The Mortal Kombat Arcade Port you probably never played | MVG
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- Опубліковано 16 чер 2024
- Mortal Kombat was a smash in the arcade and in the home. In 2004 Jakks Pacific released a $25 Mortal Kombat TV game that ran on AA batteries - but this was not simple emulation, rather a custom developed arcade port that was quite impressive given its hardware constraints. In this episode we take a closer look at the version of Mortal Kombat you've probably never played.
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Music Used:
► Mortal Kombat (Soundtrack from the Arcade Game) - Dan Forden
Sources:
► MK TV Game - plugplaytvgames.fandom.com/wi...
► SunPlus Information - hackmii.com/2010/04/sunplus-t...
TimeStamps:
► 00:00 - 04:04 - Introduction
► 04:05 - 12:16 - A Closer look at the Jakks Pacific MK TV Game
► 12:17 - 13:04 - Outtro
Social Media Links :
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► BandCamp : modernvintagegamer.bandcamp.com/
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#MortalKombat #Arcade #TVGame - Ігри
I had a family friend who bought this for me and my childhood best friend. He taught us every single special move in the game. Unfortunately he passed away when I was in middle school. This little plug and play game is very special to me. So happy to see somebody cover it
Sorry for your loss :(
That must be a great memory. Someone teaching you something cool and fun.
Fight on. He'd be proud of you.
I wonder where he ended up
If he's in heaven then okay but if he's in the underworld then not so okay
It's wonderful to have such a fond memory of someone like that. Thank you for sharing it.
I always wonder how that worked as an employee/coder. “Yo, we got this obscure hardware and we already ordered a million of them and the documentation is meh. Make Mortal Kombat on it - go.”
That's pretty much it hahaha.
I enjoy a challenge but sometimes it's tough because non technical people don't have a concept of what goes into what they are asking for.
you should check out the story behind Doom 3DO
@@RetroGameSpacko everyone should also check out the one guy working on Optidoom, he's making a lot of cool progress
They shouldve ported Doom to this
They probably wouldn't have said "yo" like that.
I hope he was compensated well, seems he put a lot of effort into this port!
Miracle work requires miracle pay!
I still have it and play it, it's a really good Port, it's Complete MK (without Parallax-Scrolling and Shadows but it's no Problem) - it outranks the 16bit-Versions by far. A Must-Have for MK-Fans!
@@greensun1334
Agree, easily better than the 16bit versions.
I have one as well.
Bought it back in the day here in AUS at a Target store.
So much effort for something that probably got ignored by most gamers at the time 😕
I know I wouldn't have paid any attention to it on the store shelf, thinking it was some cheap Tiger crap or something.
@@Prizm44 no, that's the Thing - it's the best Port after the Original - even better then the PC-DOS-Version (It hasTroubles with the Hitboxes) - the Gameplay of this Plug and Play - Device is 99% arcade-accurrate! Today i played it because this Comment-Section - and all I can say is - WHOW, what a Masterpiece!
So dope. I remember a kid wanted my yugioh cards so bad that he ran to his house and grabed all of his games. He brought a black milk crate filled to the brim with stuff. At the bottom of the crate was the MK plug and play system. I played that game for months until it stop working. That was like 2008 or 9. Lowkey brought tears to my eyes
It probably still works. Might just be a cable or battery plug issue as usual with those types of games
Hope you kept it, it can be fixed.
2008
Brazil be like
I actually still have this thing!
funny story... back when I bought this in a german electronics store, MK1 was actually still banned in germany, and this thing was just sittng there with an age rating of 12. a truly weird sight
did you felt like buying something ilegal ? lol
@@FabioGnecco kinda, but I was used to it xD back then many games got banned in germany. nowadays that stuff doesn't happen anymore but bsck then it was pretty normal if you were a hardcore gamer to buy illegal stuff lol
I had 3 copies of Manhunt (1 each on PS2, Xbox and PC) and that game was banned and still is (the publisher would need to manually try to get it off the index, or wait 25 years I think for it to automatically be de-listed)
it's not like it was too hard to come by tho, if you knew where to look you'd find games like Manhunt, Postal 2 etc. easly
@Super Sharp Shooter yeah shit like that was weird...
even weirder, I kinda miss those times xD I am weirdly nostalgic for it.
