SHIIIIIT! This is really tough for me. I can go by what I've played the most, Street Fighter 2 the Champion Edition on Sega Genesis. That's only because of the longest time in comparison to other MK and SF titles, I owned it. It's the only SF title I have owned, others have been emulations. I did play Street Fighter 2 Turbo on the SNES, but that was so long ago, at least 15 years! I only played Street Fighter 2 on Genesis, Super Street Fighter 2 and Street Fighter 2 Turbo on SNES, Street Fighter Alpha on SNES, Street Fighter Alpha 3 on GBA. Again, all but SF on Genesis and Turbo, were emulations. That's not many.
In comparison, I've owned Mortal Kombat Trilogy. In fact it's the first game I owned between the two franchises. I think I played Street Fighter 2 Turbo first, but actually owning a game, Trilogy was first. That was awesome, I remember battling an adult, my mother's boyfriend at the time. He was pretty good, but one time I beat him with Raiden and even pulled off a Fatality! That shit was hard back then. It still was in the 3D MK games, but the internet came about. Before that, it was really mash buttons and hope for the best.
On the arcade side, I did spot Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter at a laundromat's arcade section. I wish that place still had the arcade, it's such a staple of my childhood, the laundromat is just burned in my brain. I don't think I played Street Fighter 2 on the arcade machine. Mortal Kombat yes, MK3 was in that laundromat.
I rented Mortal Kombat 4. Remember video game rentals? I also rented and played Deadly Alliance, Deception, my youngest sister's dad got us Armageddon, and playing that on the GC controller was amazing. I think Deception got special treatment on Gamecube because you could play as Shao Kahn and Goro, exclusively on that port. On Deception, I loved the Konquest, me and one of my sisters even laughed at some of the dialogue in Konquest. "AHH. MY BALLS!" "Leave me be, murderer!" So great.
That's it as far as renting and owning. I played very briefly, MK 1, 2, 3, UMK3 via emulation. Hmm, I think I played either 3 or UMK3 on Super Nintendo, a friend had it. I can't remember that. So basically, I played more Mortal Kombat games. Deception and Armageddon, I logged a lot of hours. Now thinking about it, I think I played Deception and Armageddon longer than Street Fighter 2 on Genesis. Not even combined, individually. I've owned Champion Edition though since 2003. 12 years, my goodness. God, cartridges are easier and more durable, if you don't step on it and just be plain irresponsible. With discs, they could scratch easily. The good ol' blowing the cartridge, Jesus. Those days are long done. Well, I can get back to retro gaming any time.
You know what, screw it, it's not that hard, Mortal Kombat. I've had more of a history with Mortal Kombat, whereas with Street Fighter, it's mostly Champion Edition. That game is so awesome by the way. These can really go neck and neck, both one up the other in many different ways. Like Street Fighter being easier than Mortal Kombat. It's easier for button mashing, the special moves are much easier to pull off. Mortal Kombat had to list all the moves in the 3D games, which helps a lot, but even then, Street Fighter was easier to handle. Unfortunately I can't compare the 3D MK games to a 3D Street Fighter game, as in, Street Fighter 4. I will get that game one day, I swear I will get 5.
Mortal Kombat's violence is just legendary and appealing in its own right. It's preference on which kind of violence to prefer, but more often than not, I choose Mortal Kombat. Music, Street Fighter edges out at least for quality and quantity. Mortal Kombat has the theme song and the upgraded version, but they were originally used for the two 90s movies. Oh man, those are fucking awesome, I've actually been playing the Annihilation version for hours on end over the weekend. Literally, hours! While typing up stuff, but still. Hours! Last night, 4 hours! But overall, Street Fighter wins in the music round. Ken's theme, Guile's theme, Ryu's theme, everyone in Street Fighter 2, their themes are burned in my head.
Stages, Street Fighter's are more elaborate, more variety in colors and locations. Mortal Kombat is less varied, but they got some iconic ones, like the sewer thing, the bridge with arena fatality, the spikes. The forest with faces, Scorpion's place, which I think was just Hell. The 3D games spruced up with 3D fighting, but their more recent games went back to 2D fighting, right? I think SF 4 kept to that style. Either way is great. MK's arena fatalities in the 3D games are a bit cheap, because they could happen during battle, not at the end. You can easily leave yourself open to that. Street Fighter wins in stages.
