Mortal Kopykats Trivia Quiz

Answer: Time Killers

Modelled on 'Street Fighter II', Incredible Technologies' 'Time Killers' had a similar premise to the far superior 'Eternal Champions': eight people from different periods are pitted against each other, with the chance to fight Death in the final round. The characters in this case are Leif, a Viking; Matrix, a woman from 3297 AD, where robots rule the world; Mantazz, a female praying mantis-like alien; Musashi, a Feudal Japanese samurai; Orion, a genetically engineered space pilot from 2885 (with some similarities to Jonathan Blade of 'Eternal Champions'); Rancid, a 1990s punk with a chainsaw; Thugg, a caveman (similar to Slash of 'Eternal Champions') and Wülf, a medieval knight.

The gameplay was somewhat unique in that players could play a different character per round, and each button on the arcade version corresponded to a character's limb or head; if enough damage was dealt to the opponent, they could lose an arm while continuing to fight. If the player pressed all five buttons, they could instantly kill the opponent, and could do this at any time, unlike the Fatalities of 'Mortal Kombat', which could only be done at the end of a round. Although 'Time Killers' was planned to be released for the Genesis and Super NES in 1994, it was ultimately only released for the Genesis in 1996, and further ports were cancelled due to poor sales. Reviews panned the game for its poor graphics, sound quality and difficult controls.

Answer: Bio F.R.E.A.K.S.

'Bio F.R.E.A.K.S.' was a 3D fighting game made by Midway, the company behind 'Mortal Kombat'. It was set in a dystopian future where corporations ruled the world and genetic engineering was rife, and the USA fell apart. To determine the future of Neo-Amerika, each corporation chose a genetically engineered champion: these champions were Biological Flying Robotic Enhanced Armour Killing Synthoids, or 'Bio F.R.E.A.K.S.' for short. The playable characters were Bullzeye, a clone created to be the perfect soldier; Delta, a female Synthoid from New York with cybernetic arms and a resemblance to 'Killer Instinct's Orchid; Minatek, a minotaur-like Synthoid; Psyclown, a clown Synthoid from Illinois; Purge, a Synthoid with large metallic arms and fire powers; Sabotage, a bounty hunter who is revealed to be a Synthoid prototype; Ssapo, a fish-like Synthoid from New Mexico; and Zipperhead, a rebel fighter with spikes attached to his arms and legs, and the game's poster character.

Although 'Bio F.R.E.A.K.S.' was initially planned for arcade release, the arcade release was cancelled and the game went straight to consoles in 1998, with versions for the PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and Microsoft Windows. As with 'Time Killers', opponents could lose limbs during a fight. Reviews for the game were mixed but it was ultimately overshadowed by 'Mortal Kombat 4', the first 3D 'Mortal Kombat' game, released a year earlier. A shooting mechanic was also criticised for disrupting the flow of the fight, and the game was also criticised for poor voice acting and a jetpack mechanic that was better for chasing than fighting.

Answer: Survival Arts

'Survival Arts' was an arcade-only game developed by feelplus (then known as Scarab), and is also the name of the martial art used in the game. It was originally intended to be ported for the NES and Genesis, but the console releases were cancelled. Like 'Mortal Kombat', it used digitised actors, although the gameplay was more similar to 'Street Fighter'. The playable fighters were Gunner, a gun-wielding ex-policeman; Hanna, a desert warrior; Hiryu and Tasha, a pair of ninja from the same clan (with Tasha looking like a poor man's Kitana); Kane, a grey-skinned alien; Mongo, a former soldier with a flamethrower; Santana, a heel wrestler; and Viper, a rich street fighter.

One notable feature was characters being able to pick up and use weapons such as guns, swords or tasers, although this did not apply to Tasha or Mongo, as they had their own weapons, and Gunner could not pick up guns. Bizarrely, at the end of the game, Dantel - the final boss, who has been eating the flesh of powerful people in order to gain immortality - has the heads of various historical figures emerging from his body, including Adolf Hitler's head. Reviewers criticised the game for the larger-than-usual character sprites, which made gameplay awkward, especially when jumping. The fatalities also looked slow and awkward.

Answer: The Way of the Warrior

'The Way of the Warrior', not to be confused with the film of the same name, was made by Naughty Dog for the 3DO in 1994. It used digitised actors and a different font for each character (a gimmick also used in 'Ultra Vortek'). The fighters were Crimson Glory, a Southern biker; Dragon, a Hong Kong kung-fu film actor; Fox, an Algerian bodyguard; Major Gaines, a steroid-addicted British soldier; Konotori, a Japanese-American man who wielded a pair of metal fans; Nikki Chan, a Chinese woman stuck in an endless reincarnation cycle; Nobunaga, a Japanese swordsman; Shaky Jake, an Australian 'Crocodile Dundee' knockoff; and an imaginatively named ninja called, erm, Ninja. Bosses included Kull, a giant skeleton; Ghulab Jamun, an Indian man in a loincloth (named after an Indian sweet); and High Abbot, a dinosaur priest. The winning fighter would be entered in the 'Book of Warriors' and determine the fate of the world.

