Mortal Kombat is one of the most popular and culturally influential franchises of all time. The success of the original birthed an enormous series of games that has just recently seen the release of its tenth main instalment. Thanks to a rabid and loyal fanbase, it has survived and thrived for nearly 25 years, with no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Given this length of time, it should come as no surprise that MK has experienced many ups and downs as it was forced to adapt to an ever-evolving marketplace. Indeed, Mortal Kombat has run the gamut from critically acclaimed successes to colossal failures, and the result is a series of games with varying degrees of quality. While many of the main titles are genuinely excellent, others are mediocre and uninspiring. Now that Mortal Kombat X has been out long enough to establish itself comfortably within the overall gamut of releases, its time to once again take a look at the main run and see how they stack up against each other. The following are all the major Mortal Kombat games, ranked from worst to best.
10. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (2006)
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon should have been the greatest Mortal Kombat game ever made, at least in theory. It contains every character from previous games, 62 in total, which is the largest roster of any in the series to date. It also allows players to create their own custom fighters, and it even introduced custom Fatalities, which sounded very promising. Unfortunately, the execution of these ideas didnt quite meet their ambition. The sheer amount of characters makes them all feel and play too similarly. Most of them don't feel very distinct from each other, no doubt the result of character overload. It feels like not enough time was spent making each Kombatant feel unique. The replacement of character-based Fatalities with custom Fatalities only serves to make them even more generic, which strips away all the theatricality and creativity that makes Fatalities so much fun. Ultimately, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon suffers from a classic case of quantity over quality. The developers were so focused on packing the game with content that they forgot to give it the proper attention to detail so as to leave any lasting impact. It failed to advance the series to the next level, and in some ways even regressed, but while you cant fault it for its ambition, you also cant deny how disappointing it was by comparison to its potential.