back then it was kind of a Core Gamer badge if you had imported uncensored versions and banned or "indizierte" games in your library.
you'd be like "yo I got the PEGI version of San Andreas! wanna come over?" to your friends
these days basically no games get censored or indexed anymore tho, and I know that's a good thing, but yeah... that weird nostalgia for hunting down certain games, looking in small nerd stores for Manhunt or uncensored GTA San Andreas and stuff like that, it's still there for me 🤣
@@kevboard yeah i agree lol it's always easy to find stuff if you know where to look hahahaha
@@kevboard i remember left 4 dead got some cool exclusive weapons in Germany to make up for the reduced violence
This was my introduction to playing MK. A cousin got me this for Christmas, and to this day the memory of defeating Goro and Shang Tsing for the first time are some of my most cherished gaming memories
I'm never beaten goro on this version of MK.
This port is quite fascinating, there were rumors it was the cancelled Turbografx port of the game for a while, but the sound is too good for it. Also a few people thought it was the Amiga version running, but that looks almost identical to the Mega Drive/Genesis version in hindsight.
but... Hello you!
There was going to be a Turbografx port?
@Jesse Millar You unironically said that the Amiga is worse than the Philips CDi. C'mon.
oh man now I wish I could hear what the music in mk would've sounded like on the turbografx
@Jesse Millar About a decade ahead of it's time it was.. you don't seem to have the slightest clue about technologie's history.
I actually had this, won it as a door prize from one of my mother's old jobs' holiday parties when I was younger. It was surprisingly on-point as a port for a plug'n'play.
One thing I'd love to see MVG explain is the N64 cheat protection in certain games and how the GameShark key codes overcame this
a video on game shark and game genie in general would be great.
No
@@Einar730 Yes.
Yes please! That would make for an interesting video 🌱
@@Sun-ut9gr No
Remember playing this back in the day at arcades, I was so excited when I got the Genesis version and entered the blood code. The word code has many meanings..... "Get over here".... Now Entering Kombat
ABACABB. It's burned into my soul
Yeah, the DULLARD code lol
Down Up Left Left A Right Down ha ha.
I never even had a Genesis and I STILL know what the blood code was.
Having to wait for the logo's all over when you misspressed😅...
It's great that these systems are getting MAME support. They are an often overlooked part of gaming history!
@@icedacream Gaming preservation. Nostalgia. Fascination with game porting and production. And hardcore fans like trying different versions.
I personally like trying different ports of my favorite games. Each system gives the game its own "different feel".
@@icedacream why would anyone port doom to a calculator?
Just because. Because why TF not.
I love this series SO much. These creative developers, who made possible the seemingly impossible, deserve to have their work recognised!
Kreative developers xd
I had this when I was little this is actually how I played mortal kombat for the first time
Me too.
Same here buddy glad I’m not the only one
I have this sitting in a box in my closet. I only played it a handful of times. Never really thought much of it, but now that I know all of the hard work that went into porting it, I have a much greater appreciation for it. Thanks!
This little device was actually my introduction to Mortal Kombat as a kid, even had the two controllers for multiplayer. So many hours spent on it
Do you have the link cable?
@@RetroPillowcase I sadly don't have any of the accessories anymore. I've been tempted to re buy this plug n play though
@@TheSideTangentPodcast I have 2. And no link wire. :/
This is actually the MK port I grew up playing. I really loved it and it gave me the appreciation I have for retro gaming to this day.
Damn. So those guys basically reconstructed the whole game, code and background graphics included, and made it close to arcade perfect for some stuff I've never heard of. o_*
@@NintendoDude888 I said "close".
I remember seeing this thing in Walmart and never bought it cause I expected it to be like the other handheld games that were terrible quality
Me too!! I was curious but $20-$25 was too much for my curiosity...man, I really regret it because it'd be nice to have. I always thought the controller was cool, as well.
From what I could tell Jack's Pacific usually did the best job I have one that says RCA on it and it's crap for example
In the same boat here. I remember getting their genesis with Sonic 1 and Golden Axe. The sound was bad enough it actually hurt my ears. Learned my lesson with that and never bought their consoles again. Wish there was some way back then we could've known how good the MK one was.
