#1068
Gameplay of the final boss Shao Kahn in Mortal Kombat II Plus/II+.
A huge thanks to fellow boss enthusiast Torentsu for giving me his nvram so I could do this. If you like the kinds of vids I do, be sure to check him out as well:
/ @thetrenternet
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Shao Kahn’s moves:
Shao Kahn's spear: B,D,F,LP
Shao Kahn's grab: Hold HP for 3 seconds and release
Shadow Charge: B,F,F,HP
Shadow Charge Upside: B,D,B,HK
Shao Kahn Fatality: D,D,F,HP
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Well, this is something pretty special. I’d known of Mortal Kombat II Plus for a while; an ambition rom hack that was looking to make a definitive, even better version of MKII, with a light-combo system, additional moves, increased AI, unlockable hidden bosses, endurance rounds, tag-play, and so much more.
I didn’t really take proper notice of it however until I saw one of Torentsu’s videos on one of the more recent versions of the game, where not only are the hidden ninjas now unlockable by certain prerequisites, but so are Shao Kahn and Kintaro. Oh yeah, fully playable versions of two of the most sought after arcade bosses in existence. How do you access them? Well, at the time of this recording that’s not known, but as Trent informed me you can use mame cheats to access them and, lo and behold, they work perfectly. It’s pretty surreal to see this, as it was with the hidden bosses for MKII, but it’s one step closer to a definitive Mortal Kombat 2 and I love it. The team behind this are total champs, so be sure to visit their website if you want to learn more about the hack itself: https://mortalkombatplus.com/
However, Kahn and Kintaro can only be hacked after the three hidden ninja bosses have been unlocked. I am nowhere near skilled enough to be able to do that in a game like MKII but Trent was kind enough to share his nvram with him so I’d be able to access them, so drop him a thanks on his channel if you enjoyed this.
So, playable Shao Kahn in MK2. What a dream. Compared to when I started it feels like the terra incognito of boss-hacking has more or less been mapped out by this point, with very few mysteries left to find. It’s really pretty satisfying to have been a part of it.
So, how does Shao Kahn play? Well…compared to Kintaro, I’m not that fond of him. Being able to finally use his overpowered kicks, his charging shoulder attacks and his projectile spear is damn cool, and the fact that we’ll see him with these attacks in later videos too is all the better. The slight problem is…well, this is MKII AI we’re talking about. MK Terminators, as they’re commonly known. Horribly robotic entities that march eternally towards you, move-read you like no tomorrow and generally just exist to make your life hell. Even with powerful attacks, Kahn has a tendency to countered rather easily, and this is made slightly worse by the slightly delayed input which this game has (possibly as a result of the fact that it runs at 55fps as opposed to 60, for some reason) which often makes certain inputs feel delayed or a bit unresponsive. The weird inputs for MK moves doesn’t help this either; there’s just so much more flow to a quarter-circle or a half-circle command than there is to b, b, f + an attack button. I still don’t like having a block button in a game and, well, yadda yadda yadda, Shao Kahn’s main hindrance is the very engine he’s a part of. As I’ve said in previous MK vids it’s not even that the bosses themselves are that difficult, it’s just that the AI is insane and makes it much worse than it needs to be.
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