When I first started recording footage for this installment of Retro Rewind, I did so under the impression that Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe was by far the most critically-panned title in the entire Mortal Kombat franchise. It would seem that this is one of many instances in which my memory has failed me. After a quick Google search in an attempt to confirm what I thought was true, I discovered quite a bit of reputable evidence to the contrary.

MK vs. DC Universe certainly wasn’t the most-praised game in the series, but it wasn’t exactly exiled to the darkest depths of Metacritic either. The lowest published score the game received was 72% for the game’s Xbox 360 version. I don’t know about you, dear reader, but a 72% score doesn’t sound half bad to me. That’s especially true because I initially expected to see much lower numbers than that based on what I apparently incorrectly remembered.

I’ll be discussing the PlayStation 3 version of MK vs. DC during today’s monologue because that’s the port to which I have access. Within this article, I hope to thoroughly answer two primary questions. Firstly, I’d like to address why I remember MK vs. DC Universe being so lackluster when I first played it many years ago. Secondly, I want to explain at least some of the ways in which going back to the game for this article has pleasantly surprised me. So, without further ado, let’s dive into Midway Games’ 2008 release, shall we?

I suppose a sufficient place to start would be by discussing MK vs. DC Universe’s story mode. If you’ve played any of the three most recent Mortal Kombat titles, or either Injustice game, you’ll know that Story Mode has become important to NetherRealm Studios (previously developers at Midway). MK vs. DC Universe’s story is intriguing to me in that the versions of events change slightly (yet still intertwine) based on whether you elect to start with the DC Comics or Mortal Kombat side of things.

I happened to choose the former of those two as a starting point in the footage I recorded to extract screenshots for this article. This portion of the game’s story begins with Superman engaged in a battle with Darkseid. Upon realizing his rather thorough defeat, Darkseid opens up one of his so-called “inter-dimensional boom tubes” in an attempt to escape.

Superman attempts to prevent this by blasting Darkseid with heat vision, which destabilizes the boom tube and causes an event that no one on either side of the multiverse could have foreseen. We’ll come back to that in due time. As a more immediate side effect of that boom tube having been destabilized, Superman and his cohorts notice that strange entities (aka Mortal Kombat characters) have begun to appear in such cities as Metropolis and Gotham. Initially, no one is quite sure what’s causing this.

In the DC story’s first chapter, you play as The Flash. The first two fights in this chapter are against Deathstroke and Catwoman. While pursuing the latter after she steals a gem, Flash suddenly encounters Kano. Catwoman attempts to escape, while Flash is reeling from some unknown ailment that first affected him directly after his earlier bout with Deathstroke. This strange affliction appears to flare up randomly, causes Flash’s eyes to glow yellow, and instills within him a seemingly irresistible need to engage in fisticuffs against his will.

Since The Flash was almost immediately doubled over trying to ward off the ensuing headache that comes with whatever ails him, he didn’t see that during Catwoman’s attempt to flee, she ended up unintentionally running straight into a portal that suddenly appeared in her path and likely transported her to the Mortal Kombat universe. Thus, Flash incorrectly assumes that Kano helped Catwoman escape. This is where that thirst for combat I mentioned a moment ago factors into the equation, leading to a battle between Kano and Flash.

Once The Flash emerges victorious, the mysterious psychological malady overtakes his mind to a more severe degree. He’s just about to kill Kano when Batman drops in and attempts to talk Flash out of making a huge mistake by eliminating his foe. As you probably expect by now, Flash responds with hostility toward Batman due to the mysterious force which has been periodically controlling his mind. Even though Flash technically wins the ensuing fight, Batman manages to subdue him and take him back to the Batcave.

There, Batman plans to run some tests to see if he can figure out what’s gotten into his ally. This plan is abruptly put on hold when The Flash is overtaken by a yellow glow and then, just as suddenly, he disappears. Scorpion appears in the exact space that Flash occupied a second earlier as if the two somehow switched places. Of course, Scorpion has no clue where he’s just ended up or who the Batsuit-clad man standing before him might be. So, he does the first thing that would probably spring to his mind and be considered halfway logical.

