10 Times Mortal Kombat Was CENSORED

10 Censored Moments in Mortal Kombat

Ty Richardson

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today, we're taking a look at 10 times "Mortal Kombat" had to be censored for reasons beyond the meat!

So Real, It Makes You Sweat

“Mortal Kombat” (1993)

By this point, if you know anything about "Mortal Kombat", you'll know of the tumultuous debate among parents in the 90's about video games invoking violence. "Mortal Kombat's" then-realistic visuals frightened Nintendo's bank account and policies. Back in those days, Nintendo enforced a strict family-friendly policy. So, if "Mortal Kombat" wanted to be on SNES, it had to tone down the violence. And Midway did by removing finishing moves completely and coloring the blood gray. Despite this, a Game Genie easily allowed players to bypass this with a code and revert the blood back to its true colors. Eh, it's whatever, though - the SNES version sucks anyways.

Alien Kombat

“Mortal Kombat II” (1994)

Abysmal sales of the original MK's shoddy SNES port didn't discourage development for MK2's SNES port. Funny enough, it actually prompted Nintendo to give Scorpion and foes a pass this time, meaning MK2 would be completely uncensored on SNES…except if you lived in Japan. Japanese players were given a version where the blood was given a green recolor, making it seem like everyone was Reptile in disguise. Odd considering CERO hadn't been formed yet. Perhaps this was something enforced by Nintendo HQ instead of Nintendo of America this time?

Too Violent for Pockets

“Mortal Kombat” (1993)

Yeah, can you believe “Mortal Kombat” was ported to Game Boy? Obviously, none of these ports paled in comparison to even the home console versions. Case in point, the “finishing moves” (we know what they’re called, but we can’t say their actual names). Call it a form of censorship or call it a simple case of technical limitations in showing a spine. The finishers they did include still fail to capture the brutality that “Mortal Kombat” was bringing elsewhere. Again, though - was this really where anyone wanted to play the games? Look how goofy this looks!

Ain’t That the Pits

“Mortal Kombat” (1993)

Okay, we’ve been ripping on Nintendo quite a bit. Don’t worry, SEGA - you’re next! The Genesis version of “Mortal Kombat” went through a small bit of censorship as well. Admittedly, it was not as big of a change as anything we had seen on SNES. Even so, why change the Pits? The Pits is the coolest stage in the entire game! Without the blood and all the bodies lying around, it’s just a dumb little forest of spikes that look like they couldn’t even chop celery. The same change was made in the Game Gear version. Speaking of which…

Again With the Pockets!

“Mortal Kombat II” (1994)

At least the Game Gear version had some finishing moves, but once again, “Mortal Kombat’s” handheld counterparts fail to capture any of the spirit of the console and arcade versions. Many finishers were heavily altered for the Game Gear version of MK2. The sprite work is so awful that most of the time, your enemy looks like a jumble of pixels if not a shoddy animation of bones flying everywhere. It winds up making the game more cartoony than it should be (not that we expect complete realism from something as absurd as “Mortal Kombat”).

Mortal Kombat B.Y.T. (Before YouTube)

“Mortal Kombat” (1993)

You know how we’re not allowed to call “Mortal Kombat’s” finishing moves by their actual names? Well, there was a time where “Mortal Kombat” wasn’t allowed either. Let us backtrack to the SNES days of the first game. Not only did Nintendo restrict the color of blood, they also had some of the language changed. Now, you performed “finishing bonuses”, and the death of Shang Tsung was now known as “the destruction of Shang Tsung”. Mommy YouTube would have been very proud had it shown up roughly a decade earlier.

Misbilligen!

“Mortal Kombat 4” (1997)

The first and second “Mortal Kombat” games were not the only ones of MK’s first decade to have their finishers completely removed. MK4 saw every single finisher cut from the game. This is because Germany does not view video games as anything more than a children’s toy. So, for a game like “Mortal Kombat” to show so much gore (even by N64 standards), it wouldn’t sit well with most folks.

ESRB’s Wrath Continues

“Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe” (2008)

The biggest complaint everyone makes about MKvsDC is how the finishers are nowhere close to the brutal nature we'd expect in a game with "Mortal Kombat" characters. However, there are two finishing moves that were specifically altered here in the West - one of Deathstroke's and one of Joker's. The finishers both involve a gun being fired with the camera zooming in before the trigger is pulled. Both were censored as a means to keep the game T for Teen. Everywhere else, the finishers went completely unaltered. Even uncensored, they are just as unsatisfying as the others.

Nerf or Nuthin’

“Mortal Kombat 11” (2019)

MK11 had some particularly gruesome finishers. You would think almost half of them were bound to get censored in some way, right? Well, none of them got censored! It was actually the ladies of MK that had to get nerfed! While North America got to see Kitana, Mileena, Sindel, Sonya, Cassie, and Skarlet as NRS intended, the rest of the world wasn't having it. Every woman in MK11 had their cleavage nerfed, and some ever had to be covered. Guess some regions felt it was skirting the line "Dead Or Alive" relishes in.

Showin’ Chunks

“Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks” (2005)

"Shaolin Monks" is one of the most savage beat 'em ups you can play. However, the viscera and gore went a little overboard for Germany. There is quite a laundry list of changes that were made just for "Shaolin Monks" to release there. Several scenes had blood removed entirely, and just about any instance of dismemberment or some visual of limbs and organs was blurred out or completely cut out. As we said earlier, Germany still views video games as toys for children. So, the censorship here isn’t all that surprising given what went down with MK4.


Did any of these censorship surprise you? Let us know down in the comments, and don’t forget to subscribe to MojoPlays for more great videos everyday!