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 Recently, I rewatched the Mortal Kombat Live-Action Movies from the 1990s. While Mortal Kombat: Annihilation has a few bright spots, it never escaped the failures and missteps that I remember. But to no surprise, Mortal Kombat (1995) was still just as fun. This film marked an interesting time in Mortal Kombat's history as a series. The games had some snippets of lore and some comics floating around, yet there wasn't that much to work with for a whole movie's worth. Not like with the recent games from NetherRealm Studios, or even the 3D Era of the series. So, to come away with a movie that worked and felt true to the source material seemed impossible. But against all odds, Paul W.S. Anderson and his team managed to pull it off.  The big reason for this piece was because I wanted to write about Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa's role as Shang Tsung, but also because I wanted to talk about the missteps of the other Live-Action MKs and the new Street Fighter Live-Action. These things ...

 Seeing as how the month is October, I wanted to cover something Horror. Or in this case, something Horror-adjacent. The first one that I landed on was Mortal Kombat. But not just any Mortal Kombat. I am going to cover the funniest entry, Mortal Kombat 4. A divisive entry for people as some can find the diamonds in the rough, while others simply can't stand it. For me, I love this game. I put it up there with SoulCalibur II as my favorite fighting games. Yet where SoulCalibur II succeeds on almost all of its fronts. From the presentation to the way that game feels and flows. It's why SoulCalibur II has always stood as a gold standard for me. This is especially true when you look at other iconic 3D Fighters.  But Mortal Kombat 4 is not any of that. The game on its surface doesn't appear to be much different from its 2D predecessors. The major difference really just involves the new 3D stylings. So, you could absolutely arrive at this conclusion if you've only spent a few...

 Mortal Kombat 1 released this month, and the team at NetherRealm Studios has knocked it out of the park. It manages to take the slower game that was MK11 and blow it out of the water. The game feels solid and the characterization is tremendous. It is easily one of the best Mortal Kombat games of all time. I may be a longtime fan and player, but I am extremely casual when it comes to the titles. I usually can only do simple strings and don't go much further than that. The only game I know a full combo in is MK4 with Tanya. And funnily enough that is who I have picked early on to run the new Invasions mode and I am having a blast.  On my list of things to discuss, I have the story-mode, Invasions, and some other little tidbits here and there. I don't usually play ranked, so I won't be talking about it. I'm not that good at the game and I don't feel like wasting time on it when I have other games I would rather be playing. Regardless there is still plenty of other mea...

 Throughout the history of my time with the Mortal Kombat franchise, I have been a staunch supporter of Scorpion. The leader of the Shirai Ryu, Hanzo Hasashi, has a tragic backstory where his entire clan was slaughtered because of the threat they proposed. When I was a child, my draw wasn't the empathy I felt for this murderous spectre. It was the design, the actions, the iconic voice lines. And I think those things don't have to be tied to the mask that is Scorpion. Kuai Liang is now Scorpion in the new Mortal Kombat game and I think that is fine. But I am also worried that Hanzo will be left off the roster for the first time since Mortal Kombat 3. A game that was replaced by the much better Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. So, I want to spend some time going over some of the things that have made me appreciate the character over the years. The Mortal Kombat brand has become ingrained with these characters that sit at the top. Your Scorpions, Sub-Zeros, Liu Kangs, the faces of the fr...

 Another Awesome Games Done Quick has been put in the record books and what a doozy it was. A week full of speedruns has always been a fantastic time for me to relax and see games that I have never seen before or ones that I love dearly. This year I was able to witness some magnificent runs indeed. I'm going to highlight a few of the runs that I thoroughly enjoyed.  The first run on my list is Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks that was ran on the PS2. The runner for this game was Elfinout with PND Ketchup on commentary. There are a number of reasons why I was looking forward to this early morning run. The first being the nostalgia I have for this game and the joy in getting to see the final boss rush being taken to task as this was the game breaker for many players in their playthroughs. Getting to see Shao Khan be made into a fool was something I really wanted to relish in.  The second reason is that recently I have been watching quite a bit of the commentator's, PND Ketchup,...