He accuses Batman of actually being Sub-Zero, hiding behind “an illusion” to evade Scorpion’s vengeful wrath. This leads him to react with the Mortal Kombat franchise’s trademark greeting, by which I mean yelling, “Fight!” and then proceeding to engage in fisticuffs. This doesn’t end well for Scorpion, aside from the fact that he (albeit involuntarily) gets to live out every comics nerd’s dream of going for a ride in the Batmobile thereafter.

Batman takes the rather significant risk of placing an unconscious Scorpion in the Batmobile’s passenger seat because the Batcomputer has just detected another “energy anomaly” which he seeks to investigate. The Caped Crusader arrives on the scene and is, somewhat unsurprisingly, interrupted by The Joker. The two then clash as they always do. Batman wins rather handily, arrests Joker, and orders him to stay where he is while the Dark Knight deals with that “energy anomaly,” knowing full well that Joker will probably make a run for it the moment he gets the chance.

The energy spike in question turns out to be another instance of someone from the Mortal Kombat universe winding up in Gotham. This time around, it’s Liu Kang. At this point, we get our first glimpse into the head of someone who’s afflicted by the same condition that caused The Flash to nearly terminate Kano and subsequently attack Batman. Liu Kang has that same yellow glow in his eyes, and we see that it’s distorting his perception of reality. He mistakes Batman for the sorcerer Shang Tsung and, well, you know the drill by now.

Once Batman has rendered Liu Kang sufficiently “pacified,” he contacts Green Lantern and asks him to transport the pair of them to the U.N. Orbital Station so that Batman can “examine” his “prisoner” in a secure location. After doing so, Green Lantern flies off to look for Superman, who has since gone missing. Not even two minutes later, Raiden makes a grand entrance by destroying most of the Orbital Station’s computer equipment and demanding that Batman release Liu Kang at once. I’m sure you can guess how this plays out.

I’ve rambled about MK vs. DC Universe’s story mode for too long, so I vote we skip ahead to the end. I don’t think it’s critical to include a spoiler warning for a game of this age, but just in case, we’re venturing into spoiler territory beyond this point. Remember that event I mentioned earlier that no one on either side of the multiverse could possibly have foreseen at the moment of Darkseid’s defeat? Let us finally come back to that topic so I may explain it in further detail.

It turns out that at the exact same moment Superman’s heat vision was destabilizing Darkseid’s inter-dimensional boom tube, Raiden had defeated Shao Kahn in the Mortal Kombat universe and knocked the emperor of Outworld through a portal. The combination of these events occurring at precisely the right point in time led to Darkseid fusing with Shao Kahn, causing the two of them to become a single entity known as (wait for it) “Dark Kahn.” I guess the duo of evildoers didn’t really have time to prepare a more intimidating name due to the spur-of-the-moment nature of their merger.

This event also caused the DC Universe’s version of Earth and its accompanying universe to begin to merge with the realms in the MK canon. As for that mysterious, psychological ailment that affected The Flash, Liu Kang, and virtually everyone else involved on both sides at one point or another, that was caused by Dark Kahn projecting his (or perhaps their) unquenchable rage onto the fighters essentially whenever he wanted to do so.

By the time the final battle rolls around, every “kombatant” on both sides has been rendered out of commission except for Superman and Raiden. Since everyone involved from both universes sees the other universe as responsible for the cataclysmic events, the two remaining fighters clash to settle things once and for all. Eventually, they finally figure out that neither universe is truly to blame for anything that has happened. Raiden and Superman then combine their powers against Dark Kahn and manage to defeat him (or them).

It seems that Dark Kahn was the central figure whose mere presence enabled the merger of universes to continue. Once Dark Kahn falls in battle to the awesome might of the God of Thunder and the Man of Steel, the universe merger and all of its accompanying damage to both realms is completely reversed.

