Thirty-four years of spine-ripping, ice-freezing, and "get over here" shouting. Honestly, when Ed Boon and John Tobias first started digitizing martial artists in 1992, they probably weren't thinking about a 2026 legacy. They were just trying to beat Street Fighter II. But here we are. The list of mk games is long, messy, and filled with weird experiments that most fans have conveniently scrubbed from their brains.
You probably know the hits. Mortal Kombat II is basically perfect, and Mortal Kombat 11 sold enough copies to buy a small country. But did you know there’s a game where you race go-karts? Or a side-scrolling platformer where Sub-Zero falls to his death every three seconds?
The Arcade Era: Digitized Blood and Moral Panics
The early 90s were a wild time for the list of mk games. It wasn't just about the fighting; it was about the controversy.
Mortal Kombat (1992)
This is where it all started. Seven characters. That's it. It’s tiny by today's standards, but seeing real people (digitized actors) getting their heads ripped off was enough to start a congressional hearing. It basically created the ESRB. If you play it today, it feels stiff, but the atmosphere still hits.
Mortal Kombat II (1993)
Many purists say this is the peak. It expanded the roster with Mileena, Kitana, and Jax, and it made the Fatalities much more creative. It's faster, meaner, and arguably has the best art style of the 2D era.
Mortal Kombat 3 & Ultimate MK3 (1995)
This one was divisive. Why? No Scorpion. No Kitana. They replaced them with cyborgs and a guy in a riot vest named Stryker. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 eventually fixed the roster issues, but the "Run" button changed the meta forever. It made the game incredibly fast and combo-heavy.
Mortal Kombat Trilogy (1996)
Basically a "best of" for the 32-bit consoles like the PS1 and N64. It’s broken as hell. You can perform infinite combos that would make a modern pro player cry, but it’s a blast for a weekend of chaos.
The 3D Era: Growing Pains and Go-Karts
The transition to 3D was... rough. While Tekken was nailing the movement, Midway was still figuring out how to make a 3D fighter feel like Mortal Kombat.
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The Experimental Spin-offs
Before we talk about the main 3D fighters, we have to mention the weird stuff. In 1997, we got Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero. It’s a side-scroller with fighting game controls. It’s brutally difficult. Then came Mortal Kombat: Special Forces in 2000, which featured Jax. It is widely considered one of the worst games ever made.
But then, 2005 gave us Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. It’s a co-op beat 'em up featuring Liu Kang and Kung Lao, and it’s genuinely fantastic. It’s the one spin-off fans have been begging for a sequel to for decades.
The Mainline 3D Titles
- Mortal Kombat 4 (1997): The first jump to 3D. It kept the 2D gameplay feel but used low-poly models. The endings were hilariously bad.
- Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (2002): This saved the franchise. It introduced multiple fighting styles per character—one for hand-to-hand, one for weapons.
- Mortal Kombat: Deception (2004): Added "Konquest" mode, a full RPG-lite adventure, and weird mini-games like Chess Kombat and Puzzle Kombat.
- Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (2006): Every single character from every previous game was here. Over 60 fighters. To fit them all, they had to cut unique Fatalities for a "Kreate-a-Fatality" system that everyone hated. It also had "Motor Kombat," which was literally Mortal Kombat Mario Kart.
The NetherRealm Renaissance
After Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe in 2008 (the "T" rated crossover that felt a bit neutered), Midway went bankrupt and became NetherRealm Studios. This is where the modern list of mk games really takes off.
Mortal Kombat 9 (2011)
A total reboot. It went back to 2D gameplay with 3D graphics and retold the story of the first three games. It brought back the gore in a big way and introduced the X-Ray moves. It was a massive comeback.
Mortal Kombat X (2015)
This introduced the "Kombat Kids"—Cassie Cage, Jacqui Briggs, and the others. It was darker, grittier, and introduced the "Variations" system, where each character had three distinct playstyles.
Mortal Kombat 11 (2019)
The best-selling game in the series. It slowed things down, focusing on neutral play and "Krushing Blows." The story involved time travel and literally resetting the universe. It was the end of an era.
Where We Are Now: Mortal Kombat 1 (2023-2026)
Don't let the name confuse you. This is the latest entry. It’s a "New Era" created by Fire God Liu Kang.
As of early 2026, the game has settled into its final form. It introduced "Kameo Fighters," which are assist characters you call in during a fight. While it had a rocky start with fans complaining about a lack of single-player content compared to MK11, it’s currently the most balanced game in the modern trilogy.
According to sales data from August 2025, Mortal Kombat 1 has sold over 6.2 million copies. While that’s lower than the massive 15 million copies MK11 eventually hit, it’s still the best-selling fighting game of the current generation, beating out Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8.
NetherRealm recently wrapped up the Khaos Reigns expansion, which added the "Animalities" (where characters turn into animals to kill you) and several new story chapters. As of right now, the studio is moving on to their next project, likely Injustice 3 or a new IP, though the MK1 servers remain packed.
The Forgotten MK Games You Probably Missed
The list of mk games isn't just consoles. There’s a whole underworld of mobile and handheld versions.
- Mortal Kombat Advance: A port of UMK3 for the Game Boy Advance that was so bad it’s actually legendary. The AI is psychic and the controls are mush.
- Mortal Kombat: Unchained: A PSP version of Deception that actually had more characters than the original console version.
- Mortal Kombat: Onslaught (2023): A mobile RPG that focused on team-based combat rather than one-on-one fighting. It shut down its servers in late 2024, making it a "lost" piece of MK history.
What to Play First?
If you're looking at this massive list of mk games and don't know where to start, here’s the reality. If you want the best "vibe," go for Mortal Kombat II. If you want the best single-player adventure, find a way to play Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. But if you want to play online and find matches in seconds, Mortal Kombat 1 is your only real choice in 2026.
Actionable Insights for New Players:
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- Don't ignore the tutorials: Modern MK games are deceptively complex. The tutorials in MK1 and MK11 are some of the best in the genre.
- Frame Data matters: If you want to stop getting "scrubbed" online, look at the move list. If a move is "-10" on block, don't use it if the opponent is guarding. They will punish you.
- Legacy settings: If you're playing the older 2D games, turn on "Release Check" (or Negative Edge) in the settings. Most modern players find it easier to play with it turned OFF.
The series has come a long way from four guys in a room in Chicago. Whether it's the 16-bit sprites or the photorealistic gore of today, the core remains the same: it's a soap opera with ninjas where everyone dies at least twice.
For the most authentic experience, track down the Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection (released in 2025), which finally brought the arcade-perfect versions of the original trilogy to modern platforms with working netcode. It's the easiest way to see why everyone fell in love with this series in the first place.