLOGIES...
but they never thought to include Tremor until MK10 DLC...
let that show you how well they regarded this game
The reason is because Serena is playable in one of the game boy advance games, where Tremor was never in an actual MK fighting game prior.
@@syckles Onaga and Moloch were never playable before Armageddon. I think Tasia, No Face and Tremor should have been included. We even got Kia and Jataaka in the Konquest mode.
while it is objectively a bad game, I think the majority of the backlash was blown out of proportion similar to Mythologies (which I think isn't even remotely a bad game at all). I do like the introduction of the brown ninja Tremor, I do think the production behind it is interesting, and Dan Forden's music is always top notch. the game also has one of my favorite lines in this series: "you want some fries with that whoopass?!"
I kinda love Mythologies but it was horrible. I can forgive the halfassed controls that weren't fit for a platformer, the messy level design, the boring enemies, but the entire thing feels like it was made as a joke to troll players. But I still enjoy playing it for some reason.
Sorry but I think Mythologies is objectively bad as well.
@@txcforever I would not call it horrible. Sure it’s hard to get used to the controls and it’s difficult, but it’s still playable and has a rich atmosphere in certain levels. I think it’s severely under rated.
@@vitorcunha400 nah, It’s not objectively bad. It’s an objectively good, imperfect, but very under rated game. And it’s the only time that Shinnok ever felt like a legitimate villain.
@@EpicJasonX9000 As I said, I love it. The cutscenes, the MK atmosphere and story, combat when it kinda works as it should, I like a lot of stuff about it.
But it was made on purpose so you could die on every single screen, most times in the cheapest way possible. This isn't how a good game should play.
I want to thank you for opening my eyes to matt mcmuscle's work
> Special Forces is playable, you can jump in
No-no-no, you can't. You can *walk* in, they've removed the jump from the game ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Ya got me
Regarding 16:00 - You don't HAVE to use specials to move past. You just use it coz it's funny, looks cool and give you a lot of fighting options to choose from. Just coz the game don't force you to use combos etc. it doesn't mean it's not meant to be use.
The problem was that the combos was slowed down and you had to comply with that, which actually ruined the whole experience for me (me being MK player who used to press 10 bunnots in a span of a second).
I could imagine a current RE style version of the game, with the MK11 art and CG…all fun to imagine.
TIL that in the Mortal Kombat universe you can just casually go to a random "back alley surgeon" and get a cybernetic laser eye grafted to your skull.
It was clearly unfinished but as a hardcore MK fan i enjoyed it.
Definitely popped for the Future Cop LAPD clip
(sees the name of the Mongolian in the aborted plot) If that had been kept, Games Workshop might have had words with Midway, unless the Primarch of the White Scars was somehow introduced later than this game.
Jaghatai (or Chaghatai) was the second son of Genghis (or Chinggis) Khan, a historical figure. If the original MKSF story was using the historical Chagatai, then GW wouldn't have a trademark case.
I like the soundtrack of the game tho it’s MK so of course it’d be good.
The Boss Fight music is a total jam, I'm not guna lie.
MK Armageddon Konquest mode is literally like Special Forces. So is Shaolin Monks just with jumping and platforming elements.
I traded for this game years ago and was mad disappointed, i still have it by some miracle.
5:16 - Oh God... For a moment I thought they would say that Kano r***d Sonya. The original game is a spectacle of gore, but this would've been too far.
Special Forces, while being incomplete and very basic, was DEFINETLY a template for Shaolin Monks.
Kinda wish we got a remake of this. Maybe expand more of the lore involving the Special Forces along with Jax, Sonya and the Black Dragon.
Finished this game back then, it was good fun for the 10yo me haha
Yes. Especially since we have seen the E3 build and what the game was going to be.
you might have learned those speedrun strats of fire punch dashing at a boss, but if you just forgot those, the game is a torture that gives you actually satisfying cutscenes when you progress
also don't use savestates
To be honest the story tobias told about the original game sounds better than what we got here!
I bought an ex-rental game but they gave me the wrong disc and this is what it was. I played it for about 5 minutes before I hated it and stopped playing lol
They removed my favorite character when Mr Tobias left. The pain.....
I wished they'd waited into the PS2 era to make it and got a studio who actually had experience making beat em ups. MK is a big enough license they probably could've got a dev who would something better for cheaper.
So interesting. Thanks for sharing!!!
Imagine if Special Forces was made like Shaolin Monks... That would be ahead of its time, but sadly, that's the end product. So bad.
An MGS-styled remake of this game would unironically be interesting. And given today's technology, it may as well be an actually good game.
i used to play the original game on ps1 back in 2003 idc what gamers or anyone say about it , it's one of the best ps1 games that i played and im revisting it now actually. the music , the moves , the atmosphere are great , end of story
From my observations, it kind of feels like the level of quality one would get from unnecessary movie tie-in games, just something to cash in on the name - even though this started as a proper MK spin-off with John Tobias doing all the story background stuff. And - again from my observations - if you think this is the worst game of even that era, you've never heard of Superman 64.
All that said, I'm sure I would probably hate playing this game, but there are so few I don't hate, so... grains of salt and all that.
my friend refused to let me play it because it was so bad and he knew I would trash it/him for playing/buying it
Interesting... 🤔
I really wish that Neather Realm Studios make these action/adventure MK games like this. Only Shaolin Monks is only good MK beat em up ever made by Midway.
