It was in 1992 that the debut of Mortal Kombat in the arcades shook the foundation of the video games industry and pop culture as we knew it. The controversial series gained instant notoriety due to the “Fatalities” in the game, which were fatal and graphic moves that had never been featured in a video game before.
The series dominated the arcades and console gaming throughout the 1990s, and continues to be one of the most successful and profitable video game franchises today. Here are seven fun facts about Mortal Kombat.
7 Deadly Mortal Kombat Facts:
- Over the course of 10 months, Mortal Kombat was created by just four people. (source) It was in 1991 that Midway Games tasked Ed Boon, who was a programmer, and John Tobias (a comic book artist) to create an arcade game in the fighting genre. The only problem was that it was to be released in ten months. The pair of Boon and Tobias gathered sound designer Dan Forden and John Vogel and got to work. The original Mortal Kombat game was released in arcades on October 8, 1992.
- Noob Saibot’s name comes from the creators of the game. (source) Noob Saibot is one of the several ninjas that are found throughout the Mortal Kombat universe. However, his name started as a joke. It’s simply a combination of the last names of the franchise’s creators, spelled backwards — Ed Boon (Noob) and John Tobias (Saibot).
- Mortal Kombat characters are actually in NBA Jam. (source) One fo the most popular sports games ever created is the arcade classic known as NBA Jam. In a game that includes the biggest basketball stars of the 90s, players can also enable four fighters from Mortal Kombat to attempt slam dunks via passwords — Raiden, Reptile, Scorpion and Sub Zero.
- Lui Kang and Sub Zero are the only two fighters to appear in the original Mortal Kombat Trilogy.(source) Perhaps the most iconic games of the entire series, which dates back to 1992, Lui Kang and Sub Zero are the only two fighters to appear as playable “kombants” in all three games. From the original game’s roster, Kano and Sonya missed the game’s second installment, while Johnny Cage, Scorpion and Raiden were ommited from Mortal Kombat 3.
- The franchise could have had one of several different names. (source) Different proposals for the franchise’s original name include “Deathblow,” “Dragon Attack,” “Kumite,” and interestingly enough, “Fatality.” The team ultimately decided to go with “Mortal Kombat.”
- Originally, Mortal Kombat was going to be based on Jean-Claude Van Damme. (source) According to one of the game’s creators, John Tobias, Midway thought it would be fun to make a gritty game starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. When the licensing deal on making that become a reality fell through, the development shifting their focus and story idea to the marial arts tournament that would become the original Mortal Kombat game.
- In terms of revenue, Mortal Kombat 2 beat out several iconic films. (source) Mortal Kombat 2 was released on consoles in 1993, and it easily become one of the most successful games ever at that point. In the first week of its release alone, it made $50 million, which was more than Forest Gump, The Lion King, and The Mask in their first weeks.
If you have more fun Mortal Kombat facts, be sure to tell us below!
Featured image photo credit: Copyright Playstation Europe, 2014. Originally found on Flickr. Image was resized and cropped. Creative Commons 2.0.
