It appears that Eyeballistic’s CEO, Joe Tresca, may be teasing HD remasters of the classic 2D Mortal Kombat games. Earlier this week, Tresca shared the following two screenshots from what appear to be HD remasters of MK1 and MK2.

In 2018, Eyeballistic wanted to make an HD remake of the first three Mortal Kombat games. They planned to create all-new 3D models for the characters. Unfortunately, Warner Bros rejected that pitch. Then, in 2021, Eyeballistic announced they would try again to get Warner Bros to approve their project. Which leads us to today.

Now I don’t know if WB greenlit the project. However, since Mortal Kombat 1 has been heavily criticized by a lot of MK fans, it would make sense – from a business perspective – to release a remaster of the original trilogy.

Let’s now take a look at the screenshots. Right off the bat, they look better than the original games. In my opinion, they also look better than the previous canceled 3D remake project. However, they are not perfect.

It’s clear that Eyeballistic used AI tools to make these higher-resolution sprites. Just look at Sub-Zero’s fingers—he has six fingers now, which is a common mistake with AI upscalers. Also, in the MK1 game, Scorpion and Sub-Zero’s faces look more like females than males. Aside from the faces, everything else looks great. But those faces are just BAD.

And, let’s be realistic here. With the rise of AI, it makes a lot of sense to use AI tools to enhance older 2D games. Especially those with assets as low-res as those of the original MK games. Yes, it would have been better to re-capture real actors with modern-day cameras. However, NetherRealm tried exactly that a few years ago. And, apparently, it required so much work that they decided to abandon their plans and cancel it.

I also don’t know what AI inputs Eyeballistic used to create these sprites. These aren’t the original sprites, simply upscaled via AI. The reason I’m saying this is because we’ve already seen what MK2 Arcade could look like in HD with AI.

Take a look at the following screenshot, showcasing both Johnny Cage and Scorpion. You can easily see how much better the sprites from Eyeballistic’s project look. They have WAY more details, and they look miles better. So no, this doesn’t appear to be a simple AI upscale.

Before, closing, I should note that it’s not clear yet whether these screenshots are real. Bu that, I mean shots taken from games that are in development. They might just be concept images. So if you’re a big Mortal Kombat fan, don’t get your hopes up yet. This might end up being nothing. Wait until Warner Bros officially announces an HD remaster of the MK Trilogy.

Enjoy and stay tuned for more!