Mortal Kombat

A brutal fighting game that outraged parents and politicians, on a small color pocket console - the idea of Mortal Kombat on the SEGA Game Gear sounds almost absurd, and yet in the nineties it really happened. The phenomenon of digitized violence was trying to reach literally into your pocket.

Mortal Kombat is a one-on-one fighting game where you choose a fighter from a gallery of characters, each with their own special moves, and try to defeat your opponent over the course of rounds. The brand became famous for its Fatalities - bloody finishing moves you could use to spectacularly put away a defeated foe. It was precisely this merciless brutality that set the game apart from its rivals and earned it both fame and controversy.

The original arcade version was created by the American company Midway in 1992, betting on digitized footage of real actors instead of drawn characters. A wave of home conversions a year later ignited a debate about violence in games that eventually led to the creation of the ESRB rating system. The SEGA versions, meanwhile, were famous for letting you unlock the full gore.

Culturally, Mortal Kombat became one of the biggest gaming brands in history. The series continues to this day, is accompanied by a string of films, and characters like Scorpion and Sub-Zero are known even to people who have never played the game. The line 'Finish Him' ranks among the immortal quotes of pop culture.

The pocket Game Gear, however, could offer only a heavily pared-down variant. On the small screen with limited power the fighters were simplified, and the pace and roster couldn't match the arcade original. For fans it's more of a collector's curiosity and proof of how much the brand pulled back then - it made its way even onto hardware that clearly wasn't up to it.

Why play it: As a curiosity for Game Gear collectors and a reminder of an era when even a controversial arcade hit got crammed into every pocket.