Characters, that's tougher for sure. Liu Kang is badass, Scorpion and Sub-Zero are amazing, Shao Kahn is a beast, Goro is a monster, Baraka, Kano, Sonya is hot, Johnny Cage is cool. Shang Tsung is cool, Ermac was nice, just a lot of great characters. Going by fame and icon status, Street Fighter edges out, especially with Ryu as THE mascot for arcade fighting games. This is more neck and neck for me, and thus is a preference. A preference that shifts, it could be MK, then SF, then MK again. For now, since I've watched the two 90s MK movies over the past week, I'm on a high for Mortal Kombat. Yeah I know about Annihilation, more on that later. So for now, Mortal Kombat.
Fighting mechanics, again Street Fighter is easier, but still both go neck and neck. It's about preference, and I think it's a bit more fulfilling with Mortal Kombat because I had a serious learning curve with MK. With Street Fighter, it's easier. At the hardest settings, I'd probably manage with Street Fighter better. Difficulty does play a role. Hard or not, right now I prefer Mortal Kombat fighting. More button mashing, but ah well.
Graphics? They're different, so that can fall under preference too. MK's digitized actor era was really innovative, and well done. I think they went to motion capturing people, in Deception the guy who said "MY BALLS" was Mocap, he had all those light bulbs and such. Street Fighter's graphics, like the stages, are more colorful, at least in the 2D era. I think SF 4 looks less colorful, but that doesn't hurt the fact that SF 4 looks amazing, and SF 5 will look amazing too. Again with preference, I'll go with Street Fighter overall, but you can't beat a fatality, and all the gore. Rendering that in 2D, 3D, just amazing.
It might look like I'm giving more victories to Street Fighter, it can depend on mood, but I still favor Mortal Kombat. X is the one reason I want to get a PS4, and that's saying a lot. I forgot about stories. It seems Mortal Kombat has more far reaching stories. Street Fighter is more individual, and doesn't look all that deep. Both tried though, good on them. Mortal Kombat since 4 I think, went with a central story too. Definitely in Alliance, Quan Chi and Shang Tsung coming together, they killed Liu Kang! Deception had Onaga, and Armageddon was just bringing everyone together. Mortal Kombat on the last gen consoles seemed to just redo Mortal Kombat 2. MK X seems to be its own new story.
So my vote is for Mortal Kombat. Now on the movies, fucking hell. Street Fighter is just so bad, it's good! My first viewing, thought it was average. Repeat viewings, a bit underrated, too much flak for the film. Most recent viewing a month ago? Entertaining! I was laughing from start to finish, so that's a huge quality, it's actually aged really well. Not in the way that it's better as a movie in the technical and scriptwriting level, but just being an unintentional laugh. I have to say that Kylie Minogue was the absolute worst actor in that film, it looked like she couldn't be bothered. Aussie trying for a British accent, she was just bad, thank goodness she didn't have many lines, and she looked hot. She looks hotter now as a matter of fact. She certainly aged better than Van Damme, who is also one of the bad parts in the film. Not entirely, he had some funny lines, but he played it serious. Playing it serious like he does, there are just better movies with him, and where he did more. Here, he didn't do much, and stuck to his 3 moves. Van Damme only has 3 moves, and I say that somewhat affectionately. Blanka was just horrible to look at, but hilarious. The casting was just overall bad. Ming-Na Wen was probably the best casting, along with the Zangief guy. Everyone else, no, not at all. Raul Julia included, but that doesn't change the fact he is the single best actor in the film, really sad that he passed away after filming wrapped. He had cancer while making this too, and the Blu-ray edition really didn't do the man any favors. By the way, on Amazon, the film is listed as a comedy. HAHA! The blu-ray edition showed how sickly Raul Julia was, it was sad to see, but he still hammed it up. The guy playing Ken was just dreadful, not even funny, he's a twat. The guy that played Vega was pretty cartoonish. E. Honda, badly cast, Balrog, badly cast. The actor for that has an awesome name. Grand L. Bush!
