During the 16 bit era when the SNES and Mega Drive (or Genesis depending on where you live) reigned the fighting scene was primarily dominated by two series. In one corner we had Capcom's Street Fighter, with all sorts of spinning kicks, crushing blows and hadokens flying about. Midway had their own contender in the form of Mortal Kombat, which took an even more brutal route. After all, why wouldn't you like the idea of a game where you're encouraged to literally rip opponents apart?
Having been locked to a 2D plane of movement for many years, MK4 essentially marks the first time the series steps into the 3D realm. Such possibilities present themselves with this new dimension, but in truth this doesn't change the game drastically. This is still Mortal Kombat, for better or worse.
Two fighters are thrown into an arena and proceed to beat the crap out of each other. Each character has the same basic combat setup in which they get two punch buttons and two kick...