@@KiraSlith
Well considering it's online for you to download and play on MAME, you can enjoy what you never could have before. It's super impressive that the game was slapped onto a 4mb SOC and runs at 60fps. You'd think it's run like a DOS port and be 30fps garbage.
@@KiraSlith The Genesis ones were by Radica, and just used a Genesis system-on-a-chip with the original ROMs, but the SOCs they used didn't handle the sound well. However, conceivable you could solder a cartridge connector to them and use it as a full-fledged Genesis, strangely enough.
I was a manager at Microplay when these mini arcade games came out. Almost everyone that bought them tried to return them. Not just Mortal Kombat. Every game...
Dang, that's rough considering how good many are. I guess back then people didn't appreciate old games as much huh
Yeah, probably because they always sucked. Garbage quality sound/graphics in an insanely cheap and low quality package won't give you a good experience (go figure), but I don't understand what they were expecting with it all being as cheap as it was; like you're obviously not going to get a one to one amazing port of all those games for just 20 bucks, ESPECIALLY not with the tech available in the early 2000's, when those were made.
@@ColasTeam Nope, completely wrong. Nostalgia was super high, and original NES games were like gold. The joysticks on those arcade toys weren't anywhere close to responsive like the real arcade games, but the vast majority simply didn't want it because it required batteries.
@@ReallyRyan. seems you never used one, and didn't watch the video
@@SpeckyNation Yeah, I imagine that finding out that it only runs on batteries is a huge disappointment for the vast majority who didn't know. Four AA batteries for something that can only be played on a television, and no AC adapter.
Hilarious. Making a plug and play in the 2004 with an actual made-from-scratch port of an arcade game which is actually well made, meanwhile in the last 3 years or so we got plug and plays with badly emulated games (sometimes even choosing the worst versions to put in those devices). Years passes and people get lazier.
Yeah, back then cheap ARM CPUs were weak enough that they couldn't just throw an open-source emulation core on there and be done, they had to write native code.
@@yellowblanka6058 The MK PnP system (alongside many similar 16-bit PnP systems) don't run on ARM. The uploader did a slip-up at 10:40, which me and some of the developers of MAME have pointed out here.
This is the best Plug and Play ever made imO. It's no poor Emulation and a technical Masterpiece, the Programmer did his Job very well to create this unique Version of Mortal Kombat and put a lot of Effort into it!
I still feel cheated about that Mega Drive Flashback giving us MK1, then two laggy MK2/3 ports... And no Ultimate MK3
@@imperialguard5599 wtf? UMK3 and some Hacks still exist
Your analysis, research, and presentation documentaries are astounding. Always love watching your high quality and professional content. This was a fascinating look into the MKTV port.
Agreed
I can't get enough of these kinds of videos. I'm a programmer, and I'm blown away by the creativity that hardware limits can bring out. Excellent video as always. Cheers!
I remember getting this loose at a pawn shop way back when I was a kid and spending like 3 hours just trying to beat the damn thing. Thanks for the nostalgia trip
i’m here representing for the MS-DOS version. Great copy of mortal kombat.
And MK Trilogy
Got that one in my gog library!
Cringe
Honestly, the dev could've just easily used an emulated version of that DOS version to make his life easier since that one was actually pretty close to arcade perfect.
I still can't understand why the Arcade Collection version is no longer available on steam. It is undoubtedly the best version ever made available besides the Arcade. Thankfully it's possible to buy the Key and activate it on steam. however the game no longer works in online mode and also has not received updates for years. They could relaunch again, as did capcom with street fighter. I am not so picky to look for every little detail just to say that it is not an Arcade Perfect.
This is one of those random genius bits of coding mastery that would have gone completely overlooked. Thanks to MVG, we all get to learn about it.
Love all these collector trinkets, and even more that you take your time to explain their history and how they were made possible. Hope you'll bring us some more in the future!
Briefly heard about this device before but it was great to see a deep dive into the background and inner workings. Another great MVG review. Absolutely love the level these technical looks are pitched, not too deep for us mere mortals but deep enough to share some of the magic that makes these things special and worthy of credit. 👊😎
Wow, I never knew that this version was so unique. I always dismissed these plugin tv units as shitty after being burned a couple of times a decade ago but its great to do a deep dive into such an interesting version. I’d love to see more videos like this.
