Love the MK stories. I lived in a an area where the nearest real arcade was like 40 minutes away. Closest we had was this old touristy restaurant called Geezers, and they had a Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat machine in the lobby weirdly enough. The school I went to served like 50 square miles and 10 or so different towns, my friends were all in the biggest town where this restaurant was. Getting there was a pain because I'd have to get a bus pass, go to this town, hang out for a bit then get picked up by my parents.
All that being said it was a treat to actually walk into this restaurant to play arcade machines. So when I first saw MK I wasn't really that impressed. It reminded me of another game called Pit Fighter, and I liked the look of Street Fighter 2 better. Thought SF played faster, had smoother graphics, better controls etc and was just more of a fan of animated games. Combined with the fact I have like $5 to spend, I was going to spend it on what I thought was the superior game.
So MK was on my radar but preffered SF. That all changed when I was invited to a friend's birthday party at a Family Fun Center (which was "down town" 40 mins away). This was an absolutely huge arcade, just being there was like being in a damn movie. I remember turning a corner and seeing this group of people all crammed around a machine. I looked up and saw the MK2 sign and was like "WHOA, there's a second one!?!" I walked up and I remember being blown away. Reptile and Baraka where on screen, and I just remember how bright and detailed Reptile's mask was. Then I was like "who the fuck is that alien guy!?!". Anyways I must have stayed there forever watching people play, but that was the first time I was dumbstruck by the graphics of a game. So I was a bit late, but just seeing MK2 in the arcade sparked that fever. And what really pushed me over the edge was when MK2 was released for the SNES. Again, living remotely in the mountains, being able to play MK2 at home was amazing. I then got into MK3 heavy, Sub-Zero without a mask was the coolest thing ever to me, but nothing has really topped that first sight of MK2.