Creators Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin were inspired by Hong Kong kung-fu films and wanted to create a more comedic taken on 'Mortal Kombat'. They filmed the game in their living room and recruited friends and family to play the characters for free, with costumes bought from a shop in Chinatown, due to budget constraints. Although the graphics and fatalities were praised, the game was also criticised for poor character designs, overly easy special moves, long load times, awkward controls and being an inferior 'Mortal Kombat' knockoff. Ultimately, Gavin and Rubin would have more success with 'Crash Bandicoot'.

Of note, the soundtrack was White Zombie's album 'La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1'.

Answer: BloodStorm

'BloodStorm' was a spiritual successor to 'Time Killers' and was also developed by Incredible Technologies. It was set in a dystopian world divided into eight provinces ruled over by a High Emperor, who was assassinated. Each province sent its ruler to fight in a tournament known as the BloodStorm to determine who the new High Emperor would be. These fighters were Fallout, a masked warrior from the radioactive Death Zone; Freon, the leader of Polaria and an ice user; Hellhound, Freon's rival, general of Scorch, and a fire user; Mirage, the leader of a tribe of female cannibals in the desert province of Obsel; Razor, ruler of Ebony Province and an escaped criminal; Talon, a cyborg supremacist and ruler of Cyberia; Tempest, the daughter (and murderer) of the High Emperor, from the Nimbus Province; and Tremor, an earth elemental from the Subterran Province and the only 'good' character. There were also a group of secret bosses known as the Agents of Nekron.

'BloodStorm' was hyped to be a '"Mortal Kombat" killer' and even featured Daniel Pesina, who played Johnny Cage in the first two 'Mortal Kombat' games, playing the arcade version in an advert; it was claimed that Midway sacked Pesina for this, though Pesina actually left the company over a pay argument. Like 'Time Killers', characters could fight after losing body parts, and 'BloodStorm' went one better by allowing players to destroy a character's lower body with the 'Sunder' move, though the character could still use some moves. 'BloodStorm' was supposed to be released for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn, but like 'Time Killers', it never made it to home consoles and was panned by reviewers for being an over-the-top and obvious 'Mortal Kombat' copy. Publishers Strata subsequently went out of business.

Answer: War Gods

'War Gods' was another Midway game, with finishing moves also dubbed 'Fatalities'. It is a predecessor of sorts to 'Mortal Kombat 4'; while Midway had recently released 'Mortal Kombat 3', they were looking at moving into 3D and commissioned a small team to make 'War Gods'. The characters were mortals who found pieces of the Ore and gained godly powers. They were Ahau Kin, an Aztec priest; a graverobber possessed by the Egyptian god Anubis; Cy-5, a Terminator-esque cyborg; Kabuki Jo, a Japanese samurai with kabuki make-up; Maximus, a Roman gladiator; Pagan, a witch using black magic; Tak, a stone idol; Vallah, a Viking warrior; Voodoo, a Caribbean witch doctor; and Warhead, an American soldier with radioactive powers. Vallah was played by Kerri Hoskins, who played Sonya Blade in 'Mortal Kombat 3'.

Heavily influenced by 'Mortal Kombat', 'War Gods' started out as an arcade game in 1996, with releases for the PlayStation, Windows and Nintendo 64 the following year. The game was not well received overall, with reviewers criticising the bad character designs, choppy graphics with a slow frame rate, unbalanced AI and characters being difficult to control. Although some improvements were made to the Nintendo 64 port, they were not enough to save it. 'War Gods' was also viewed as far too similar to 'Mortal Kombat', and its bad reputation led to it failing in arcades.

Answer: Ultra Vortek

'Ultra Vortek' was released for the Atari Jaguar, the second fighting game for the console after 'Kasumi Ninja', and used digitised actors. The plot concerned an ancient tablet, the Ultra Vortek, protected by a being known as the Guardian, who threatened to destroy the world unless he was beaten in combat. The cast were split into three factions: humans, robots and genetically engineered humans known as SQUEEBs. The human faction consisted of Lucius, a white man with electricity powers, and Dreadloc, a Jamaican with a double-headed spear; the robot faction consisted of Buzzsaw and Skullcrusher; and the SQUEEB faction was made up of Mercury, a being made of liquid mercury, a golem-like creature called Grok and Volcana, a woman made of fire and the token female character.

'Ultra Vortek' made a lame stab at humour with a fatality that turned the opponent into a pile of poop on a plate, but otherwise played the gore straight. Buzzsaw, Dreadloc, Lucius and Volcana were played by digitised actors, while Skullcrusher and the Guardian were 3D models and Grok and Mercury were pre-rendered. While the game was praised for its graphics, it was felt to be largely unoriginal, with one critic commenting that it had nothing that 'Killer Instinct', 'Street Fighter' and 'Mortal Kombat II' already did not offer. However, it was better received than 'Kasumi Ninja'.

