Mortal Kombat : Tournament Edition

Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition is a Game Boy Advance fighting game released in North America in August 2003. Criterion Games developed the handheld release and Midway published it. Its story revisits the conflict of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, where Shang Tsung and Quan Chi have joined forces while a different group of warriors enters the struggle against the sorcerers.

Rather than a wholly separate sequel, Tournament Edition is a companion version of the earlier Game Boy Advance Deadly Alliance. It keeps the same handheld fighting engine and much of its presentation, but reorganizes the lineup and adds modes built around multiplayer. In single-player play the two releases are closely related; Tournament Edition is chiefly differentiated by its character selection and linked-play focus.

The game has 15 playable fighters. Only Scorpion, Shang Tsung, and Quan Chi return from the preceding GBA version, with Raiden, Johnny Cage, Cyrax, Sektor, Reptile, and Bo' Rai Cho among the revised cast. Noob Saibot is one of the hidden characters, and Tournament Edition also includes Sareena and Sektor, neither of whom appeared in the home-console editions of Deadly Alliance.

Matches combine digitized character sprites with arenas that allow movement around an opponent rather than limiting fighters to one flat line. Each combatant has two fighting styles, with shoulder buttons used to block or switch styles. Special moves, combos, sidestepping, and finishing moves remain central to combat, with two Fatalities available per character.

Alongside one-on-one bouts, Tournament Edition offers Arcade, Tournament, Tag Team, and Race to Raiden modes. Winning fights earns koins for the Krypt, where players can unlock additional arenas, Fatalities, costumes, and cheats. Repeated completions of Arcade and Tag Team also reveal more fighters and weapon-based finishing moves.

The Game Boy Advance Link Cable supports up to four players in several formats. Tag Team lets players form teams and call in a partner during a match, while Tournament uses a multi-elimination bracket. Multiplayer Arcade follows a winner-stays-on format, and Race to Raiden challenges two players to clear CPU opponents fastest. Linking Tournament Edition with GBA Deadly Alliance restricts play to Scorpion, Shang Tsung, and Quan Chi, and can unlock Noob Saibot in Tournament Edition.