This is really interesting. After a bad experience with other plug-and-play devices, I’d just always assumed they were all junk. Great to be shown I was wrong.
This is the best Plug and Play - Device ever - for sure. 99% Arcade-Perfect Gameplay and really good Control-Pad!
Ms. Pac-Man was always my favorite because the Pole Position controls were insane. The joystick functioned like an Atari paddle it was genius.
I love learning some history about this game and the TV controller/console! Great content MVG
Very interesting kit, love the depth of the video. Thank you for sharing!
I remember this thing. This was the only version of MK1 that I’ve ever managed to beat.
This is super interesting. It would’ve nice if he could interview some of these developers on his channel.
I love these videos going over game ports. I specifically had this plug and play console when I was younger and I didn't think much of it at the time. Videos like this really put into light that moving software over to different hardware isn't as simple as just copy-pasting code or dropping a ROM onto a different platform, and I feel that the work put into these types of ports goes completely unappreciated.
Congratulations on the 600K milestone! Great content here, as always. I need to try this plug and play version for myself!
From Mistakes were made to Sacrifices had to be made... You're still in for a good vid...
Imagine if he was given more storage to work with. This might have been the best version on MK.
It's the best Version, Just the Original is a little better Parallax-Scrolling etc. - but the Gameplay is the Same! I still own it
I have a pair of these when I found them on sale at a local store. I remember being surprised that it wasn't based on any home port either. This became quickly apparent with games graphics and especially the audio which is a mixed bag. Great video.
This arcade game was actually my introduction into mortal kombat and I loved it at the time. Great video as always MVG.
"You probably never played"
***Looks at shelf and sees it staring back at me***
"Aight"
That's why he said probably. : /
This is a flex.
Hence the word probably
@@AbsolutelyBatz People still use "Cringe?"
@@ajsingh4545 It's more of a jab at UA-camrs using things like "You did not know, you did not see, you did not etc" than the actual probably part. Glad 38 other people understand this
I picked the street fighter plug n play over this one.
Mistakes were made 😅
Is it the mega drive version of sf2 on that device?
@@rDanny
Yeah it came with 2 6button controllers.
Seemed like the better choice at the time.
@@JD-qh3sm cool thanks
SF2 - Plug and Play is very slow... To slow...
I had both of these. They were fun the mk was a better port, especially if you had 2. But the sf2 was cheaper and came with 2 controllers, also a ghouls and ghosts port too. The mk plug n play was the better game but the sf2 plug n play was definitely more bang for your buck.
Thanks for the video and It's really interesting to know how they build this game. Awesome video 👍.
Very interesting! That’s an amazing effort for such a faithful port!
Compressed all the way to 4 MB? It's incredible it looks as good as it does even without animated backgrounds. Some real wizardry and education going on here!
4mb, that's Super NES territory, would had been nice if he port it to SNES too. While Mortal Kombat on Super NES was only 2mb, Ultimate MK3 and Street Fighter Alpha 2 on Super NES were 4mb games.
Modern developers making 100 GB games that require an unobtanium graphics card could learn a lot from him.
@@leonidas14775 They can learn a lot from Capcom.. Capcom compressed Resident Evil 2 on the N64 and it looks great on the N64..
Shame the soundtrack took such a hit. That was my first thought when he played footage of it.
That's 32 MEGA POWER!
Amazing port. Incredible was done by just one guy, kudos to him.
Yes, I still have it, it's a Must-Have for a MK-Fan like me!
Cool and interesting video, dude. Thanks for putting in the effort.
I loved the detail that you went into about this game. Thanks!
i really dont care about MK in general, but, my jaw dropped when he started talking about the single dev, who, was going line by line on the code.
This Port is a Wonder, i still have it and play it from Time to Time!
In assembly because the instruction set architectures (ISAs) of the two hardware machines differed.
For those of you who have two- curious how they link together? Is it another cable or does it send the second player data over the mono/CVBS connection(s)? 🤔
I only have one but there's a connector on it for player two. You definitely wouldn't be able to plug the video out cables into it. Because I got used I always thought there was just a second controller that came with it that I never got I didn't know you had to actually link to full machines.
It looked like a car auxiliary cable. 3.5mm but I lost them both lol
They are simple av jacks...