Everyone involved is sent back to their own universe, with two notable exceptions. In an amusing (if ever so slightly cruel) twist of fate, both Shao Kahn and Darkseid are somehow sent to the opposing universes. Shao Kahn winds up in the Phantom Zone and Darkseid is trapped in the Netherrealm, where both are completely powerless.

Well, that’s Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe’s story mode out of the way at last. Now I can turn my attention to discussing what I actually like and dislike about this title. Let us begin with what I dislike, as I suspect that will take less time. There are definitely some moments in the story mode that I consider to be unnecessarily ridiculous. As the first of a couple of examples of this, consider that pretty much every MK character you battle in the DC story considers it necessary to shout, “Fight!” before they attack you.

It’s as if not doing so would make the ensuing “kombat” unsanctioned or would just be outright rude. Then there’s the idea that Batman can apparently shrug off lightning attacks from Raiden who, need I remind you, is the literal god of thunder and lightning in his universe because the Batsuit counts as “insulated armor.” Bruce Wayne may be exceptionally rich, but he can’t buy his way out of this logical inconsistency as far as I’m concerned. It’s entirely possible that I’m nitpicking the story mode of a nearly thirteen-year-old fighting game a bit too much, though.

Moving on, there’s actually quite a lot I enjoy about Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe now that I’ve gone back to it. As a minor note, I’d like to add to that list, there are some names I find quite familiar among the game’s voice cast. Namely, the four that stuck out to me immediately once I identified them were Patrick Seitz, Patty Mattson, Michael McConnohie, and Richard Epcar.

If you’re anywhere near as much of a World of Warcraft fan as I am, I suspect you probably already know which characters those first three actors are responsible for voicing in Blizzard’s most popular universe. For the uninitiated, however, I’d like to rattle off a few character names to give you an idea of why MK vs. DC Universe’s voice cast stands out to me so much.

Firstly, Patrick Seitz (who voices Scorpion, Deathstroke, and Shao Kahn in this title) is likely best known to Warcraft fans as the voice of the disgraced former Warchief of the Horde, Garrosh Hellscream. Secondly, Patty Mattson (the voice of Catwoman in this context) also voices another largely reviled Horde leader, the Banshee Queen known as Sylvanas Windrunner.

Michael McConnohie, who voices Kano, Ganthet, and an unnamed news anchor in MK vs. DC Universe, provides the unmistakable voices of Uther the Lightbringer, Kel’Thuzad, and Magni Bronzebeard in World of Warcraft. When I first heard Mr. McConnohie’s voice as that news anchor while I was recording footage for this piece, I recognized it instantly. That’s what led me to dig deeper and look up the rest of the game’s voice cast. I’m quite glad I did.

Lastly, Richard Epcar doesn’t lend his voice to any characters in World of Warcraft as far as I know, but he does voice both Raiden and The Joker in this title. I personally consider that noteworthy because he has gone on to continue providing the voice of Raiden in every mainline Mortal Kombat title since this one.

I know I’ve gone on about these particular actors for quite a while at this point. I just wanted to share my appreciation for what I consider to be Midway’s excellent taste in voice talent, even though they didn’t get Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill to reprise their respective roles as Batman and The Joker. In any case, let us now (finally) move on to the focal point of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, the actual fighting.

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe introduced three new in-fight mechanics which, for whatever reason, never appeared again in any future games to the best of my knowledge. These are known as “Freefall Kombat,” “Klose Kombat,” and an entirely new spin on the “Test Your Might” concept that occurs when players travel between different areas of certain stages.

One thing all three of these gameplay mechanics have in common is that they require one player to be what I call the “aggressor” and one to be the “defender,” though these roles can change rapidly in two of these aspects. For example, Freefall Kombat is initiated when one player knocks the other off of a ledge within a stage.

