The Landmark series comprises six books about video games. The University of Michigan publishes these books. The series started in 2013, and new instalments have been infrequently published. In theory, this is an excellent idea! Take a few games and write about their impact on culture or how they were influenced by the culture ofContinue reading “An Update to the Landmark Video Game Series”
Tag Archives: Mortal Kombat
The Mortal Kombat 1995 Film is one of the Better Video Game Movies
This is one of the few movies I saw in theaters. I was eleven and maybe went to the theater two or three times a year if I was lucky. In this case, my friend Eric took a group of us to the theater for his birthday party. The 1995 Mortal Kombat movie is basedContinue reading “The Mortal Kombat 1995 Film is one of the Better Video Game Movies”
A Review of a Mortal Kombat Novel by Jeff Rovin
I liked this book, but it is an odd reimagining of Mortal Kombat. It also gets somewhat confusing near the end when the bad guys are trying to open a portal to Hell. The story from the video games is in here, but it feels like it has been put through a blender. The reasonsContinue reading “A Review of a Mortal Kombat Novel by Jeff Rovin”
The Best Books I Read in 2023
This was a difficult one to put together. I read a bunch of books this year; some might say too many. It seemed like I was always coming across a book I wanted to read but didn’t have the time for. I started reading more video game novelizations this year, and those got mixed inContinue reading “The Best Books I Read in 2023”
Not Much Here: WWF WrestleMania The Arcade Game
WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade is Midway’s entry in the SNES wrestling games. It was also ported to other consoles, but I’ll focus on the SNES port. It was originally an arcade game with similar controls to the fighting games that Midway was creating at the time. This isn’t great as far as what I wouldContinue reading “Not Much Here: WWF WrestleMania The Arcade Game”
From Pinballs to Pixels: The Interesting Story of Williams-Bally-Midway
From Pinballs to Pixels is a comprehensive look at Williams and how they became the center of Chicago’s pinball and video game industry for a period of time. Ken Horowitz does an excellent job of documenting the history of Williams, and I like how he tells this story. However, I wish more time had beenContinue reading “From Pinballs to Pixels: The Interesting Story of Williams-Bally-Midway”
Games of Death: David Church’s Mortal Kombat Book
This is the fifth book in the Landmark Video Games series. These are more academic looks at video games and video game series. They’re shorter books that don’t always dig as deep into the games as they could. With Mortal Kombat, David Church does a good job explaining what Mortal Kombat did for video gamesContinue reading “Games of Death: David Church’s Mortal Kombat Book”
MK4 is Great on the Game Boy Color
This is one of those games that I’m amazed exists on the Game Boy. Mortal Kombat 4 is compatible with the original Game Boy, even if it is meant for the Game Boy Color. It won’t look as good as the Arcade or the console releases. I’m not going to hold that against it. WhatContinue reading “MK4 is Great on the Game Boy Color”
The Amazing Story of Mortal Kombat 1-4
Long Live Mortal Kombat: Round 1 is a deep dive into the first four Mortal Kombat games, the evolution of the Mortal Kombat fandom, and many other stories. There is so much in this book that I won’t be able to describe all of it. I love David Craddock’s books! They’re always filled with aContinue reading “The Amazing Story of Mortal Kombat 1-4”
A Step Back for Game Boy Mortal Kombat Games
This port of Mortal Kombat III is a disappointing one. The controls and hit detection are similar to the first game’s port, and there are several missing characters. I haven’t found a Game Boy version of Ultimate MK III, but I’ll compare the two if one is out there. This is the “vanilla” version ofContinue reading “A Step Back for Game Boy Mortal Kombat Games”