The VC Wii-shlist - Mortal Kombat Trilogy (N64)

Gamers who grew up in the 80's and 90's and are starting to come of age scoff at the controversies created by Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto. Gaming controversy? These gamers were around when the words "video games" and "controversy" met for the first time. They're familiar with media hoopla surrounding violent video games. And while the concept of Hot Coffee is new and exclusive to the 21^st century, long-time gamers remember one of the first controversies over violent video games. It centered around a fighting game called Mortal Kombat.

While parental outrage and political scrutiny eventually died down, Mortal Kombat began to evolve. It became less about the violence and more about outstanding gameplay and a complex central mythos that became more epic with each chapter. Sure, the violence was still there (and how!), but the whole Mortal Kombat series was becoming more legendary with each installment because of those reasons. For many, the series peaked at Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, currently available on the Xbox Live Arcade. This game combined the new elements of the acclaimed Mortal Kombat 3 with many classic characters omitted from the original installment.

Unlike Microsoft, Nintendo can't boast about its own release of Ultimate MK3. A copy of the title was released for the Super NES, but it's widely considered by purists to be an abomination because of its lack of voiceovers and generally poor translation from the arcade version. But Nintendo more than made up for this hiccup by releasing Mortal Kombat Trilogy for the Nintendo 64. MK Trilogy, by far, is the best installment of the series Nintendo has to offer and it would make perfect sense to bring it to the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console.

MK Trilogy plays just like the original Mortal Kombat 3. Like Ultimate MK3, Trilogy is an extension of the third chapter of the MK series that brings new and classic characters into the mix. But Trilogy ups the ante significantly by including every single non-boss fighter in the Mortal Kombat series as a playable character.