And last week I watched Mortal Kombat for the first time in over 5 years. Without a doubt, better movie on a production and action level than Street Fighter. Even some nice comedy here and there. Overall more entertaining, I was just geeking out. It's surprising that I love it, when it's PG-13, and not adapted straight up from the gore and violence. The casting is perfect. There's no other word to use but "perfect." Ed Boon and John Tobias even edited character backgrounds and design based on the casting for this movie. Shang Tsung, they allowed for Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa to adapt Shang Tsung into a younger version. I think that even explains Shang Tsung's redesign in MK4. Definitely Alliance, his appearance though looks like Tagawa from the movie. Kano, they even changed his origin to being Australian, even though Trevor Goddard basically lied that he was Australian, when he's British.
Christopher Lambert, he probably couldn't do fight scenes or something, whatever. The thing with him is his voice. I could listen to him for hours, he's the white Morgan Freeman. It's his voice that really stole the show for me in Mean Guns, and does so here at many points. Tagawa's facial expressions were amazing! His nose looked like a reptile one. Robin Shou as Liu Kang, I am back on his dick, I feel so bad for him. What happened? I think he would've made a great alternative to Jackie Chan and Jet Li. He could kick ass, he is a good looking man, it's crazy. Paul W.S. Anderson probably likes him, he worked with Shou again in Death Race. I saw that film last year, great to spot him there, still looking good. I remember Shou for MK and Beverly Hills Ninja. That's right, those movies were staples of my childhood, I'm interested in revisiting BNH, because it's been at least 3 years since I saw that, and I'm on a Robin Shou high. He hasn't done a lot of films, as far as notable stuff. Obscure titles mostly. One that I saw a few months ago, Honor & Glory. I think it was his introduction to the United States, he was a sidekick to Cynthia Rothrock. I know he was in Undefeatable too, but only in the Hong Kong version, which I have not seen, and want to. Both those films are from Godfrey Ho, and are legendary for being horrible films. So bad, it's good, I love them.
Linden Ashby was funny, a bit of a knob, but very likable. Thank goodness Van Damme turned down the Johnny Cage role, Ashby was more fitting. I think Van Damme was only considered because of the split and punch to the balls. Bridgette Wilson looked cute, she obviously didn't know how to fight, but she did her own stunts and fights, so fair play. Choreography helps. Trevor Goddard as Goro was really good, he didn't last long unfortunately. Chris Casamassa (who was just a stuntman that got a promotion based on performance) as Scorpion was really good, also didn't last long. Francois Petit as Sub-Zero, and Keith Cooke as Reptile, both great. Again, just perfect casting. Goro, is more open for nitpicking, the practical effects, a nice effort, but he looked a bit too long for me, and not as hulkish as I think he should've been. Ah well, practical over CG any day of the week.
The effects on here hold up well. Not the best, like Terminator 2, but with 20 years exactly passing by, it still stands pretty firm. 20 years, wow! The fights are alright, again, not the best, a bit too Hollywood with the slow motions and overall brevity, but done well. The results are a bit questionable, all the main masked ninja deaths I mean: Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Reptile. Anyways, nostalgia glasses were on full during the movie, I still love it. Best video game to film adaptation ever, without a doubt.
Annihilation, I saw yesterday. God, it was close to Street Fighter in the "so bad, it's good" department. Those qualities are felt with the dialogue, acting, story points, and even SOME of the CG. I stress "some" because for the most part, the effects are just bad. The fight with the animilaties of Liu Kang and Shao Kahn, was just dreadful. I didn't laugh at that at all, it was a pain to watch. The film is bad, no question about it, it's really on whether it's good bad. And around half the time, 60% at most, it's good bad. But the rest is just awful. They replaced everybody, some just turned it down. Ashby turned it down after reading the script, smart man. The guy who played Jax in the first movie was in poor health, unfortunately died the next year. Bridgette Wilson chose I Know What You Did Last Summer over this. Probably a smart decision, that movie I bet drew more money than Annihilation.
