Mortal Kombat II on SNES was the first fighting game that made me actually yell at the screen. That beta version? Even rougher around the edges—some of the fatalities glitch halfway through, and Raiden’s teleport sometimes just doesn’t work—but man, that’s part of the charm. You’ve got Scorpion’s spear, Sub-Zero’s ice blast, and this weird secret character (was it Smoke or Noob Saibot? I could never tell) that only shows up if you mash buttons at the title screen.

The pixelated gore still holds up—watching someone’s spine get ripped out in chunky 16-bit never gets old. And that soundtrack? That weird synth track during the Pit stage lives in my head rent-free. It’s janky, unbalanced, and the AI cheats like crazy on higher difficulties, but that’s what makes beating Goro with a sliver of health left so satisfying. Just don’t pick Kitana against your friends unless you want them to hate you.