[note 1] Following his failure to defeat Liu Kang in the previous Mortal Kombat tournament, the evil Shang Tsung begs his master Shao Kahn, supreme ruler of Outworld and the surrounding kingdoms, to spare his life.

[8] Sonya and Kano are the only playable characters from the first Mortal Kombat who were not implemented as fighters, as they only appear in the background of the Kahn's Arena stage, chained and on display as his prisoners.

When Midway employees ran audits on several Mortal Kombat arcade cabinets in the Chicago area, they found that Kano and Sonya were the least chosen characters.

I think we had something very similar with Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn and for me that came from that feeling I had as a kid when I learned more about what made the Star Wars universe tick in Empire Strikes Back.

[23] At one point, a bonus stage was planned to feature "a bunch of ninjas jumping all over the place and you would swing at them, just like you're in the middle of a fight in a kung fu movie."

[22] The actors were lightly sprayed with water to give them a sweaty, glistening appearance,[26] while post-editing was done on the sprites afterward to highlight flesh tones and improve the visibility of muscles,[27] which Tobias felt set the series apart from similar games using digitized graphics.

For animating Goro and Kintaro, clay sculptures were created by Tobias' friend Curt Chiarelli and then turned into 12-inch latex miniatures that were used for stop motion filming.

[29] Several characters (namely Jade, Kitana, Mileena, Noob Saibot, Reptile, Scorpion, Smoke, and Sub-Zero) were created using the first game's palette swap technique on just two base models.

In place of Sonya, two new playable female characters, Kitana and Mileena, were introduced so the game might better compete against Capcom's Street Fighter II: The World Warrior featuring Chun-Li.

The video[37] featured Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Reptile (with a notably more reptilian appearance), Kitana, Baraka and Shao Kahn, who were played by the same actors as in the game.

[98] First-week sales of over $50 million in the United States surpassed the opening box office results of that season's Hollywood film blockbusters, such as Forrest Gump, True Lies, The Mask, and The Lion King.

[110] The initial critical reception of Mortal Kombat II was overwhelmingly positive,[111] with Sega Visions describing the way in which the sequel was directed as "sheer brilliance",[112] and Nintendo Power calling it "the hottest fighter ever".

[113] Tony Brusgul of The Daily Gazette opined the "incredible" hype surrounding the game was "well deserved", describing it as "a perfect blend of great graphics, action and violence".

[114] In his review of the arcade release, Rik Skews of Computer + Video Games (C+VG) wrote: "the only true rival to Street [F]ighter II" returned "in a sequel that bites off the head of the original.

"[78] In a rare dissenting opinion, Jonathan Nash of Amiga Power dismissed Mortal Kombat II as "a clearly nonsensical title", recommending to "buy Shadow Fighter instead".

[118] Reviewing the CD-ROM based Saturn port, EGM commented that the graphics are identical to the arcade version but that there are missing sound effects and "unbearable" slowdown when first performing a special move.

They rated it the best home version of the game to date but said that with Mortal Kombat II having considerably aged by this point, any port needed to be near arcade perfect to stand out.

[63] Next Generation said that the Saturn version was arcade perfect, but that the Mortal Kombat series as a whole was grossly overrated and lacked any gameplay innovations to make it stand out from other fighting games.

"[76] Scary Larry of GamePro agreed that the Saturn port "duplicates the arcade version perfectly", but argued that the slowdown and load times make the game frustrating to play.

Nancian Cherry of Toledo Blade wrote that both games had "an army of critics too: people upset by the bone-crunching, blood-spurting, limb-ripping violence depicted on the small screen.

"[132] Critical studies professor Marsha Kinder accused the game of "a misogynist aspect to the combat", alleging that "in MKII, some of the most violent possibilities are against women.

[140] Featuring it in their 2003 video game hall of fame series, the staff of GameSpot wrote: "Mortal Kombat II was so much better, as a sequel, than it had to be that it absolutely deserves a place in the pantheon of all-time classics.

effect during an uppercut (also ranked as the 11th funniest moment in video games by Rich Knight of Complex in 2012),[162] Friendship and Babality finishing moves, and the ceiling spikes Stage Fatality - among the ten greatest things about Mortal Kombat.

[163] Reviewing the PlayStation 3 release in 2007, IGN's Jeff Haynes stated that "Mortal Kombat II still manages to stand up almost 15 years later as one of the best arcade fighters around.

[148] According to a 2011 article by Mike Harradence of PlayStation Universe, the "bigger, bolder and bloodier" game remains "a firm fan favourite among MK aficionados".

[164] That year, IGN's Richard George wrote that "Mortal Kombat II is considered by many to be the pinnacle of the series" and called it "still one of the most fun 16-bit fighters to play".

"[152] That same year, Knight and Gus Turner from the same magazine also ranked it as the sixth best 2D fighting game of all time, stating: "Truth be told, the latest MK has nothing on this one.

"[165] In 2014, Kevin Wong of Complex wrote: "Today, we remember Mortal Kombat II for its anarchic spirit—the game was endlessly intriguing and weird, and it had an uneasy atmosphere—anything could happen at any given moment.

"[151] The game's creators did little to dispel those rumors that included supposed "Nudality" or "Sexuality" finishing moves for Kitana and Mileena, Shang Tsung's ability to transform into Kano and Goro, a chance to fight Sonya after defeating Jade in a specific way, and "Hornbuckle" being featured as an additional secret character.

[176] Although the 1995 film Mortal Kombat was primarily based on the first game, it features elements of MKII, such as the characters Kitana and Shao Kahn, and the setting of Outworld.