Not too long ago, the Mortal Kombat series was but an old school favorite that still managed to appear in a few consoles and even the Game Boy Advance with little fanfare.  Yet it wasn’t until an updated version landed on all the consoles that its fire burned brightly once again.  Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance was once of those pleasant surprises on both the three big consoles including the GBA.  Now Midway releases Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition for the GBA . . . and guess what?  This one is not a sequel.  

The struggle between good and evil still continues and the alliance between Quan Chi and Shang Tsung is as strong as ever.  Together they threaten the Earthrealm and all that is good so powerful Thunder God Raiden sends out his warriors of good to put an end to the pair’s evil schemes in the Mortal Kombat tournament once and for all.

While somewhat identical to Deadly Alliance for the GBA, gamers will notice this edition has a slightly altered cast list.  Sure you’ll find a few of your favorites here, but you’ll also find new additions to the line up such as Sareena and Hsu Hao.  Of course, the list of characters is limited but fifteen fighters in total are nothing to sneeze at nonetheless.  The single player mode has three main modes: Arcade, Survival and Tag Team.  Yet there is also a multiplayer option complete with five additional game modes fit for up to four players (more on that later).  And, like a cheery on top of an already sweetened cake, there’s even a Practice mode and a mode that lets you play any of the three mini-games (those test of will and might that appear during the game‘s main mode).

The controls are still as solid as ever and pulling off combos isn’t as hard as it is on the bigger consoles.  Once again you can switch to another fighting style in mid-battle and this helps vary the fighting moves.  Bo Rai Cho, for example, has a fighting style similar to the drunken monkey technique but can switch to the more deadly fighting style with the push of the L Button.  You’re also not as limited in movement like the classic Mortal Kombat games.  The screen actually scrolls and it feels as if you can actually circle around your opponent.

Winning fights also earns you “koins” that you can use to purchase extra characters; art, animation and other surprises in The Krypt filled with koffins you can open for the right price.  Koins can also be placed as bets in the game’s multiplayer mode.  Wagers are made in the multiplayer mode with a friend and the winner, of course, earns his or her friend’s koins that are then stored in the winner’s profile for later use. 

The multiplayer mode allows up to four players (with their own copies of the game and a few GBA Link Cables) to take each another on in an arcade-styled wait-your-turn-to-play-the-winner mode to a co-op tag team game that lets you combine forces with a friend to beat two other friends.  Tournament mode has you and your friends fighting in a tournament that earns the winner a trophy that appears on his or her main menu until they are defeated.  Overall, this is one of the best multiplayer features seen in a GBA game in a long time.

Graphics-wise, Deadly Alliance was actually a pretty good-looking game and it’s great to see that the Tournament Edition follows close in its visible footsteps.  Fighting arenas are nicely detailed--some more than others, of course--but still impressive enough that you’ll notice some eye-catching features such as fountains glowing brew or bubbling lava.  The fighters look amazingly like their console counterparts and are recognizable the minute they step into the arena.  The blood does fly in this game but thanks to the small size of the screen, you won’t find anything sickening about it (unless you see Bo Rai Cho, um, toss his cookies . . . if you know what I mean).

It’s actually very rare that a Game Boy Advance game try to bring the same console experience sound-wise to a handheld gaming system.  This game actually does a good job of bringing a heavy hitting soundtrack similar to the one heard on the big boys and they even change the tunes for the mini-games that crop up before certain bouts.  The announcer’s voice also chimes in from time to time to introduce characters by calling out their names or spouting well-known phrases such as “Fatality!”  Top that off with the sounds of fists and kicks flying and characters shouting and crying out in pain and you have a game with great sound to go with the visual experience.

Midway once again brings a solid fighting game to the GBA and Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition will certainly please fans of the series.  While not a direct sequel to Deadly Alliance, this edition is chock full of extras and game modes (not to mention an excellent multiplayer option) that add more bang for your buck.  This game is certainly well worth your hard earn dollars.  Parents, however, might not think so fondly of the bloodletting and the gambling found in this game.  Everyone else will be in for quite a treat.

Gameplay: 8.2
Nothing is more satisfying than playing a fighting game that steers away from the usual linear format of fighting games of old.  While it’s great to pick up some good old-fashioned 2D fighting games of the Street Fighter kind, the new Mortal Kombat games skips on the old school treatment for a refreshing change that has you fighting in an arena that can scroll around.  This game also allows you to switch fighting styles on the fly and even have the now famous “fatality” finishing moves.  While the fighting controls could have been a bit smoother, they are still solid enough to bust out with some really cool combos.

Graphics: 8.3
Tournament Edition’s visuals will have you wishing the screen were a lot bigger to fully appreciate the interesting backgrounds and characters.  The arenas look pretty good and most of them have plenty of detailed features (e.g. one arena has a hulking creature beating out rhythms on a drum while you fight) that add a lot to the environment.  The characters themselves look really great out there, although sometimes they can become a bit distorted.  Yet there’s nothing really to complain about seeing as the characters move fluidly.

Sound: 8.0
Sound-wise, the game relies heavily on the soundtrack that’s a bit loud but impressively fits the mood of the game’s morbid theme.  The interesting thing about this, though, is the fact that the game tries to vary the music throughout the game so you’ll hear a different tune during a mini-game or the game’s introduction.  There is also the booming voice that shouts out all the familiar phrases like “Finish him!” or calls out the name of the fighter in the fighter selection screen.  Your characters also cry out in pain and shouts things out during the fights.   

Difficulty: Medium
There are five different difficulty setting to play, but the game’s default setting is challenging enough since the single player opponent certainly does know when to block blows and attack when you let your guard down.  Still, the opponent AI is not frustratingly difficult that gamers will be tearing out hair from their head in annoyance.  Thanks to the two different fighting styles, you’ll find that all opponents seem to be caught by surprise when you move from one style to the next in mid-battle.

Concept: 8.5
You gotta love a game that piles on the extras and this edition certainly has enough extras to unlock that gamers will be very busy with all the things that are featured here.  Once again, Koffins are back and with enough koins you can unlock different things such as character art to extra characters to use.  There is even an option to play any of the mini-games you just happened to unlock such as the three different tests (Test Your Sight, Test Your Might, etc.).  While the roster of fighters is not as complete as the console versions, you’ll find plenty of favorites plus new characters to use.

Multiplayer: 9.0
Game developers take note: this is how to design a multiplayer mode for a handheld gaming system.  This edition allows up to four players to hook up their GBA systems (thanks to the GBA Link Cable) for one of the best multiplayer features seen on the system so far.  There are five different game modes that go way beyond the usual one-on-one bouts.  We’re talking co-op play in a tag team mode and there’s even an Arcade mode that will bring to mind those days at the local arcade where you have to wait your turn to fight the winner of the last match.  The most unique of these modes is Race to Raiden where two players quickly fight a line of foes as different characters but the one who becomes Raiden first wins the game.

Overall: 8.5
Still one of the most satisfying fighting games on the GBA, Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition is the perfect addition to Deadly Alliance.  Aside from all the juicy extras and great multiplayer features, Midway is still able to showcase some really solid fighting action that translates well on the GBA.  If you’re a fan of the genre you can’t go wrong with this one.  Even if you already own Deadly Alliance, this one is still well worth the purchase price.