Midway issued a press release today announcing the shipment of Mortal Kombat Advance to retailers. Here is the official company line on Mortal Kombat Advance.

Derived from Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Mortal Kombat Advance delivers punishing fighting action, which fans of the franchise crave. In single-player mode, players choose from more than 20 playable characters -- including returning fighters, level bosses and secret hidden characters -- to stop the evil Shao Kahn and his minions from taking over the "Earth Realm." Players compete in intense hand-to-hand and special-weapon combat as they fight their way through mysterious fantasy-like worlds and unleash special combination moves and fatalities on their opponents. In multi-player mode, players can challenge their friends in one-on-one or two-on-two battles using the Game Boy Advance Game Link® Cable.

Word is that this game is horrible. Don't expect to see anything close to the quality of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo Revival. This game could be the worst release of MK on a competitive console.

Recently MK5.org reported a rumor from a Russian source stating that the title of the next Mortal Kombat would be Mortal Kombat V and that Sonya would return. I don't doubt the possibilities of Sonya returning, since Jax is present in the game. Their source also sent them a logo for the game which they view as authentic. The Russian source also claims to be sending them the Mortal Kombat "5" teaser video from E3 2001, which absolutely reeks of a hoax. The video was under tight security and Midway representatives would not allow members of the media to video tape anything shown in Midway's press rooms.
We contacted our sources on the Mortal Kombat Development Team and they stated that they can "safely say" that they aren't calling the game Mortal Kombat V. They also did not comment on the Sonya Blade rumor. Make up your own mind and post your thoughts on our message board.

"Word is that this game is horrible." - Jeff Greeson - December 13th, 2001After playing Mortal Kombat Advance for quite some time I have to agree with the above statement made by Jeff in the previous news posting. I have come to conclusion that not only is it horrible but it IS the worst translation of any Mortal Kombat title to any platform. I never played the Amiga versions of MK1 and MK2, but I am told they are good. However, I have played just about every other version of the game including all the previous portable versions of MK and the MK2 port to the PlayStation that never got released. Each port is fairly good in its own right and very fun to play despite their respective quirks.
MK Advance doesn't seem to meet the same standards that the other portable (or any other port for that matter) of Mortal Kombat to date. If Midway really needed to make a buck and rushed the development of this title, it certainly shows. It seems odd that it made it to shelves before the Tekken port to Game Boy Advance which is out in Japan already. The Tekken project was in the works since before E3 in May 2001, but at that time there were no plans for a port of MK to the GBA -- it was simply a dream of ours. A dream that, until recently, got crushed. So to get on with it here is my mini-review of Mortal Kombat Advance
SOUND: Probably the game's strongest suit, but it still has its flaws. The game music is limited by the GBA hardware, but the soundtrack is recognizable. The game has the voices of each character's name announced when winning and choosing a character as well as the names of the finishing moves (at least the ones I've seen so far). One obvious flaw is the fact that most (if not all) of the male characters have the voice of Sheeva when they jump and move around. Very strange... Rating: 6/10
GRAPHICS: The graphics of MKA are very plain, colorless and grainy. When compared to the original game you can clearly observe the differences -- especially the lack of color. I feel the character sprites could have been larger and the graphics could have been a whole lot better. Those of you that have played or seen the pictures of Super Street Fighter Turbo Revival can agree with me on how well the graphics of that game look and just come alive with color. I feel Virtucraft could have at least tried to improve the graphics a bit... Rating: 5/10
GAMEPLAY: The gameplay of this game is the total killer. This game is NOT Mortal Kombat at all. It doesn't feel like Mortal Kombat and certainly doesn't play like Mortal Kombat. The controls are very loose and unresponsive. Special moves take careful planning and tapping of the right buttons at the right time. The D, F moves wont even allow you to do D, DF, F to execute them. The physics and hitboxes of the characters are really weird, with some interesting results: my character's body lays on the ground and gets kicked against the edge of the screen when my opponent walked towards it, but didn't touch it. The computer also has the ability to just wail on you if it pleases, and you don't have many easy ways to break out of this if trapped in a corner.Rating: 2/10
Overall: Stay away from this game! Rent it if you'd like to see what I'm talking about, but don't risk purchasing it as it is not worth the money. I don't think any MK fan who plays this game can ever forgive Midway for the travesty they have committed upon us. I was once very excited to get my hands on MK Advance, but as time went by and I learned more about it I came to not really care for the game at all.Overall Rating: 4/10

Everyone on Midway's Mortal Kombat Breaking News email list should have gotten the new picture of Quan Chi from the next installment of Mortal Kombat in your in box as a holiday greeting from them to you. If not, then click on the smaller picture to the right to see a full sized image. You can also view the original page at Midway.com which includes a link to sign up for their Mortal Kombat email list. I'm hearing that we'll get a lot more information as soon as 3-4 weeks, so keep checking your email and their new site www.mortalkombat.midway.com (currently unavailable). Thanks to JRF for the heads up.