Not gonna lie, despite being mediocre game, see it's shoothing mechanichs makes me wish for a remake but in the style of a Rail shooter MK with a gameplay inspired on THOD (or even better, a rail shooter retailing the events of the earth invasion of mk 9 with the cops, striker and kabal, fighting black dragon members and tarkatans owo)
I think this game was like the Atari's ET for Midway. The final insult. By that time all media was full of regular to bad MK products. Also, Tobias departure initiated a parade of regular to bad characters that very few managed to remained through the games never even matching Tobias' original characters.
I had a copy of that game when I was a kid (though I'm pretty sure it was a pirated one since I'm Brazilian and not a millionaire) and I believe my mom tried to play it.
Not a fun journey when you can't speak the language (I do now but that was like 17 years ago) but I suspect it's not better when you can.
Hey guys, is there a character specific category for speedrunning MKSM? I was always a fan of Kung Lao...
I dont think theres character categories, but you can still do them with a character and try to be fastest with that pick.
This game could have been one of my favorites
Honestly, I wouldn't mind if Nrs created a game like this with a little bit of elements from Metal Gear Solid and other third person games.
I wish that while NRS were funded by WB they diverted some resources (a small team etc) to remake Special Forces and Mythologies instead of switching between Injustice and Mortal Kombat :(
Now this will probably never happen and both games shall remain with all the untapped potential and cut content. Don't get me started on non existent HD remasters for the classic mainline entries
Mythologies is perfectly fine though, doesn't need any remake.
@@RoyArkon it absolutely does. The rotation mechanic alone makes the game very clunky, bosses could be improved, the quan chi Castle is way too big for its own good, more moves, more combos, etc
@@-PVL93- Bosses are DEFIANTLY not an issue, same with moves and combos. Sub-Zero gets to have a ton of moves, including ones that he doesn't have in any other game, like the Air Ice Blast and the Freeze-on-Contact. Also Quan Chi's Fortress is not too big, that huge size makes perfect as it is the final level in the game. And the mechanics are also just fine as they are. Don't know what you're talking about.
@@RoyArkon I didn't say bosses are an issue, I said they could be improved and made more interesting, like giving Scorpion more moves or adjusting hitboxes/hurtboxes, etc
Sure, Sub already has quite a few moves, but let's be honest you're not using anything except the Super Freeze and the Slide/Super Slide. Everything else is nearly useless, plus the moveset could be expanded with stuff from later titles (proximity freeze, ice armor, backslide)
The last level feels way too padded out. You're literally spending like a minute running across the screen in a samey looking environment with basically zero guiding design elements so you're wasting even more time if you go up/down the wrong elevator
By comparison the sewers and the fire temple don't come across as interesting enough, and the bridge of immortality is just a few instant-kill obstacles with exact same mini-boss thrown in like 4 times
@@-PVL93- About the moves, not only that these moves do have usage, but assuming that what you are saying was true (that they didn't had any usage) then by your logic there is no point of adding new moves because the regular Ice Ball and Slide would still cover all of your needs anyway. So you are not really "fixing" anything in that regard, you're just making a problem (assuming it is even there) to be even more prominent.
As for the bosses, their moves and hitboxes are perfectly fine as they are. Same thing with the levels. Quan Chi's Fortress is a maze, and that's exactly what it should be, that adds to it's mystic as the final level of the game. And the other stages are very interesting, with each adding it's own obstacles, making each of them unique.
Are you sure we are talking about the same game? Because I don't feel like as such.
I had never even heard of this game
If the team and John Tobias didn’t leave the project mk special forces could’ve been way better than mk mythologies sub zero
The only good thing about this game is that it introduced Tremor to the franchise
Won't lie Jax moving like a tank makes sense
I still loved this game, lol.
It always looked like a functioning PS1 game. I never thought it looked bad. That Sub Zero game though. Oof that was bad.
This game was soso for me.. of they ever remade this.. they'd have to fix quite a few things ...
It could have been better, this game. And it's a shame, really.
Wondering what caused John Tobias to leave...
OH DIS GON' BE GOOD!!!
Hmm…
Gotta be honest. I kinda liked it and played it to completion back in they day. Not saying it's great, but I played way worse.
Short answer, yes
Never felt this game was really bad. More like confusing
At least the intro's nice.
Jaghatai Khan is fastest Khan
This is a sign you're going to start speedrunning the game, right? 😆
Mustard has the world record. Im not even kidding
Yes
.,.
I love this game.
Shame this wasn't better. The earthrealmers (Strike, Sonya, Jax) have always been my faves. Not Kabal. He's stupid.
Even though this game is widely hated & I never played it as it wasn’t apart of my time of MK I grew up on (3D era), I still appreciate the game very much solely because it gave us Tremor!! Hands down one of the most badass characters in MK!
This game is so bad that it was even bad for me when I was a kid, single digit age kid understood this was a piece of garbage 😂 that's saying a lot.
Yes, it is.
This game is still not worst than mk advance!!!
mk mythologies sub is the best non fighting mk.
Os únicos jogos ruins da série são os ports. Nenhum dos mainline jogos e spin-offs são ruins
Mom can we have Shaolin monks?
We have Shaolin monks at home
👏😅🤣👍
Yes. The combat is terrible
MK:SF is sadly the worst MK game ever, but even that is still worth playing just from lore perspective. It can still be fun, for a below-average game, and I will gladly take this game over other actual fighting games from other companies any day, such as MVCI or SF3 or SFV. As bad as MK:SF is, it is still more preferable than any of them.
Please make a video like this on Shaolin Monks!!!