Tattoo Assassins was a Mortal Kombat "clone" which never got officially fully released due to the waning popularity of Arcades in the late 90s. The game was essentially completed before it was cancelled, though it has some minor gameplay and sound glitches, and prototype cabinets were released to test markets in 1994.
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This game would be a perfect summary of everything that was wrong with the arcade industry were it not for its one redeeming quality, that being having been canceled late enough for us to laugh at it but soon enough to prevent it from taking anyone's money
This game had quite an interesting and troubled production history. It was created by Data East Pinball (that's right, their pinball division, that's like getting Boeing to make trains) as a Mortal Kombat clone based on a script by Bob Gale, and by all accounts the production was hell, they had to crunch an awful lot to get a promised bonus by Data East and on top of all that, the game was never officially released.
The game, however, is terrible. Even excusing the fact that all we have is a beta, it's a clunky mess that tries too hard to one-up Mortal Kombat in every way, from fatalities (they were clearly going for quantity-over-quality here) to even putting in offensive stereotypes (there's a character who is the biggest Native American stereotype I have ever seen in a game.) Most egregiously, you can block and kick at the same time.
The game, however, is terrible. Even excusing the fact that all we have is a beta, it's a clunky mess that tries too hard to one-up Mortal Kombat in every way, from fatalities (they were clearly going for quantity-over-quality here) to even putting in offensive stereotypes (there's a character who is the biggest Native American stereotype I have ever seen in a game.) Most egregiously, you can block and kick at the same time.