History VideoGame / MortalKombat4

** In the original game old characters were last-minute changed for new ones. Kitana (returning in ''Gold'') in favor of Tanya, Noob Saibot (although he's still playable via a code) in favor of Reiko and Kano in favor of Jarek. This explains why these new characters have moves/fatalities similar to the older ones, particularly noticeable in the case of Jarek, whose second fatalities is shooting an eye-beam when he doesn't have a robotic eye like Kano does.

* {{Cap}}: Subverted, the player could disable it.

--> ''Jax'': "Wrong Jarek, this is not a Brutality, this is a Fatality." (The "Finish Him" music plays as Jax drops him.)
** LeaningOnTheFourthWall

--> ''Jax'': "Wrong Jarek, this is not a Brutality, this is a Fatality." (The "Finish Him" music play as Jax drops him.)

--> ''Jarek'': "You have to uphold the law! You to arrest me! Wait! Wait! This is brutality! You can't do it!"

The game performed well in arcades and was deemed a success, although it reached nowhere near the levels of success of its predecessors and it was clear that the glory days of ''Mortal Kombat'' were over: people were starting to lose interest in the series due to overexposure and that the series' "cool-factor" had worn of. In hindsight it tends to be seen as the weakest entry in the series, and has gotten a (not quite deserved) reputation as the series' FranchiseKiller.

[[ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway Thousands of years ago]], Raiden waged war against former Elder God [[FallenHero Shinnok]]; this war ended an entire civilization, and Shinnok was later condemned to the Netherrealm. [[VideoGame/MortalKombatMythologiesSubZero The original ''Sub-Zero'' was deceived to free him]], and years later, Shinnok allies himself with the villainous Quan Chi. With the help of Edenian traitor Tanya, the evil duo [[RageAgainstTheHeavens ascended to the Heavens and killed most of the Elder Gods]]. Raiden and the Wind God Fujin escaped, then gathered Raiden's most trustworthy allies in order to defeat Shinnok and his allies.

After ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'' and ''VideoGame/MortalKombatMythologiesSubZero'', Midway decided it was venture into 3D -- which gave rise to '''''Mortal Kombat 4''''', released in 1997 for the Arcade, GameBoyColor, PC, PlayStation, and Nintendo 64.

* ItsAWonderfulFailure: Have fun with the [[NightmareFuel Game Over sequence]].

[[ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway Thousands of years ago]], Raiden waged war against former Elder God [[FallenHero Shinnok]]; this war ended an entire civilization, and Shinnok was later condemned to the Netherrealm. [[MortalKombatMythologiesSubZero The original ''Sub-Zero'' was deceived to free him]], and years later, Shinnok allies himself with the villainous Quan Chi. With the help of Edenian traitor Tanya, the evil duo [[RageAgainstTheHeavens ascended to the Heavens and killed most of the Elder Gods]]. Raiden and the Wind God Fujin escaped, then gathered Raiden's most trustworthy allies in order to defeat Shinnok and his allies.

Followed by '''MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance'''.

* GuiltBasedGaming: If you lose, you better put in another quarter or watch as your favourite character helplessly tumbles down a seemingly bottomless pit before getting brutally impaled as they smash into the spikes at the bottom.

The playable characters for this game are [[BigBad Shinnok]], [[TheDragon Quan Chi]], [[BigGood Raiden]], [[BlowYouAway Fujin]], [[AnIcePerson Sub-Zero]], [[TheBaroness Tanya]], [[BackFromTheDead Johnny Cage]], [[ColonelBadass Jax]], [[TheHero Liu Kang]], Reptile (with a new design), [[LikeABadassOutOfHell Scorpion]], [[GoodLookingPrivates Sonya Blade]], [[SecretCharacter Noob Saibot]], and [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Goro]] (as [[TheDragon sub-boss]]). The game also introduced [[AxCrazy Jarek]], [[MartialPacifist Kai]], [[TheStarscream Reiko]], and [[SecretCharacter Meat]].

[[ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway Thousands of years ago]], Raiden waged war against former Elder God [[FallenHero Shinnok]]; this war ended an entire civilization, and Shinnok was later condemned to the Netherrealm. [[MortalKombatMythologiesSubZero The original ''Sub-Zero'' was deceived to free him]], and years later, Shinnok allies himself with the villainous Quan Chi. With the help of Edenian traitor Tanya, the evil duo [[RageAgainstTheHeavens ascended to the Heavens and killing most of the Elder Gods]]. Raiden and the Wind God Fujin escaped, then gathered Raiden's most trustworthy allies in order to defeat Shinnok and his allies.

