The price of $70 for Mortal Kombat 1 on the Nintendo Switch is unacceptable

The notorious Nintendo Switch port of Mortal Kombat 11 performed adequately for the most part, but gained sad notoriety due to noticeable visual limitations and a mutilation of the game's impressive aesthetics to accommodate weaker hardware. Nevertheless, this scaled-down version of the fighting game evidently sells well, prompting NetherRealm to disregard criticism and replicate the same approach with Mortal Kombat 1. The sequel/reimagining/this peculiar metaverse stuff is here, and surprisingly, it runs abysmally on the hybrid console. It also appears that the developer has forgotten to incorporate facial expressions into their repertoire.

Viral clips from the early access weekend compare the character introductions before each fight on the PS5 and the Nintendo Switch. The differences are significant. On the PS5, Johnny Cage sports a distinctive grin before adjusting his sunglasses, while on the Switch, he appears like a strangely lifeless doll, staring into our souls with the emotionlessness of a brick wall. It looks dreadful, and when a port removes so much life and personality from a game like Mortal Kombat, one must question if the compromise was even worth the effort in the first place.

I do not believe it was worth it, and for Warner Bros. to sell it at the same price as other superior versions is simply daylight robbery. You know it's bad, yet you proceed anyway because you know how easy it is to get away with it. The absence of game modes, poor performance, and countless bugs make this version an unenthusiastic, cheap, and ultimately inadequate adaptation.

It reminds me of WWE 2K18, which was already not particularly well-received on other platforms, but its release on the Switch was plagued with such a high number of graphical anomalies and gameplay errors that 2K had to acknowledge their own mistakes and withdraw future releases from the platform. Five years later, the license still hasn't returned to the underpowered console and is unlikely to do so until a more powerful successor emerges. The fans have spoken up and made it clear that they will no longer tolerate being taken advantage of simply because they play on a weaker platform. I understand that the installed user base presents publishers with undeniable profit potential, but when you make so many cuts to a blockbuster title, it becomes barely recognizable.

Mortal Kombat 1 was designed as a live-service fighting game that offers seasonal updates, expecting players to grind for hours to unlock new cosmetics and fatalities. The aim is to ensure our long-term engagement. I wager that somewhere in a boardroom, company executives demanded a Switch version for release, even if the developers knew it would be impossible without significant limitations. This version will generate high profits, and since Mortal Kombat remains a well-known name, the Switch release will be at the top of the list for those not closely connected to the industry. It is transparent greed, and I am glad that fans see through this nonsense and recognize it for what it truly is. Mortal Kombat 1 on the Switch does not justify the demanded price and should not exist given its limited resemblance to what many consider an optimal gaming experience.

It's the same song and the same melody we see every year with EA's FIFA: Legacy Editions. It's an inferior game with poor graphics and reduced content, devoured by those who have no idea that they're being sold a lie. Mortal Kombat 1 is not much different, and we have the right to protest against its existence until Warner Bros. gives up and admits that a game like this should not be forced onto a platform that simply can't handle it. What's the point of a fighting game with iconic characters and locations on a console where the graphics are so bad that they're hardly recognizable? There is none, especially when it costs $70.