The casting was a complete mess. Brian Thompson as Shao Kahn was absolutely dreadful. I was shocked to read he was 6'3" because he looked so short. Compared to Motaro, he was tiny. I read that Kahn in the games was 7'. Without reading that, it's easy to see that Kahn was just a towering individual. Hell, give Deron McBee a bald wig, he would've fit better than Thompson. His dialogue was laughably bad, but still.
Speaking of which, I hadn't seen Annihilation in over 5 years. At least 7, so I didn't know most of the actors then. Robin Shou, for sure, and Talisa Soto of course from the 1st movie. They were the only returning cast members, so I felt bad for them. So just this year, I watched The Warriors for the first time, and enjoyed the badass Ajax, played by James Remar. So I was shocked and happy to see him as Raiden, even though I would've gone for Lambert returning. And Deron McBee, I saw The Killing Zone some time ago. PM Entertainment can do no wrong in the fun bad action movie department, and he was awesome as a result. I could've sworn he was in Assault of the Party Nerds 2, but he wasn't credited. I'm going to watch that again with the audio commentary to see if that was actually him as the muscled guy in the part scene. Anyways, I exploded when I saw him as Motaro. Exploded in a good way. The effects on Motaro was shit, but still great to see him.
Jax actor Lynn 'Red' Williams was actually really funny in his lines. So bad, it's funny I mean. Sandra Hess as Sonya was hot, and probably was more in line with the hard exterior of the video game character, but Wilson looked purer, and can rough up. Acting wise, yeah, neither are great, but Wilson edges out. Jeez, she was so young in MK1, it's ridiculous. 22 when the film came out! While Hess is notably older. Speaking of older, only 4 years Talisa's senior, is her movie mother, Sindel, played by Musetta Vander. Laughably bad dialogue from her. James Remar's stunt double was so obvious, it's like they didn't even try to gray up the man's hair.
Fun fact I read, Tony Jaa did some stunts for Robin Shou. Interesting, I just discovered Jaa with the Ong Bak trilogy. The first one is obviously the best. The outfits on Smoke and Cyrax were proper costumes, and they didn't even try to make them look metal. When Sonya fought the latter and grabbed it? Like grabbing a shirt, awful. Ermac, well he's a masked fighter, actor got to go a bit, but wasn't in it for long. I forgot how overpowered Ermac is in the games, according to IMDB trivia. He is the amalgamation of warrior souls, right? He would've owned Sonya in that last fight then.
That just leaves the really bad casting of Thompson. There was one scene where he rode on a horse with Sindel. Oh my goodness, his eyes looked slanted big time. Like his left eye was just drooping down, inches from where an eye is supposed to be. The camera work was probably to blame, because he looked alright in the eye in other scenes, and I just found out he was one of the Punks in Terminator 1, and looking back at that, his eyes were fine. So, bad camera work. And the man in general looked so puny. I'm 6'3", how can they make that look tiny in the movie? He had muscles, fair play, but shit man. And Shao Kahn never fucking took off his mask! I saw pictures of him unmasked, probably just photo editing, in the games, he never took off his mask. Absolutely dreadful script idea. He also didn't have the voice for Kahn, who had the bombastic taste. Frank Welker, who voiced Kahn in the first movie's last scene, would've fit better in the vocal department. Of course not the appearance, there is such thing as dubbing. Although that would've been handled poorly with this film.
Acting, story, bad bad bad, some of it turned out really funny. CG, funny some bits, at least 70% of the time, just horrible. Jax beating on that CG beast, terrifying! And Jax's arms are not just addons, they were full on bionic replacements. Stupid script idea. I know in Deception and maybe other games, Jax had a costume that had his human arms back, but that had to be just a paint job or like the Terminators. Living tissue over a metal endoskeleton.
I'm sorry, I went on a full on tangent away from the thread's topic. I couldn't help myself, I'm a movie reviewer at heart. And wrestling one if I was watching it currently.
TL-DR. Mortal Kombat is my pick.
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