I don’t think we’re currently living in a great era for Mortal Kombat. I hated Mortal Kombat 1 (not just the laughably atrocious Switch port, but also the PS5 one), as it was a showcase of how tired and lacking in ideas Netherrealm Studios felt. Even if last year’s retro collection was admittedly amazing, it still lacked some titles, and it featured issues in some ports (thankfully, not the one I got a review code for). But if you are a Mortal Kombat fan, you know the franchise always lives in eras of ups and downs.

The Mortal Kombat 9 to 11 days were great, but we knew the crossover with DC Comics was mediocre. The initial trilogy of games was awesome, but then came a less exciting era with Mythologies, Mortal Kombat 4 (I like but I admit it’s not as good as, say, Trilogy), and Special Forces. In the midst of all these eras, there was that odd period in which Mortal Kombat went full Tekken, becoming a fully 3D fighting series based around martial arts and spatial awareness. First came Deadly Alliance, which was pretty good, then Deception, which was decent, and then came Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, easily the most fascinating Mortal Kombat ever made. No, it’s not because it’s the best Mortal Kombat ever, or the worst Mortal Kombat ever… it’s because it was the most Mortal Kombat ever.

I gotta start off by showcasing this character select screen. This was mind-boggling for its time. Still is, to be fair.

People often consider the sixth generation of gaming consoles (the generation Mortal Kombat: Armageddon was initially released in) as the greatest of all time due to the perfect balance between graphical improvements over the previous generation, overall technological advancements, sheer creativity and innovation in display, and most importantly, the fact each and every video game released during that period was absolutely filled to the brim with content. Developers and publishers weren’t afraid to simply shove the crap out of a DVD with as much content as possible. There was no DLC, developmental costs weren’t absurd, the tech was decent enough, so everyone was free to bloat the hell out of a game with as much stuff as possible just for the sake of it.

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is a clear example of such trend. Its biggest selling point was the amount of stuff you could do in it. It was also somewhat conceived to be the “final” Mortal Kombat title (which would eventually mean the final game in the original timeline, though such concept did not exist at the time), so I can only guess Ed Boon and his crew just wanted to go out with the biggest of bangs by offering the ultimate Mortal Kombat fanservice imagineable. That doesn’t mean it was the smoothest of rides.

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon retained the engine and core gameplay from the previous two games.

If there is one thing Armageddon is known for above everything else, that thing is its roster. Do you think Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was the first fighting game to go with that whole “everyone from all previous games is here” schtick? Nope, it was Armageddon. All sixty-two fighters from every single previous mainline Mortal Kombat is featured in the roster, from mainstays like Sub-Zero and Jax to random imbeciles like Meat, Mokap and Drahmin. It doesn’t matter which Mortal Kombat you grew up playing, your favorite was featured in the roster, with, at the very least, an updated look, and brand new gameplay styles meant to fit in with the then-current Tekken-esque approach the franchise was flirting with.

The only two new inclusions to the roster were the story mode’s protagonists, brothers Taven and Daegon. Taven is the one you will play as in the brand new (and much lengthier) Konquest Mode, with him, in theory having been decided to become the one to defeat the Elder God Blaze in an eventual fight to the death to conclude the original timeline’s story. That was clearly retconned in Mortal Kombat 9, with Raiden then telling his past self, through telepathy, about the events which would ensue. Look, the takeaway is, don’t play Mortal Kombat exclusively for the story, because at the end of the day, this crap is all pure nonsense.

Look, all I’m saying is that I’d easily buy and play the hell out of a new Motor Kombat.

One of the other brand new modes is Kreate-a-Fighter, which is self-explanatory. For the time, it was actually quite robust, allowing you to create a martial art style from scratch, based on many moves from all characters in the game, and with its plethora of unlockable costumes being a good chunk of what you can unlock at the Krypt. At the time, I’d go as far as to say it was the most complete character creator in a fighting game. Tekken and Soul Calibur would only surpass it decades later.

The other new mode was a doozy. Let me talk about Motor Kombat. Because Ed Boon just randomly decided that Mortal Kombat and Mario Kart were close enough to warrant a hybrid mashup of sorts. And you know what… it was actually kinda fun, and I wouldn’t mind if an actual standalone (and obviously, massively upgraded) version of it were to be announced. It was quite rough around the edges in terms of controls and physics, and it was shockingly tame in terms of violence, but the idea ended up being executed in a much better way than I could have ever anticipated. The amount of racers and courses for such a small side mode was also quite impressive. But as previously mentioned, that was the style for the time. Developers used to boast about content, not visuals.

I main Rain, and I won’t refrain.

Now, you may have noticed that I’ve been talking non-stop about the sheer amount of content available in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, but you might be wondering: what about the gameplay? Deadly Alliance and Deception were decent enough in the gameplay department, despite being so vastly different from previous Mortal Kombat games… did Armageddon follow the same formula? The answer is, well, a yes, but with caveats. You see, while the core gameplay was still good, there were setbacks, mostly due to its short development cycle.

Previous Mortal Kombat games gave each fighter two martial art styles, plus a weapon. Due to the sheer impossibility of finding 124 different styles, animating them, and creating movesets for all of them (not to mention an additional 62 weapons), each fighter has one martial art style and one weapon in Armageddon. This effectively reduced the amount of combos and moves for each fighter, and made things a bit less varied, but that was almost to be expected, considering the bloated roster. In terms of fixing some of Deception‘s gameplay issues, such as infinite combos and the slow jumping response time, Armageddon balanced things out smoothly, but there were still a few glitches and exploits exclusive to it.

You can play as Mokap, and make him the savior of the universe, if you so wish. And/or if you’re a lunatic.

What was mostly controversial, however, was its removal of character-exclusive fatalities. Again, imagine trying to add at least two of those for each fighter in this game. Armageddon‘s solution to this problem was the introduction of a fatality creator. In essence, you would be given a small timer after “Finish Him/Her” is shouted by Ed Boon, and you’d have to press some buttons to start off your combo. A combination would break a foe’s jaw, another one would remove their heart, or their limb, and so on. In theory, that allowed for creative ways to dismember an opponent at the end of each match, but that also removed a ton of personality from each fighter. Without their finishing moves, they felt a bit less iconic than before.

I’ve heard in the past that there is still a small, but loyal community keeping Armageddon‘s competitive fighting scene alive, and I wish I could meet some of its players to know what’s their opinion regarding the game’s exploits, handful of glitches, slightly narrower movepool for each character, and annoying quirks such as traps in some stages. I can totally understand people saying this game doesn’t promote technical skill as much as future Mortal Kombat outings, but as a party brawler of sorts, no one can deny the fact this is a banger.

“I play Mortal Kombat for its plot”, said no one, ever.

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon was meant to be the end of an era for Mortal Kombat, but it felt more than that. It felt like the end of a specific era of fighting games, and sixth-generation games in general. It didn’t care that much about being completely tuned for EVO or a competitive scene, it wasn’t the most polished fighting game of its time. Instead, its focus was in delivering as much content, playtime, characters and resources as possible, with a completely bonkers amount of fighters, modes and features. It could either be a party game, a near-neverending completionist’s nightmare, or simply pure, unadulterated, and highly appreciated fanservice. Again, not the best Mortal Kombat ever, nor the worst, but easily the most Mortal Kombat ever made.