Like the ones used to link up car dvd player screens...
It seems pretty good especially for collecting that device!!! Awesome video!!
A very interesting video, showing many technical details about this port I didn't know about. I'm also glad to see it's been digitally preserved on MAME. 👏🏻👏🏻💪🏻💪🏻
I played this a ton as a kid. I got it as a gift from my dad's work Christmas party. I still have it and love it.
Do you have the link cable?
I'll never understand how Mortal Kombat had so many releases over the years, with fatalities and all, yet Thrill Kill on the PS1 was cancelled for being too violent.
I think if Mortal Kombat was called Thrill Kill it would've been cancelled too for the name alone.
That game is legendary, blame EA for that, they said it would give them a bad rep
i remember playing thrill kill way back and it felt way creepier than mortal kombat (it aged terribly though)
@@vdfritzz Considering how it had bigger emphasis on graphic sexual fetishism than MK's gore, even EA felt it was crossing the line especially as they at the time had connections to senator Joe Lieberman. Not to mention that no console manufacturer would licence any AO-rated game on their systems anyway.
I never got to play TK. I wonder if the game went with a better name, maybe consciously strived for a legacy not just a cash in would it have went somewhat better.
The best part was that it came with a booklet with character bios and most importantly, fatality codes. This was a huge deal when internet access was a luxury.
That's crazy. You must have been working on this around the same time as Patman. Good stuff as usual.
Thanks to UA-camr Borg117 giving us all the best Mortal Kombat mugen (MK Project 4.1 season 2)
their engine is not good enough to match the umk3 one unfortunately
Mugen projects gave the mortal kombat people to put characters who are not fighters in their games. Shame on them.
@@Jucelegario Borg's work is more faithful, but yea other mugens are wacky.
@@AlbertRei3424 it is pretty good what Borg has done with it, worth checking it out.
Nono, you mean MK chaotic, mister.
*P A N T H E R K*
I tried to buy a Mortal Kombat soundtrack...
All I could find were Finnish hymns.
LOL
Killer pun Seb!
😂😂😂😂😂
(as a Finn myself. This was hilarious!)
*FLAWLESS VICTORY*
200,000 points
Chill bruh lol
Good timing. I had just learned this version was different just last week. I remember seeing this in stores back in the day, but always assumed it was just the Genesis version emulated.
dude this was a great video! and one of the reasons we all subscribe. you always have original content no one else is doing. cheers mate!
I would be impressed if someone got doom to run on the sunplus soc
Maybe on the SPG290 in the Hyperscan, you could. The SPG240? Doubt it.
Doom got ported to an expanded C64, so why not (with a lot of effort)?
I actually had this, when I use to work for Toy’s R Us. Managed to grab this on a sale price aswell as staff discount it only cost me 3.49. Wish I kept this but had to pass it on at the time.
@@attilaracz2626 I bought mine from eBay, used, 25€ at all (+Shipping) from the U.K. - it's absolute worth! Good Game!
My first home port of MK1, started my journey with MKII on SNES.
Mk2 SNES is my favorite MK arcade port.
Nice find, and impressive port. I even like the casing for this plug and play device. 5 button layout like the arcade game.
Obviously it was gonna be good, Jakks is a huge company, the elder sibling of THQ.
anyone who has the thing care to elaborate on d-pad of the controller?
and the button layout seems cool! does it work ok?
It’s a bad dpad. That layout is the original arcade layout
Really cool video I love this kinda stuff. So impressed when people code this kinda thing. I had the Mega Drive version of MK back in the day. Later I played the SNES one and the latency on pressing the buttons was quite high.
Great video. Thanks for sharing 👍
Used to love playing this at the arcade in the 90's. Had this on pc too back in the day.
Pit fighter was another one I was obsessed with as a kid, although even the arcade version had clunky playability
10:40 Lol, did you accidentally say it was running on an ARM SoC?
@@ModernVintageGamer The u'nSP architecture in the PnP is not even remotely close to being compatible with ARM.
It's a 16-bit processor that can't even address 8-bit bytes. Each byte of an 8-bit data string has to be padded to 16-bit, or unpacked using shifting and masking. Manipulating work memory byte-wise is costly too, just as manipulating 4-bit nibbles is not all that easy on the 68K and 65816 processors the Genesis and SNES consoles used.