In order to test its "virgin" 3D engine, Midway released a "test game", ''WarGods'', which was panned by critics and allowed Midway to learn from its mistakes before finalizing ''[=MK4=]''. Midway changed the engine to allow only two slow movements on the z-axis (the side steps, which only worked to dodge beam-attacks), which made ''[=MK4=]'' similar to previous games (and thus helped it to avoid hitting the PolygonCeiling). ''[=MK4=]'' also introduced the weapon fighting system to the franchise.

The playable characters for this game are [[BigBad Shinnok]], [[TheDragon Quan Chi]], [[BigGood Raiden]], [[BlowYouAway Fujin]], [[AnIcePerson Sub-Zero]], [[TheBaroness Tanya]], [[BackFromTheDead Johnny Cage]], [[ColonelBadass Jax]], [[TheHero Liu Kang]], [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent Reptile]] (with a new design), [[LikeABadassOutOfHell Scorpion]], [[GoodLookingPrivates Sonya Blade]], [[SecretCharacter Noob Saibot]], and [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Goro]] (as [[TheDragon sub-boss]]). The game also introduced [[AxCrazy Jarek]], [[MartialPacifist Kai]], [[TheStarscream Reiko]], and [[SecretCharacter Meat]].

* UpdatedRerelease: ''MK Gold''.

[[TheyChangedItNowItSucks Since this game was the first one to go 3D]], it's seen [[{{Misblamed}} (unfairly)]] by many fans as the beginning of ''Mortal Kombat's'' DorkAge, as well as the first victim of the PolygonCeiling in the franchise. ''Mortal Kombat 4'' was actually well-received by critics not for its good graphics and sound (for its time) as well as its smooth gameplay. The complaints about introducing cheesiness to the franchise were also misguided, as ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'' was far cheesier than this game. The only real complaint was the lack of a true boss fight; [[WordOfGod Ed Boon later admitted Shinnok was a bad choice for a final boss]], as his fighting style was essentially a clone of [[DittoFighter Shang Tsung]].

[[TheyChangedItNowItSucks Since this game was the first one to go 3D]], it's seen [[{{Misblamed}} (unfairly)]] by many fans as the beginning of ''Mortal Kombat's'' DorkAge, as well as the first PolygonCeiling-hitter of the franchise. ''Mortal Kombat 4'' was actually well-received by critics not for its good graphics and sound (for its time) as well as its smooth gameplay. The complaints about introducing cheesiness to the franchise were also misguided, as ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'' was far cheesier than this game. The only real complaint was the lack of a true boss fight; [[WordOfGod Ed Boon later admitted Shinnok was a bad choice for a final boss]], as his fighting style was essentially a clone of [[DittoFighter Shang Tsung]].

* UpdatedRerelease: ''MK Gold''.

After ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'' and ''VideoGame/MortalKombatMythologiesSubZero'', Midway decided it was time to go the 3D way. And thus, ''Mortal Kombat 4'' was born. It was released in 1997 for the Arcade, GameBoyColor, PC, Playstation and Nintendo64.

The story goes something along this lines: [[ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway Thousands of years ago]], Raiden waged war against the former Elder God [[FallenHero Shinnok]]. Said war was the end for a civilization, and after it, Shinnok was condemned to stay in the Netherrealm. Unfortunately, [[MortalKombatMythologiesSubZero the original ''Sub-Zero'' was deceived to free him]]. Fast forward to 1997, and Quan Chi and Shinnok are allied, and with the help of Tanya--an Edenian traitor--[[RageAgainstTheHeavens they went to the Heavens, killing most of the Gods]]. Raiden and the Wind God Fujin escaped, and gathered Raiden's most trustful allies in order to defeat Shinnok and his allies.

