Mortal Kombat Advance

Short description: 2001 video game

Mortal Kombat Advance

European box art

Developer(s)| Virtucraft
Publisher(s)| Midway
Series| Mortal Kombat
Platform(s)| Game Boy Advance
Release|

* NA: December 12, 2001[2]
* EU: February 21, 2002[1]

Genre(s)| Fighting
Mode(s)| Single-player

Mortal Kombat Advance is a 2001 fighting game developed by Virtucraft and published by Midway for the Game Boy Advance. Part of the Mortal Kombat series, it is a handheld version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (1995), although it was designed with the intention of evoking the best aspects of the first three games in the series and Mortal Kombat Trilogy.

Mortal Kombat Advance allows players to take control of one of multiple playable characters, who fights against a computer-controlled or player-controlled opponent one-on-one. The game allows players to use various combo moves, as well as fatalities at the end of the fight. Due to the Game Boy Advance having fewer buttons than the arcade cabinets the games originally appeared on, the designers had to modify how Mortal Kombat Advance controlled.

Upon release, Mortal Kombat Advance received highly negative reviews from critics for its lackluster controls, low-quality graphics, and poorly programmed artificial intelligence for computer-controlled opponents. It was named the worst game of 2002 by GameSpot and one of the worst games of all time by GamesRadar+.

## Contents

* 1 Gameplay
* 2 Development
* 3 Reception
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 6 External links
* 7 Features
* 8 History
* 9 See also
* 10 References
* 11 External links

## Gameplay

See also: Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

Mortal Kombat Advance is based on Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, and allows players to control one of multiple playable characters in one-on-one fights against either computer-controlled or player-controlled opponents. The objective is to completely deplete the opponent's health bar, while preventing them from depleting the player character's health bar. This can be accomplished using both simple attacks as well as combo techniques, which are done using button command combinations. A character must defeat the opponent at least twice in order to win the match. Players are then given either "Finish Him" or "Finish Her" prompts, at which point they may either attack them normally or perform a button combo to initiate a Fatality, which ends the fight in a more brutal way.

## Development

Mortal Kombat Advance was developed by Virtucraft, a Lancashire-based freelance development studio formed to develop Game Boy Color games and later Game Boy Advance games.[3] Publisher Midway Games had approached Virtucraft in the past to discuss working together, though Virtucraft was either too busy or, when they were not, Midway had no games for them to develop. The timing eventually lined up, allowing Virtucraft to begin development on Mortal Kombat Advance. The designers began work on implementing multiplayer via the Game Link Cable early on in development. When redesigning the combat for the Game Boy Advance, the developers had to modify the control system due to the Game Boy Advance's more limited button count. They worked with Midway in order to try to get it right.[4]

The game was designed as an amalgamation of the best parts of the first three Mortal Kombat games as well as Mortal Kombat Trilogy, though it is primarily a version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. When designing the graphics, they were largely able to make the game look identical to the arcade versions, though graphics had to be shrunken down. They developed a compression system that was meant to allow to store a large number of animations without sacrificing animation or visual quality.[4]

Before Mortal Kombat Advance was revealed, series creator Ed Boon asked on his personal website which Mortal Kombat characters people would like to see, and which game they would like to see on the Game Boy Advance.[5] When revealed, it was slated for a December 2001 release date.[6] It was released on December 12, 2001.[7] The game was re-released as part of the Software:Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection compilation in 2025.[8]

## Reception

Reception

| Aggregate score

Aggregator| Score
Metacritic| 33/100[9]
Review scores
Publication| Score
AllGame| 2/5[10]
Consoles +| 75%[11]
EGM| 0/10, 1.5/10, 0.5/10[12]
Game Informer| 5.75/10[14]
GameSpy| 40%[15]
GameZone| 6.9/10[16]
IGN| 2/10[17]
Nintendo World Report| 2.5/10[18]