While the players fall to a new area of the current stage, they continue fighting. When the player who initiated Freefall Kombat (the “aggressor”) presses any of their controller’s four face buttons, they’ll strike their opponent and build up a “super” meter. If that “super” meter fills sufficiently enough before the players hit the ground, the aggressor can press the R1 button to instantly end Freefall Kombat and deal a bit of extra damage depending on how full that meter was when they did so.

However, the tide can turn quickly during Freefall Kombat in that if the defender manages to counter an incoming strike by pressing the same face button as their opponent, the two players will swap positions. Whoever ends up being the defender (the player who is closer to the ground) when Freefall Kombat ends is the one who takes damage.

Klose Kombat can be initiated by one player pressing the R1 button to grab their foe and pull them in closer, provided their opponent doesn’t counter this. When Klose Kombat begins, players will see a similar interface to that of Freefall Kombat, except without the aforementioned “super” meter. In this case, the aggressor can press any of their four face buttons to strike their opponent, up to a maximum of four times per Klose Kombat encounter. If the defender and the aggressor press the same face button at the same time, the defender will counter and Klose Kombat will end.

Lastly, the new “Test Your Might” mechanic comes into play when one player knocks their enemy into a wall on certain stages. When this happens, the players will charge through several walls in rapid succession and wind up in a different part of the stage. During that travel time, both players must mash buttons as quickly as they can to determine how much damage the defender will ultimately take from this. This version of “Test Your Might” is the only one of these three mechanics in which the aggressor and defender cannot switch roles at any point.

There are two more in-fight aspects I want to somewhat briefly mention since they’ve appeared in subsequent titles in one form or another. The first of these is the “rage” meter, which functions almost exactly like the X-Ray Move meters do in 2011’s Mortal Kombat. The rage meter has two bars which, when full, can be spent to activate “rage mode” for a few seconds. Any fighter who has this mode active can effectively “no-sell” their enemy’s attacks. That is, incoming strikes still deal damage but don’t cause the enraged belligerent to stagger as they normally would.

Additionally, both portions of the rage meter can be used as combo breakers when full. To use a combo breaker, the defending player must hold the block button (even if an incoming combo attack has already begun, thus preventing blocking) and move the left analog stick toward their opponent. This is the primary reason I suspect this “rage meter” mechanic serves as a precursor to the aforementioned X-Ray meters.

Finally, there are the finishing moves. Now we’re getting to the good stuff… well, kind of. You see, despite being a Mortal Kombat game, MK vs. DC Universe actually has a “Teen” rating from the ESRB rather than the franchise’s usual “Mature” rating. That primarily means Midway Games had to significantly tone down the violence, especially when it comes to things like MK’s trademark Fatalities. This also had to be coupled with the fact that, as a rule, DC superheroes never kill anyone under any circumstances (unless they’ve developed grief-induced megalomania).

So, Midway devised a compromise that would allow them to contend with both of these factors. All Mortal Kombat characters and all DC villains have standard, honest-to-goodness Fatalities, while DC’s heroes have what Midway decided to call “Heroic Brutalities.” I like to describe the latter of these as finishing moves that don’t outright kill their targets, but rather inflict such severe physical and/or psychological damage that their targets merely wish they were dead.

For example, one of Green Lantern’s “Heroic Brutalities” sees him trap his foe in a quickly shrinking bubble of energy from his power ring, which is implied to break most (if not all) of the bones in their body. Heroic, indeed! In this context, I can’t help but be reminded of a quote spoken by Robin and directed toward Batman in Injustice 2: “So you won’t kill, but you’re fine with traumatic brain injuries.”

There you have it, my friends! This entry under the Retro Rewind banner ended up being a fair bit longer than I intended when I began writing it. I hope you’ve enjoyed this stop on the journey of my personal nostalgia train. If you take nothing else away from this article, take away the idea that no matter how lackluster you remember a game you once played being, it may well be worth giving that game a second chance. I’m certainly glad I did this time around.

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