Yeah man this game is just phenomenal. I do think that nostalgia has a role to play in this rating, taking this in mind that this game has a VERY limited amount of combos, but i still can't help but love it. Everything from the perfect gameplay speed, the X-Rays, the phenomenal art direction, everything about this is just what I want from a Mortal Kombat game. The fatalities are mostly very simple(sometimes just 3-move ones), but they're just so damn fun to look at. Even stuff like the over-the-top gore and blood effects that make the characters look absolutely fucked up during the fight, the cheesy dialogues, the ridiculous outfits of the characters(mainly the ladies), everything about this SCREAMS "bad taste", but that's literally what Mortal Kombat has always been(imo at least).

I love that this game proudly embraces its weirdness, compared to X and 11(haven't played 11 but I know the whole story) which I feel have been more about the special forces than they've been about the mystical world of this universe(aka boring as fuck)...... and I think 9 has the best story out of the three NRS games(X being the close second). It took the best things about its predecessors and added more to make what I(still) consider to be the best MK game ever made. Onto X now.