Answer: Kasumi Ninja

'Kasumi Ninja' was another game hyped as a '"Mortal Kombat" killer' and, unsurprisingly, failed in its mission. It was released for the Atari Jaguar in 1994. The Scottish character in question was Angus, a blacksmith, and he became something of a meme for firing a fireball from under his kilt. He was joined by three palette-swapped ninjas, Habaki, Senzo and Gyaku (the evil ninja in question); Alaric, king of the Goths; Thundra, an Amazonian warrior queen; Danja, an attorney moonlighting as a crime fighter; Chagi, a Bruce Lee clone; and Pakawa, a Comanche chief. (Kasumi is the name of the island where the game takes place, not an actual character.)

The game was supposed to have twenty playable characters, but the roster was slimmed down to eight. Features include increasingly bloody swords acting as health bars and different modes with varying levels of gore. 'Kasumi Ninja' was not a success and was panned for its ugly graphics, extremely blatant copying of 'Mortal Kombat', the announcer's annoying voice, and slow controls. Being released the year after 'Mortal Kombat 2' did not help. Although a sequel was planned, this was cancelled when Atari left the console market. Perhaps it's just as well.

Answer: Pray for Death

'Pray for Death', not to be confused with the film, is one of the more obscure entries on this list, made by Italian company LightShock for the PC, and I had to search fairly hard to find information on it! The premise was that the characters had died and gone to Hell, but Death would offer them the chance to leave. The roster included Cthulhu of Lovecraftian fame and, like 'War Gods', the Egyptian god Anubis (known as 'Anubi' for some reason), although this version was the actual god and not some random guy possessed by him. The other fighters were Jan Fun, yet another Bruce Lee clone; Maelstrom, a knight based on Vlad the Impaler, who turned to Satanism and slaughtered his own men; Murgan, a demon; Painbringer, a robot gone rogue; Pantera, a techno DJ turned serial killer; Uriel, a fallen angel; Wolfrich, a Viking; and Xenobius, a sorcerer and Wolfrich's killer.

'Pray for Death' was a late jumper onto the 'Mortal Kombat' bandwagon, being released in 1996. Gameplay was clunky and slow, while fatalities consisted of one comedic fatality (such as Uriel taking her top off or Painbringer flushing his opponent down a toilet) and one serious one, which consisted of the winner shoving their hand into the opponent and making grainy blood come out. The announcer's voice grated on players, as did the poor controls and slow gameplay.

Answer: Tattoo Assassins

'Tattoo Assassins' was so bad, it was never released, and has to be seen to be believed. The premise of the game involved a magical ink, the Ink of Ghize, that could come alive if used to tattoo a person. The game was inspired by an idea by 'Back to the Future' producer Bob Gale, who wanted to create a story about magical tattoos. Koldan, the main baddie of the game, planned to use the ink to take over the world; Mullah Abba, leader of the Order of Colours, had nine people tattooed, but they all fell under Koldan's control. The exception is whichever character the player picks, on the back of Lyla Blue (played by Slash of Guns 'n' Roses fame's then-wife, Renée Hudson), who is able to free the character from Koldan's control and get them to fight the others.

The playable characters were six men and three women, all of whom had tattoos that would come alive and murder the opponent in various creative ways. The men, all with tattoos on their chests, were Derek O'Toole, an Irish rock star with a tattoo of a skull; Luke Cord, a Navy SEAL with an octopus tattoo; Tak Hata, a Japanese man fleeing the Yakuza, with a dragon tattoo; Billy Two Moons, a Native American stereotype with a tattoo of a phoenix; AC Current, a Johnny Cage lookalike with electricity powers and a lightning bolt tattoo; and Truck, a biker with a snake tattoo. The women were Hannah Hart, a stripper with a spider tattooed on her back; Karla Keller, a figure skater and parody of Nancy Kerrigan, with a rose tattooed on her leg; and an Amazonian princess called Maya, who had tiger stripes tattooed on her legs and a tiger's head tattoo on her stomach. As well as Koldan, the bosses also included Prism, a spiky glass creature; Rhina, a half-woman, half-rhinoceros hybrid; and Deke Cay, a zombie (say his name out loud and you'll get it).

'Tattoo Assassins' was a disaster from start to finish. Firstly, it was made by Data East's pinball division, rather than a gaming company. Data East executive Joe Kaminkow, a friend of Gale, assembled a team of programmers, but had to deal with a low budget and time constraints. The result was bad graphics, terrible AI (players could beat the game just by spamming jump kicks), out-of-place sound effects, and laughable fatalities. 'Tattoo Assassins' promised over 2000 fatalities, but these ranged from random objects being dropped on the loser, to the loser being turned into objects including Whistler's mother, a hot dog or a random animal. Players could also attack the opponent by farting at them, or make the opponent's clothes disappear, a nod to the 'Nudality' urban legend about 'Mortal Kombat'. Game testers quickly tired of the game and it was so badly received that it never even got released. However, some players got hold of the game and uploaded footage to YouTube after an almost complete ROM was found, and it became a cult classic, like the game equivalent of 'The Room'.