My first was the OG Legend of Zelda on the NES, and it will always occupy a special place in my heart. I hated The Adventure ot Link because it was so different from the first one, and because I could never get past the first dark cave. I spent hours scouring the towns for a candle, and it never occurred to me that I could just go through it in the dark.
OOT was amazing getting to ride Epona and move around in 3 dimensions. The puzzles, the stories, the polygons, I think that was my favorite Zelda experience overall.
Twilight Princess was fun, and I loved Skyward Sword more than most people seemed to. To me, the Wii mechanics and the flying were worth the frustrations. But I understand why it was divisive.
Breath of the Wild had that OOT feeling of discovery to it. It was fun to play, and novel enough to keep me exploring. I haven’t played Tears of the Kingdom yet, but my son loves it so I’m looking forward to it.
I regret that I never played A Link to the Past, Majora’s Mask, Wind Waker, or any of the handheld games.
Going back though, I’d probably just skip the first now. 2 improved on 1 in every way. 3 and ultimate was also good but a bit bloated. Then we get a slew of mixed to bad games until we get to the nether realms era.
So basically play 2 then play series that starts with the 2011 Mortal Kombat
To give two sides of answers to your question: I played the early MK games on the Sega Genesis, and I would say start where you want.
As others have said, the new canon for the series starts with the 2011 game. But honestly, the 2011 game is very similar to the OG games. If you only played the OG, then the new games will only be a better version of what you played up until that point.
If you only played the new ones, it gives prominent backstory to various characters, and the gameplay is almost identical. It’s a great starting point for newcomers.
Biggest difference is that the new games try to make everything one seamless story, the idea being comic book multiverse things, where in one universe, Ryu isn’t the God of Lightning, but a simple student at the temple. Stuff like that.
TL;DR: There’s no bad place to start in the Mortal Kombat games.
MK2 was my first, and i still think it’s one of the best, or the most classic. MK1, the roster is too small and it’s too basic. MK2 is where it embraces the classic MK vibes. UMK3 remixes that with more modern styling and character elements, which was interesting in progression, but I think you could skip straight from MK2 to Trilogy and just drop in the deep end of the character craziness.
MK4 was also an interesting one in terms of characters and the shift into 3D for the first time. It wasn’t… great… but it was interesting.
After that, I wasn’t a big fan of the early modern 3D MK games, I couldn’t even play them all since they didn’t come out for PC (yes, I’m still bitter), but again I feel like you could skip these straight to Armageddon for early modern-era character craziness. It’s basically a generational sequel to Trilogy.
Then we get to the ‘last gen’ modern era of 9, X, 11, which i thought were great fun, and worth playing. The story is a ridiculous soap opera, but that’s critical MK DNA. Mechanics further refined, good character options. Other people already discussed these.
I haven’t played 1 yet, but it’s clearly another soft reboot, and looks really good to me.
Ofc this is all just my view on it. I have nostalgia and bias towards MK2, (3) and Trilogy :D
I assume you’re talking specifically about upcoming games that haven’t been released yet? Yeah I can’t really think of anything coming up that I’m excited about. Currently the only games I’m looking forward to are Metroid Prime 4 (if it ever comes out) and the indie game Dreamsettler (the sequel to Hypnospace Outlaw)
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