The playable characters for this instance are the aforementioned [[BigBad Shinnok]], [[TheDragon Quan Chi]], [[BigGood Raiden]], [[BlowYouAway Fujin]], [[AnIcePerson Sub-Zero]], [[TheBaroness Tanya]], and the returning [[BackFromTheDead Johnny Cage]], [[ColonelBadass Jax]], [[TheHero Liu Kang]], [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent Reptile]] (with a new design), [[LikeABadassOutOfHell Scorpion]], [[GoodLookingPrivates Sonya Blade]], [[SecretCharacter Noob Saibot]], and [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Goro]] (as [[TheDragon sub-boss]]) plus the newcomers [[AxCrazy Jarek]], [[MartialPacifist Kai]], [[TheStarscream Reiko]], and [[SecretCharacter Meat]].

[[TheyChangedItNowItSucks Since this game was the first one to go 3D]], it's [[{{Misblamed}} misblamed]] by many fans to be the beginning of the MortalKombat's DorkAge and to be the first PolygonCeiling hitter of the franchise. It's worth mentioning that this game was actually very well received after its release, not only for its good graphics and sound (for its time), but also for its smooth gameplay. On the other hand, the complains about introducing cheesiness to the franchise are also misguided, since previous [[VideoGame/MortalKombat3 MK 3]] was a greater offender than this game.

In order to test their "virgin" 3D engine, Midway released a "test-game" called ''WarGods''. It was panned by critics, and Midway learned from their mistakes. This resulted in MK 4 only having two slow movements on the z-axis (the side steps, which only worked to dodge beam-attacks), making it very similar to the previous games of the franchise and thus helping to avoid hitting the PolygonCeiling.

It should be noted that this game introduced the weapon fighting system in MK games, but lacked a boss fight akin to previous instances. [[WordOfGod Even Ed Boon admitted Shinnok was a bad choice for a final boss]], as his fighting style was essentially a clone of [[DittoFighter Shang Tsung]].

The game was updated with the release of ''[[UpdatedRerelease Mortal Kombat Gold]]'' for SegaDreamcast in 1999, which included six new warriors, all returning characters: [[BladeBelowTheShoulder Baraka]], [[RebelliousPrincess Kitana]], [[FanDisservice Mileena]], [[NiceHat Kung Lao]], [[IJustWantToBeNormal Cyrax]], and [[AIIsACrapshoot Sektor]].

Followed by ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance'''.

* UpdatedRerelease: ''MK Gold'' was also ''[=MK4=]'' plus Kung Lao, Kitana, Mileena, Baraka, Cyrax, and Sektor.
----

[[TheyChangedItNowItSucks Since this game was the first one to go 3D]], it's [[{{Misblamed}} misblamed]] by many fans to be the beginning of the MortalKombat's DorkAge and to be the first PolygonCeiling hitter of the franchise. It's worth mentioning that this game was actually very well received after its release, not only for its good graphics and sound (for its time), but also for its smooth gameplay. On the other hand, there was cheesiness on the franchise before MK 4, with [[VideoGame/MortalKombat3 MK 3]] being a greater offender than this game.

The story goes something along this lines: [[ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway Thousands of years ago]], Raiden waged war against the former Elder God [[FallenHero Shinnok]]. Said war was the end for a civilization, and after it, Shinnok was condemned to stay in the Netherrealm. Fast forward to 1997, and Quan Chi and Shinnok are allied, and with the help of Tanya--an Edenian traitor--[[RageAgainstTheHeavens they went to the Heavens, killing most of the Gods]]. Raiden and the Wind God Fujin escaped, and gathered Raiden's most trustful allies in order to defeat Shinnok and his allies.

[[TheyChangedItNowItSucks Since this game was the first one to go 3D]], it's considered by many fans to be the beginning of the MortalKombat's DorkAge and to be the first PolygonCeiling hitter of the franchise. It's worth mentioning that this game was actually well received after its release, not only for its good graphics and sound (for its time), but also for its smooth gameplay. Those who did criticize the game unfavorably compared it to ''{{Tekken}}'' and ''VirtuaFighter'', the two games that popularized the 3D fighter.

In order to test their "virgin" 3D engine, Midway released a "test-game" called ''WarGods''. It was panned by critics, and Midway learned from their mistakes. This resulted in MK 4 only having two slow movements on the z-axis (the side steps, which only worked to dodge beam-attacks), making it very similar to the previous games of the franchise.

After ''MortalKombat3'' and ''VideoGame/MortalKombatMythologiesSubZero'', Midway decided it was time to go the 3D way. And thus, ''Mortal Kombat 4'' was born. It was released in 1997 for the Arcade, GameBoyColor, PC, Playstation and Nintendo64.