Mortal Kombat Advance received "generally unfavorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[9] GameSpot's Jeff Gerstmann said it "plays little to nothing like the game it's based on". He said that the graphics are good, the controls are responsive, and it is the first handheld Mortal Kombat in which executing special moves is not overly frustrating, but that differences in the timing and the difficulty of hitting an opponent with an uppercut prevent it from feeling like a Mortal Kombat game. He further criticized that the relentless computer AI makes it impossible to win in single-player without relying on cheap tactics.[19] In Electronic Gaming Monthly it received a 0, a 1.5, and a 0.5 out of 10. The 0 score was the first in the magazine's history,[20][21] given out by editor Dan Hsu, who clarified that "[it] was not a misprint," and that it was worse than every other bad fighting game combined. He was highly critical of the game for lacking content and for its low-quality programming. He also felt that the computer AI was unfair and stupid at the same time, and was one of the glitchiest games he ever played.[12] AllGame writer Skyler Miller felt that the audio and visuals were quality, but that the difficulty was "brutal" due in part to poor controls.[10] IGN writer Craig Harris anticipated what Virtucraft could do with this title, commenting that when porting a beloved game, it is important to get it right due to how fans would respond. He said he was "crushed" by Virtucraft's output here, feeling that it was relatively simple to get right due to availability of materials and "blueprints". He cited that poor AI was the game's biggest flaw, but also criticized the game's controls for being sloppy and untested.[17] Game Informer writer Justin Leeper said that regardless of the content or "arcade accuracy", the controls make it difficult to play well.[14] Nintendo World Report writer Andres Rojas felt that despite good audio and visuals, the poor controls, slowdown, and AI make it terrible to play.[18]

Multiple outlets have regarded Mortal Kombat Advance as a particularly bad video game. It won the accolade for "Worst Game on Game Boy Advance" at GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2002 Awards.[22] In 2017, GamesRadar+ ranked it at #13 on the list of its 50 Worst Games of All Time.[23] The Gamer listed it as one of the worst Game Boy Advance games due to its poor AI and controls, and Den of Geek stated that it was the worst Mortal Kombat game.[24][25] In their overview of the series, Nick Thorpe and Darran Jones of Retro Gamer stated that talented developers such as Crawfish Interactive could port games like Street Fighter Alpha 3 to the Game Boy Advance with little loss in playability and that Virtucraft made a "rather atrocious" port of Ultimate Kombat 3 noting the dropped features, the lack of timing in the games movies and insane difficulty made the game "utter garbage".[26]

