Buy Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate. At the prices these two discs currently carry it is the better purchase for almost everyone, for one reason that has nothing to do with which game is better designed: the Ultimate edition bundles the base game with Kombat Pack 1, Kombat Pack 2 and the Aftermath expansion, which is 37 fighters in the box. Mortal Kombat 1 on disc is the base game, with its Khaos Reigns expansion and a Definitive Edition listed by PlayStation as separate purchases.
Buy Mortal Kombat 1 instead if you specifically want the newest game in the series, the Kameo assist system, current-gen presentation, or a healthier online population. Those are real reasons and the price gap between the two is small. But they are preference reasons, not value reasons, and this site ranks on value.
Here is the shape of the decision. Mortal Kombat 1 was released on September 19, 2023 per PlayStation's listing, which makes it the current entry; it is PS5 Pro Enhanced, supports 2 players locally and up to 8 online with PS Plus, and carries optional in-game purchases. Mortal Kombat 11 came out four years earlier and has since been repackaged with everything it ever sold. A fighting game's value is mostly its roster and its modes, and one of these boxes has had four extra years of both added to it for free.
Both are rated M for Mature 17+ by the ESRB — this series is the reason the rating system exists — and PlayStation's Mortal Kombat 1 listing additionally carries In-Game Purchases and Users Interact flags. Neither is a gift for a younger player at any price. For the whole lane ranked rather than compared, see best cheap fighting games.
Mortal Kombat 1 vs Mortal Kombat 11, decided on five questions
1. How many fighters do you get for the money?
This is the question that decides the page. Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate is documented on the Xbox store listing for that edition as the base game plus Kombat Pack 1, Kombat Pack 2 and the Aftermath expansion; our registry entry records the resulting roster as 37 fighters. Every guest character and every DLC fighter from that game's whole life is in the case.
Mortal Kombat 1 on disc is the standard edition. PlayStation lists a separate Definitive Edition and a Khaos Reignsexpansion as additional purchases, which means the newest game's full roster is a second transaction on top of the disc price. On a budget, that is the whole argument: one box is finished and the other is a starting point.
2. Do you want the newest systems or the deepest box?
Mortal Kombat 1 is a genuine reinvention rather than a sequel-by-numbers. Its Kameo system gives every player a second, partial character for assists, which changes how matches are constructed; our registry entry records it as fighting, Kameo assists, 1–2 local plus online. If that system is what you want, no amount of extra content in the older game replaces it.
Mortal Kombat 11 is the more conventional game and the more complete one. For a player buying one fighting game to have in the house — to play with visitors, to work through a story mode, to mess about in the towers — completeness is worth more than novelty. For a player who will actually learn a character and play online, novelty and population matter more.
3. Where will you actually play it: the couch or online?
Both discs support 2 players locally, which on this site is the headline feature: a second-player fighting game is the cheapest reliable entertainment in the house, and it needs no subscription at all. Our guide to buying the second pad for that job is the best second controller for Switch, and the same logic applies on PlayStation.
Online is where the running cost appears. PlayStation lists Mortal Kombat 1 as supporting up to 8 online players with PS Plus, with PS Plus required for online play and online play optional. "Optional" is doing real work there: both games have substantial offline content, so neither becomes a paperweight without a subscription — but if online is the point, add PS Plus to both prices, and favour the newer game, because that is where the players are.
4. Which console do you own, and does it have a disc drive?
Mortal Kombat 1 is a PS5 disc. Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate on this page is the PS4 release, which plays on a PS5 with a drive and is the reason it is priced where it is. That is the routine advantage we describe in do PS4 games work on PS5: a PS5 owner's shopping list is two console generations long.
Two caveats, both from PlayStation's own documentation. A PS5 Digital Edition has no drive, so neither disc works on it. And where a PS4 game offers a PS5 upgrade from a disc, PlayStation states "you need to keep the disc inserted each time to play the game"— worth knowing before you plan on upgrading the older game.
5. Does either one expire?
Neither has a published shutdown date, and both have full offline content, so the honest answer is that you are buying a game, not a service. That is not true everywhere on this site — the sports publishers do publish server sunset dates, which is why best cheap sports games reads the way it does.
The asymmetry that does exist is population. An older fighting game's online lobbies thin out over time regardless of whether the servers stay up, and the newer game is where new players arrive. So: buy Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate for the content, buy Mortal Kombat 1 for the matchmaking, and if you want the third option in this lane entirely, read Street Fighter 6 vs Mortal Kombat 1.
