Mortal Kombat Gold
 
                      

 
STORY:  Thousands of years ago, during a war with the corrupt Elder God known as Shinnok, Raiden was responsible for the death of an entire civilization. To avoid a repeat of this event, as well as to protect all realms from Shinnok's threat, Raiden waged a brutal campaign and, at a heavy price, exiled his rival to a dark place known as the Netherealm.
 
 

MK Gold adds a top row of classic characters.

 
REVIEW
: The successor to Mortal Kombat 4 releasing only for the Sega Dreamcast, MK Gold was one of the Dreamcast's original launch titles available on September 9th, 1999. The sequel adds 5 classic characters to the lineup. The new playable characters include: Cyrax, Mileena, Kitana, Kung Lao & Baraka.
 
Each of the new characters also show off their own new weapons, which they can pull out at any time to attack their opponent's with. However, they function practically the same as the weapons of the returning characters. Gold also adds a new weapon select option, and features some new stages not seen in the original installment. A Dreamcast exclusive, MK Gold came out nearly 2 years after MK4's original arcade release, and maintained everything the arcade version of MK4 had to offer.
   

Not sure who is getting the worse end of this...

  
Unlike the previous console iterations of MK4, Mortal Kombat Gold on Dreamcast features character model consisting of 3,000 polygons, the exact same as the arcade version of MK4. Some original levels were also reworked to take advantage of the 3D processing power of the Dreamcast. While MK Gold had a noticeably "sharp" appearance, the blocky character models, pixilated effects, and bland textures & backgrounds failed to impress... especially since the Sega Dreamcast was capable of much better visuals. Soul Calibur, another launch title on the Dreamcast, was the prime example, and simply blew MK Gold out of the water visually (not to mention, gameplay-wise).


However, as a Mortal Kombat game, Gold has all the essentials.... brutal fatalities, laughable voice acting, awkward animations, and tons of nostalgia value. It's Mortal Kombat after all. Though MK4 was impressive when it hit arcades, the graphics style, animation style and gameplay engine didn't exactly age well... even on the powerful Dreamcast. The gameplay is still very 2D and feels very "last-gen". All in all, MK Gold is really just MK4 with a new paint job and some new characters... and in 1999, it would be considered a "mediocre" fighting game at best.

Dreamcast graphics. . . . Midway: "Nailed it!"

  

Page Updated: April 22nd, 2021
Developer(s): Midway
Publisher(s): Midway
Designer(s): Ed Boon
Platform(s): Sega Dreamcast
Release Date(s): September 9th, 1999
Characters Scorpion, Sub Zero, Johnny Cage, Liu Kang, Sonya Blade, Jax Briggs, Reiko, Jarek, Rayden, Tanya, Quan Chi, Fujin, Shinnok, Reptile, Kai, Baraka, Kung Lao, Kitana, Mileena, Cyrax, Sektor, Noob Saibot, Meat, Goro

Featured Video:

Related Games: Mortal Kombat 4, Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, Mortal Kombat 3 Ultimate, MK: Deadly Alliance, MK: Deception, MK: Armageddon, MK Trilogy, Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe, Mortal Kombat 9, Mortal Kombat X, Mortal Kombat 11, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition, Final Fight: Revenge, Bloody Roar 2, Dead or Alive 2, Toshinden 3, Toshinden 4, Ehrgeiz, Bushido Blade 2, Plasma Sword, Power Stone, Soul Calibur, Tekken Tag Tournament
  

Gameplay Engine  6.5 / 10
Story / Theme  6.5 / 10
Overall Graphics  6.5 / 10
Animation  6.5 / 10
Music / Sound Effects  6.5 / 10
Innovation  5.5 / 10
Art Direction  5.5 / 10
Customization  4.5 / 10
Options / Extras  6.0 / 10
Intro / Presentation  4.5 / 10
Replayability / Fun  7.0 / 10
"Ouch" Factor  8.0 / 10
Characters  7.5 / 10
BOTTOM LINE

 6.5 / 10

  

 

Final Words: For better or worse... MK Gold is the definitive version of Mortal Kombat 4. Now with 5 classic fan-favorite characters returning to the mix, the roster felt more complete than the somewhat "lonely" feeling arcade version of MK4. The good (or bad) news is... it's still 100% MK4 and everything that comes with it. 

The visuals and gameplay of MK Gold were somewhat stale and definitely looked "last gen" for 1999... especially when compared to that other big fighting game launch title on Dreamcast, SoulCalibur. In comparison, MK Gold was pretty embarrassing when put up against SoulCalibur. In its best light, MK Gold still has a sense of silly humor and a unique brand of simplistic gameplay that's worth a go-around. However, any serious fighting game player had far better options on Sega Dreamcast.
~TFG Webmaster | @Fighters_Gen  
 
 
  
FOLLOW    ON:                            
TFG NEWS CHARACTERS GAMES

 


.