## See also

* List of video games notable for negative reception

## References

1. ↑ "Mortal Kombat Advance sur Gameboy Advance" (in fr). Webedia. https://www.jeuxvideo.com/jeux/gameboy-advance-gba/00008743-mortal-kombat-advance.htm.
2. ↑ "Midway Brings Mortal Kombat® to Next-Generation Handheld System". December 12, 2001. http://www.midwaygames.com/rxpage/pr_1126.html.
3. ↑ Berghammer, Billy (April 5, 2002). "Rock and roll isn't dead". NINWR, LLC. https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/7214/rock-and-roll-isnt-dead.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Harris, Craig (November 28, 2001). "Mortal Kombat Advance Rap". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/11/29/mortal-kombat-advance-rap.
5. ↑ Harris, Craig (August 17, 2001). "MK to GBA?". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/08/17/mk-to-gba.
6. ↑ Harris, Craig (November 13, 2001). "First Shots: Mortal Kombat Advance". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/11/14/first-shots-mortal-kombat-advance.
7. ↑ Harris, Craig (December 12, 2001). "MKA for GBA Ships". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/12/13/mka-for-gba-ships.
8. ↑ Romano, Sal (June 4, 2025). "Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection announced for PS5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC". https://www.gematsu.com/2025/06/mortal-kombat-legacy-kollection-announced-for-ps5-xbox-series-switch-2-ps4-xbox-one-switch-and-pc.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Mortal Kombat Advance for Game Boy Advance Reviews". Fandom. https://www.metacritic.com/game/mortal-kombat-advance/critic-reviews/?platform=game-boy-advance.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Miller, Skyler. "Mortal Kombat Advance - Review". All Media Network. http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=36935&tab=review.
11. ↑ "Mortal Kombat Advance" (in fr). Consoles + (122): 124. March 2002. http://download.abandonware.org/magazines/Consoles Plus/consoleplus_numero122/Consoles + 122 - Page 124 (mars 2002).jpg. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Hsu, Dan; Dudlak, Jonathan; MacDonald, Mark (March 2002). "Mortal Kombat Advance". Electronic Gaming Monthly (Ziff Davis) (152): 146. https://retrocdn.net/images/f/f8/EGM_US_152.pdf. Retrieved September 11, 2025.
13. ↑ Steinberg, Scott (January 14, 2002). "Mortal Kombat Advance". Greedy Productions Ltd.. http://www.elecplay.com/review.html?article=8054&full=1.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Leeper, Justin (March 2002). "Mortal Kombat Advance". Game Informer (FuncoLand) (107): 91. http://www.gameinformer.com/Games/Review/200203/R03.0801.1433.11365.htm. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
15. ↑ Wessel, Craig (January 28, 2002). "Mortal Kombat Advance". IGN Entertainment. http://archive.gamespy.com/reviews/january02/mortalkombatadvancegba/.
16. ↑ Bedigian, Louis (January 7, 2002). "Mortal Kombat Advance Review". http://gameboy.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r19338_GBA.htm.
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Harris, Craig (January 10, 2002). "Mortal Kombat Advance". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2002/01/11/mortal-kombat-advance.
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Rojas, Andres (March 8, 2002). "Mortal Kombat Advance". NINWR, LLC. https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/3880/mortal-kombat-advance-game-boy-advance.
19. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `GSpot`
20. ↑ Del Medio, Richard (October 2022). "How Bad Games Get Made: What Crappened". Electronic Gaming Monthly 1 (159): 146.
21. ↑ "EGM Top 10 Worst Reviewed Games". 2006-01-20. http://www.1up.com/features/worst-reviewed-games.
22. ↑ GameSpot staff (December 23, 2002). "GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2002 (Worst Game on Game Boy Advance)". CNET. http://gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/bestof2002/gba16.html.
23. ↑ GamesRadar staff (August 9, 2017). "The 50 worst games of all time (Page 4)". Future plc. https://www.gamesradar.com/worst-games-all-time/4/.
24. ↑ The Gamer staff (November 12, 2018). "The 15 Worst Game Boy Advance Games (And 15 Worth A Second Look)". https://www.thegamer.com/game-boy-advance-games-good-bad-second-look/#worst-mortal-kombat-advance.
25. ↑ Jasper, Gavin (October 8, 2022). "Every Mortal Kombat Game Ranked Worst to Best". DoG Tech LLC. https://www.denofgeek.com/games/every-mortal-kombat-game-ranked-worst-best/.
26. ↑ Thorpe, Nick; Jones, Darran. "The Retro Gamer Guide To...Mortal Kombat". Retro Gamer (252): 69.

## External links

* MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

## Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

## History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

On February 13, 2025, Freyholtz stepped down as the site lead to move onto new projects, leaving operations to Tracy Poff, a veteran coder on the site, and Atari staff.[18]

## See also

* IGDB - game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/.
2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/.
3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1.
4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521.
8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media.
9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned.
10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner.
11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames.
12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games.
13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/.
14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/.
15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/.
16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/.
17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames.
18. ↑ "An update on MobyGames leadership". 2025-02-13. https://www.mobygames.com/forum/3/thread/269628/an-update-on-mobygames-leadership/#post-269628.

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* Mortal Kombat Advance at Metacritic

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