@@ModernVintageGamer MAME dev here, and u'N'SP has nothing to do with ARM. It's a 16-bit custom architecture that's very common in these plug-and-plays.
@@MESSDrivers appreciate this. thank you
@@ModernVintageGamer Thank *you* for the shoutouts! :-)
Probably never played?
no i did play this, i owned it when i was like 12
in fact i still have it in my backroom somewhere
edit: just checked the backroom in my house and i just found it. it was inside a dusty ziplock bag
@@triplesixmafia do you have the link cable?
@@RetroPillowcase i wish
Good, you have found it back.. now find Ermac !
The timing of this episode is great. I just watched the digital foundry MK1 all home console comparison video.
This video was literally perfect length to eat supper with. Thx so much my dude
Great content! Enjoyed this one
Great episode and great topic.
Amazing effort. One would definetly expect a device like this to just emulate some of the older versions and call it the day, but a specific native port is certainly unexpected and really well done.
Yes, it kicks the Ass of the other MK-Ports!
Great video! Thanks for covering it, mate. Now, to try and track one of these units down.
I have 3, and now I'm considering selling one and keeping two for two player matches
What a gem of a video, thank you so much, enjoyed it immensely!
Wow the quality and cleanliness of the images and footage !
Very good video. I hope that you get to test the 2 player mode in a future video, as well as opening up one unit to see what is inside it.
Good stuff! Thanks for diversifying!
This brings back so many great memories!!! I had one and my younger brother had one, we played them so much they eventually just stopped working. The grip was super comfortable for the time
My man does impressive work. Nice one.
2 years after the fact and this is still the best way to play the original Mortal Kombat at home. I had two of these when I was a small child and they lasted to about 2012. Rock on MVG
Great episode love the content!
Hey MVG just commenting to say you are one of the very few channels I turn off my adblocker plugins for, your content is worth way more than the 2 pennies in ad monies and the 10 seconds it takes me to turn them off and hitting refresh on.
I found one of these at a Goodwill once. Still held up as a fun fighter, and it was great to see Fatalities that were quick and to the point again.
Fantastic video, as ever. This is such a great channel!
Nice deep insight. I have it... an amazing conversion!!! The controller feels real good too.
So interesting! I remember seeing that MK Jakks controller in the store, seeing the screen shots on the blisterbox and thinking that's not the arcade rom or any of the console releases...and now I know why!
When MVG posts a new video, it's like Christmas day. You wonder what you'll get underneath all of that wrapping paper and end up with something extremely interesting and exciting.
All I think of is emulation tricks when I see devices that plug into a TV. This video opened my eyes. Very impressive port!
Super cool! I always thought this was the Genesis version or a similar console port. This programmer deserves serious props!
I loved it. Thanks for the time and effort
Its amazing the amount of work that goes into stuff that could be considered bargain bin like this. Pure greatness in a plastic shell. A significantly greater Milestone than my "RPi Zero in a SNES Controller" I made for a friend... I sometimes wish I had the capacity to forge great works like this.
i had this growing up!!! was always amazed at how they fit the game in there, and its such a cool controller.
Love this channel !!
Wow this takes me back. I remember buying this back when I was a young teen right before a road trip to florida. My mom had a TV on the back of one of the seats and I played this for hours in the car.
Yo sé que es un video viejo, pero solo quería decirte desde México, que el trabajo que haces de difusión y educación es invaluable, muchas gracias por compartir tu conocimiento y perspectiva de la industria.
amazing deep dive MVG!
You’d really think they loaded a rom into a chip but Nopers. Actual thought went into the port. Impressive as hell.
No
It's actually absurd to have someone line by line translate code for a throwaway 20 dollar item.
@@T0TALLYAWESOMEGUY precisely
I totally agree. This had to be a labor of love by the sole programmer. And he had to of used lots of personal time. Perhaps it was a freelance type conversion?
@@mattb9664 it's not a lot of code on mk1 plus most libraries come with conversions charts or sites that can convert the code. Now the converter is not exact but it gives you an idea of what to expect
Excellent in-sight video as always. Also that Banjo-Kazooie shirt is rad, where did you get it ?